This is a photo report on Aldbourne’s very wet 101st Carnival held on that very wet first September Saturday – 3 September 2016.
The Saturday of Aldbourne’s Carnival has been dry for years. We are reliably informed it last rained on the Carnival procession day in the 1960s.
This year it really rained. It was said one Carnival enthusiast “A wild and wet day.” Everyone crammed into the marquee during the worst of downpour.
And there was plenty of mud and plenty of wet feet.
Perhaps there should have been a competition for the longest surviving umbrella or the umbrella that shielded the most Carnival goers.
Aldbourne people call themselves Dabchicks – and they seemed to have plenty of fun in the rain – enjoying their carnival as they always do: “It’s only water.”
Then as the procession drew out of the assembly field at six o’clock – the rain stopped.
To mark the 101st Carnival, the 101st Armoured Division enthusiasts had a major role in the events. The American 101st Airborne Division became famous for their role in the invasion of Hitler’s Europe in 1944 – and then famous again for the Band of Brothers television series which was based on their exploits.
For the 2016 Carnival 101st Airborne Division re-enactors had a major role: they set up camp, joined in the procession and a local historian gave a talk on the their time in Aldbourne.
All photos by Jo Hutchings for the Aldbourne Village Gallery. We are grateful for their use on Marlborough.News. Click on photos to enlarge them.
