The Grampound Times
Summer 2006 (Edition 42 - Carnival Edition)
Our community in Cornwall
Carnival
It is my great pleasure to be able to write the preface for this year’s Carnival edition of the Grampound Times. This will be my fourth year as Carnival Chairman and I am really looking forward to what promises to be another great week of fun, culminating in Carnival Day itself on Saturday 2 nd September. Within these pages you will be able to find a more detailed breakdown of the week’s events as planned to date, but I am sure that 2006 will follow the successes of the last few years and provide us with a Carnival worth remembering during the long, dark winter months. Rather than go on about what the committee have planned for this year, which you can read elsewhere in this edition, I thought it may be interesting to remind everyone of what your Carnival Committee does apart from arranging Carnival Week itself. For a start, it’s not a cheap thing to put on these days, as you will appreciate. Sadly we live in an age where the compensation culture and Health and Safety concerns have put an end to many fine, valued traditional events and threatened others. Insurance costs have rocketed and we have found it hard to find anyone willing to insure us for Carnival day and even then the cost was nearly £600 in 2005 and is more this year.
So…..how to raise the money and have fun? We try to arrange one event a month to help subsidise Carnival. The advantage is that these things also tend to be very enjoyable! In 2006 so far (July) the village has enjoyed a Valentine’s Night Quiz evening, a Pasty making competition, a concert by the Mevagissey Male Choir, a children’s Easter Egg Hunt, a Car Treasure Hunt, a Prize Bingo evening (to be repeated soon) and a Grand Carnival Auction. Thanks to everyone who attended and gave generously to our events because without your support there would not be a Carnival in Grampound. End of story. You have a great committee who work very hard to make these events a success and I would like to pay tribute to them through these pages. We’re a relatively small village of about 600 souls but what we lack in numbers we make up for in enthusiasm, with none of the petty bickering you hear about in other places.
Pete Goss the sailor once said, “ Obstacles are what you see when you take your eye off the goal”. The Carnival is our goal, so we certainly keep our attention focused on that and obstacles then become minor irritations which are soon overcome. After all, who wants our Carnival to die out? Not me for one. It helps to define us as a community of people who care about where we live and enjoy being here. Thanks again for your support and have a great Carnival. I know it’s going to be a cracker!
Bill Collins
© 2006 Grampound with Creed Parish Council