Tag Archives: hornsey carnival

The art of waving

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Lynne Featherstone at the Hornsey CarnivalSaturday was Hornsey Carnival day – and myself and Mayor Alan Dobbie are transported in a white open-topped car at the front of the parade. The sun came out – and for over two hours we waived and smiled as we passed very slowly along the carnival route – behind the float carrying the Hornsey Carnival Queen and Princess.

The organisation of this annual event takes quite a lot of doing and raises money for charity. In the parade are Carnival Queens on their floats from other areas of the country who come for the occasion – just as ours go to their carnivals.

There is something very wonderful about parades. People bring their children out to watch and we wave and smile – and everyone waves and smiles back. And it is, bizarrely, a very cheering and happy feeling that works both ways. Now a veteran of waiving and smiling – I have discovered that virtually however grumpy a person walking along minding their own business is – if you catch their eye and give them a genuine smile and waive – it is almost impossible for them not to waive and smile back – even if some are a little sheepish about it.

There are a lot of people out to see the parade – and despite it being Women’s Final day at Wimbledon – the morning rain has cleared to deliver perfect sunshine for the parade.

The funniest people to wave at are the poor souls who are driving along and find themselves stopped by the police to allow the parade to pass. You can understand why they can look very grumpy – particularly if they were in a hurry. But again – as I catch their eye and smile directly at them and wave – on the whole they smile and wave back and cheer up.

Even in a population that mainly likes to keep itself to itself and is intensely private – no one can resist human relationships – and we all want to come out of our shell. When someone inanely waiving and smiling at you comes along for no reason – somehow the absurdity (at one level) breaks down the normal barriers and we respond despite ourselves. ‘Cos in the end – that’s what makes the world go round – human relationships.

Hornsey Carnival: judging the costumes

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It’s the Hornsey Carnival today – just a lovely thing to have on our doorsteps in Hornsey. The Carnival Queen, her deputy and the princesses all looked gorgeous and at last, amazingly, the sun shone. I did the judging for the Fancy Dress – and I have to say – they all really put in great effort.

First I put Hornsey Girls with their Carnival Costumes – which were amazing; second I put St Mary’s Infants and Juniors whose theme was jungle – and all the children had put an extraordinary amount of work into Papier Mache masks; and then joint third The Hornsey Tavern (Cleopatra and slaves – grown men dressed scantily, what can I say) and Hazel Perryman – who was just a fancy dress all of her own. A very, very close fourth were the kids from Action Aid.

And here are some photos from the day:

Lynne Featherstone at Hornsey Carnival, judging the costumes

Lynne Featherstone at Hornsey Carnival, judging the costumes

Lynne Featherstone at Hornsey Carnival, judging the costumes
Well done to the Carnival Team who make so much effort for charity every single year. They are always looking for new groups to join the parade and the charity fundraising – so anyone reading this from Hornsey & Wood Green – give it a go!

Could you be the next Carnival Queen?

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Hornsey Carnival are looking for their next Carnival Queen so here are the details if you are interested:

The winners will be honoured with representing the Association for 2007. The selected contestants will sit on the lead float of the Hornsey Carnival on Saturday 7 July through the streets of Hornsey. You will also have the honour to represent the Borough at other carnivals throughout the summer months: a year of travel, entertainment & enjoyment could be yours.

Contestants should have a good personality, enjoy meeting new people & willing to dedicate some spare time – mainly Saturdays, on a voluntary and enjoy supporting charity work.

Age range: normally attracts between 14-30 & ideally should live within 3 miles of Hornsey.

Applications now being considered and the final selection will take place in March – so please post your entry form as soon as possible. You will be invited to an informal chat to see if its something you may enjoy doing. If you would like to discuss this great opportunity or would like further details, these can be obtained from our Carnival HQ, Hornsey Carnival Association 54 Rokesly Avenue, Hornsey N8 8NR, 020 8340 7339.

Hornsey Carnival

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Off to Hornsey Carnival! Arrive at base of Ally Pally to meet Monica who is accompanying me for the duration. I find the organiser Paul and Mr Rathbone – who is Mr Hornsey Carnival.

I am to judge the best business float – so I wander up the road looking for the five ‘floats’ named on my judging sheet. One of the floats is for Action for Kids – well – a painted van would be more accurate. But they were all dolled up as hippies – peace and love man – which appealed as that was my youth. And I can’t find the other three competitors at all. So – I declared the winner Action for Kids and the runner up – Greig Academy.

Retracing my steps to the beginning of where everyone was lining up, I was introduced to Karl Heinz and his troupe of girls from Koblenz. The Hornsey Carnival queens go over there each year and they visit back from time to time. In Koblenz the carnival is big and the streets are lined five deep with onlookers.

I am to sit on the back of an open-topped Mercedes with the Deputy Carnival Queen – Verity. Verity was Queen last year and knows the ropes. She is my mentor for the duration and knows all there is to know about carnivals, waving and smiling. She was a lovely girl, actually, and I learned a lot from her about what the girls do – from selling brochures for the carnival door to door to attending all sorts of functions as well as going to other local carnivals to take part. They raise quite a bit of money for local charities – and lots of people give their time free from the woman on the committee who makes the girl’s dresses (both day and evening) to the woman who had moved away from Hornsey but still helped run the carnival as she had for years.

The parade moved slowly off and through the streets of Hornsey. Five deep the crowds were not – but there were quite a lot of people out to waive and watch us pass. The atmosphere was lovely and I have to say I really enjoyed it. Waiving at strangers is clearly an art – and it is quite a psychological study as to how to make even the grumpiest, “I am not going to smile or waive at any cost” teenager, respond. If you catch someone’s eye – and you waive and smile directly at them – it is almost impossible for them not to respond.

And so the carnival parade wended its way for an hour and a half through the streets. At the journey’s end I went on my way – as the carnival would go on late into the night with dancing and celebrations.

I went home and watched what was left of Live-8. My two daughters had texted and been lucky enough to get tickets. At 10am this morning they had departed for Hyde Park and at various times throughout the day they had called me to let me a) know they were alive and b) listen to the music live through the mobile.

I thought the whole thing was fantastic! Of course – I remember the first one 20 years ago. And I don’t subscribe to the cynics who say that this will do nothing. Of course this won’t solve poverty in Africa – but it is a start. We need to make sure that the aid that is given is given to agencies who will help enable the local African people to build small businesses and sustainable lifestyles so that they can survive and build an industry of their own to sustain the economy.

Sir Bob and Live-8 have delivered the increased debt write-off and the increased aid – but more than that – they brought us all together to say we do care and we will act.