00:00 I can remember the 1950s and 1960s, which were very exciting occasions.
00:07 I particularly remember as a small child the excitement long before the Carnival procession
00:14 had reached me, just with people standing, waiting for the procession, waving flags,
00:22 street sellers moving up and down, the crowd selling various things.
00:28 We used to stand on the raised walkway outside the Volunteers pub in West Street
00:36 and that was a great vantage point to see the Carnival from.
00:41 I also remember in the early 60s, of course, as many people will,
00:45 the contribution of the Kent Farm Institute students.
00:50 This was an agricultural college at the top of College Road
00:55 and the students there used to put a trailer on the back of a tractor
01:00 and load it up with perhaps something that wasn't water, perhaps it was manure,
01:07 and throw it around.
01:10 Friends of mine remember some pitched battles where teenagers of the town
01:15 would throw this stuff back at them.
01:18 So a lot of excitement. It did generate a lot of excitement.
01:21 Eventually it was decided it wasn't a safe thing to do
01:25 and the students were much aggrieved and protested in 1962/63
01:33 that the spirit of the Carnival had died.
01:35 Of course it hadn't. It just had to be a bit careful of health and safety.
