| St Albans Carnival 2005 | The procession will begin as before at Bernards Heath at 1pm on Sunday 26th June, but will then follow a new route encompassing St Peter’s Street, Victoria Street, Beaconsfield Road and Hatfield Road, finally ending at Clarence Park, (not at Westminster Lodge as in previous years). The Victoria car park owned by Thameslink will have 1,000 spaces free of charge for this event. If you would like to know more about how to book a stall or how to enter a float into the procession ring 01727 819275 or email events@stalbans.gov.uk |
The St Albans carnival has always been a crowd pleaser with hoards of excited children and adults lining the streets to watch the colourful procession head off from Bernards Heath through the town centre before reaching Westminster Lodge, but not anymore! This year the carnival will have a new route, new date and even a new venue.
 | | Hollywell Hill is no longer on the route |
It is now set to take place on Sunday 26th June 2005 starting at Bernards Heath at 1pm. However, the new plans have transferred the final destination of the carnival to Clarence Park instead of Westminster Lodge as in previous years. This means that the procession will now wind along St Peter’s Street, Victoria Street, Beaconsfield Road and Hatfield Road, finally ending at the Park. Charles Baker, the tourism officer in charge of organising the carnival for the City and District council believes the change is necessary. "Originally we were going to run the route through the town centre but due to road works on St Peters street this was going to be difficult. We choose Clarence Park as a suitable relocation for this year." explained Mr Baker. "Firstly the theme will simply be 'Carnival' which worked successfully last year, but down at Clarence Park it will be expanded to incorporate sport and healthy living."
 | | Lots of clowning around! |
Once the procession arrives at Clarence park the carnival atmosphere will continue inside the park with a village fair which will have a sporting edge. "Hopefully we will have a cricket match and a bowls match going on to compliment the sport and healthy leisure theme, on the all weather surface we will have more displays to encourage sport for all. Everything in Clarence Park will be fully utilised." There are also plans to create different areas of interest, such as a Kids Zone and a Teenage Mad Zone. Despite the change from the large grounds of Westminster Lodge to the more compact Clarence park the council are still confident of a big turn out. The council are expecting 20,000 people to line the route with at least 90 floats taking part in the procession. "It is very difficult to estimate how many will be watching the procession but we expect four or five thousand to come to Clarence Park." said Mr Baker.
 | | Lots of fun to be had by all. |
However due to the change the procession will now be making some twist and turns along the route but this isn't expected to cause any problems. "They are highways, lorries and things go down here every day, as the procession will be one way the lorries can use both sides of the roads, I'm not anticipating any difficulties" Until recent years the carnival was organised by the Round Table St Albans 147, due to the limited numbers in the Round Table, this year the running of the event is being undertaken by the City and District of St Albans. "The Round Table have done a very good job for the last 26 years, when they started they had 40 or 50 members, now they have about 10 and it is not that easy to run the event. "They have bowed out and left the Council take over the operation, we don't want to let the tradition slip and so the council are more than happy to help the Carnival continue." explained Mr Baker The pubs along the route have also been invited to join in with various activities and everyone is encouraged to come along on the day and follow the procession of floats along the route to the finish point. It is not too late to take part either, entry in the Carnival Procession is free and the organisers are hoping to make this another record breaking year, albeit in new surroundings. | 
