1. 2019 is the 414^th anniversary of The Gunpowder Plot.
2. Distance wise the procession route is just over 1.7 miles long, and the carnival will take more than 2 hours to pass any one viewing point.
3. Over 2,000 people are involved with the 99 entries in this year’s event.
4. Over 6 Megawatts of electricity will power the 50 carnival carts taking part in this year’s carnival procession.
5. Over 1,000,000 individual lights (lamps and LEDs) will illuminate the skyline as the carts meander around the streets of Bridgwater on Saturday 2 November.
6. 1,600 traffic cones, 200 road traffic signs, 180 barriers, and 34 traffic marshals will be facilitating the 31 closed roads. The equipment will be set out by the carnival committee’s road traffic team in readiness for the 2019 carnival, with the first being laid out on Wednesday 31 October, and the last collected late on Sunday 3 November. 80 radios will be in operation during the event.
7. 70 tracking devices will be placed on the vehicles taking part in this year’s carnival procession, and includes on all mounted entries and collection carts. The tracking devices will show the exact location of the vehicles on the procession route, and members of the public can also track the whereabouts of individual entries by clicking on this link… https://tracking.racedrone.net/osmap/?bridgwater-carnival. At Bridgwater Carnival 2018, there were over 8,000 hits on this website link.
8. This year Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival has 76 friends of carnival (formerly patrons). For more information visit friends.
9. All 2,270 grandstand seats were sold 6 weeks prior to the big day. In addition, 171 corporate hospitality packages were available for the big night, all of which included a grandstand ticket.
10. 44 trade stands will line the procession route on carnival night.
11. 68 coaches / minibuses have already pre-booked to attend Bridgwater Carnival 2019.
12. Over 175 people are expected to take part in this year’s squibbing display. The squibs are 300mm long by 200mm in circumference and hold approximately 1lb of gunpowder. 2019 marks 303 years since the first recorded evidence of squibbing in Bridgwater back in 1716.
13. 37 cups and trophies are awarded on carnival night by our 82 Before the results are announced on the evening, 4,956 separate judging scores will need to be entered onto laptops to ascertain which entries came where.
14. For the past 8 consecutive years, Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival has been supported and awarded grants by Arts Council England – the Government funded body, who has the responsibility of distributing money from the Government and National Lottery to the development of arts in England.
15. 30 companies and organisations are official sponsors of Bridgwater Carnival 2019.
16. 11,372 people like the official Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival Facebook page.
17. 5,193 people follow Bridgwater Carnival’s official Twitter account.
18. In the last 12months, our official website (bridgwatercarnival.org.uk), has received google 192,611 hits viewing 435,075 pages, including 14,625 from computer users living in America, 2,464 from Hong Kong, 339 from France, 317 from Spain, 311 from Germany, 236 from Australia and 3,180 from 117 other countries. During the carnival weekend (Friday – Sunday) back in 2018, 58,763 users visited the website, 32,321 of those on carnival day.
19. Thanks to modern technology and through live streaming, Bridgwater Carnival 2018 was viewed in 53 countries across the globe. An amazing audience of 25,500, from Australia to the USA, and from Germany to Japan, tuned into watch the official live streaming of last year’s procession in the relative comfort of their homes.
20. Various research projects and studies have concluded that Bridgwater Carnival is worth an estimated £4,000,000 annually to the local economy – £2,000,000 during the weekend of the carnival and a further £2,000,000 from carnival related activities throughout the year.
21. This year carnival stalwart, Mike Crocker, become Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival’s new president. Mike took over the presidential chains from Malcolm Cattle, at the committee’s annual general meeting (AGM) earlier in the year, and became the 25^th known president in the popular carnival’s long and esteemed history.
22. Over the last 21 years Bridgwater Carnival related activities have raised over £527,127 for the official Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival charity and other local supported charities. At this year’s event over 400 collectors will be on the streets on carnival night, supporting the 9 collection carts in the procession and collecting money for the Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival charity and 40 other charities and community groups.
23. Wills CC have so far this year recycled approximately 50 tonnes of materials that were salvage from local pubs and clubs in the Sedgemoor area .The Bridgwater based tableaux carnival club are environmentally conscious, and they have reduced the amount of energy used on their entry by 66% after changing to LED lighting and where possible using recyclable materials.
24. The first physical person to portray Guy Fawkes at Bridgwater Carnival was Joseph Spriggs who led the parade in 1896 on the Guy Fawkes cart, a tradition which survives to this very day. Since then archives show only 12 other people have had the honour of portraying this notorious character.
25. 2019 sees the 14^th anniversary of the formal unveiling of the carnival squibber statue in the centre of Bridgwater. Watching over the High Street as people go about their daily lives, the statue has become synonymous with carnival lovers from all over the world.
26. 25 large, colourful carnival masks are now on display in retail outlets around the town of Bridgwater. These have all been decorated by children from 17 local schools and nurseries using the given theme for 2019 of ‘Flight’. This project forms part of the annual school projects which Bridgwater Carnival runs as part of its annual celebrations.
27. 2019 sees Bridgwater club, Gremlins CC, celebrating their 70^th year in carnival.
28. Young members of Bridgwater based Marina Sydenham Juvenile CC have helped to make between 300 and 400 pieces of seaweed and 200 bricks for their 2019 entry Sea Warriors.
29. First given out in 1979, the famous Marketeers CC ‘rat jacket’ is this year celebrating the 40^thyear of its inception. Ever since 1979 each new member of the club is presented with their own rat jacket, meaning that from a handful of ‘ratties’ in 1979, there are now a vast number ready to break out of hibernation for this year’s carnival season.
30. Ottery St Mary based Otters CC plan to perform at 16 carnivals this year, and Bridgwater will be carnival number 10 for them. The club’s first carnival of the year took place on 31 August and their last will be on 14 December.
31. This is the 50^th consecutive year Newmarket CC’s Kieron Howes has been performing on a carnival cart. Kieran started out with Welworthy CC in 1969 (now Renegades CC), before joining Golden Lion CC (now Cavaliers CC). He has been in Newmarket CC for the past 43 years, where he currently holds the positions of club secretary and club treasurer.