Clues Re-cap for Carnival 2014

With only FOUR weeks to go till this year’s carnival… let’s have a re-cap on those clues shall we:

1. “What’s black and white and purple all over? (It’s not a penguin formally called Prince either!)”
2. “It’ll be all-white on the night”
3. “Better get a medal for our costumes”
4. “Take note, a medallion is basically a medal”
5. “I definitely won’t be surplus to requirements in my performance on the day!”

 

We have got our costumes sorted, we have our characters and names ready for our performance…

 

Louise's Costume 2014

 

We have chosen our music for the soundtrack and are in the middle of editing it down to the most appropriate songs…

Working on the soundtrack

We are printing, painting and sketching for the props…

 

We have organised our rehearsal for the day… KENILWORTH CARNIVAL 2014 HERE WE COME!

So, how about a couple more clues…

1.   Didn’t Will Shakespeare say: “All the worlds a stage"? And if so does a moving lorry count?

2.   Paul McCartney once said: “Win or lose, sink or swim… one thing’s for certain we’ll never give in… side by side, hand in hand – we all stand together…” Very apt this year I think

 

Good luck with those cryptic clues…

See you on the Day – SATURDAY 5^th July – can’t wait!

 

Find us on Facebook and Twitter

 

How to enter Kenilworth Carnival, 2014...

… time’s running out the closing date for float entries is Friday 30^th May (this Friday) and the closing date for fancy dress walkers is Wednesday July 2^nd

But how do you enter? I hear you cry…

Step 1:

Get a group of silly people together (and 1 bossy one)

 

Step 2:

Meet up, have some tea and biscuits or a beer and BBQ, come up with an idea.

Option 1: argue until the boss tells you what you’re doing.

Option 2: vote on ideas and democratically agree on a theme

 

Step 3:

Download a form from http://www.kenilworthcarnival.org.uk/carnival-day-events/

Fill it in, and conduct a risk assessment

Step 4:

 

Have a few meetings / socials / rehearsals (depending on your theme)

Have lots of FUN

 

Step 5:

Make some props and costumes

Have lots of FUN

 

Step 6:

Walkers – get ready and practice walking in your costumes and carrying your props

Floats – decide who is going to ‘install’ your float, safety barriers etc and where the money is going to be collected

Have lots of FUN

 

Step 7:

Try and get the lorry delivered the night before or really really really early on the day

Have lots of FUN

Have a chippy tea on the lorry (if it’s the night before)

 

Step 8:

THE DAY

Get up ridiculously early

Get a member of your group to make bacon sandwiches!

All hands to the decks while the lorry comes together… have lots and lots of FUN!

Get into costumes, have make-up applied and then…

…Run around screaming at each other in a blind panic because you don’t think you’ll get to the Brays in time – AAAARRRRGH! It’s far too early!

 

And then, calmly get to the Brays performing as you ‘sail’ past the judges in all your glory….

 

FOR ITS CARNIVAL DAY – Kenilworth Carnival Day…let’s keep this going!

 

Come on, it’s not that difficult, its lots of fun and it’s a great way to raise money!

Download your form now – your local carnival needs you!

 

And if, it’s not for you… then come along on the day and spectate… enjoy the show and donate some of your change… it’s all for such a good cause

 

This year’s Carnival is Saturday 5th July.

 

See you there!

 

 

Kenilworth Carnival, 2013

Tickling your funny bone since 2010...

This year’s Carnival was on Saturday July 6^th 2013, and what an excellent and hot day!
This year we entered as pretty much what we are – a bunch of clowns!

The Chinewrde Clown Company LTD have been “Tickling your funny bone since 2010”. They are a group of clowns available to hire for functions such as Children’s parties, festivals, Carnival’s, Weddings and Funerals.

Group shot, complete with driver!

Each of the clowns specialise in a variety of tricks for example plate spinning, bat juggling, telling jokes and hula hooping.

As part of this year’s Kenilworth Carnival Relief, we were on a mission to take the red nose back – Kenilworth Carnival is the new red nose day!

The clowns working the crowds on the big day were:

Barry - The DIY clown, specializing in juggling special brew can’s, catapulting, and general carpentry.

 

Barry (Craig)

Charlotte De-Chaplan – Based on Charlie Chaplin who was a clown playing a tramp, Charlotte is a tramp playing a clown.

Charlotte (Louise)

 The Ukip Candidate – Telling jokes and hoping for votes.

