THE young ones made sure Sandy Carnival was a success on Saturday. Only one group of adults joined the procession on a warm, sunny day after weeks of dire warnings by the carnival committee that public apathy in the town towards the event could kill it of

THE young ones made sure Sandy Carnival was a success on Saturday.

Only one group of adults joined the procession on a warm, sunny day after weeks of dire warnings by the carnival committee that public apathy in the town towards the event could kill it off.

The remainder of just six floats were all occupied by children.

"All went well in the end but having so few floats was very disappointing," said carnival chairman Jan Shrieves.

"Normally we would have a dozen floats but most of them were walking floats from children this year. We had just one lorry.

"But thanks to The Comet we had a last minute surge in people wanting stalls after they had read the recent stories in the paper about the problems surrounding the carnival."

The carnival committee will meet next month to discuss this year's event but Mrs Shrieves warned: "The carnival is not safe. We now have to decide if it is worth putting all the hard work into organising the event and getting the response we had this year.

"The young people of the town were marvellous and put on a great show. But we now have to sit down and think very seriously about whether we go on.

"Everybody on the committee has a proper job and volunteers to serve on the committee. They were disappointed this year."

The procession was headed by carnival princess Elouise Sanderson, eight, and the prince Ben Kilby, nine, and ended at the sports field at Sandy Place Middle School where over 20 stalls provided fun and entertainment.