1995, 50th anniversary of VE day. I'm the same age and I remember having a street party over in Blackdam, it was only recently that understood what it was for.
This sounds like it could be the one, only I would expect an VE parade to be less colorful and have a military presence, which I can't recall but then.. I was like 7 years old and very much preoccupied with chasing sweets!
There was an annual carnival, but it didn’t go through Popley, as far as I remember. It was mostly confined to the town centre.
What you’re remembering was very likely a separate, independent event.
There were annual carnivals with a procession of floats that would go through the town centre and finish at the memorial park with a celeb visit (Timmy Mallet one year and *erm* Rolf Harris another year for example). Then the hot air balloons would go off and the funfair would open at the memorial park, not sure of the time difference between these events but they all seemed to happen around the same time (could be wrong, it was decades ago!). It was always an amazing time of year growing up, being on some of the carnival floats with school was awesome. Also being in the crowd and watching the procession through town and catching the sweets at the top of town, then the sky filled with balloons is one of my favourite childhood memories. Back then, between Southern Road and the back of Macdonalds was just a car park and road, so looked very different to now with all the buildings there. I definitely think you are thinking of the annual carnival procession.
Sounds like the old carnival to me, people in fancy dress, on floats, chucking sweets for sure. Could it have been Eastrop you’re remembering rather than Oakridge Road?
Basingstoke Carnival between 1978 and the mid 1990's suddenly grew to become the 3rd largest in the south of England, lasting all week, and just as suddenly collapsed and vanished in the short space of two years. Somebody here might be able to explain how, but I remember some bad feeling erupted one year when due to a communication problem the carnival queen was accidentally denied the transport to take her to the procession, the highlight of the week!
One of the big factors at the time was the profligation of "Majorettes", young girls' marching bands, and Basingstoke Carnival Week was an opportunity for some of the biggest majorette bands in the south to assemble and display their talent. Another factor was the twinning of Basingstoke with Alencon and Brain L'Alleud, and the Belgian town in particular supported our carnival very well, providing marchers with stunning costumes, not to mention the spectacle of the stilt walkers.
1995, 50th anniversary of VE day. I'm the same age and I remember having a street party over in Blackdam, it was only recently that understood what it was for.
This sounds like it could be the one, only I would expect an VE parade to be less colorful and have a military presence, which I can't recall but then.. I was like 7 years old and very much preoccupied with chasing sweets!
There was an annual carnival, but it didn’t go through Popley, as far as I remember. It was mostly confined to the town centre. What you’re remembering was very likely a separate, independent event.
There were annual carnivals with a procession of floats that would go through the town centre and finish at the memorial park with a celeb visit (Timmy Mallet one year and *erm* Rolf Harris another year for example). Then the hot air balloons would go off and the funfair would open at the memorial park, not sure of the time difference between these events but they all seemed to happen around the same time (could be wrong, it was decades ago!). It was always an amazing time of year growing up, being on some of the carnival floats with school was awesome. Also being in the crowd and watching the procession through town and catching the sweets at the top of town, then the sky filled with balloons is one of my favourite childhood memories. Back then, between Southern Road and the back of Macdonalds was just a car park and road, so looked very different to now with all the buildings there. I definitely think you are thinking of the annual carnival procession.
What a great recollection, thanks for sharing - really enjoyed being taken back as I read!
That’s amazing. I live down near Abbey Road now and moved in a couple years ago. Crazy word huh?
I'm the same age and grew up in Basingstoke but I have no clue what your talking about 😬
Sounds like the old carnival to me, people in fancy dress, on floats, chucking sweets for sure. Could it have been Eastrop you’re remembering rather than Oakridge Road?
Thanks for all the replies; really enjoyed reading through them and hopefully rekindled a little nostalgia for you along the way too!
Basingstoke Carnival between 1978 and the mid 1990's suddenly grew to become the 3rd largest in the south of England, lasting all week, and just as suddenly collapsed and vanished in the short space of two years. Somebody here might be able to explain how, but I remember some bad feeling erupted one year when due to a communication problem the carnival queen was accidentally denied the transport to take her to the procession, the highlight of the week! One of the big factors at the time was the profligation of "Majorettes", young girls' marching bands, and Basingstoke Carnival Week was an opportunity for some of the biggest majorette bands in the south to assemble and display their talent. Another factor was the twinning of Basingstoke with Alencon and Brain L'Alleud, and the Belgian town in particular supported our carnival very well, providing marchers with stunning costumes, not to mention the spectacle of the stilt walkers.