CHILDHOOD MEMORIES OF CARNIVAL IN EXETER
By Arthur Dyke, former chairman of Exeter Carnival

My earliest recollection of a carnival procession in Exeter was in the mid 1950’s, when being taken as a young boy to watch a carnival procession in Heavitree Road, opposite where the police station used to be. The procession was heading out from the city centre towards Heavitree.

National Promotional Vehicles

Two items in that procession still remain in my memory today. Both were commercial product promotional vehicles. This was in the days before national advertising on television and the many numerous more recent means of promoting a product. National companies in the fifties and before would specifically have a vehicle custom made for a particular product, which they wished to promote, with the aim that the vehicle could then be driven in carnival processions, promoting that product to the large numbers of spectators who always turn out for a carnival procession.

The two vehicles I remember so well were a strange looking three wheeled van, with ‘Sugar Puffs’ images all over the vehicle. Members of the team walked behind the vehicle throwing out small packets of Sugar Puffs. You can imagine the thrill of a young boy when I actually caught one of these packets.

The second promotional vehicle was a tube of toothpaste. I stood there fascinated as a large tube of toothpaste came through the procession. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the brand name. The toothpaste tube was built on a van chassis, you could clearly see the wheels under the toothpaste tube, but nothing else other than the toothpaste tube. The driver of the vehicle was sat in the cap of the toothpaste tube.

Even when we restarted Exeter Carnival in 1977, for several years we had entered in the procession, a large farm wagon pulled by two Shire horses, which was entered by and advertised ‘Anchor Butter.’

Circus

Circus with all its colour, sparkle and razzmatazz has always been a popular theme for a carnival float. Two processions involving the circus in the 1950’s, no doubt furthered my love generally of processions and parades.

In the 1950’s, in the days when television was just black and white film, following the sports programme on Saturday afternoons, there used to be a children’s TV show called ‘Circus Boy’, which I used to watch every week it was on. The main character ‘Corky’, the circus boy of the title, was actually played by a young Mickey Dolenz, who several years later found fame again as a member of the ‘Monkees’ sixties pop group.

Apart from enjoying the show itself, which was set in the States in 1895 and was about the fortunes of a horse drawn travelling circus, I used to love watching the end credits, as the film behind the credits showed a procession of horse drawn circus wagons on the horizon, heading into the darkness as they headed towards the next town. This sequence still fascinates myself to this day – I do have a complete DVD box set of Circus Boy.

In the 1950’s one of the three big circuses was Bertram Mills Circus, who were the only circus in this country to travel by train, rather than by road. As a small boy in the fifties. I was taken by my parents to watch the Bertram Mills circus parade, something that unfortunately no longer happens in this modern world when the Circus comes to town.

Each year on a Sunday, the special Bertram Mills Circus train used to pull into St David’s Station. All the animals and the many circus wagons, some containing wild animals, were unloaded, the clowns, acrobats, stilt walkers and trapeze artists used to put their circus costumes on, then they all formed up in a procession and the whole circus parade left St David’s Station, heading up Queen Street, turning into High Street, then along Sidwell Street and Blackboy Road, as the circus parade headed out towards the Polsloe playing fields where the big top had been erected.

In the 1950’s, shops were not allowed to open on a Sunday and Sunday was considered a day of rest, with very little traffic about, so a circus parade in those days caused little inconvenience to anyone. Also there was very little in the way of entertainment in those days, so to watch a circus parade with all its spectacle, meant a large crowd always lined the parade route – who else can honestly say they have seen live elephants walk up Exeter High Street?

Heavitree Carnival

At one time several districts in Exeter had their own carnival processions. The last of these to fold was Heavitree Carnival in 1973. The procession used to line up alongside Heavitree Park and then head up Heavitree Fore Street, on its way to the city centre.

A star attraction in the procession for several years was a gentleman, who had a reasonably large miniature house perfectly balanced on his head. The house was like a dolls house, but I think it was something he had built himself, which was mounted on a board. It was a pure novelty entry that took everyone’s interest, as he walked through the procession with this house balanced on his head. After the procession, everyone used to talk about the house being balanced on a man’s head, rather than talking about any of the larger entries in the procession. Unfortunately, I do not know the gentleman’s name and if anyone reading this does know his name, please do let us know.

My First Ever Involvement In Carnival

I actually took part in the Heavitree Carnival in 1969, my first ever involvement in carnival, other than as a spectator. My parents at the time had a grocery store and with a couple of friends, we decorated up the store van, including putting a stand on top of the roof to give it extra height and therefore extra impact. We entered the Trade Class and were very surprised when we were awarded First Prize in the class, there being much larger and more professional entries in the class. I still have the prize card today in my carnival collection. I was delighted when the national grocery chain for our store, included a photograph of our van in the procession, in their national inhouse magazine.

No doubt remembering the time I caught a packet of Sugar Puffs as a young boy, we threw out free packets of crisps to spectators. All went well until in the centre of the High Street, the crowd suddenly realised there were free packets of crisps being thrown out and descended on us as one, completely besieging us. We could not move again until two police officers came to our rescue and managed to get the crowd back. Needless to say, I got a telling off from the police. We did not throw any further packets of crisps out to the crowd after that.

My next involvement in carnival was not until 1977, when Exeter Carnival was started.

HISTORY AND MEMORIES OF

EXETER CARNIVAL 1977 - 1998

By Arthur Dyke, former chairman of Exeter Carnival  

Exeter Carnival 1977

After a gap of four years from the last Heavitree Carnival, carnival was restarted in Exeter in 1977.

