Wareham: save the date
Angus Rich looks into the archives to attempt to chronicle the Wareham Carnival over the last 85 years, and fails
Published in July ’18
Looking down from the overpass to Sandford Lane in 1995
Credit: Wareham Museum
As much as the UK ‘does’ pomp and circumstance well at the time of Royal Weddings and other events of state, it should be said that when the military is taken out of ‘military precision’, the rest of the country has a rather more ‘make do and mend’ approach to putting on public events.
This is not to disparage the intent or attempt. Far better to have an expression of communal fellow feeling with the genuine love of the amateur than the frighteningly precise parades of the former USSR and the modern day North Korea.
Which brings us to the Wareham Carnival: an expression of joy that has, over the years, stretched the definition of parade to its limits. This is largely thanks to the Muddlecombe Men, but with notable contributions from local organisations and companies who’ve really thrown their hearts and souls into the preparation of their floats.
Nearest to camera Bill Godwin pushing Bill Gover outside the Duke of Wellington in the 1955 Boxing Day Pram Race. Credit: Wareham Museum
The eccentric nature of some of the participants is matched by the somewhat eccentric record keeping not just of the Muddlecombe Men, who organised the Wareham Carnival from 1933-1938 and again after the war from 1945-1955 when they stopped. From 1977 (Silver Jubilee year for the Queen) the Round Table took over the role of carnival organisers for a couple of decades.
Saturday 28th July 1984, for example, was confidently called the 50th anniversary parade on the cover of the programme. Confidently, by the way, means it was printed in bold 7½ inch-high numbers on the cover of the programme.
Wareham Carnival programme from the 1980s showing the ’50th anniversary’ issue
Perhaps confused by the Muddlecombe Men – and let’s face it, that is not unknown – for whom it was the 50th anniversary since the 1934 Muddlecombe Laundry and who were celebrating ’50 years of clean humour’, 1984 was in fact the 25th running of the carnival and 51 years after the first one. Confident the programme may have been, accurate it was only in the sense a pre-election poll is accurate that is with an error margin of plus or minus two per cent.
So other than an expression of civic or at least community pride, what is carnival? If you were to ask Ian Davey, current chairman of the Wareham carnival organisers, the short answer would be ‘fun’, although the carnival has a long and impressive tradition of fundraising for local charities as well. In the glory days of the 1980s, when postmen from across the area would have floats – or at least bikes – in the parade, there would be stars from the small screen adding their own uniquely British stardust to the event.
The 1994 Muddlecombe Men as the 423 5/8 Fusiliers motor-cycle display team. Credit Wareham Museum
But although the Carnival started in the 1930s, the Wareham tradition for processions and celebrations dates back much further. Up to the 1900s, a regatta was held on the Frome each summer, with sailing and dinghy races as well as the athletic challenge that was climbing the greasy pole. In 1887, to mark the diamond jubilee of HM Queen Victoria, the town was extravagantly decorated, there was a free dinner for 800 after church and the newly bemedalled Sunday school children assembled on St John’s Hill to parade through the town before then going on to take part in games at Bestwall.
Five years later, it was the coronation of the new King, Edward VII, that led to a civic procession up West Street to the rec where amusements had been laid on.
The Wareham Carnival Committee with 2018 Wareham carnival queen Katie Lake, her two princesses Maddy Amos and Leah Hilton and her two princes Bobby Abbotts and James Turner. . Credit: Sue Kemp Photography
That was pretty mild compared to the celebrations that accompanied the coronation of George V nine years after that. The festivities started at 5.30am, but heavy rain in the afternoon eventually halted the celebrations. Perhaps in light of the historically capricious nature of Wareham’s weather, the organisers of this years carnival have selected ‘Umbrellas and Parasols’ as the theme.
Along with all flavours of weather, the financial pressures of running a carnival have been felt through the years too. In 2002, after the programme sales from 2001 and all the donations added up, it was reckoned that the average contribution per person at the event had been 18 pence, so the chairman put the programme price up to £2.00 to balance out the lack of spontaneous contributions from the crowds. It cannot have been a wholly popular move because the following year the programme price was down to £1.00 and new industrial sized cash buckets placed in front of stages at the various events.
This last point is an important one, although the Carnival Procession is the most visible manifestation of entertainment, the prior fundraising events – like the South Bridge Duck Race or the Scarecrow competition are all vital elements not only in raising the vital tens of thousands of pounds to allow the show to go on, but also to get the town’s community engaged in more than standing on a pavement and watching the world go by.
The Muddlecombe Men, the original carnival organisers, have often come up with additional events to entertain, puzzle and indeed offend the senses of participants at the events at the rec. Who can forget the appearance of Otto Stench, the world’s smelliest man, in a bell tent at the Carnival, not least as a Muddlecombe Man on the harmonium struck up the national anthem and everyone stood to attention in the tent for ninety seconds before leaving.
Whether for the parade proper last year or a 1950s pram race, the Wareham weather cannot always be relied upon.. Credit: Wareham Museum and Sue Kemp Photography
There was the year where a plate was offered as a raffle prize and, after the 14-digit raffle ticket number was read out, it was clear everyone had the same number; the plate was smashed with a hammer so everyone could get a bit of the prize.
Another year, there was a display of nostril wrestling from the ‘Followers of Anton’, which unexpectedly led to one of the two injuries in the Carnival’s history when one wrestler managed to dislocate his shoulder. Carnival’s only other injury was when a reveller (from outside the town the Muddlecombe Men are keen to point out) contrived to fall off his float.
ust your basic, average, everyday, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, ho-hum scene in Wareham’s North Street on Carnival weekend. Credit: Sue Kemp Photography
The following year’s (Round Table organised)carnival response of a ‘no-one-on-floats’ policy was so effectively pilloried by the Muddlecombe Men’s Health & Safety float that the rule was abandoned out of sheer embarrassment the year after that.
This doesn’t mean that the carnival is devoid of fear, though. In 2018 there is the possibility of a truly terrifying creature being held in a tent on the rec for the horror and wonder of all. Dorset Life had been sworn to silence on the details, but it is hoped this additional attraction may swell the carnival coffers more than usual. However, come rain or shine, budget boosting or budget busting, there is one thing that is inevitable. Wareham will put its best foot forward and march.
www.warehamcarnival.com
The author would like to thank Hugh Elmes, Sue Kemp, Ben Buxton and the patrons of the Kings Arms for their help in putting this piece together.
