Lewes Forum thread

I may be wrong, but I thought a carnival was supposed to be a long parade of floats going through a town, with lots of great costumes, dancing, entertainers, kids etc. Lewes carnival consisted of: The Tub Thumpers, The Malling Dance Troop and The Lewes Brass Band. Not a float in site. #lewescarnivalsucks

What what did you do to help ? ,

If no-one is allowed to comment unless they've been directly involved we're going to live in a very silent world Easy peasey.

Dreadful, embarrasing and cringeworthy!

Terrible and the few stalls and dodgy fun fair at the Malling fields were worse - time to end it methinks

Thoroughly agree - the stalls were as dull as anything and the procession was short, very short.
Full marks to those who got involved - they ALL deserve to be proud for participating in the County Town's carnival.
COME ON LEWES - make sure you get involved next year.

I can't believe I stood there waiting over half an hour for that poor display to come down the high street! I was soon glad I retired to the JHT for tea and cakes in support of the CBS. Well done Cliffe.....

And there were tourists watching?!? Awful and at mailing fields even worse - close it down and try something different next year rotary club.

Absolutely terrible, what a mess. Thought the co-ordination of the traffic at the top of the town was a complete joke until the 'procession' emerged & made the whole thing a farse anyway. Well done the dancers & band but where were the floats & everything else advertised? Everyone charged a £1 entry at Malling to see what? Granted the weather was unfortunate which could not be helped but the whole thing was clearly going to be a washout long before the weather came into play. Even if the sun had shone in all its glory Lewes Carnival was always going to be a complete embarrassment & totally wasted opportunity...dull dull dull! Easy peasey - I dont recall seeing anything in lead up encouraging the people of Lewes to get envolved but all credit to those who did - sadly the whole thing was clearly badly planned organised & excecuted by those in charge.

I was talking to someone who said it costs £100 to enter a float, and then on top of that there is an organisation's insurance for travelling on the back of a lorry. When I got down to the field it cost £1 to get in, and they charged £100 for each pitch so it's no wonder different groups don't come along anymore, and I'm afraid they have probably put people off coming in when there is nothing to do once there.

It's very difficult to organise these sort of events now. Insurance and the threat of legal action for the slightest of things is killing off community events. Its bloody hard work, for very few people. Then for some one to moan, a bit harsh. If you want something better, get your hands dirty. If not, sit at home and say nothing. At least try to encourage Those who can be bothered to enrich our town.

Does seem a shame there was not more to it. I watched from School Hill,enjoyed the music and dancing from the youngsters etc but,was rather astonished that that was it!

Maybe the entrance fee should be scrapped and open up the whole field to a car boot and other stalls - then ask for donations.
I've read your comments about the parade and cannot help but think you should all support your town, either by entering the carnival, or by supporting it. Although I suppose there are those bonfire boys who will say it's "carnival" not "bonfire", but that is precisely the point!!!

Forgot to add advertising (aggressive advertising)

Sorry Soggy boy but my 'harsh' comments were echoed by many many others who turned out to support the carnival & our town. Without spectators to contribute there would be no point at all & its not possible for many Lewesians who support our town in many other ways to actually actively participate in such events for any number of reasons. I repeat there was precious little evidence of any encouragement for people to get involved beforehand anyway & now according to your comments people not involved are not welcome to attend or entitled to make comment although are welcome to donate - nice! Sadly it seems we all unfairly expected far too much today.

Judging by the amount of people watching today, surely they WERE supporting Lewes?The buckets to collect were there but I fear sadly ,not too full.There were many tourists also expecting something rather more than they got.Shame for those who participated many were youngsters.If your going to do it,do it properly or not bother.

You should have gone to Plumpton yesterday - they had it all in their parade.

Beidh Lewes íoc!

I would have been happy to help but the organisers need to make some attempt to gather support if they want it. The whole thing was a complete joke. Excuses about how hard it is to run these types of event just don't stack up - loads of towns run great carnivals. All credit to the people in the procession though, especially the driver of the (one and only) float who resisted putting his foot down and eradicating Norman Baker once and for all........

i for one did not go over to malling field today .May be if the carival was on a saturdaymay be there would have been more people in it ! But well done
to all that march today

FFS what do you expect??? The town's half full of dfl's that have no community spirit and just want everything laid on for them, plus 'carnival' is something from the mid seventies!!! No one's interested in doing it.

