This year’s Holsworthy Carnival was a great success, with more than 40 floats taking part.

Ted England, carnival committee chairman, said: “We think this is a record and it is definitely the most we have had in the last nine years.

“What was even more notable was the standard of all the floats, and we would like to say a huge thanks to all those who put the effort in and made the standard so high.

“The judges at the industrial estate commented on how challenging their job was in selecting the winners for all the classes. Ultimately, there can only be one overall winner, and all the judges agreed that the prize for best float of the evening went to ‘Carnival’ from Hatherleigh — which was truly spectacular.

“Another noticeable feature of the evening was the number of people watching the Carnival. More than one person has said to me that they have never seen so many people lining the streets on Carnival night.”

The committee were delighted with how the evening went, however, they say there are some improvements to be made.

Ted continued: “If there was one minor disappointment it was the number of walking entries that took part on the night. In years gone past there used to be dozens of people entering the various walking classes – including entries from local youth organisations such as the cubs and brownies.

“However, the trend in recent years seems to be that fewer and fewer people enter. This year we had four separate walking classes – and a total of four walking entries. As luck would have it, each class only had one entry – so everybody was awarded first prize on the evening. In contrast to the judges at the industrial estate, the judges at the football club had a relatively easy evening! The Carnival committee would like to encourage more ‘walkers’ to take part in next year’s Carnival – and would welcome suggestions to help achieve this.”

He added his thanks to all those who came out to support the event and make it such a success: “On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank all the participants for their efforts and the time given up to entertain Holsworthy town, the event could not run without them. I would also like to thank all of those who kindly donated to our bucket-shakers who mingled with the floats shaking with their collection buckets on the night. This year we raised the sum of £589 – which will go some way to helping us put on the event again next year.

“I would also like to thank all those drivers who patiently waited while the emergency services dealt with the two incidents in the area. Although these were not related to the Carnival and outside the road closure area, they did have a major impact on how traffic was able to leave the area, creating delays for many.”

He added: “Finally, I would like to thank everyone who helped in getting the Carnival off the ground and managing it on the night. The judges – the bucket-shakers – the people who managed the road closures – the drivers. Too many to mention individually – but the Carnival could not take place without them. These are all volunteers who give up their valuable time to help out and put on an annual event that brings our community closer together.”