 It was also the year that Exeter City Council launched the first Exeter Festival. At a public meeting held to discuss the new Exeter Festival, a gentleman named Roy McBrayne stood up and said he intended to start a Carnival in Exeter. This was not part of the plans for Exeter Festival and was met with disinterest from those running the meeting. Nothing more was heard until a few weeks later, when an article appeared in the Express and Echo requesting those interested in starting a carnival in Exeter to contact Mr McBrayne.

In the 1970’s I operated the ‘Midnight Hour Mobile Disco’, the seventies being the heyday of Disco. But I was getting fed up with the constant very late nights, I had a day job as well and felt that being involved in organising Exeter Carnival, would be the next logical step for myself to take.

I contacted Mr McBrayne and was invited around to his shop in Heavitree for a chat, which resulted in my joining the new carnival committee at its formation. Over the years I had many responsibilities, most often more than one at a time, including treasurer, secretary, publicity, procession officer and also the chairman for 15 years.

 The first Exeter Carnival meeting saw 14 people join together to form the new Exeter Carnival Committee, with the carnival date being agreed as 29th October. Actually we had no choice in this, this was the only Saturday when a carnival was not taking place somewhere in the area.

Right from the first year we worked hard at attracting entries, from both within Exeter and outside. We used to attend the line up areas of other carnivals in the South West, including carnivals in South Devon, East Devon and even Somerset and would talk to entrants in these other processions, encouraging them to take part in Exeter carnival.

We were very successful with this, maybe too successful. We overlooked one thing, would the line up of floats, bands etc, fit the space we had for lining up. In 1977, before moving to the Marsh Barton trading estate, we used Barrack Road from the Dryden Road junction down to Topsham Road for the lining up of floats etc.

Oh dear, no one had thought of checking the length that would be needed and Barrack Road was quickly filled up and floats were having to line up on a busy Topsham Road, stretching back to the Burnthouse Lane junction. This was not very clever, as Topsham Road was particularly busy not only with normal Saturday city centre shopping traffic, but with the numerous vehicles bringing spectators in to watch the procession.

I was encouraged by Mr McBrayne to enter a disco float into the procession, which I did – the one and only time I have ever performed on a float during a carnival procession in Exeter. My float was one of those that had to line up halfway along Topsham Road, which was interesting!

In those days judging was carried out before the procession commenced and I do remember the judges having to constantly dodge moving vehicles, as they judged the entries in Topsham Road. This was in the days before Health and Safety. Surprisingly we never heard anything from the police on this. The second year we lined up in the Army Barracks off Barrack Road, then moved to Marsh Barton for lining up, where we remained until 1998.

Five bands took part in the procession in 1977, these were the Ilfracombe Corps of Drums, the Okehampton Town Band, the Devon Army Cadets Band, the Exeter Boys Brigade Band and the Exeter Combined Cadet Corps.

One of the entries in 1977, which I remember so well, was from Ilminster based Harlequin Carnival Club, who were formed in 1974 and who took a second prize in our top class with an entry titled “Butterfly Princess”. The entry on a 60 feet long trailer towed by a tractor, featured a large Cinderella style coach at the rear of the trailer. Coming up either side of the trailer were two long scaffolding poles, which were raised as they headed towards the front of the trailer. Either side on each length of scaffolding pole, were fixed three large butterflies in a line, each butterfly having a performer sat on it, doing a routine to a mix of two instrumental hits that year: ‘Magic Fly’ by Space and ‘Pepper Box’ by the Peppers. The effect was of the six large butterflies, three either side, towing the Butterfly Princesses’ coach up into the sky. Sadly some 45 years later, this is the only float from 1977 that I can remember in any great detail.

Exeter Carnival 1979

Following a clash with Honiton Carnival the previous year, the 1979 Exeter Carnival was held on the second Saturday in October. This date was kept until 1997.

1979 was the first year we used Marsh Barton trading estate for the carnival line up. Unfortunately, just before the procession started, thunder roared, lightning flashed and rain came down in torrents. 17 of the younger majorettes had to be taken by police car and ambulance to the RDE Hospital to be treated for exposure.

However, the carnival went ahead to be watched by thousands of spectators who had already lined the route. A few open top floats did pull out and only three of the seven majorette troupes joined the procession.

The carnival collection was naturally down, with £900 being collected along the route. Prize money of £585 was on offer to the winning entries.

The overall winner in 1979 was ‘Weather Fantasy’ by Mrs Vicary of Crediton. Weather Fantasy contained 8,500 artificial flowers and had taken four months to construct and decorate.

Other prize winners in 1979 were, Wellington in the Majorettes class, ‘Gypsy Wedding’ by the Keymarkets Social Club, who took First Prize in the Local Class, whilst Teignmouth Royalty took First in the Carnival Queen class and the Locomotive Inn took First in the Pubs class.

Other entries this year included, ‘The Royal Barge of King Henry VIII and his Wives,’ which came all the way from Bideford in North Devon and ‘The Year of the Child’ St Thomas First School Parent & Teachers Association.

The night before carnival day, we held a ‘Children’s Carnival Fun Night’ in St Georges Hall, which featured ‘Bertie The Clown’ and included, games with prizes, face painting and a fancy dress competition.

Exeter Carnival 1980

Overall winners in 1980 were Axminster Young Farmers Club with a very well finished Tableau presentation, ‘Cinderella’s Fantasy.’ This was the first of three consecutive overall wins at Exeter Carnival for the Axminster Young Farmers.

