The annual Nottingham Carnival returns to the Victoria Embankment this coming Sunday 18 August. We take a look into its history and speak with organiser Richard Renwick MBE, and Rastarella of Cultural Vibrations who is performing at the event, about what we can look forward to...
Summer has finally made itself known in Notts, and nothing says summer in 2024 Britain like a Caribbean carnival. Just in time to amplify the rays, dress up to the nines, and celebrate our city’s diverse communities, is the return of Nottingham Carnival. The event takes place this Sunday 18 August from 1pm to 8pm at Victoria Embankment.
It wouldn’t be Carnival without its famously colourful and joyous parade, which returns to Nottingham this weekend featuring hundreds of stunning new costumes worn by young carnival masquerades in thirteen different troupes, all performing their choreographed routines and competing for the top prize. A look at the programme shows troupes descending from as far as Luton and Newcastle.
The parade, which is free to the public, will leave Victoria Embankment at 2pm then head up Wilford Grove, Felton Road and Green Street before making its way back down to The Embankment via Bunbury Street returning to the Carnival Village via Wilford Grove, where the troupes will perform on the dedicated Troupe & Soca Stage. The parade will run for about two hours and can be enjoyed anywhere along the route.
Global roots music promoter Rastarella of Cultural Vibrations, who is performing a Soca set with DJ Suga Lion on the carnival's main stage, told us how she feels about Carnival and encouraged all communities to come together and celebrate:
"Nottingham Carnival is the one day of the year when people from the Caribbean diaspora get the opportunity to celebrate the rich tapestry of our cultural heritage with the wider community. It is a day to come together as one to enjoy the Carnival parade, music representing the Caribbean, Africa and the UK, free up ourselves and represent our roots in full effect. It’s a great day for people of all backgrounds to come together and enjoy a unifying day out."
As well as our Nottingham based troupes, there will be the world-famous Origin Moko Jumbies on their six foot high stilts, the fabulous Caporales San Simon from Bolivia and other amazing troupes from Luton, Leicester, Derby and Leeds. Nostalgia Steel Band, who claim to be the oldest steel band in Europe, will also appear.
Following the Parade, the Carnival Village is where all the action then takes place with dozens of musicians and DJs performing in three music zones, with the headline performance by Jamaican reggae legend Wayne Wonder on the Carnival Main Stage. In addition, there will be lots of authentic food and other stalls, fairground rides, free Kids’ Zone activities and licensed bars.
2024 marks 25 years since Richard Renwick MBE (who originally hails from Grenada) and the Carnival Committee came together with staff from Tuntum Housing Association and volunteers from the community to hold the reins of Nottingham Carnival. Earlier this year Nottingham Carnival Community Interest Company was established to carry the event forward.
“As the years went by, with the ever-increasing costs of putting on the event combined with the reduction in public finance, we have had to ask the public to make a small contribution. Today, tickets to enter the Carnival Village and enjoy all the fabulous entertainment will be £5 in advance with under 13s free”, Renwick tells us.
When you think about the origins of Caribbean carnivals in the UK, you might be drawn to our country's largest carnival, Notting Hill Carnival. But, as we learn from organisers of our local Nottingham Carnival, “The UK’s first outdoor carnival was in Nottingham, not Notting Hill, on the very same Victoria Embankment in 1958 that hosts our own event in 2024”.
Records on the Nottingham Carnival Heritage website show that this was organised by James 'Woody' Hayliger in June 1958, a resident of The Meadows who had immigrated from the West Indies island of Saint Kitts - according to Christine Belle's book St.Kitts and Nevis Meadows Community, Memories for the Millenium, published in 2000.
This first Nottingham outdoor carnival precedes even the famous first indoor carnival organised by activist Claudia Jones at St Pancras Town Hall in January 1959. Nottingham's Embankment's carnival was held two months before race riots broke out in St Ann’s in August 1958. Notting Hill's own riots followed.
But as Lisa McKenzie - a then sociology lecturer at Middlesex University London and a St Ann's resident of 25 years - told the BBC in a 2018 article, the working-class communities that made up St Ann's soon saw what they had in common and put down roots that last to this day. As a St Ann’s resident today, this writer can attest that the diverse set of locals still stand strong and close-knit. Struggle pervades the racial lines now as it did then, but there is a sense of sticking together.
Since those early efforts in the late 1950s, the Caribbean carnival phenomenon has swept the UK, with communities up and down the country hosting events, including our neighbours in Derby, and many troupes and performers attending multiple events.
Renwick leaves us with an appeal. “Please join us to have a fabulous time. Nottingham Carnival is the occasion when people of all backgrounds get together in unity and love to enjoy safe and unique family friendly entertainment reflecting the rich diversity of our city.”
Nottingham Carnival tickets are £5 in advance (plus booking fee) or £7 on the door. Children 12 and under go for free, and the parade is free to watch at any point along the route.
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