The Arts festival parade was held at the beginning of July this year and proved to be a spectaclar success.

The Parade started later than previous years as a test run for the event in 2011, when the parade starts the Island Games which are being hosted on the island, starting on 26th June and finishing on the 1st of July 2011.

For the first time in many years since Ryde Carnival association had stopped using the Simeon Street Recreation ground as a start point the various groups from both the island and mainland set up their tableaux’s in bright sun shine with a slight breeze. The Parade kicked off at 6pm with Raw Samba heading the parade along a packed Esplanade. The performers put on a fabulous show that delighted and entertained all ages.

With cheers and clapping from the crowds, it made the performers keep up their endless performing, which wound it’s way around the town, and then finishing back at Simeon Street Recreation Ground. It was wonderful to hear the comments from many of the audience who said that the parade was one of the best that they had seen in many a year.

A big thanks should go to all the performers, their artistic directors and the Carnival Learning Centre for putting on such a well organised carnival. I’m sure that we alll can’t wait for the Parade next year which should be one of the biggest the island has ever seen.

The Government’s own figures suggest this change will cost voluntary and community organisations up to £20 million more a year. This is an incredible amount of money, which can only be met by funds earmarked for charitable purposes.

This is also likely to affect a broad array of community organisations: village halls, churches, care homes, charity shops, youth clubs, carnival groups and carnival associations, scouts and guides associations and bingo halls.

This is another stelth tax that has crept up, it is really important that as many people sign the petition asking the government to recondsider this as the implications are very serious for community groups right across the board.

The bigest effect these new regulations will have is on the running of the Ryde Arts Festival and its’ parade, Ryde Regatta, and the 3 Ryde Carnivals as well as the many church fetes that are held in the Ryde area. The costs of the licences could put a halt to these wonderful free public entertainments, which could have a knock on effect on the economics of our town.

You can sign the petition online here:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/dontstopthemusic/

You can also join the FaceBook group here
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=274770375866

You can read more information about the new regulations here:
http://www.ppluk.com/en/News–Events/Archived-News/PPL-and-PRS-for-Music-announce-joint-licensing-scheme/

http://www.ppluk.com/en/Music-Users/Information-for-Charities/

We are planning to put together a weekend of events on 17-18 April 2010 drawing on the varied and creative individuals and organisations in Portsmouth and the South East region. We want you to join us for a spectacular Latin American inspired parade on 18th April.

As part of the parade, we are proposing that there will be a coordinated, participatory Afoxe inspired procession, celebrating and “blessing” the streets and the sea. This will be directed by Red Zebra . Their team of musicians and dancers will be available to work with you or your group to create a one off musical and performance piece to be played simultaneously through the streets! It will combine dance, song, percussion, brass and costume.

It is an ambitious and thrilling new creative project and we would love for you to take part. Entry is completely FREE (thanks to Gunwharf Quays) and we will support you and your group throughout the process.

HOW TO TAKE PART

To take part your group should be prepared for an artist to come in to your rehearsals approximately 3 times between now and the event to work with you on your piece. You and your group will then be invited to the Group Rehearsal (see below). The finale performance will take place in Gunwharf Quays on 18 April 2010.

We have a launch day for you to drop in and find out more!

Launch Day – Friday 5 March 2010 4-7pm in Gunwharf Quays. (Venue TBC.)
Workshops available to be booked between March 15 – March 31 (subject to Arts Council England funding)
Workshops also available April 14, 15, 16 (time and place tbc)
Rehearsals April 16 & 17 (time and place tbc)
Performance April 18 (time and place tbc)
Please call us to reserve a free workshop, at a time to suit you.

CONTACT

We hope you would love to come and take part in this exciting, one off community project. Please do get in touch at any time with any questions to Suzi Dent on takepartarts@yahoo.co.uk or call Suzi on 07958972827

Throughout the summer, Islanders stage over a dozen carnivals culminating in the last carnival of the season at the end of the summer holidays - the ultimate carnival at Ryde.   A fantastic spectacle featuring over 2000 performers and dozens of colourful floats with musical influences from Rio Samba, Trinidad Street Pan as well as local Isle of Wight musicians, the event is held over 3 days giving visitors plenty of opportunity to party as they watch the parades make their dazzling journey through the town and along the seafront.

Ryde Carnival is reputed to be the oldest established carnival is England. The first true event was held in 1888 but the real origins extend a year further back to Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee of 1887.    These days, while still maintaining a distinct Island character, the flamboyantly dressed dancers, creative carnival floats and giant costumed characters are more akin to Rio than Ryde.