In hot contention were Rockbeare Carnival Cub with ‘Burundi Bear Rock’ – note the clever use of their club name in the float title. Other entry titles this year included, ‘The Ice Queen,’ ‘The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe,’ ‘Pinocchio’s Disco,’ ‘The Circus Comes To Town,’ ‘Barbera Woodhouse Training Centre’ and ‘Flowers World Wide,’

Exeter Carnival 1982

Prize money in 1992 was up to £900 to help attract more entries and in recognition of the higher standard of entry that Exeter Carnival was attracting.

Entry titles this year included, ‘Willow Comes Alive’, ‘Mash’, ‘Singing In The Rain’, ‘Carnival of the Animals;‘, ‘Grandma We Love You’ inspired by a number one hit that year, ‘Japanese Tranquillity’, ‘Picture of Elegance’, ‘Ugly Bug Ball’, ‘Popeye’s Task Force’, ‘Wizard of Oz’ and ’75 Years of Scouting’ from the Pinhoe Scouts and Guides, Exeter.

The Local Class was won by regular entrants St Thomas First School, who had 30 pupils on board for their version of ‘Bugsy Malone’. However the Best Overall prize went to fellow regular entrants, Rockbeare Carnival Club, whose ‘Ride To Agidar’ cost £1,000 to build and was inspired by a Boney M song of the same name, that the club used to play at their fund raising discos. Ride To Agidar, was a Tableau presentation, and depicted the Arab attack on the French Foreign Legion. Five large camels dominated the float, which were made out of scrap metal and fibreglass.

Exeter Carnival 1983

Several fund raising events were held as part of the carnival week of fun and included, a Car Boot Sale, a Teenage ‘Fun’ Disco at St Georges Hall and a Carnival Ball, held after the procession.

Costs in 1983 went up to £3,500, the money being raised by fund raising events, the carnival Queen competition and money collected during the procession.

Exeter Carnival 1984

The 1984 Exeter Carnival was held on its now established date the second Saturday in October – 13th October.

1984 saw a major change in that the carnivals at Cullompton and Tiverton were invited to join Exeter Carnival to form the Mid Devon Carnival Circuit. Entries now as well as competing in each individual carnival, could also compete for the title of overall winner of all three carnivals. This helped attract several entries from Cullompton and Tiverton that had not entered before.

During the day, Morris dancers, stilt walkers and clowns entertained shoppers in advance of the evening’s procession.

Five bands once again took part in the procession: the City of Exeter Pipe Band, the Plymouth Emerald Ambassadors, the Exeter Boys Brigade Band, the Ivybridge Youth Band and another marching band from Plymouth. Among the total of 12 majorette troupes taking part were a troupe who travelled all the way from Poole in Dorset.

Entries for the procession in 1984 included Rockbeare CC’s ‘Ben Hur’ and in total contrast ‘The King of Hearts and His Tarts’, which was presented by Heavitree Follies. The overall winner this year was ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ a Tableau entry from Axminster YFC. The Express and Echo described Antony and Cleopatra as being of “Grandeur and artistic perfection.”

Sid Vale Carnival Club

One notable entry this year was a Mississippi Showboat, the first ever entry from the mighty Sid Vale Carnival Club, based at Sidmouth. The smoke stacks on the Showboat had to be cut down in size, so that the float could go under the railway bridge on Marsh Barton Road. Sid Vale have entered Exeter Carnival more times than any other organisation and have won the Best Overall prize more times than anyone else. Sid Vale CC will be one of the few entries from these years that will be taking part in the 2022 carnival.

Other entries in 1984 included, ‘Alice In Wonderland’ St Thomas First School who were once again the winners of the Local Class, ‘Cleopatra’ Wonford Community Association, ‘Christmas Extravaganza’ Exeter Round Table and Ladies Circle, ‘Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory’ Cullompton Rangers Football Club, ‘Snoopy V Red Baron’ Tiverton and District Angling Club and ‘Hawaiian Wedding’ Keymarkets Social Club, Broadclyst.

Among the judges this year was David Cousins, who was managing director of Devonair Radio, which was based in Exeter, David having found fame in the seventies as a member of hit making group, the Strawbs.

Exeter Carnival 1985

1985 saw one of the longest processions to date, wind its way around Exeter, which did cause a few problems.

The Best Overall winner for the third consecutive year were Axminster Young Farmers Club, who excelled themselves with another superb Tableau presentation ‘Battle of Culloden’. (Culloden was the site of the last pitched battle on British soil between the English and the Scots, taking place in 1746). The float featured English Recoats in their red, black and white uniforms and Highlanders fighting on a wild Scottish landscape, among which were magnificent almost full size models of Stags.

Other entries in 1985 included ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’ from Newton Poppleford Youth Class, which won the Youth section, ‘Clowning’ by Sid Vale CC in their second year of taking part in carnivals, which took the Best Lighting award and ‘Bugsy Malone, from the Kids of Shrubbery Close Carnival Club, who came all the way from Barnstaple and who took back to North Devon the Best Costumes cup for their efforts.

Exeter Carnival 1986

1986 was the year I took over as Chairman of Exeter Carnival and I remained chairman until 1998. The carnival committee was down to six in number, which meant we all had to work harder to keep the show up to its usual standard.

Following hold ups and delays the following year, due to the ever increasing length of the procession, the start time was brought forward in 1986 from its usual 7.30pm start to a 7pm start.

