31/08/2008 by admin.

Last night (30th Aug 2008) proved to be a wonderful evening of spectacle from the Massed band of 120 musicians for 120 years and the “Celebration” Queen costume at the front of the carnival to The Renegades of Rampage Mas Band from Luton.

The evening was everything we had all hoped the sun shone during the day leaving us with a balmy evening which lifted spirits. The crows was absolutely amazing with the streets packed with locals and visitors alike. People joined in from the crowd, they were entertained by RAW Samba prior to the carnival setting off in the high street. The Masses Band of 120 musicians marched ahead of the procession stopping on a regular basis to entertain the waiting crowds.

The Queen costume lead the rest of the parade with rapturous applause and cheering as the costume was spun giving the crowd a glittering  star  and balloon filled vision. The Ryde carnival float came out in full glory with bubbles flowing through the air and the horses lit from inside giving a surreal undersea glow, our young people partied away as usual. Then came the islands own community carnival group Mas Fusion with their outstanding Migoto Matsuri Festival of 120 members who danced and cheered their way around the route showing what a superb quality of carnival is achievable on the Island and proving that the Island is up there with the best designers and groups from the mainland.

Local schools joined in, including Ryde High School who produced a wonderful tableau with well choreographed dance routines that deserved all the applause and cheers they received. Greenmount Samba band headed by their brilliant headteacher Richard May  with their dancers showed just how far schools are able to encompass adults and children alike in carnival.  The beautiful “Butterflies and bugs” from Bishop Lovett worked wonders with their beautiful fluttering display of dance.  The Carnival Centre brought the wonderful “Earth Magic” troupe to the streets with a fabulous music and infectious dance routines again receiving cheers as they traveled the route.

“Santa’s Confused.com” thrilled us all with their wonderfully wacky take on global warming with prancing reindeer who kept collapsing due to heat exhaustion, Christmas fairies, elves, baubles and of course Mr and Mrs Clause with all the fun of the pantomime thrown in. Another brilliant local group was the Wight Strollers who’s “Biggles” tableaux produced some classic flight formations which the crowds absolutely loved.

The three visiting Mas Bands from London and Luton gave the carnival extra punch and thrill and were very well received with their fun and very energetic dance routines interdispersed with beautiful costumes ranging from giant wasps to beautiful butterflies, magic carpets and eastern promise, beautiful flags and banners. We are so pleased that they were able to join in our celebrations of what had to be the highlight of the carnival season on the Isle of Wight.

In between the various large troupes were the Queen’s Floats from the other Carnival Associations from around the island adding beauty and grace to the parade, it was lovely to see all of the floats  at the parade. There were also tributes to Abba with a group named “Mamma Mia” highlighting the never ending popularity of this group and of course the  film and stage show, there was also a “Thriller” group remembering that Michael Jackson was 50 on Friday. Grease was also represented by a group with Sandy and Danny dancing on the back of their car.  Ryde Extreme Performers walked around the route on stilts, as did a spectacular “Snow Queen” and two black devils. The local fancy dress-hire shop Masquaryde had a brilliant take on the jungle with warriors in African style costumes and stilt walkers. Not only the young took part, the Murphy Sisters dressed up as two badly behaved Nuns, who played some very funny tunes as they drove around on their scooters.

Previous Queen’s and their attendants joined members of the Ryde Carnival Association on an open top bus  to enjoy watching the parade from a different angle. Another open top bus joined the parade named “The Magic Bus” with dancers in fancy dress costume partying away. We also had an excellent tribute to the Shadows, namely the “5 O’Clock Shadows” who played Shadow’s music around the route. Ventnor’s Comic Jazz Band turned up and as usual entertained us with their eccentric behaviour, with one member turning up in a wheel chair having broken his leg.

We would like to thank everyone who took part in the procession, the excellent stewards who made the carnival run so smoothly and of course the public for watching.  We would love to hear any comments that you have about the carnival celebrations this year.

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30/08/2008 by admin.

The photographs of both the Ryde Main Carnival 28th August and the Children’s Carnival Processions will be going live this afternoon. If you wish to have a copy please e-mail us at info@rydecarnival.co.uk with the Photograph number and number of copies you require and we will organise for you to purchase them from our photographer.

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29/08/2008 by admin.

Ryde Carnival’s Procession Officer Brenda Livingstone has set up a Facebook group for past Queen’s and Attendants - This little site will have photographs of the Queen’s and the floats and anyone can add their photographs to it.Facebook Ryde Carnival Past Queen’s and Attendants page

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29/08/2008 by admin.

Yesterday evening saw the start of what should be the highlight of all the year for the island carnivals.

