Marching bands, Caribbean dancers and more in line for Redditch Carnival - The Redditch Standard

Marching bands, Caribbean dancers and more in line for Redditch Carnival

Redditch Editorial 6th Sep, 2019   0

THE Carnival is coming to Redditch – and it promises to be the biggest and best for many a year.

Featuring marching bands, Caribbean dancers, Cleopatra and the Snow Queen, bags of entertainment and, wait for it – dinosaurs – a truly spectacular event is in the pipeline.

At the heart of it all will be Tommy Wilson’s funfair which takes over the town centre from Thursday, September 26 to Carnival Day itself, Saturday, September 28.

“A carnival in Redditch is part of this town’s heritage and part of my family’s heritage too,” said Tommy.




The carnival started way back to raise funds for Smallwood Hospital in the days before the National Health Service.

“Back in 1926 my great grandfather donated £250 to hospital from that year’s takings to the carniva fundl – that’s about £15,000 today,” added Tommy.


However the carnival of 2019 promises to be a far cry from that of more than 90 years ago.

The Carnival committee, headed by the town’s Amanda Haden, has pulled together what they hope will be a stunning day of entertainment.

“We’ve been working with Leicester Carnival dance troupes and with the Notting Hill Carnival – it promises to be really spectacular,” said Tommy.

And so that everyone can join in the procession, especially the children, special workshops are planned before the event so people can make their own costumes to take part.

“At the moment we’re still talking about a walking procession which would leave the Edward Street car park at about 12noon and make it’s way up into the town centre,” said Tommy.

There, as well as all the entertainment from the fun fair, a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur is promised plus some velociraptors, a fairly fleet-footed dinosaur seen in the movie Jurassic Park.

“So many old Redditch folk say to me how wonderful it is that the carnival is back in town and this is all about reviving an old tradition,” said Tommy.

“So many carnivals in other towns have gone by the way so let’s make sure we keep the Redditch one alive.”

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