Bridgwater Carnival organisers are celebrating after receiving support from Arts Council England for the third consecutive year.
A grant for £29,851 has been awarded for the 2014 Bridgwater Carnival celebrations by the Government funded body, who has the responsibility of distributing money from the Government and National Lottery to the development of arts in England.
Rita Jones, president of Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival, said: “This is absolutely fantastic news for everybody associated with our carnival, and I would like to thank Arts Council England for their much needed support and for recognising the role our carnival related activities play in the development of arts in Somerset.
“This money will enable us to continue and increase the work we are doing with local schools in spreading the carnival word, and also to provide a full programme of top class entertainment on carnival day itself.
This year five separate educational carnival projects have been arranged for local school children to participate in. These include workshops to build lanterns from recycled materials which children can then carry in two lantern parades over carnival weekend, a visual arts project where children can decorate 4ft x 4ft fibre glassed Chinese dragons, a literacy competition where budding poets and writers can showcase their talents, a design and build a model carnival cart competition and a choreographed dance parade through the town centre on carnival day itself.
With just seven weeks to go to the big day, preparations for Bridgwater Carnival 2014 are gathering momentum. Acts already confirmed to perform in the town centre on carnival day, include ABBA tribute band, ABBA Authentic, local popular singers, Harry Winchester and Jordan Hill, and carnival day favourites, Two Tone.
Also set to appear are Rhythms of the City – one of the country’s top samba bands, the London School of Samba, Samba Galez, Bournemouth Carnival Band, Wells City Band, Meridian Corps of Drums, ACTS Choir and performing arts students from Bridgwater College, to name just a few.
Rita added: “This year’s Bridgwater Carnival activities will be the greatest we have ever staged in the town, with something for everyone to enjoy. I just can’t wait for the big day to arrive.”