A total of 86 floats and 56 other entries lined up on the Marsh Barton trading estate, ready to entertain the thousands of spectators that Exeter Carnival was now attracting every year.

Among entries this year were: ‘The Guitar Man’ Sid Vale CC, ‘Night Flight To Venus’ Rockbeare CC, ‘Allo Allo’ White Hart Inn, Crediton, which won the Humorous Class and ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ from St Andrews Sunday School, Exeter.

Exeter Carnival 1987 – Saturday 10th October

New for the 1987 Exeter Carnival was an A5 size carnival programme, which cost a modest 25p and contained lots of information on the carnival.

Among Carnival Day entertainment were the Plymouth Ambassadors Showband, who entertained shoppers in the Guildhall Shopping Centre.

The carnival street collection totalled £2,742.98. This was considerably down on the previous year. It was felt that three days of cloud and rain, which only cleared a couple of hours before the procession started, contributed to the lower figure.

Fifty judges were now required to judge all the entries in the procession in 14 different classes. Entries included: ‘Union Street Cats’ St Thomas First School PTA, ‘Spanish Serenade’ Cullompton Football Club, ‘Victorian Melodies’ Heavitree Follies, ‘Fiesta Corrida’ Axminster YFC, ‘Canterbury Tales’ The Estuary Players, ‘Busy Doing Nothing’ Sid Vale Carnival Club, ‘Mississipi Showboat’ The Family Carnival Club of Dawlish, ‘Toy Boys’ Newton Poppleford Social Club and ‘Its For You Hoo’ British Telecommunications, which won First Prize in the Trade Class.

The top prize was awarded to ‘O-Sa-O-Sa-O’, an Aztec extravaganza presented by Rockbeare Carnival Club, this was the third time since they started entering Exeter Carnival, that Rockbeare CC went home with the Best Overall Float award.

Exeter Carnival 1988

The 1988 Exeter Carnival Queen was 18 year old Sarah Parker, Sarah enjoying her reign so much that she was the carnival Queen for three consecutive years.

Just as the procession was about to leave the Marsh Barton trading estate, disaster struck a Rock N Roll themed float, when a faulty generator caused the whole float to go up in flames. Twenty people on the float quickly climbed off, as months of hard work went up in smoke within minutes. Among items destroyed in the fire was a jukebox. The disappointed and unhappy looks on the faces of the youngsters from Wonford Community Association, turned to smiles, when Canon South West invited them all to go through the procession on their float. One of the Wonford Community Association organisers said afterwards, “There was no panic and no injuries occurred. Several people alongside helped those on the float to get off safely.”

Class winners in 1988 included, ‘Mermaids Wedding’ Rockbeare Carnival Club. ‘The Garden of the Chinese Empress’ Kids of Shrubbery Close, Barnstaple. ‘Dancing With The Captain’ Honiton YFC. ’76 Trombones’ the Farley Family, Dawlish. ‘Over The Rainbow’ St Thomas First School. ‘The Yodelling Farmer and the Cockerels’ Sidbury and District YFC. ‘Old London Town’ 6th Exeter Scout Group. ‘Midland Moonshot’ Midland Bank and Bridgwater Kestrels took the Majorette’s class.

Regular entrants Axminster YFC took part once again with ‘Crocodile Rock’, the two words of the Elton John hit were taken literally, with the entire length of the float being built as the inside of a very large crocodile’s head, with a rock n roll band and dancers inside the large mouth section.

The Best Lighting award went to ‘Heart of Texas’ Sid Vale Carnival Club, who were also awarded the Most Colourful Float cup. Best Costumes went to the Kids from Shrtubbery Close. Most Original Theme was judged to be ‘Old London Town’ 6th Exeter Scout Group. For the second year running, the top award went to Rockbeare Carnival Club.

More than £3,800 was collected during the procession.

Exeter Carnival 1989

1989 got off to a bad start, with three of the five committee members resigning from the committee, due to the amount of time that was now required to organise such a large event. However, an appeal in the local media was very successful, with seven new members coming forward to join the committee.

Prize money was increased to a total of £1,750, which helped encourage over 75 floats to enter, along with several marching bands and a host of walking entries.

Float entries by 1989 had become a eclectic mix of carnival club floats which toured the carnival circuit and one day only floats mostly from within Exeter.

The top class, ‘Open Feature’ saw a very strong entry this year with a very high standard, which must have given the judges some difficulty in making their decision. Class positions were: 1st ‘It’s A Kind Of Magic’ Moridunum Carnival Club, Seaton. 2nd ‘Wigwam Bam’ Rockbeare Carnival Club. 3rd ‘Jack’s Toy Box’ Axminster YFC. 4th ‘Lucky Charms’ Sid Vale Carnival Club.

Among first prize winners in their class were: ‘The Land of Make Believe’ Honiton YFC. ‘Wind In The Willows’ Down and Chanin Families, Cheriton Fitzpaine. ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ St Thomas First School. ‘Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang’ Sidbury and District YFC and ‘Treasure Island’ Montgomery Combined School.

The Barnstaple Queen and Princesses float won the Royalty class, whilst Cullompton Ace Majorettes were the winners of the Majorettes class. Sweeping the board this year was Moridunum’s ‘It’s a Kind Of Magic, the club taking home to Seaton, First prize in their class, the Best Lighting award, the Best Costumes award and the top award, Best Overall Float.

