A FAMILY Town Trail and a Scarecrow Competition will be two of next week’s events leading up to this year’s Bishops Castle Carnival on Sunday, July 1.

This year’s carnival parade floats will be led by the incoming Carnival Queen who has been named as 18 year old Chiara Ireland-Morris who is studying Fine Art and Drama at Shrewsbury Sixth Form College and last year she was commissioned by TV presenter Chris Packham to do a three foot by one foot acrylic painting of his dogs Itchy and Scratchy.

Chiara, who lives in Bishops Castle, is a volunteer at the Youth Club, Messy Church and Community College. She is a member of Castle Players and has been in nine of their pantomimes so far.

Chiara’s attendants will be her cousins Megan Morris along with Hannah and Phoebe Jones.

The Carnival Princess is nine year old Esther Pyman and the first ever Carnival Prince will be nine year old Kai Jones.

Floats on Carnival Sunday will congregate on Church Bank from 12noon ready for judging at 12.30p. The procession through the town starts at 1pm and ends on the playing fields at 2pm where the Carnival Queen, Prince and Princess are crowned.

The theme this year is “Rule Britannia” and the committee are asking entrants to consider what makes it good to live in Great Britain and what is the country famous for. A wide range of floats are expected depicting the country’s history, British comedies, British Cars, our NHS, etc.

In addition, there will be a number of categories for walking classes with the same theme. In the procession there will be also be a range of vintage vehicles and a marching band.

Leading up to all that will be a number of events during this week including the new Scarecrow Competition with the theme of “Local Legends”

There will be prizes for the best three entries. Entries must be registered and need to be ready to go on display within Bishops Castle for judging on Wednesday, June 27, There is an entry fee £5 . The committee is asking you to get creative and look forward to welcoming local legends into the town on carnival week.

Also on Wednesday there will be a Family Town Trail starting at 6pm from the Castle Hotel and ending at the Six Bells. The entry fee is £1 per adult and 50p for children and this event should be fun for all the family

In addition, there will be the traditional Shop Window competition and the theme this year will be Children’s Tea Party'. Shop windows in town need to be ready for judging in week commencing June 25 and the winner will be notified on Friday, June 29.

There will also be a Cricket competition hosted by Bishops Castle Cricket Club which will take place the day after the carnival on Monday, July 2 with a barbecue also at the club on the day. For further information contact Simon Palmer on 07779844613 or via email to simon.palmer@fsmail.net

The carnival is run by a small committee of volunteers so any help that can be offered would be gratefully received either leading up to the carnival or on the clear up after the carnival.

Contact Carnival Secretary Amanda on 01588 630760 or 07906431643 to register your entry for the scarecrow competition and for any further details of carnival events or offers of help..