Carnival Photos Go On Sale
January 2009
Over 2000 old photographs of Bridgwater Carnival Procession and Concert photographs are set to go on sale, following the generosity of a local photographer.
The pictures, which have been donated by Peter J Nicholls, include many of the carnival carts which graced the town’s popular procession between 1980 and 2003 and of Bridgwater club’s stage shows at the carnival concerts, and will go on sale on Tuesday 10 February, 8pm, at Bridgwater Sports & Social Club.
Peter has been the event’s official photographer for over 25 years, and decided to kindly donate the photographs to Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival Committee, after cleaning out his Bridgwater shop store room.
“The photographs were just sat there in boxes doing nothing, so I thought it would make sense to hand all of the photographs over to the carnival committee so they could do something with them”, said Peter. There are a lot of memories in those photographs and I do hope that all who see and buy them get some enjoyment out of them.”
Some of the photographs are being kept by the carnival committee for history purposes and will be used to create an archive of carnival images, which will be seen by future generations. Over the next few months these pictures will be scanned and then displayed on Bridgwater Carnival’s official website – www.bridgwatercarnival.org.uk. The many remaining will be sold to carnival enthusiasts, and as well as the public sale in Bridgwater, the pictures will also be available to purchase at the Busman’s Club in Wells on Wednesday 11 February, 8pm start.
Dave Stokes, publicity officer for Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival, added: “This is a marvellous gesture by Peter, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his generosity. We have started to build up a comprehensive archive section on our official website of the Bridgwater Carnival tradition, and these photographs will now join old programmes and the video clips already on view.”
10” x 8” photographs will cost only £1 each, and all proceeds will go towards the Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival charity.
