BACK again for 2019, Whitstone Carnival received fantastic support.

The schedule of events saw the village enjoying three weekends of events. The events started with a wonderful afternoon for the children’s sports where all ages competed at egg and spoon, sack and wheelbarrow races. Thanks were expressed to Andrew and Emily Medland who kindly organised the sports — a lovely afternoon was had by all, young and old.

The village enjoyed a car treasure hunt kindly organised by Nick and Wendy Furse — there were some taxing clues for those treasure seekers, and all enjoyed pasties to follow. Treasure hunt winners were Karen Moore and John Harrison.

The following weekend started with the skittles evening, where a large number of children took part in the skittles tournament prior to the adults competition. Everyone enjoyed the bar and pasties on offer. Skittle team winners were Ian Braund, Jason Colwill, Mark Moore, Mark Denford and Ashley Uglow.

On Saturday, July 20, the village turned out for the grand carnival. The event was very well supported and showed the wonderful community spirit in Whitstone. Thankfully the village basked in sunshine. There was a number of children fancy dress walkers, floats and group walkers all creating a great atmosphere for the event.

The carnival finished in the village hall where everyone was able to enjoy side stalls which were kindly organised by the various charities and groups that the village has. The evening continued with a barbecue. Thanks were expressed to Grace Martyn, Jo and Tom Fowler and Margaret Short and a bar that was kindly run by Nick and Wendy Furse.

Money raised during the week will be distributed to local organisations in 2020.

The carnival committee expressed its thanks to the judges Carol and John Short and Pat and Norman Perkins.

The produce show for 2019 was well supported with numerous entries and at such a high standard. The carnival committee expressed its thanks to all who helped in the preparation for the show, Pearl Hopper who kindly coordinated the organisation, and the stewards and judges, Vivienne Hale, Jess Gubbin, Janet Ward and Eric Hicks. Thanks were also given to Phil and Julie Tucker for the donation of the printed prize cards for the produce show.

The Saturday’s activities concluded with the ‘Whitstone Set the Ball Rolling’, an event that saw 200 footballs being sold prior to the event, the balls were then loaded into a trailer and released down a well rehearsed course. The first ball past the post was the winner and collected £100 winnings. The evening was rounded off with a bar and barbecue and thanks were given to the parish council for organising the great event. The ball roll was won by Maggie Stanbury, with Liz Uglow second and John Mill third.

The carnival chairman Justin Uglow and secretary Charlotte Hopper expressed their sincere thanks to everyone involved for all their help during a busy and successful week.