Blog: Saturday was one of the highlights of my year, the Shrewsbury Carnival.

The theme this year was “Victorian Fun And Games”, and I was on a lorry with my youth group from Riversway Elim. The theme for our float was “Fagin’s Den” from the musical “Oliver!”. It took a lot of time and hard work, but was well worth it.

Liam in full Fagin costume

Our lorry was split into two areas; at the back was Fagin’s Den, which was very dark and dirty looking, fitting in with the den in the film. At the front was a contrasting area with an 8ftX8ft painting of the old market hall in the square. We also had a white picket fence running down both sides of the lorry, gradually getting tattier as it got closer to Fagin’s den.

It was a brilliant day, but we had one moment where I could have cried. Just as we had finished putting all of the decorations on to the lorry the heavens opened and we had a downpour, making all of our paint run and our cardboard fence start to turn to mush. The rain only lasted about 15 minutes, but we had a stream of people running outside with sheets of tarpaulin to cover our work. Thankfully it stopped the worst of the damage.

We were awarded second place in the youth float category, which we are pleased with.

The carnival is not only a fun time but it is all for a good cause as well. The money raised is split between different local charities to help and support what they are doing in the community.

The carnival also supports local businesses and charities by having stalls for charities to raise money and stands for local businesses to advertise what they are doing.

I’m looking forward to next year’s carnival which has the theme “British Heroes – The Best of British”. We’ve already started planning what we’re going to do for it. If you want to get involved with the carnival as well you can visit www.shrewsburycarnival.co.uk to find out more.

If you want to have a good day out in 2012 mark 16th June in your diary, the date of the 2012 carnival. I have!