Our Carnival History: 2009-2012

On the road to becoming the Chinewrde Carnival Collective

In 2008, Carole had a heart bypass and although it went well and she made a full recovery it was obvious that walking the Carnival in 2009 was not a safe option. So that year, Louise gathered a few of the previous Kenilworth Carnival stars along with some new participants under the group name of ‘Louise’s Family & Friends’ and they became ‘The Travelling Carnivale, circa 1932’.

Carole was a fortune teller; Louise was a snake charmer; Craig was a he-she; Fran was a dancer; Dennis was the world’s strongest man; Sarah was the Bearded Lady and Dean was the Lion Tamer.

Those of us who had been in the Carnival previously remembered how much we missed it, those who were new to it realised how much fun it could be and altogether as a group we enjoyed the planning; making props and creating characters.

The Travelling Carnivale had a hint of naughtiness; it was a little risky and slightly dark in tone - but fun! We made the Carnival Spectators laugh and in the process enjoyed ourselves and the Carnival day buzz! The Travelling Carnivale may not have been bought together by the Chinewrde Carnival Collective (the group that did not exist yet), but it had the stirrings of what our little group was about to become, it was indeed the first step in the Chinewrde Carnival Collective years.



The Travelling Carnivale, circa 1932

 In 2010, some of us from the Travelling Carnivale and a few former ‘Harris Family’ members met up to discuss being in the Carnival again. After almost ending up with a ‘straight lorry’ an old idea evolved into something quite spectacular. A very simple, sophisticated and visual idea bought out the dark side of our imaginations with just a hint of fun!

We sat together and discussed what Carnival meant to us, why we wanted to be in it and we created a manifesto and a group name:

We aim to be Avant Guarde with a twist

Use our Sense of Humour and Theatrics

We keep it Sophisticated and Simple

Subversive and Offensive

With some Cross-dressing of course!

The Chinewrde Carnival Collective was formed.

In 2010, The Chinewrde Carnival Collective entered the Carnival as Zombie Carnival Queens 1925-1945, and consisted of Carole, Louise, Craig, Ley, Jac, Sara, Dean, Elicia, Abba, and Sarah



Zombie Carnival Queens, 2010

In 2011, we met up and discussed ideas for the Carnival; we were on a roll and were excited by what we could achieve. After some discussions about how we could push and pull the ‘rules’ of Kenilworth Carnival in a creative way - another excellent idea evolved.

Conscious of how the Kenilworth Carnival had been lacking in bands and the ‘right’ kind of noise (in recent years), we decided to tackle the lack of accompanying bands head on by entering as one ourselves. It is our hope that this might encourage Marching bands in the local area to become involved with Kenilworth Carnival again – we need you!

We created a ‘marching band’ from nothing, and shaped an accompanying blog to build a history in order to add credence to our little Troup! http://ccmarchingband.blogspot.co.uk

The blog was complete with characters who would be involved in that year’s carnival (played by ourselves), there was a history and back-story written for the band that did exist and even specially doctored images of each Chinewrde Carnival Collective member as their character!

In 2011, the Chinewrde Marching Band consisted of Carole, Dennis, Louise, Craig, Veronica, Abba, Sarah, Dean, Elicia, Ley, Sara, Jac, Graham, Ryhs and Uncle Peter drove the 4x4.



The Chinewrde Marching Band, 2011

2012 – Not our best year!

This year, things did not seem to go smoothly for the Carnival, at a couple of stages it even looked as though there might not even be a Carnival anymore. Meanwhile, as we were desperately trying to help the committee ensure the Carnival continued for the future, our little group was also struggling; we were still over excited by the Chinewrde Marching Band entry and a little astonished at how much of a success it had been – these two things created a slight hiccup!

The problem is that it is difficult to ‘poke a little fun’ at the Carnival when it is struggling so much to continue, and it is even harder to find an idea after you’ve been involved in something that you don’t know how to ‘top’.

We spent some time working on our blog, and ideas for our logo. After going over the manifesto repeatedly we realised that we are sort of modern day jesters! We poke fun (but not in a malicious way), so the logo’s were created and the blog was updated… but still no idea to ‘top’ 2011!

Finally, we resolved to entertain this year, and we became to royal family doing ‘Strictly…’

Strictly Royal involved four judges (Dennis as Fergie; Carole and the Queen of Hearts; Sara and a High court Judge and Craig as the Arch-Bishop) and a selection of the Royal family dancing (Elicia as Kate; Abba as William; Veronica as Charles; Louise as Camilia; Sarah as the Queen; Onur as Philip; Ley as Harry; Jac as Anne; Dean as Beatrice) the ‘dances’ were all silly routines, including YMCA; Superman; Time Warp; Vogue and Thriller.

Strictly Royal, 2012

 We had a laugh, it was fun but it wasn’t quite right, there were elements of the Chinewrde Carnival Collective manifesto such as the corsets on show during the Time Warp and Vogue and of course the ping pong balls! However, it was not naughty enough, it did not have a slight dark element to it and it was a little too ‘nice’.

But do not worry… we have a meeting coming up very soon and we will be back next year with a much better carnival entry!

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