Other entries among the 75 plus floats were: ‘Jack In The Box’ Bridge Carnival Club of Exeter, ‘Greatest Show On Earth’ Belmont Youth Chapel, ‘Cats’ Exeter Gymnastics Club, ‘Allo Allo’ Exeter Air Training Corp. ‘Austrian Break’ from the staff of the Clyst and Creedy wards at the R. D. & E Hospital, Exeter, ‘Swan Lake’ Newton Poppleford Football Club and ‘Rock Around The Clock’ Newton Poppleford Social Club,

Exeter Carnival Queen and Princesses

The first Exeter Carnival Queen in 1977 was 14 year old Caroline Trivett. Since then, many young ladies have been part of Exeter’s royal family.

For most years from 1978, a tour of other carnivals was undertaken with the Exeter Carnival Queen and Princesses float. Being seen at other carnivals was a major advertisement for Exeter Carnival and also encouraged entries at other towns to enter Exeter Carnival.

In 1989, just a week or two before that year’s carnival, we purchased at an auction for £1,100 an ex British Telecomm carnival trailer. At 26 feet in length, this was double the previous trailer’s length and gave us much more scope in decorating the trailer and gave Exeter Carnival a much bigger presence at other carnivals.

With the increase in the size of the float trailer, the number of Princesses each year was increased from two to four. With the larger trailer we also ventured further afield and attended carnivals at Barnstaple in North Devon and Wellington and Taunton in Somerset.

We had to disguise our float to enter the Juvenile Class at Taunton Carnival, as they would not allow other Royalty floats into their procession, in case their own royalty float was overshadowed. I do remember one year at Taunton Carnival, we used the music ‘Saturday Night’ by Whigfield, which had been a number one hit a few weeks earlier and was a very catchy dance track, which had its own dance routine. All the way round Taunton, the youngsters in the crowd were stepping out of the crowd and performing the routine to our music as we came along. I think that this night was the best atmosphere of any carnival that we took part in.

Over the years, the Exeter Carnival Queen and Princesses float was fortunate to be awarded many prizes at other carnivals. 1991 was probably our best year, when I had a year off work and was able to spend more time on the float. The float in 1991 picked up First Prizes at processions at Exeter Festival, Ivybridge, Dawlish, Cullompton and Tiverton among others, as well as taking the Second Prize in our class at the Lord Mayor’s Parade in Plymouth.

In 1993 and 1994, a member on the committee, Terry Clarke, who was a carpenter by trade, built our best two royalty floats. The 1993 float featured an under the sea theme, with the Queen sat in a large seashell, with a large seahorse either side to guard her. The four princesses sat on very large sea fish. All these items were purchased from the Sid Vale Carnival Club, who had constructed them for their 1991 ‘Masters of the Sea’ float.

1994, the Exeter Carnival Royalty float was called ‘Once Upon A Time’. A Cinderella castle was built at the back of the float and a very large Cinderella style coach being pulled by two virtually full size horses filled the centre of the float. The Carnival Queen and two Princesses being sat inside the Cinderella style coach. The coach and horses were hired from Aldon Vale Carnival Club of Ilminster and the Exeter float trailer was towed up to Ilminster for the coach to be lifted on. The coach was lifted up on to the float by a fork lift and the operator of the forklift was superb, there was literally just an inch from the top of the coach to the ceiling on our float. We all held our breath as the operator slowly manoeuvred the large and very heavy coach into position – would it fit, yes just!.

Exeter Carnival 1990

At the start of 1990 the Police demanded a new procession route was used, due to difficulties in staff arriving and leaving the R, D & E Hospital during the dispersal period in Barrack Road. A circular route was drawn up, starting and finishing on the Marsh Barton trading estate. Due to the Police on the night, not operating the new route as had been agreed, the circular route was not a success and the following year the procession reverted back to its usual route.

The 1990 Exeter Carnival was reported in the Express and Echo as being a “Marathon extravaganza” with “a wide range of imaginative themes.” The report stating that 90 floats took part, coming from afar afield as Cornwall and Axminster. along with over 20 walking entries, plus bands, majorettes and other participants.

During the day some 20 entertainers performed around the city centre, including; The St Thomas First School Jazz Band, the Exeter Children’s Orchestra, a Tudor Dance Group, the Exeter Morris Men and a folk band.

Over 100,000 spectators were estimated now to line the four and a quarter mile long route each year. A record collection saw a total of £4,882.33 being donated during the 1990 procession.

Major carnival club entries in the 1990 Exeter Carnival included, ‘One Night In Bangkok’ by Rockbeare Carnival Club and ‘Fire and Ice’ by the Moridunum Carnival Club from Seaton. However, the top float award this year went to the Sid Vale Carnival Club of Sidmouth. Their ‘Temple Of The Incas’ featured 2,500 light bulbs, with the costumes alone costing £800.

Other entries this year included, ‘Pow Wow’ by 3rd Exeter Girls Brigade, ‘We’ll Meet Again’ from the Radfords Hotel, Dawlish, ‘Gold Rush’ from the youngsters at Belmont Chapel, Exeter, ‘Clowning Around’ by the Gateway Foodmarkets Social Club at Broadclyst, ‘Peter Pan’ from Montgomery Combined School, ‘It’s Christmas, Let’s Go Crackers’ from the Topsham Brownies, Exeter, ‘Capital Gains’ a monopoly theme from Honiton YFC, ‘Hitching A Space Ride’ Down and Chanin Families, Cheriton Fitzpaine, ‘Can Can Follies’ Newton Poppleford Football Club, ‘It’s Gnome Time’ Stoke Arms Monday Club, Exeter, ‘Flash, Bang, Wallop’ Crediton Operatic and Dramatic Society, along with ‘Arabian Nights’, ‘Mississippi Showboat’ and ‘Artic Wonderland.’

