THOUSANDS of people braved the cold to catch a glimpse of the sparkling procession at Highbridge and Burnham Carnival last night (November 12).

The event, which celebrates its 65th anniversary, saw Gremlins Carnival Club scoop top spot once more for their open feature cart theme - ‘Revolution’. Masqueraders Carnival Club rolled in second place with their wintery-themed ‘Journey of the Polar Bear Queen’.

The display brought a little something extra in the form of scattered snow, which added to the atmosphere.

Highbridge and Burnham Carnival president Malcolm Borland said atmosphere is a key part of the carnival.

“It’s very much a family event and has a friendly and safe atmosphere,” he said.

“Crowd numbers were slightly down on last year, but I spoke to a lot of people who said they were really enjoying it and had never seen anything like it. I hope they will tell all their friends and the crowd will be larger next year.”

It takes most clubs up to around £20,000 to put a cart together and Highbridge and Burnham Carnival only usually takes in around £8,000 in donations.

Mr Borland said donations this year are estimated to be down. “It’s such a shame because the standard of entries was excellent and seems to get better every year,” he added.

The town’s own Hillview Junior Carnival Club narrowly missed out on first place in the Mounted Juvenile Feature/Tableaux with their ‘Hollywood Hotel 1939’ theme – coming second to Marina Sydenham JCC’s ‘Clown Town’.

But Hillview JCC did bag the Best Local Entry, Chairman’s Choice (local) and Most Outstanding Costume (local).

Gemini Carnival Club’s ‘Race Time - Starlight Express’ secured first place in the Tableaux Mounted Open cart category. The procession kept with tradition, with this year’s Carnival Princesses Rachael Nicol and Lily Kilduf sitting beside Carnival Queen Jenna Picton leading the procession.

The whole event went smoothly and organisers are now preparing to assist with Shepton Mallet Carnival tomorrow (November 14).