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28.07.08. - 40 Years of Carnival!!!

For those who do not know this year the 40th Anniversary of the Dawlish Carnival Committee and Dawlish Carnival Week. To celebrate we have asked you to them all your entries around the number 40. Secondly this year's event is being opened by Zoe Loram who was one of the original people responsible for getting us up and running. She may not be a big A List celebrity but without her we would not be here today!

Lastly we are holding a big party on the Lawn on Friday 15th August. Bring your own food and drinks and 

01.07.08 PRESS RELEASE: South Devon Airshow Takes off at Full Throttle thanks to sponsor

One of the largest events in the South West today launched its first taster of what to expect this summer and showed that they truly are pulling out all stops this year to put on something special for Dawlish Carnival's 40th year. The organisers announced that this year’s Dawlish Carnival Airshow will take place on Thursday 14th August and its headliners will again include the RAF “Red Arrows” Aerobatics Team, the truly nostalgic Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, this year with the Lancaster Bomber making an appearance, and the ground shaking and extremely nimble RAF Typhoon jet fighter. In this, the RAF’s 90th year, they have again showed their continuing support for South Devon by featuring their most famous display teams at Dawlish. More additions to the line up are to be released over the forthcoming weeks.

The most welcome news comes, however, from the announcement of a major sponsorship deal with International Dance Supplies. Based in Newton Abbot but having its early days in Dawlish, IDS is the UK’s largest wholesale dancewear supplier servicing dance teachers and dance shops around the world with quality dancewear and is this year celebrating their 30th anniversary and they are proud to be a named sponsor of this year’s Dawlish Carnival Airshow. The staff and directors of IDS have been keen spectators of the event for many years and so decided to show their appreciation for this volunteer run event with their sponsorship. Anne Walker, Managing Director stated “As an expanding business employing over 60 people in the local area I am delighted to be able to support the local community with our sponsorship of this exciting event.”

16/06/08 - Crowning rescheduled to take place at Dawlish Warren on 9th August
After discussing the various options about where to crown this year's carnival royalty the committee have decided to carry out the Ceremony on the Green in Dawlish Warren on the first day of carnival week (Sat 9th August) just before the evening' live entertainment and following Fireworks display is set to take place. The Queen, Princess and Attendant will be crowned by Mark Price who will perform late that evening to get the party under way. The entertainment starts on the Warren from midday with details being released soon. 

02/06/08 - Bad Weather again puts pay to Crowning
For the second year running the unsettled weather over the Bank holiday weekend ensured that the committee had to cancel the Crowning event again. According to Sod's Law of course only 5 hours later the skies cleared leaving a glorious afternoon. Dawlish Rotary Club went ahead with their Ball and Duck Races after originally planning to postpone them due to the heavy rainfall the day previous. The committee will now meet to discuss where to crown the Carnival Royalty this year. 

18/05/08 - Crowning event to be held in conjunction with Dawlish Round Table
This year in order to make a better day for the residents and visitors to Dawlish we have joined forces with Dawlish Round Table to put on our Crowning Day event. The Round Table, who usually hold there event on the Monday following the crowning, hold a day of fundraising activities for their Chairman's Charity. Since working together we could share the costs of the entertainment and events we provide it meant that both organisations could raise more for their respective causes. The extended event will begin at 11am with a brass band, a display by the Red Sparrows, performance by Mark Price who will also this year crown our Royalty, the Rotary's Business Ball and Duck Race amongst many other arena and side stall events. The day will finish at around 5pm. We look forward to seeing all those that are able to make it.

10/05/08 - The 2008 Junior Carnival Idol search has been launched
Following the success of last year's Junior Carnival Idol the committee is this year again going ahead with the singing competition for young people. Today the official launch was accompanied by the dates of the auditions that this year extend to Chudleigh and Bovey Tracey. 

he finalists will be chosen in Mid June as a closed semi final after which they will perform as a group across the district leading up to the Grand final being held at the Shaftesbury Theatre on Monday 18th August. During the lead they will of course be working hard to learn, rehearse and perfect their performance ready for the judges and audience at the final. More details can be found the Idol section of this website at www.dawlishcarnival.co.uk/idol

28/04/08 - Pub Challenge Date Moved
Due to Dawlish Town Council having an ice rink on the Lawn during the first May Bank Holiday we have decided to move the date of our annual Pub Challenge to Saturday 24th May to avoid a clash of dates. This years pub challenge has 6 pubs and 12 teams participating. Teams from the Brunswick Arms, South Devon Inn, White Hart, Lansdowne, Railway Inn and Ferret & Radiator will play various fun games at each pub against the other teams working their way around the circuit whilst ALL in fancy dress. During this they will will also be collecting money from the public and together with the money from fines paid by each team that looses a game this will be split between the Carnival and this year's chosen charity AIMS, a group to support disabled children in Dawlish.

