Published: October 8, 2007
Exclusive: Final touches being made to £12,000 Burnham carnival float

The final finishing touches are being made to a £12,000 monster-sized carnival float which has been built in Burnham-On-Sea.

With just a few weeks to go until the Burnham Carnival on Monday November 12th, members of Hillview Juvenile Carnival Club are busily screwing in thousands of light bulbs and applying a final coat of paint to their impressive 100ft-long float, called 'Daddy Cool - Ice Cool'.

Burnham-On-Sea.com was invited along for a first glimpse of the float this week - and to take a see the hive of activity underway behind the scenes.

Design work on the float orginally began in January and, as the club's John Carpenter explains, there's still plenty of work to go.

"Although we've been working on this float for over nine months now, there are always plenty of jobs to do right up until the last minute."

"It's a great team effort - we have volunteers of all ages and skills helping us - and everyone has an important part to play," he said.

The float's first public unveiling will be at Bridgwater Carnival on Friday November 9th, which will mark a culmination of the hard graft by the club's fifteen builders and ten fundraisers.

"The excitement is really starting to grow now," said John. "The float is taking shape and we'll be here working on it every day right up to the first parade."

"After last year's disappointment, when our float had electrical problems, we're keen to make sure everything is as perfect as possible."

The float and its power generator have no fewer than 9,000 light bulbs - enough to power a whole housing estate!

The group has high hopes of scooping awards on this year's carnival circuit, which includes North Petherton on Saturday November 10th, closely followed by the Burnham and Highbridge Carnival on Monday November 12th, plus Wells on November 16th, Glastonbury on November 17th and finishing in Weston on November 19th.

A full preview of this year's Burnham and Highbridge Carnival is available here.

All ages are mucking in - here, the club's Lou O'Brien is painting some of the exterior wooden panels for the float

One of the club's electricians, John Carpenter, is not bewildered by the complicated mass of wires which will power the float!

The club's Neil Bishop and Andy Galley hard at work on the float's wooden designs, which follow an ice theme

The club's Felicity and Lotte Nicholson take a breather and a look at the upper half of their impressive float

Designer Damian Nicholson decorating one of the float's support struts near the front of the 100ft long float

Sophie Nicholson adds a few dabs of blue paint to create the ice effect on the outside of the float

RELATED LINKS:

Preview of the 2007 Burnham-On-Sea Carnival