HATHERLEIGH reached its hundredth carnival last weekend with many proclaiming the centenary event to be the biggest and best carnival yet.
Mandy Wonnacott of the carnival committee said: ?We are absolutely thrilled and delighted about how it went. Everybody worked so hard to make it a wonderful carnival.?
Mrs Wonnacott said the incentive of offering a £10 centenary grant to those wanting to enter a float had ensured a bumper entry of 34 floats in this year?s parade.
She said the standard of entries this year had been ?exceptional? with lots of people coming up with special ideas to mark the 100th carnival.
She said the entries in the children?s afternoon procession were also up, and had been of a very high standard.
Mrs Wonnacott said there appeared to be more people than ever watching the carnival this year, all generously supporting the collection.
Hatherleigh?s Centenary Carnival Queen Eliza Squire may have been 15 years old, but this was her 16th carnival. Eliza?s first taste of the carnival experience was in 1988 when she was just three months old and was on her family float entitled ?Clockwork?. Eliza was a clockwork doll.
Eliza?s great great grandmother was Mrs Lillian Pillavant and was one of the founder members of the carnival.
Mrs Wonnacott said the carnival committee wanted to thank everyone who had helped to make this year?s centennial celebration such a resounding success.
She also appealed to reunite the owner with an item of lost property found on Saturday.
A pair of spectacles in a brown/red case were found by a tableau in the market on Saturday night. The person who lost their glasses can contact Mrs Wonnacott on 01837 810678.
Full carnival results will appear in the Times next week.