Exeter Carnival 1991 – Saturday 12th October

A new innovation for 1991 saw the launch of the’ Exeter Carnival Supporters Club’, which was launched with the aim of gaining additional funds and support to Exeter Carnival. For a modest subscription, members to the Supporters Club, were sent newsletters on Exeter Carnival and a couple of weeks before the event were sent each year, a special supporters pack, which contained a copy of the carnival magazine, a carnival badge, pen and other goodies such as an Exeter Carnival keyring.

Street entertainment during carnival day was now a big part of the carnival and an ‘Exeter Street Entertainer of the Year’ competition had been introduced. Street entertainment in 1989 took part in timed spots at various locations around the city centre, with some acts also walking around the city centre to give spontaneous performances.

Procession

Out of some 80 floats, for the second time in three years, Seaton’s Moridunum Carnival Club took the title of Best Overall Float with their presentation, ‘Royal Flush’, which was themed around playing cards, with excellent costumes on those representing the figures in a pack of playing cards, Moridunum also picking up the Best Costumes cup.

First prize winners in their class this year included, ‘Masters of the Sea’ Sid Vale Carnival Club, Sidmouth. ‘Toytown Smiles’ Cullompton Youth Club, which was also awarded the Most Improved Float cup and ‘Starship Troopers’ Cullompton Football Club.

Other floats in 1991 included, ‘Victorian Christmas’ Belmont Hospital, Exeter. ‘Welcome to Nonsenseland’ St Thomas First School, Exeter. ‘Puppet On A String’ Thirsty Farmer Carnival Club, Whimple. ‘Oriental Surprise’ St Pauls’ Brownies, Tiverton. ‘Robin Hood and his Merry Men’ British Telecomm, Exeter. ‘Warriors of Zaire’ Minster Carnival Club, Axminster. ‘Waving The Flag’ St Thomas Methodist Wives, Exeter and ‘Tulips From Amsterdam’ Kids from Shrubbery Close Carnival Club, Barnstaple, who picked up the Best Lighting award.

Exeter Carnival 1992

For the first time judging on route was introduced for float entries in the procession, as opposed to judging floats static beforehand in the line up area. The main benefit to judging on route is that the judges can be anywhere along the route, which means entrants do not know when they are being judged and have to give a one hundred per cent performance right throughout the procession. This providing spectators with a much more entertaining show and the overall effect is of a much more spectacular show.

Procession

A total of 130 floats, walking entries and other participants lined up for the 1992 procession, who were judged by around 70 judges. Floats came from as far afield as Cornwall and Dorset.

Sid Vale Carnival Club’s ‘Samurai Legend’ swept the board, being awarded, First in Open Feature, Best Lighting, Best Costumes and Best Overall Float. For the 9th year running, St Thomas First School won the Exeter Local Class with their presentation, ‘The Magical World of Disney’.

First prize winners in their class included, ‘Spellbound’ Cullompton Football Club, who were also awarded the Most Improved cup. ‘Gambler’ Cullompton YFC. ‘A Tribute To Benny Hill’ 3 Bis Carnival Club, Cheriton Fitzpaine. The Trade Class was won by ‘All The Fun Of The Fair’ Gliddon’s Toy Shop, Sidmouth.

Other entries this year included, ‘Noah’s Ark’ St James School, Exeter. ‘It’s Tom’s Gang’ St Thomas Baptist Church, Exeter. ‘Singing In The Rain’ Moridunum Carnival Club, Seaton. ‘Hook and Peter Pan’ Sidney Gale Carnival Club, Bridport, Dorset. ‘Behind The Nursery Door’ Honiton YFC. ‘Ye Olde Yocalls’ Radfords Hotel, Dawlish. ‘Festival Espana’ Launceston YFC, Cornwall. ‘Santa’s Workshop’ Beaver and Pavis Families, Sidford. ‘The Wurzels’ Sidbury and District YFC. ‘Life On Mars’ St Thomas Methodist Young Wives, Exeter. ‘Bring On The Clowns’ Half Moon Carnival Club, Cheriton Fitzpaine.

Exeter Carnival 1993

Early in the year one of the headlines in the Express and Echo read, “Carnival Bans Boring Entries’. The article underneath the headline stated that boring buses and box vans were to be banned from future processions. This followed numerous complaints from spectators in recent years, re commercial box vans and coaches being in among the decorated floats. All floats in future now had to be fully decorated and built off the bed of a lorry or trailer.

1993 was the tenth year of the Mid Devon Carnival Circuit, which had proved to be very successful in feeding additional entries into Exeter Carnival.

First prize winners in their class this year included, ‘Caribbean Celebration’ Sid Vale Carnival Club, Sidmouth. ‘Land of the Cossacks’ Moridunum Carnival Club, Seaton. ‘Spanish Serenade’ Honiton YFC. ‘Jungle Fever At Disney’ Starcross School PTFA. ‘Tribal Dance’ Cullompton YFC. ‘Santa’s Grotto’ Topsham and Clyst Lions Club, Exeter.

