As the song says, the carnival is over, but it will be a long time before this years Sutton on Sea and Trusthorpe carnival is forgotten.

Prior to the carnival fortnight, we had the Auction Night at the Sutton Social Club, which raised five hundred pounds, for the carnival coffers.

Monday 12th July started the carnival fortnight off with the choosing of the four Carnival Princesses at the Meridale Hall. So many young ladies wanted to be this years princesses, we literally had to draw the four winning names out of a hat.

Thursday 15th The Quiz Night was held at the Bacchus Hotel. The Carnival Queen was chosen by the winning team at this venue. Yet another successful evening.

Saturday 17th The start of the Shop Window Competition, over twenty shops entered this years competition. A lot of hard work went into the dressing of the windows, but they all looked great. This of course made the judges task of choosing the winners even more difficult..

Saturday 17th The Music Night at Trusthorpe Village Hall, was so well attended the hall was full to capacity. A fabulous evening of music was enjoyed by all.

Sunday 18th A new event for carnival fortnight, The Children’s Pet Show. Held at the Meridale Hall it was amazing to see the variety of pets on show, and just how knowledgeable the children were about them. A great afternoons entertainment.

Monday 19th Bingo Night drew the crowds to Sutton Social Club. This evening was a great success and raised further monies for the carnival.

Wednesday 21st Carnival Party Night at the Enterprise Hall. Plenty of dancing, fun and games.
Another enjoyable evening was had by all.

Thursday 22rd It’s a Knockout held at the Bacchus Hotel was a raucous succuss, with so many children taking part. All the games seemed to involve water, but the kids loved it.

Thursday 22nd At the Fun Run Night we had over a hundred runners take part in the various races despite the bad weather. It was wonderful to watch all the athletes who took part.

Friday 23rd Pig Race Night at the Beach Bar was hilarious, because of the appalling betting on the races; a substantial amount of money was raised for the carnival.

Saturday 24th Pavement Artist Competition saw masses of children on their hands and knees concentrating on their square of pavement. The pictures they produced were amazing. The judges had a nightmare of a job deciding who the winners would be.

Saturday 24th The Sandcastle Building Competition saw some fifty children building their sandcastles. Some amazing creations. Another very difficult task for the judges to pick a winner. ( I think the adults enjoyed themselves as much as the kids)

Sunday 25th Parade Day. We woke up to rain, rain, and more rain. This did alter the programme for the day slightly. Instead of having the classic cars and motorcycles assemble on the Evergreens field, it was decided to move them onto the forecourt at McEwans Garage. This is now where they will be shown in future. The Skegness Accordion and Salvation Army bands should have been playing outside in the high street, but again due to the weather they had to beat a hasty retreat into the Bacchus Hotel, where they played. Unfortunately we had to cancel the performance of the Trusthorpe Line Dancers; this was the only cancellation of the day, and of course a big disappointment to the dancers themselves. By two o’clock the weather brightened, and the parade assembled, fifty-five different groups in all. At three o’clock the parade led off, a staggering half a mile in length. We had three superb marching bands playing in the parade, with a further five static bands playing in and around Sutton on Sea throughout the day.

An amazing £1,415 pounds was collected in the collecting buckets.

The climax of the parade was the sight of the Lancaster Bomber from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flying over the centre of the high street, this proved to be a very moving moment for the vast majority of the spectators.

Local people have been reported to say that the 2004 carnival is the best they have seen for more that thirty years. If this is the case we owe it all to those who have given us their support.

The Carnival Committee were overwhelmed by the support that was given to them by the community as a whole, and as we all know a carnival is only as good as the people who take part in it. A special thanks goes to all the volunteers who gave so much of their time. Thank you all for making this years carnival the great success that it was. Last, but not least, the Carnival Committee would like to thank the Carnival Princesses, Leanne Maginnis, Samantha Goddard, Holly Palmer and Ashleigh Fox for all their hard work. Also not forgetting the 2004 Carnival Queen, Hollie Woodhead. Well done all of you, you did a magnificent job throughout the carnival.

Sunday 22nd Presentation Night held at the Sutton Social Club.
The Chairman of the Carnival Committee presented all the winners and runners up with their awardeds in the following categories: -

Commercial Float: 1st Trusthorpe Springs, 2nd Sutton Social Club, 3rd Sutton Springs
Non Commercial Float: 1st Air Ambulance, 2nd Voluntary Car Service, 3rd RAFA
Young Persons Float: 1st Sutton on Sea Rainbows, 2nd Tiny Tots, 3rd Ashby Majorettes
Childrens Walking Group: 1st Sutton on Sea Brownies, 2nd Trusthorpe Dancers, 3rd Mablethorpe Christian Group
Adults Walking Group: 1st Womens Institute, 2nd Selles Chemists, 3rd Beverley’s Aerobics
Best Presented Band: 1st Lincolnshire and District Scouts, 2nd Chesterfield Musketeers, 3rd Alford Band
Individual Walking Child: 1st Katy and Maisie Revell, 2nd Shannon Stothard
Individual Walking Adult: 1st Liz Lacey – Allsop, 2nd Jeff Kent (Cowboy), 3rd Mark Nicholson (Shrek)
Best Dressed Dog and Owner: Laura Southam
Best Dressed Shop Window: 1st Julie’s Teddy Land, 2nd Robert Watson Hardware, 3rd Grange Wintringham Solicitors

Due to the success of the carnival, the charities that received donations were:
The Sutton on Sea Meridale Centre, Mablethorpe RNLI, Sutton on Sea First Responders, St. Andrews Hospice, Fenbank Greyhound Sanctuary, MacMillan Cancer Relief, The Air Ambulance, The Louth Scanner Appeal, Air Training Cadets, St. John Ambulance Service, Mediquip, The Emma-Jayne Memorial Appeal, and the Louth Search Dogs.

I’m sure we would all like to thank the 2004 Carnival Committee for giving us such a great Carnival,
and they are: - Chairman: Roy Griffiths, Vice Chairman and Parade Organiser: Michael Wellby, Secretary: Pat Griffiths, Publicity Officer: Ernie Walker, Treasurer: Ann Britz, Mary Smith, Karen Stothard, Brian Taylor, Pat and Arthur King, Paddy Walker and Jeff Smith.

If anyone would like to join the committee for 2005 please ring Michael 01 507 442 457
With your help we could make next years carnival even bigger and better.