There is probably no other place in the world where children's carnivals have bee such an extensive part of local culture.

As a newcomer to the area 20 years ago, it was fascinating to see that almost every town and village, regardless of size, held a summer carnival.

And it was not just a matter of dressing children in fancy dress.

Again, no matter what the size, each carnival had beautifully constructed elaborate.

They were also very royal occasions with Queens of the carnival, snow, summer, Ivy, Gypsy and more. Than, of course, there was Britannia- usually riding on a horse - and attendants for each of thee main characters.

Then there were the dance troupes that would perform along the carnival route.

And there were children dressed up as were their bike, prams, trolleys or whatever could be pushed, pulled or ridden on.

The amount of work and time that went into them was evident, and perhaps that is why they appear to be going out of fashion.

Organisers of one carnival said the cost of building floats had increased. The time people have seems to have decreased. But there was also one more problem - a lack of space to build floats

Karen Ostle, from Flimby carnival near Maryport, said at one time farmers would give a barn to build floats in but this no longer happened to any great extent.

Helpers were another problem - and it was the lack of helpers that led to the demise of the Whitehaven carnival in 2018.

The local Lions Club had always organise the carnival for 27 years.d it. But falling and ageing membership of the club meant they were no longer able to take it on again and not enough people came forward to take over.

Many carnivals have suffered the same fate in recent years.It is understandable but, at the same time, such a shame that West to lose something that defined them as so special!

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