Special awards went to ‘Caribbean Celebration’ Sid Vale Carnival Club, who went home with Best Lighting, Most Colourful Float and the prestigious Best Overall Float cup. ‘Land of the Cossacks’ Moridunum Carnival Club, picked up the Best Costumes award, Montgomery Combined School were awarded Best Exeter Float for ‘Around The World’, whilst the Furthest Travelled Float award went to Bude Carnival Royalty, Cornwall.

Other winners included, ‘Boing Sez Zebedee’ Park Close Carnival Club, Fremington, North Devon and ‘Winter Fun’ Bowden Junior Belles, Tiverton. ‘Porcelain On Display’ Fiesta Carnival Club, Taunton, Somerset were awarded the Best Overall Walking cup.

Exeter Carnival 1994

Procession

1st Prize winners in 1994 included, ‘Sawdust and Spangles’ a circus theme, Sid Vale Carnival Club, Sidford. ‘A World Of Fantasy’ Zodiac Carnival Club, Cheriton Fitzpaine. ‘Egyptian Extravaganza’ Samaritans, Budleigh Salterton. ‘100% Sunshine’ Cullompton YFC. ‘The Music Man’ 3 B’s Carnival Club, Cheriton Fitzpaine. ‘Cedric’s Circus’ 16th Emmanual Scout Group, Exeter. ‘Have A Monster Time’ Crawford Inn, Exeter. ‘Thomas The Tank Engine’ Gliddons Toy Shop, Sidmouth.

‘Sawdust and Spangles’ saw Sid Vale Carnival Club, Sidmouth, triumph once again, the judges awarding Sid Vale, Best Overall Float, Best Lighting and Best Costumes. ‘A World Of Fantasy’ Zodiac Carnival Club, also went down well with the judges and were awarded. Most Entertaining Float, Most Original Theme and Most Colourful Float. The Most Improved Float went to ‘Flash Gordon’ Half Moon Carnival Club, Cheriton Fitzpaine.

In a hotly contested Royalty class the winners who came from South, East and North Devon as well as from Cornwall were; 1st South Brent. 2nd Ottery St Mary. 3rd Bude. 4th Barnstaple.

Other float entries in 1994 included, ‘Aztec Sun Warriors’ Sloop Inn Carnival Club, Kingsbridge. ‘Swing A-Sarus’ Farley Family, Dawlish. ‘House of Horrors’ Newton St Cyres YFC and ‘The Pushbike Song’ Thirsty Farmer Carnival Club, Whimple.

Exeter Carnival 1995

1995 got off to a bad start with Exeter City Council banning from Bedford Square, the now traditional Exeter Street Entertainer of the Year competition on carnival day, due to complaints from traders that the event had got too big. The row rumpled on for a large part of the year. With the banning of associated fund raising street stalls in Bedford Square, that paid for the street entertainment, there were no street entertainers this year. The police also introduced new safety rules for carnivals in Devon and Cornwall.

Then just two months before Crediton Carnival, which was held just two weeks before Exeter Carnival, the organising committee of Crediton Carnival suddenly stepped down. The Mid Devon Carnival Circuit of which I had been chairman since it’s inception, immediately stepped in and took over the running of Crediton Carnival for two years. This in effect meant that Exeter Carnival Committee was now having to organise and run two separate carnivals, within a couple weeks of each other.

Procession

‘Behind The Mask’ with it’s 5,000 light bulbs, saw Sidmouth’s Sid Vale Carnival Club take the top honours once again, the club winning Best Overall Float, Best Lighting and Best Costumes.

Unfortunately, the 1995 procession was marred by yobs throwing eggs, coins and stones at those on the floats and Sid Vale were sadly one of the worst affected floats, with performers costumes ruined by eggs. This was not the first time the procession had been targeted by yobs throwing eggs, but it was certainly the worse. This was the last time Sid Vale CC understandably appeared at Exeter Carnival in the 1990’s.

Other float entries this year included, the Disney inspired ‘Where The Magic Never Ends’ Phoenix Carnival Club, Honiton. ‘North Pole Express’ Zodiac Carnival Club, Cheriton Fitzpaine. ‘I. F. Artz Fizz Factory’ Half Moon Carnival Club, Cheriton Fitzpaine. ‘Gnome Zone’ John Stocker School, Exeter. ‘Caribbean Fantasy’ Bandits Carnival Club, Crediton. ‘Magic Roundabout’ Newton St Cyres YFC. ‘Space Troopers’ Montgomery Combined School, Exeter. ‘Intergalactic Red Cross’ British Red Cross, Exeter and ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’ Beaver Carnival Club, Whimple.

Among the Special Awards, ‘Space Troopers’ Montgomery Combined School was awarded the Most Improved Float, Best Exeter Float went to ‘Gnome Zone’ John Stocker School, the Best Feature Routine was awarded to ‘North Pole Express’ Zodiac Carnival Club, whilst Phoenix Carnival Club’s ‘Where The Magic Never Ends’ picked up both the Most Entertaining and Most Colourful float awards.

Exeter Carnival 1996

With Exeter Carnival now one of the top events in Devon, there was a continuous problem of the now just three strong committee trying to raise the funds to cover the ever-increasing costs each year and with just three members willing to spend the time on the considerable workload to make the event happen each year, it was becoming more difficult each year for the whole event to go ahead.

In addition, due to the yobbish behaviour of the previous year by some spectators, regular entrants and prize winners, Sid Vale Carnival Club, announced at the beginning of the year that they had decided to boycott Exeter Carnival.

