Last weekend saw the return of the Marlow Carnival in Higginson Park after the coronavirus pandemic forced the event to be cancelled last year.

The carnival has been held annually for 45 years and is organised by the Marlow Community Association with all the money raised going to local charities.

The event featured music and entertainment on three different stages, a funfair, a magic show,a poetry competition and offered food and drinks,

Over 40 stalls from local charities, community groups and traders with the nice weather bringing a great turnout.

Joy Morrissey MP visited the event for the first time and enjoyed experiencing the local event.

Marlow FM broadcasted live from the carnival throughout the day with all the bands playing live on radio and the Marlow FM presenters providing chat, interviews and music in between.

A new addition this year was 20 of the stalls creating a “Green Village” where groups and companies like Transition Town Marlow, Wild Marlow, Four State were grouped together with the acoustic Busker Stage to create a festival vibe with a focus on environmental and sustainability matters.

For the second year running the Carnival featured a poetry and writing competition, with the theme being ‘Mashed up fairy-tales, myths and legends’ as the competition was judged by guest judges Robert Thorogood and Julie Carlyle-Hoggan.

Espen Østbye-Strøm, chair of the organising committee said: ‘It was great seeing so many people enjoy a fun family day out.

"Ours is a free event, all for charity and organised by volunteers, the community spirit on show was amazing. After such a long and difficult time for everyone it was so much fun to be able to bring people together again"