AN appeal has gone out for carnival royalty to get in touch to help celebrate a special anniversary.

This year marks 100 years of Ilminster Carnival and organisers are planning plots of fun to mark the occasion.

They are asking past carnival royalty to get in touch with the committee so they can join in the celebrations.

Brad Amor, from Ilminster Carnival Committee, said: "To celebrate 100 years of Ilminster Carnival, we are looking for past kings, queens, princes and princesses to get in touch.

"If you were part of the Ilminster Carnival Royalty, please contact us as ilminstercarnivalcommittee@hotmail.co.uk - we'd love to hear from you."

The return of the town's carnival will be welcomed by local people after the previous two years saw the event cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The committee decided to call off last year's procession due to the restrictions seeing several fundraising events axed.

After deciding the clubs would be unable to build their floats to their usual standards, the organisers instead agreed to stage a carnival week of events from the end of September to the first week of October.

Ilminster Carnival is part of the South Somerset Federation of Carnivals, which also consists of events in Wellington, Chard and Taunton.

The streets of Ilminster will be an exciting blaze of colour as the town's annual procession sets off at 7.15pm on Saturday, October 1.

The procession of illuminated floats is part of an ancient tradition.

The floats can be up to 100 feet in length and are covered in thousands of light bulbs.

​Many of the larger entries come from clubs based in Ilminster, including Harlequin, Gemini, Xtreme and One Plus One, reflecting on just how important carnival still is to the local community.

The magnificent entries consisting of floats, majorettes, walkers and dance troupes are the result of many months of hard work by the clubs.

Mr Amor said: "We hope to raise as much money as possible to go back into the town of Ilminster and to ensure the carnival continues for years to come."

The children's procession takes place on Saturday, September 24, from 1.45pm onwards.