Following the problems of the previous year, the 1996 procession was much smaller than in recent years, with other floats following Sid Vale in not taking part. Fortunately following a media campaign, the 1996 procession passed off without incident and was described as a much “quieter affair.”

Phoenix Carnival Club of Honiton, ‘Tick Tock Rock’ was awarded Best Overall Float, the Most Colourful Float award went to ‘Puppet’s Dream’ Zodiac Carnival Club, Cheriton Fitzpaine, who also picked up Best Costumes. Best Feature Routine went to ‘Showboat ‘96’ Bandits Carnival Club, Crediton. Best Exeter Float went to ‘Toy Shop’ John Stocker Middle School and ‘Martian Hop’ Thirsty Farmer Carnival Club was awarded the Most Entertaining Float cup.

Other entries this year included, ‘Grease’ Bow YFC. ‘Hell Raisers’ Half Moon Carnival Club, Cheriton Fitzpaine and ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ First Topsham Brownies, Exeter.

Exeter Carnival 1997

Fringe events as part of Exeter Carnival in 1997 included, a carnival fair, a carnival street market and street entertainment. However, a Mechanical Music Organ Festival to celebrate the 21st anniversary of Exeter Carnival was blocked by Exeter City Council.

Further problems were caused by Exeter City Council, when they put back meetings from the usual date until May, to discuss and agree carnival events, even though permission for the various events was submitted as usual in January. Once again the row rumbled on for most of the year, finally the Council were forced to say, that next year’s events would not be met with the same obstacles and that a working party would be set up immediately after this year’s event.

Procession

Entries in the procession this year included, ‘Master Tribe’ Zodiac Carnival Club, Cheriton Fitzpaine. ‘Wallace and Grommits Wash N Go’ Crash Box and Classic Car Club, Exeter. ‘Lights, Camera, Action’ Samaritans, Budleigh Salterton. ‘Gnomes R Us’ Half Moon Carnival Club. ‘The Day Before’ John Stocker Middle School, Exeter, which was a First prize winner in its class, as well as being awarded Best Exeter Float. ‘Noah’s Ark’ Montgomery Combined School, Exeter. ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’ Belmont Chapel, Exeter. ‘Under The Sea’ British Red Cross Youth, Exeter and ‘The Music Makers’ The Farley Family, Dawlish.

The Furthest Travelled Float award went to an advertising vehicle for Outspan Oranges, which travelled all the way from Buckinghamshire to take part. Most Entertaining On Route and Most Colourful Float was awarded to ‘Gnomes R Us’ Half Moon Carnival Club, Zodiac Carnival Club’s ‘Master Tribe’ was awarded Best Costumes and ‘Shaman’ by Phoenix Carnival Club of Honiton were judged to have the Best Lighting and Best Overall Float.

Collection Fall

Only £4,107 was donated during the procession, well down on the record £6.000 donated in 1988. This caused further problems with the funding of the carnival, with the carnival failing to cover its costs, which meant committee members had to dig into their own pockets to make up the shortfall.

The collection coinage was made up of £2,550 donated in 1p’s and 2p’s. £1,000 in silver coins, mostly 5p’s. 543 spectators did generously donate a £1 coin, whilst four people very kindly put a £5 note into the collecting tins.

Among the many costs involved each year were payments for, insurance, portable toilets, hire of road signs, printing, prize money, public address vehicles and advertising banners.

Exeter Carnival 1998 – The Final Year

Before 1997 had ended, due to the difficulty in raising funds for such a large event and with the very small committee stretched considerably, it was decided to scale down the size of the event.

An end of carnival season Christmas Carnival, which could be viewed as an of season party for carnival circuit entrants, was decided upon. This end of season party meant no prize money had to be paid out to entrants, saving immediately £2,000. The date was changed to Saturday 28th November.

Procession

Major awards went to Zodiac Carnival Club from Cheriton Fitzpaine, for ‘Hocus Pocus’ which was judged as Best Overall Float and also the float with the Best Costumes. Honiton’s Phoenix Carnival Club were judged to have the Best Lighting on a float.

Other entries this year included, ‘Firework Fantasy’, ‘Nursery Capers, Twas The Night Before Christmas’, ‘Barbie Maniacs’, ‘Alice In Wonderland’, ‘And The Band Played On’, ‘Artic Baywatch’ and ‘The Farm Monty’.

Collection

Despite pleas for spectators to increase the amount they donated, the collection total, although an increase of £500 on 1997, totalled only £4,500, which meant once again for the third consecutive year, the carnival did not meet its ever increasing costs and once again committee members had to dig into their own pockets.

The End

A couple of meetings were held to discuss the 1999 carnival, with various ideas being put forward. However, at the AGM in January, the three remaining committee members decided they had gone as far as they could and no further discussions or meetings were held and no plans were made for a 1999 Exeter Carnival.

Carnival History

The last Exeter Carnival took place on Saturday 28th November 1998. It was billed as Devon’s biggest Annual Street Party of the year and Exeter’s biggest and most colourful event of the year.

Arthur Dyke, an original member of the Exeter Carnival Committee who produced the carnival for its full run 1977 to 1998, along with being its chairman for 15 years was approached by InExeter when it was decided to bring back the Carnival to Exeter.

Arthur is now the secretary for the South Devon Carnival Association which runs a summer carnival circuit based around 9 towns and has been an incredible support in delivering the 2022 event. Arthur was happy to help advise and guide InExeter in preparation for creating the new carnival, lending support from his contacts in the East Devon Carnival Circuit too.