Ramblers CC Win Bridgwater Carnival Concerts

Ramblers Carnival Club emerged as overall stage champions at this year’s Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival Concerts. It was a win made sweeter because the standards attained by all rival clubs reached new heights making it an exacting battle for best performance.

The club was awarded the prestigious White Hart Cup last night as the fortnight-long run of 12 sell-out concerts closed. Their show,  “All Out Together” was a powerful and dramatic piece of theatre based on the historic struggle for better pay by British miners.

The White Hart Cup is awarded to the gang or feature club with the highest number of points through the concerts fortnight by the panel of independent judges.

Second place (Elizabeth Ann James Cup) went to last year’s White Hart Cup winners Renegades CC who took the audience on a dazzling journey to the Land of Oz. “Emerald City” was full of vibrant music and bold musical numbers complete with stunning costumes.

Gremlins CC were just a whisker behind in third place (Barrie Lintern Trophy) with “Return of the Dragon Warriors” featuring an Oriental village celebration of the safe return of hero warriors in a tightly crafted grand scale dramatic story.

The other positions were: 4 – Vagabonds, 5 – British Flag, 6 – Lime Kiln, 7 – Griffens, 8 – Wills, 9 – Marketeers, 10 – Cavaliers, 11 – Crusaders, 12 – Centurian.

Wills CC took the Sam Hooper Cup as the highest placed tableau entry. Their show, based on the ill-fated maiden cross Atlantic voyage of the Titanic.

Dave Creedy, Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival President, was full of praise for the high standards achieved this year by all the clubs. “The talent and determination of club members and the front-of-curtain acts to reach for the highest levels of performance were on display in abundance over the last fortnight. I applaud them all and everyone involved in presenting the concerts from behind the scenes to the front-of-house teams. No one who came to see the shows, which sold out in record time this year, can have gone home disappointed.”

As well as speaking as Carnival President, Dave was also on stage himself every night as a member of the cup-winning Wills CC show.

This year the concerts were sponsored by FCS International Shipping Ltd. The other sponsors were Palace Nightclub (Catering), MEH Alliance (Programmes) and Set Construction Group (Front-of-curtain acts auditions).

The Athletic Sports Cup for best vocal by two or more performers was won by The Vixens. Phoebe Wever took the Judges Cup for best single vocalist.

Next year the Autumn concerts will be staged at a different venue as the Town Hall theatre will be closed for refurbishment.