The procession was headed by a specially commissioned costume for the event which was a confection of Stars, Rockets and Balloons in shades of purpl, pink and sliver. RAW Samba wowed the crowds with their fantastic dancers and musics, then came the Ryde Carnival Float with it’s fantasy Seahorses riding the waves and our wonderful troupe of dancers in thier beautiful colourful costumes.
Local schools and community groups from the Ryde area and further afield put on a spectacluar display, intermingled with family costumed groups and individuals. Local Marching bands joined in with their traditional tunes and marching performances.

The floats that joined  the procession came from around the island including, Sandown, Ventnor, Cowes, St. Helens to name a few with their elegantly dressed Carnival Queen’s.

Other floats that joined us included “Santa’s Confused.com” which was built and designed by Binstead community group to highlight global warming. The Isle of Wight Strollers put on a brilliant display of “Biggles” with their actors flying along the route in Tiger Moths in wonderful choreographed flying formations.

The biggest group of the evening Mas Fusion ended the  parade with a fabulous display of Japanese Migoto Matsuri Festival with veiled travellers, flower bearers, Japanese  warriors, Peacocks and Herons with fabulous King and Queen individual costumes, this group is as good if not better that many of the Carnival troupes that come out of London’s Notting Hill carnival.

We would like to thank everyone who took part in what was a wonderful evening of entertainment and pure enjoyment. We would like to thank everyone who came to watch our first parade of the week.

Don’t forget the children’s parade is on this afternoon and starts at 1.30 pm Assemble in Upper Dover Street, Judging starts at 2.00 pm and the Procession moves off at 2.45 p.

Please come and support all the children at the event and don’t forget to give generously to the collectors.

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27/08/2008 by admin.

We have been trying to get the photographs of the Ryde Arts Festival parade on line for weeks, but due to circumstances beyond our control it’s only been possible to sort them out today.

The photographs have been taken by our Publicity Officer Claire Kay and a number have also been contributed  by Mandy from Wight Studio.
If you wish to order a photograph please contact us via info@rydecarnival.co.uk stating the number/s and sizes required and we will let you know the cost and where to order them from.

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27/08/2008 by admin.

Due to an error by the printers our Programme has some incorrect information in it.
We need to point out that the Children’s Carnival procession starts at the top end of Dover Street, NOT the Esplanade as printed in the programme.
Also all schools will be judged on the route during all processions to enable the judges to view all aspects of the costumes and performances.

The route map shows the correct start point of all three parades.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

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27/08/2008 by admin.

We are very proud to announce that our float and troupe of dancers won some more prizes for their work at local Carnivals.

Despite heavy rain at Cowes Carnival the Float came 1st in their group and again came 1st at St. helen’s Carnival which took place on Bank Holiday Monday.

Well done!!

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15/08/2008 by admin.

Ryde Carnival has been looking at new ways to help boost our revenue to ensure that the carnivals
go from strength to strength and to ensure we have a long term relationship with local businesses who advertise in our carnival programme. So we now offer advertising opportunities for local businesses on our website. The advertisers who took up adverts in this years programme now have a bespoke page of adverts with direct links to their websites if they have one. Please support these local businesses through out the year, you will also see the Ryde businesses located on our map.

If you are interested in advertising on the Ryde Carnival website please contact our website administrator at info@rydecarnival.co.uk.

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12/08/2008 by admin.

The official Ryde Carnival Association 120th year Carnival Programme is now on sale around Ryde at £1.50 all proceeds from the sale of the programme goes towards funding of our Small Grant Scheme, Stewarding Costs, St.John’s Ambulance Services and production of our tableaux.

To accompany this years’ carnival programme for our 120th year of Carnival, I designed a new route map for spectators to use, it is far more comprehensive that the old map and shows the locations of Telephone boxes and public toilets and the local businesses that advertised with us this year.

this is what it looks like

You can download and print a copy of it on this page of the website. If you are going to print a copy try to thing of the environment.

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11/08/2008 by admin.

Shanklin Illuminated Carnival Procession turned out to be a total washout due to very heavy showers. Undeterred the Ryde Carnival Association Float put on a fabulous performance. It proved to be a bit frustrating as the rain kept stopping and starting, with the children trying to keep dry under the trees, in the end we tried waterproof ponchos which were eventually ditched as they kept blowing up and hindering their dancing. The children were drenched but they were determined not to let the weather spoil the evening. They danced and waved all the way around the procession route to loud cheers and claps from the few members of the public who braved the weather. The Shanklin Carnival Association praised the children for their hard work and performance as they helped to brighten our spirits.

We also gained a second prize for a float which looks wonderful when lit up for the illuminated procession.

Torrential rain doesn’t stop our troupe of dancers!

The troupe still dancing and enjoying the evening

Rain soaked but happy!

Showing other carnival groups how it’s done in the rain

Nearing the end of a really wet night

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