Tonbridge Christmas Carnival

2nd December 2004. Mostly organised by the Lions Club – well done!The parade leaving West Kent College was about 40 minutes late. This was good for us because we didn’t get home from my daughter’s gymnastics until 6:30; but very bad for all those in proper costumes – the majorettes in cat outfits and the girls in ‘50s skirts and t-shirts must have been freezing! The theme this year was musicals or films, I think. Well I’m guessing so as the 8th Tonbridge brownies were from The Snowman, the Tonbridge Art Group were My Fair Lady, Hadlow youth Group were from Grease, as were another club and St Phillips Church were High Society. Sorry to those I’ve missed out. There were also, of course, the groups of majorettes. (Where do they come from??! I’ve never known anyone in Tonbridge to actually go to one of these clubs! But amaze me every time with their baton twirling skills.)
My daughters were joining the group with Connie Turner (Tonbridge Performing Arts) who were promoting her pantomime, which this year is Cinderella (all proceeds to charity). I’m not quite sure why – but they were dressed as clowns.
So as we were doing that, we actually missed the switching on the lights by Kelly Holmes. (poor Kelly Holmes – having gone to school here in Tonbridge, she gets stuck doing all these jobs. But then she is promoting a book I suppose.)
But anyway, the lights in Tonbridge look really good – I’m impressed. (much better than Tunbridge Wells or Sevenoaks!!) and the carnival seemed a big success with many people watching. But the highlight of the night had to be the fireworks. It helped that we didn’t have to hang around for as long as usual because the parade had been so late.
I think the display was shorter than most years, but the fireworks were so spectacular that it was better that way. There were new kinds of fireworks – spinning around in the air ones and massive ones that literally filled the sky and stayed lit for ages. And the waterfall of fireworks lasting ages that fell from the castle wall was amazing. So a big congratulations to the organisers. I hope they do it again next year.