Bridgnorth Carnival switch to be discussed

Bridgnorth Town Council's Events Committee will discuss switching the carnival from a Saturday to a Sunday for the first time in years at a meeting taking place tonight.

A number of businesses within the town have raised the issue that footfall into shops is affected during the carnival and the switch is hoped to keep a greater number of people in the town throughout the whole weekend.

At the last meeting of the committee in January, members recommended that an open meeting be organised to explore the possibility of attracting a wider community engagement in the organisation of the carnival, including businesses, members of the public and other interested parties.

The time and date of the open meeting, along with other final details of the carnival are expected to be discussed tonight.

Councillor for the Castle ward and chair of the Events Committee, councillor Sarah Barlow, said: "For a few years a lot of traders have recommended we try hosting the carnival on a Sunday.

"It's understandable as large groups of people won't necessarily shop in the town on the day and business is really quiet all around the market so for the first time in yeas, we're going to try it on a Sunday.

"Traditionally this used to be the day it was held on a number of years ago but this had to be changed. Now we're trying to see if a change back is the right thing to do."

The Events Committee will meet tonight at the Mayor's Parlour in College House, St Leonard's Close at 5pm.

"Obviously there's a lot of things that need to be considered and it's not as easy as simply doing everything a day later than usual," she added.

"The churches around that time will be coming out for example, so one thing we'll look at is starting the procession at a time that suits everyone as best as we can.

"I know there has been a lot of positive support to change the day and this is just one of the things we're looking at doing to change the carnival this year so we can only try it and see how it goes."