Luton Carnival

When did Carnival first start and when did it begin in Luton?

Colin: I have been involved with Carnival for over 21 years and I work closely with Luton Borough Council and the UKCCA.

It started in the Caribbean where slaves on the plantations were given one day a year by the slave masters where they took over the streets and had a celebration. The Spanish and the British used to have events all around Lent with the Catholic religion but the Spanish actually let the slaves get involved with this celebration and that's where it took off really.

From my recollection, Carnival started in Luton in 1976 with a small parade but it really kicked off in 1977 with the Silver Jubilee.

At the Mas Camp

What are your first memories of Carnival?

Colin: I started going to carnival when I was about 13 or 14. Luton Carnival was one of the first I went to and I started to go to Notting Hill straight after that. It was an opportunity for me to see things and do things that I hadn't done before so it was quite overwhelming at that stage. Me and my friends from school would be buzzing everywhere trying to absorb it all - the big sound systems, the latest dance floor music and the food.

How has Carnival changed?

Colin: There are less sound systems now which I don't think is a good thing because I enjoyed that when I was young. One thing that's definitely changed massively is the quality and standard of Canival costumes that we are seeing in Luton's parade. For a one day carnival it's massive and the quality is exceptional.

What's also really changed is the people from Notting Hill actually coming to Luton to get costumes designed and made as well.

How did you first get involved with designing costumes?

Colin: It wasn't until the late 80s when I was a youth worker in charge at the Starlight Youth Club which had a history of an entry supported by the Council. That year I was handed that responsibility which I didn't really welcome. We did the best we could - I didn't do art at school and I wasn't into it - but we won and after getting that feeling of winning it pushes you on a bit more for the next year. We won that as well and I kind of thought 'yes I can do this!"

After that we kept going and we were getting better. People were telling me I was developing as an artist and once you start believing you're an artist, the sky's the limit.

How did you feel about last year's 'wash out'?

Colin: For us it was pretty disappointing because we do like to show off our brand new collection in Luton, but I don't think it was as detrimental to us as it was for some other groups. For some groups that is their event, the only event they have for the year, so that was rained off and that was it. For us at Rampage we were very disappointed because we always want to do Luton Carnival but we still had 15 other carnivals to do, so the show goes on.

We do want to be bigger and better this year. We think this year is going to to be much bigger and much better. The collection that we've built, we've gone out of our way to make sure that it's totally different to what you'd expect from Rampage. I'm not going to say how different it's going to be but you'll definitely see the difference on the road compared to other years.

Luton Carnival always goes on the map. Wherever we toured last year people said it's disappointing that Luton Carnival wasn't on. I think there's a lot of expectation for this year's Luton Carnival so I think it should be bigger and better. All the groups have increased in artistic development and we're looking for a great show on the road.

What about the future in the new UK Centre for Carnival Arts?

Colin: We first started enquiries about a regional centre in 1998/1999 so it's nearly ten years of pushing, fundraising and planning for the centre which quickly went from being a regional / local centre to a national centre, so it's been a lot of work.

It's going to be a good thing because we've planned quite well. It's going to be a place of learning and a place that will champion carnival artists like us. It's going to be a place where school and communities can all come together and enjoy the different aspects of carnival. That is one of the things that we need to push and we will be pushing for. The Carnival artists out there need to be written down in history, as does the development of carnival worldwide.