 

Ukip candidate (Dennis)

CoCo Pops the clown - a traditional clown specializing in bubbles and is able to play ‘bring in the clowns’ on the car horn

 

CoCo Pops (Carole)

The flower clown - specialising in bringing an extra flair to public festivals and important meetings by producing flowers out of thin air

Flower Clown (Sara)

Emile D’Oop – a former Circe-de soleil clown with specialist skills in hula-hooping

 

Emile D'Oop (Ley)

Keith Ledger – Re-formed to perform as a fruit bat juggler

Keith Ledger (Jac)

His and hers clowns - girl clown specialises in animals jumping through hoops and the boy clown specialises in juggling

His N' Hers (Sarah & Onur)

 Doozey Duke – a cheerful clown who specialises in plate spinning in bulk, can have plates spinning 10 yards away as well as spinning them in hand

Doozey Duke (Abba)

 The family of clowns – a small family of circus character clowns

 

Circus family (Graham, Jules and Rhys)

And finally, the Chinewrde Carnival Collective Jester – available for satire and jest, specialises in water pistol firing and jokes

CCC Jester (Elicia)

 

We came second place on the day

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1c9H_Mm3rw

http://www.kenilworthcarnival.org.uk

 

 

 

 

That's a sheet of a different colour!

Kenilworth Carnival 2013

We have had our final meeting, we have sourced our costumes, we had ordered our make-up… we are in the process of sourcing and making our props… we are dyeing the sheets (again!)…. And we have a final track list to our soundtrack – Kenilworth Carnival 2013 here we come.

After a sombre look back at our entry last year, we have returned to our manifesto, and we are bigger, better and slightly more left field – again! The crowds are in for a treat… there’s no pink this year!

If you follow us on twitter, you will be aware of the breadcrumb like clues that have been dropped along the way…
No pink
Dyeing sheets
Animals include 1 monkey, 1 elephant and 1 alligator
Orange balls
Bubbles – lots of
Lots of hot air
A walking stick
And of course there is a character called Barry (but it's not last year’s corgi).

This year’s carnival is Saturday 6^th July, and the procession starts at 1pm, so get your places ready for a bit of a boogie and start donating lots of coppers to an excellent and important cause – Kenilworth Carnival.

For more details about Kenilworth Carnival see their website

www.kenilworthcarnival.org.uk

Let’s make this Carnival a year to remember!!!

 

Hope the Morris Dancers will be partaking this year – it’s not the same without them!

Kenilworth Carnival, 2013

After a busy last 9 months, we have finally got over 'Strictly Royal'. We have a new addition to our family, along with a new dog...

... and we have had our first official meeting.

With just under 11 weeks to go, we are working on our character names and personality's ready for the big day - Saturday 6th July.

Pop the date in your diary and get ready for a return to form with our slightly twisted entry this year...*



*teasers to follow... that was not an OFFICIAL clue!

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!

For more photos see us on Facebook

Our Carnival History: 1995-2008

Unfortunately, no one has accurate dates or ‘titles’ for the following period: 1993-2008. We have tried to piece together a rough chronology of what the family entered the Carnival as during this period, below is what we think happened:

In between Glenn Miller and the Blue Danube.

In 1993, Joan entered as a fancy dress walker. She was dressed in Walker’s Crisp Packets and was called Mrs Walker’s Crisp.



Mrs Walker's Crisp (1993)

 In 1994, Carole and Fran entered as a couple of fizzy drinks can’s, one was Pepsi and the other was Pepsi Max (they came 3^rd place)

Post Blue Danube:

Circa 1996, Alice, Fran & Carole entered as fancy dress walkers (with Bikes) as something to do with looking after your health, one was a heart, one was vitamins and one was a balanced diet.



Fran, Alice and Carole

Circa 1997-2008, includes some of the following entries:

•     Carole as ‘Tropical dress’ (potentially 2006)

•     Carole as ‘Clowning Around’

•     Carole and Joan as ‘We are Rubbish’
•     Joan was ‘Sweets’ the same year that Carole was ‘Patchwork’

•     Fran & Fred with ‘The Trinket Box’ using the trailer as the musical box the lady spins around on.

•     Fran & Fred as ‘Swanning Around’, Fran was dressed as a match girl with giant matches on her back while Fred was in a giant packet of Swan Matches

 

Fran

The following dates and titles are a little more confirmed:

In 2001 Fran & Fred entered with their interpretation of ‘Typical English Weather ‘

Meanwhile, the same year (2001), Joan was ‘The big Breakfast’ and came 2^nd; while Carole was ‘Rag’s to Riches’ and came 1^st place.

In 2002, Joan entered as ‘The Four Seasons’, while Carole was ‘Jubilee Dress’ and came 2^nd.

In 2005, Carole entered as ‘It’s My Party’ and was also “Highly Recommended” that year.

In 2007, Carole entered as ‘Leader of the Pack’.

And for her final fancy dress Walking year, in 2008 Carole entered Kenilworth carnival as a huge Carnival type extravaganza!



Carnival Dress



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