PLANS to hold a Carnival in Westbury have ground to a halt, despite two committees attempting to get the event off the ground.
Town councillor Stephen Miles set up a Carnival committee in May 2010 with the dream of seeing the event in the town once more. A few months ago Sue Alexander, leader of Westbury’s Sapphire Twirlstars, set up a second committee when she grew frustrated with what she saw as a lack of progress.
It was hoped a Carnival would take place in September 2012, but both committees have now abandoned plans for the event. Neither Stephen or Sue have ruled out resurrecting the idea in the future, but admit it will be an uphill battle.
Sue said, “I have closed our committee, we were getting so much flack for having two associations. It’s a shame as I want it to go ahead, but I can’t see the other committee fulfilling the plans and going ahead either.”
Stephen said, “I will be doing nothing with the Carnival until 2013. With all the shenanigans we thought we’d leave it until 2013, so it’s sleeping. There’s a lot on this year anyway for 2012. I haven’t completely given up, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens, but the omens are not too good.”
While a Carnival used to be a feature in the town’s calendar in days gone by, Westbury has not seen a Carnival along its streets since the 1990s. Although plans for a new Carnival were met with enthusiasm by many in the town, it appears both committees struggled to get enough dedicated volunteers on board to drive the event ahead.