In previous years, all the local schools have got involved as well as many local business etc. Harveys always had a float as did most of the bonfire societies and some pubs. I think it should be the pubs and Lewes based trades that keep this carnival going.
Maybe it's the cost of hiring and insuring the lorries themselves or maybe they just can't be bothered any more

we watched it and had invited family over also - what a shockingingly poor show. Even without the rain, the quality of the stalls (mostly sweets) and fairground attractions down at Malling field was awful. And the 'parade' was woeful - those taking part put on a brave face and well down to those bands and the dance troupe, but as other posters have said it's poorly advertised and needs more input from the community. What involvement does the town council have ?

Compared with a lot of small towns, Lewes does pretty well for popular community events - apart from Bonfire: Proms in the Paddock, the Raft Race, Patina etc. People seem enthusiastic about all of these, but the Carnival only restarted about 5 years ago (?) and just hasn't caught on.

Maybe time to quietly drop it.

I whole heartily agree. I didn't see it this year but last years made us cringe and thoroughly embarrassed that the county town (for what's that's worth) could put on such a sad show. I believe there is a childrens parade later in the year so dont say it was for the kids !! Not even a float advertising one business in the town !! Brewery ?

It does seem a little dated,
A live stage and creative workshops might help to give it a more festival atmosphere. I went to one in a small French town last year, they let a piglet loose and all the kids had to chase it, the winner (catcher) got a prize. The kids loved it, not sure about the pig tho' but it was probably on the barbecue later that evening.

The fun fair is also pretty cynical really

But come on, there are so many more possibilities it would just take a few creative organisers to get their heads together and get the whole town involved. The people who do the Patina parade every year could be drafted in to get the atmosphere going, they know how to organise an event.

If insuring the floats is a show stopper then dump the lorries and do it on foot.

It definitely needs some young blood involved if its going to survive. What about the Phoenix area people, I'm sure they could inject some life into it with their enormous creative energy.

How hard can it be?

I suppose part of hte problem is that it's organised by the Rotary Club, which isn't a particularly "Lewes" organisation - many people who would normally belong are busy with the bonfire, while the liberal-lefty end of town wouldn't join anyway.
I do agree with the comment upthread about Lewes having a lot of community events - meaning that there's little energy for this. I thoroughly disagree with the suggestion that "DFLs" are to blame for a lack of community spirit. It seems to me that many community events are organised by "DFLs" and that the vibrancy of LEwes is partly attributable to them (but not entirely, obviously). It's not an obvious place to move to from London given the travel times - most that I know have moved here because of the community spirit. So give it a rest.

Lewes is a dirty old dump of a town. Boring boring boring.......

Get off our forum then, t*sser...

DAVE how hard can it be , well I'm sure the rotary club are waiting for your call , patina spend a fortune on it , I was told 35k was spent a few years back , with the main organiser taking 5k for doing it, think that has changed now and has more help from parents etc , so for all you knockers just write your ideas down and drop them to rotary club and maybe they will improve it , or after reading all the comments probably not bother , After all how hard can it be !

OK
Ideas:-
1. Live music from local bands
2. Creative workshops and local crafts on sale
3. Less sweets, more good locally produced food
4. More audience participation
5. Less funfair
6. Local games - Toads, Skittles, Bat and trap etc.
8. Tug of war
9. Plenty of advertising beforehand
10. Boat trips up the river
11. People on stilts
12. Pony rides up the old railway line
13. Water slide for the kids down the slope from the railway line
14. Ball pit for the toddlers
15. Fancy dress competition
16. Fireworks in the evening
17. Fire engines
18. Dog show
19. Birds of prey display
20. Wood chopping demonstrations
21. Model of the new Phoenix area (get the developers to sponsor it too)
22. Steam engines
23. Treasure hunt
24. Pig chasing
25. Goat / Sheep racing
26. Pitchfork the hay bale competition
for starters, any more I've missed?

Incorporate the farmers market and/or boot fair into it....there's enough space.

Great work , now all you have to do is find them , book the field , get the license , pass it by the sag group , police fire and ambulance , assuming you can get all these acts it would be a great day ,

Stocks,yes...stocks would draw a crowd....plenty of candidates for that! Maybe Bill's could supply the veg?

Easypeasey, straight to the point, well done, Looks like Dave sorting next year out