Niah Vall, 15, was crowned Burnham-On-Sea’s new Carnival Queen during a special pageant ceremony in the town last night (Friday, April 20th).
The annual Carnival Queen and Princess Pageant evening took place at The Princess Theatre, where Niah was chosen by a panel of judges to lead this year’s carnival parade.
The judges also selected this year’s two Carnival Princesses – 7 year-old Sienna Moores and 11 year-old Holly Chedzoy.
Niah, who lives in Burnham and is a pupil at Kings of Wessex, told Burnham-On-Sea.com she is delighted to have been picked for the role.
“I’m so shocked to have won! It’s such an honour to be chosen to lead the carnival – I didn’t expect to win!” she said.
Tony Rees, who compered the event with Hannah Sainsbury, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We had a superb evening, a quality line-up of entrants this year – 16 girls in total with four running for queen and 12 for princesses. They were all wonderful and the judges had a tough job choosing the winners.”
During the evening, each of the nominees was asked a question and encouraged to show their individual personalities.
The judges – Jenny Pearson, Malcolm Borland, Debbie Sainsbury and Paul Archer – assessed them and picked the winners.
Carnival President Malcolm Borland thanked last year’s Queen, Melissa Fear, for all her work over the past 12 months.
In her outgoing speech, Melissa said being Queen had been a “marvellous experience” and it had been a “wonderful year” during which she’d been impressed with the local “passion” for carnival.
The packed audience enjoyed music and dance entertainment during the intervals from Lisa Jane School of Dance, Dance Fit Academy, Burnham and District Panto Society, and Melissa Fear.
Photos from the evening are available to buy from The Picture Business in Abingdon Street.
The selection of the new queen is the first event in the run-up to the 2018 Burnham-On-Sea Carnival, which takes place on Monday November 5th.
