In the 1980s there was a Carnival Procession through the streets of Benfleet and the photos below were taken in the High Road looking towards St Mary’s Church, which is just behind the trees. The three storey Georgian style town houses in St Mary’s Close are just visible in some of the photos.
The exact date is unknown but one vehicle has an X registration plate (1982/83 registered) so we can assume that the photos were taken some time after this.
Closer inspection of the photos has revealed some of the names on the floats. This information is detailed below but can anyone add any names or further details? Also, can anyone pin-point the exact year?
Please click on the photos to view a larger image.
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The band was Deep Purple Legionnaires from Wickford.
The band played whilst the majorettes were on the float.
The band master was dressed as one of the seven dwarfs and so was his father as that day both should have been at work and we had to walk past their workplace without them being recognised.
Hi,
You’re probably not interested now, but the majorettes in the first picture was called The Bobby Dazzlers, based in Benfleet. Both my sister and I are in the picture!!
Hi all, yes it was HADLEIGH MARCHING MILLITAIRE, I was in the band myself from about 1980 to 82 I think (so long ago now lol). I can’t remember if I was in the carnival or not now. If I was I would have been about 15 at the time. I have shared this pic of us with our bands facebook page and already there is interest in it, maybe someone will come and give some comments too, and maybe join this site too. Keep up the good work all, I love it xx
I think the purple band behind Mr Wimpy may be deep purple show band from Wickford.
The photo before the Classic Cinema; The caps and white tunics and the majorettes behind them are reminiscent of the Wickford Band and Majorettes. A long shot, I know !!!
Hi, it was 1981 and I was the Benfleet Carnival queen then.
We have pictures of this Carnival as well, ours were taken at the corner of High Rd and Kents Hill Rd. Just a small correction, the X registration is 1st August 1981 to 31st July 1982. One of the pictures shows The Classic Cinema Carnival Princess and the float advertising the Wrath of Khan, my mother was a good friend of Ron who was the manager and I can assure you he always advertised the current block buster on his float and as that film released in the UK on 16th July 1982 there is no doubt in my mind that this procession was sometime in July 1982.
The Band advertising Texas are The Hadleigh Marching Militaire, not the band in white. They were sponsored by Texas diy stores and I believe they were used on some of their TV adverts.
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