‘So many people just willing to embrace it’
There was an amazing buzz in the air on bank holiday Monday (May 26) as the St Denys Carnival took to the streets for the first time in almost 30 years.
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With a mission to ‘bring joy and happiness’ through a sustainable, nature-themed parade launching Southampton Park City’s Urban Wild Festival, a procession of eco-powered floats wove its way through the southern streets of St Denys.
Sustainable floats: Ride a black swan
Many of the colourful creations had been built from recycled materials at community workshops in the weeks beforehand, and the parade brought the generations together to march to the beat of drums.
The procession stopped off outside the South Western Arms for more music en route to St Denys Community Centre, which was in full use indoors and out offering stalls, refreshments and music.
Cllr Katherine Barbour
Speaking in costume during the event, Portswood ward councillor Katherine Barbour told bitternepark.info: “I think it’s the most fantastic community effort from wonderful people.
“[They] have come out together to celebrate nature and the diversity of all different plants, animals, insects – I’m actually an insect today, a bee – and there are lots of ‘bees’ around, and there are mushrooms I can see, and we’ve just got an amazing bird coming past, with its wings outstretched.
“So it’s a brilliant event and let’s hope we can come together next year and repeat it.”
Sue Badcrumble's Anglerfish won the best costume prize. St Denys Boats won best float, and the giant crow, with a team operating it, won the prize for best recycling
Rev Sera Rumble from St Denys Church said it was “an amazing celebration of creativity and of coming together and of the mixture of people that are St Denys community”.
Rev Sera Rumble
She added: “But I also love the ethics going through it all, the theme of recycling and of caring for nature, and looking after our river, that theme of getting different generations together – in a robust, very St Denys kind of way.
“There’s so much here to celebrate. So many different faces, different people – they’ve made this accessible to so many different people. And it’s just great fun!
“The sun has shone. We haven’t been beaten by the rain…. And then it’s just harnessed people’s joy of life. It feels a joyful event. It feels a creative event. It feels a thoughtful event.”
Lori Foster
Lori Foster, one of the organising ‘St Denys Crew’ group of volunteers, said: “The community has come out in force. We’ve had floats in all shapes and sizes. It’s been incredible – just a splash of colour and sound.
Just another day in South Road, St Denys
“The whole point of bringing back the St Denys Carnival was to make it a sustainable carnival. We wanted something that wouldn’t leave an imprint on the earth, but make everybody smile… Most of our floats are made from recycled materials, we’ve had people come together in the workshops that were held beforehand to make these incredible things out of cardboard and recycled plastic.
“It’s just been immense.”
Southampton Lord Mayor Cllr James Baillie visited the event and judged the floats at St Denys Community Centre after the procession: “I’ve been incredibly impressed by how creative people have been in using the recycled materials.”
He said the event was a welcome chance for people to reconnect, after the years when public gatherings had been few and far between.
The fish gets its award from Lord Mayor Cllr James Baillie
James Foster
Co-organiser James Foster said it had been “absolutely incredible”, although the team were running “on very very little sleep, a little bit of caffeine and a lot of adrenaline.
“But when we were going around the streets it was an amazing buzz. It was just what I’ve been dreaming of for a few years now,” he said.
He added the team had been working on smaller events in St Denys over the last four years or so.
Crowds outside the South Western Arms
“Last year I just turned round and said, can’t we bring back the carnival, and I thought there would be so much work it just wouldn’t be possible.
“But the amount of people that have just stepped up. They’ve all pitched in, we’ve had so much help… so much goodwill, so many people just willing to embrace it, and make it happen, and we’ve pulled it off. It’s been incredible. “
Featherweight champion: the crow took the recycling prize
He said the procession had been amazing. “The sheer number of floats, we couldn’t even fit them in the car park when we were assembling. We had to spill out as far as the Junction Inn. I was just blown away by the creativity. Awesome. I’m running out of words!”
“If all goes to plan we’ll be back even bigger next year. We want to try and make it up to the north of St Denys. We’ve got our sights set on going all the way up to Saltmead and back, if we can sort out the logistics and permits…
“We’ve got a year.”
Southampton Ukulele Jam playing at St Denys Community Centre
Stalls at the community centre