St Mary's Village Carnival
Posted on October 6, 2012
The dust has settled – or maybe I should say that the scars left in the Green have almost healed – and we can say goodbye to Carnival 2012. It is a day that is fast fading into the memory, but one that was marked by some of the heaviest rainfall seen in the village for some time. Fortunately the downpour was short and sharp and the afternoon stayed clement – enough so that we were able to pack everything away dry and safe for another year.
I hope that some of you have seen the information on the Church Notice Board that the Organising Committee raised a remarkable £12,500 – only £500 less than 2011's record. I therefore need to say a huge 'Thank you' to everyone who helped in any way in advance of Carnival, on Carnival day and afterwards to achieve such a total and especially to the Organising Committee who work so hard to make St Mary's Village Carnival such a wonderful community event. Sadly the committee is saying goodbye to Bernie Hillman and Mark Saccoccio who have both given years of valued service. 'Thank you, both' and I'm sure you will both continue to make an important contribution in the future.
I also want to thank Edlesborough Cricket Club and Edlesborough Council (especially Kevin Cubbage) for their co-operation and patience in ensuring that damage caused to the Green by someone's spiteful behaviour was addressed and resolved very quickly and with a minimum of rancour.
The Carnival Committee has a well publicised formula for the distribution of funds from the Carnival:
- 50% to St Mary's Fabric Fund
- 25% to a principal charity – this year 'The Chemotherapy Unit at Luton & Dunstable Hospital'.
- 25% distributed among local (or locally connected) good causes, in line with commitments resulting from the Carnival or as requested by people in the villages.
A meeting took place on 10 September to propose a distribution and the proposal was ratified by St Mary's PCC the same week:
| St Mary's Fabric Fund | £6,250.00 |
| Chemotherapy Unit, L&D Hospital | £3,125.00 |
| 1st E Bray & Edlesborough Scout Group | £100.00 |
| Air Cadets (L Buzzard) | £25.00 |
| Cheeky Monkeys | £100.00 |
| Dagnall School | £125.00 |
| Dagnall Village hall | £100.00 |
| DILS Tower Breakfast and After School Club | £25.00 |
| Downs Heart Group | £100.00 |
| Dunstable Scouts | £100.00 |
| Eaton Bray Methodist Church | £75.00 |
| Eaton Bray Parish Council | £100.00 |
| Eaton Bray Village Hall | £100.00 |
| EB Academy | £125.00 |
| EB Cricket Club | £100.00 |
| EB Lions FC | £125.00 |
| EDaN | £100.00 |
| Edlesborough Cricket Club | £50.00 |
| Edlesborough Parish Council | £100.00 |
| Edlesborough School | £125.00 |
| Expedition - Alex Mustoe | £100.00 |
| Expedition - Charlotte Nilsen | £100.00 |
| Expedition - Hannah McCloskey | £100.00 |
| Expedition - Scott Mercer | £100.00 |
| Lionheart Explorer Group | £100.00 |
| Orbit | £100.00 |
| Police Charity Fund - Beds | £100.00 |
| Police Charity Fund - Thames Valley | £100.00 |
| St John's Ambulance | £325.00 |
| Taskers Row Social Club | £100.00 |
| The Friends Of The Church On The Hill | £100.00 |
| Toddington Band | £125.00 |
So now we turn to Carnival 2013, which will be my twelfth as Chairman of the Carnival Committee and 25th year as a Committee member and during which time just under £¼ million has been raised for local good causes. As you can imagine, with three signifi cant milestones for me I hope Carnival 2013 will be as splendid as ever. The theme will be 'SciFi' so, hopefully, there will be lots of scope for colour.
But Carnival does rely on YOU. Please, if you will feel you have a contribution to make to the success of our Carnival, get in touch with me. We need new Committee Members, people to help make the event run smoothly, offers of prizes, advertisers, offers of transport etc.; maybe you have no more use for a frame tent that you could lend or give to us. Carnival is an event for our community of which the community is rightly proud. Please contact me with your offers of help.
-- Gordon Gray – Chairman, St Mary's Village Carnival Committee
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