Helmdon Carnival replayed the glories of years gone by this week raising an estimated £3,000 for charity.

According to the organisers, Monday's event - in its twenty-third year - recaptured the spirit of those first few enthusiastic years. Of course, the introduction of a beer tent for this year's festivities will certainly have helped to grease the wheels.

Carnival secretary Claire Bryant said: "We've had great comments, lots of people have said it was a really great event and they fully enjoyed it.

"So far we think we've raised over £3,000 for charity so that's excellent. There was definitely a carnival atmosphere this year."

Some of the cash will go towards the running of Brackley Cottage Hospital, some to the Helmdon Reading Rooms and some to the village sports pavilion.

Visit www.helmdon.com to view plenty more photographs of the weekend.

The Brackley Post - 2nd September 2005