25/03/08 - Easter Bonnet Extravaganza
On the 23rd March We again held our East Bonnet Event which despite the wind attracted a variety of entries both decorative and humourous and form the young and old.

The event was judged will be Kathy Luxton and her partner Andy Uglow, from the Herald Express. They were accompanied by our favourite Lady Mayor Cllr Rosalind Prowse, who's now infamous around the town for her hats, so much so, that she now sports the nickname 'HATS'. We thank all our entrants and judges who help make the day enjoyable despite the short heavy downpours of rain right at the end.

07/03/08 - .Royalty for 2008 announced.
Following our annual youth disco today our judges from Ashyeburton Carnival Club selected this year's Dawlish Carnival Royalty. Towards the end of the disco put on by the committee and held in the Seasiders Club on Sandy Lane, Dawlish  the results were announced as follows:

   Dawlish Carnival Queen        Jennifer Rayment 
   Dawlish Carnival Princess    Lauren Anthony
   Dawlish Carnival Attendant  Ailish Field 

21/02/08 - Family Disco / Royalty selection date announced - The fun of carnival starts in March this year when we will hold a family disco at Seasiders (formerly Dawlish Town FC's clubhouse) in Sandy Lane, Dawlish on Friday 7th March. The event will also incorporate the selection of the carnival royalty for this year. The age limits are Attendant: 9 - 11 yrs Princess: 12 - 13 yrs and Queen: 14 yrs +. All entrants must have either written parental consent or a completed entry form available from many places in Dawlish.

21/05/08 - South Devon Carnivals to unite against Devon County Council imposed charges for good causes

The Basics | SDCA Emergency Meeting | What can you do?
Earlier in the year the 20 carnival committees and clubs in South Devon became aware of changes in the process of closing roads for their various processions. Devon County Council has now taken responsibility for administering Road Closure Orders away from district councils and decided to impose a fee of up to £160 for each road closure applied for by any organisation. Whilst this seems perfectly understandable for commercial companies to pay for closing our roads, any charity or non-for-profit organisation is now also bound by these fees. Under the previous rules there was no charge whatsoever for closing a road.

Events that attract over 5,000 people (which includes every carnival procession) will have to pay the full £160 per closure. Dawlish would have to stump up just under £500 to cover the procession, Pram Race and closure following the end of our Airshow. For the past 4 months each carnival has been given a different version of who would pay and what they would pay by DCC, the police and the district councils. Not one person until a recently released statement by DCC had had any idea of what exactly was happening.

The South Devon Carnival Association (SDCA) has also learnt that Somerset and Dorset Councils are imposing  no charge whatsoever for any charitable or community event. Torbay Council is also joining Devon's ranks by imposing charges. 

As a result the SDCA is holding an emergency meeting on 2nd June to be attended by each of the 20 committees. We will vote en-bloc whether or not to refuse to pay these fees, which as charitable organisations most can not afford to pay. If Devon County Council insists on this unfair TAX on CHARITABLE events then this could possibly mean that there would be NO carnival processions at all in South Devon.

If this course of action is taken ONLY processions would be affected by the protest, all remaining events would still continue as normal. But for most carnival committees the procession is a vital source of income to help cover event costs and from which money is donated to various local good causes within each community. 

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Thankfully we live in a democracy and the council is there to serve us. Below is a list of Councilors and Council Officials you can email and ask why they are attempting to kill the community by imposing charges on not-for-profit and charitable organisations. They are are accountable to us, the taxpayers, and to the communities they are bound to serve.

Executive Chairman for Devon CC: brian.greenslade@devon.gov.uk

Executive Member: Communities / Teignbridge Highways: brian.berman@devon.gov.uk

Chairman of Devon CC: brenda.taylor@devon.gov.uk

County Councilor for Dawlish: john.clatworthy@devon.gov.uk