There are three parades to choose from but the Illuminated Carnival is the most spectacular:

Children’s Carnival - Wednesday 19 August
Main Carnival – Saturday 22 August
Illuminated Carnival - Saturday 5 September

For start times and procession routes please visit www.rydecarnival.co.uk

In recent years, the Isle of Wight has developed strong ties with Notting Hill Carnival with many of the organisers visiting after the Bank Holiday either to spectate or take part in Ryde Carnival bringing their vibrancy and colour to an Island reminiscent of Notting Hill’s Caribbean carnival roots.

The Isle of Wight is extremely proud of its carnival heritage and was the first county in the UK to set up a Carnival Learning Centre dedicated to enhance Ryde and other Isle of Wight carnivals by bringing a distinctive new flavour to the existing carnival traditions.

Creative courses at the Isle of Wight Council-managed centre include learning how to make the flamboyant costumes, masks and headgear for the huge floats and parades.  Visitors can get involved in a wide range of one-off taster sessions and weekend workshops. Check the website www.thecarnivallearningcentre.org for latest information and prices.

It’s simple to get to the Isle of Wight, there are up to 350 ferry crossings a day from Portsmouth, Southampton, Lymington and Southsea.  Once you’re there it’s easy to get around, ferry routes connect directly with the Island’s road, rail and coach links.

For details on how to get to the Isle of Wight, where to stay and what to see and do,  visit www.islandbreaks.co.uk or telephone 01983 813813.

This article has been kindly supplied by Isle of Wight Council’s Tourism Division

The Ryde Social Heritage group have a much larger archive of the Ryde Carnival which is available to view during their Heritage Open Days. To read more fascinating history about Ryde or become a member of the group please visit www.rshg.org.uk Some additional text has been taken from our original history page and added, we will also be adding some historically interesting photographs.

Ryde Carnival Association is grateful to the RSHG for their support of the carnival website.

The parade is a showcase of all the hard work that local schools and community groups do to brighten up the streets of Ryde before the main carnival season kicks off next weekend. Schools and groups from Ryde and Newport were joined by Dot-to-Dot from Paulsgrove Portsmouth as well as Ryde House and the Isle of Wight College.

Despite the drizzle it was warm and spirits were kept high by the promise of good crowds. The carnival artists were not disappointed! Crowds lined the route from Dover Park , the High Street and Union Street.

New flags designed and produced by local artists in a course run by Sharon George of Mas Fusion for the Carnival Centre and the NCFE Level 3 students showcased their costumes for the first time. As usual the costumes were beautiful and covered so many different aspect of childhood games, from Dart boards to Nursery Rhymes an event not to be missed.

View the Ryde Arts Festival 2009  gallery here

We have also managed at long last to get the Ryde Illuminated Carnival Photographs into an album, sorry for the delay, but well worth the wait. At the moment we are going over all the photographs that have been on the site since 2002 and will be producing a small set of albums for the years 2002 - 2007 these will have what we consider to be the best photographs from those years, this is to help with space on the server and make the site mangement easier for our site manager who spends 100’s of hours on the site over the year.

The site has been parred down so that it is easier for navigation and will also work on any browser, and older versions of internet explorer 5 and 6 for those who still use those systems. The site has been also tested on the new Eee PC mini laptop devices as well as mobile telephones and the iPhone/Google Phone.

We also check this site for use by users who are colour blind for all of the following defects:-
Deutanopia - red/green color blindness; no green cones
Tritanopia - blue/yellow color blindness; no blue cones
Grayscale/Achromatopsia - quick check for all forms of colorblindness
Atypical Achromatopsia -low cone function; cone monochromat
Protanomaly - anomalous red cones
Deutanomaly - anomalous green cones
Tritanomaly - anomalous blue cones

As well as the following coverage tests:-
coverage test in black - highlight filter limitations
coverage test in white - highlight filter limitations
coverage test in gray - highlight filter limitations

There are still the usual downloads available through out the website from Risk assessment spreadsheets to our Route Map that was redesigned last year. Please keep checking back for changes and updates. If you have any questions about the site or want to make a comment please let us know via our e-mail info@rydecarnival.co.uk

If you are interested in becoming a performer for this years carnival we are looking for young women and men  aged from 12 to 21 years.
All are welcome to join us either on our float or our band of followers.