Town turns into winter wonderland for carnival

PHOTOS BY PAUL KING

Thousands of people took to the streets of Wokingham for one of the town’s biggest celebrations of the year – the Winter Carnival which kicked off the festive celebrations.

Wokingham Lions presented their 2nd Wokingham Winter Carnival at the end of last month. The Winter Carnival has been in existence since 1994, with the previous team handing over the event to Wokingham Lions Club in 2022.

The event was introduced by President Lyn Baily and opened by Wokingham Town Mayor, Cllr Sally Gurney and Wokingham Mini-Mayor, Leah Vas. Lyn accompanied the Mayor and Mini-Mayor around the carnival, which took over three hours, due partly to how large it has become, expanding this year to the area outside the shops on Elms Field, but also how interested the Mayor was in the event, and meeting local residents.

Although the weather was cold and at some points damp, the carnival was very busy and culminated with the switching on of the Christmas tree lights, music from St. Sebastian’s Wokingham Brass Band and the Wokingham Singers, carols for everyone to join in with and finally a spectacular laser light show.

Lyn summed things up: “By the end of the day there were many tired, wet, and cold people, not just Wokingham Lions, but friends, volunteers from other Lions Clubs and Service Clubs, local entertainers, police and police cadets and first aiders. Everyone worked hard to make the event the success it was. We also had some fantastic sponsors without whose backing it would be impossible to stage an event like this.”

Winter Carnival Chairman, Tim Hanton concluded: “Finances are still being finalised, but profits will be more than last year. The major charity recipients this year are Home Start Wokingham District and Share Wokingham, with smaller amounts going to other local charities and good causes. In addition, we enabled charities to raise more than £25,000, whilst at the same time raising their profiles within our community.”

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