Riot of colour, music, and dancing the night away as Wellington Carnival is here again

ONE of the warmest carnival nights in memory saw several thousands of people line the streets of Wellington on Saturday (September 25) for the town’s spectacular annual cavalcade of music and light and dancing.

It was the first procession of the 2026 season for the South Somerset Federation of Carnivals and the first since the Wellington committee tried to move the traditional date from the last Saturday in September to a weekend in October.

The change of date was rejected by the federation and ‘reluctantly’ accepted by the committee, which acknowledged the support it received from people in the other towns in the circuit to set up road closures and help with judging and marshalling.

Saturday’s Wellington procession set off from Rockwell Green at 7.30 pm, where crowds were also entertained by the Skintight Samba band playing in the car park of Villa Verde.

It was more than two hours later when the last of the 56 entries reached the finishing point at the junction of Priory to the east of the town centre.

Wellington School’s corp of drums was at the head of the event, followed by town crier Andrew Norris, and noisy members of the Windy Wheelers Motorcycle Club.

A group of firefighters from Wellington’s twin town in Portugal, Torres Vedras, again took part in the carnival, which for them was part of a 12-strong twinning visit to the town.

Wellington Majorettes were among nine troupes which paraded on the evening, and there were more than 10 floats of various sizes in the feature, tableau, comic, junior and open classes.

The top prize was won for a fifth consecutive year by Ilminster’s Harlequin Carnival Club with its float ‘The Blitz’.