The show will go on for Pewsey Carnival

Fears about the carnival's future were aired earlier this year, but the AGM this week decided that it will go ahead in 2016.

The carnival committee's meeting in the Foresters Hall at the Royal Oak, in Pewsey was filled to capacity, with the agenda for the meeting covering the events such as the wheelbarrow and four-legged events as well as the procession itself. A meeting earlier this year was held by the company to discuss the future of the carnival and whether it would run this year, after funding issues had been raised by the committee.

Maurice Bulmer, the company chairman, said: “Although the carnival continues to be successful and well attended, our costs are increasing and income is not keeping pace. For this year we are not in a position to provide donations to local charities that we have in the past. We will consider this again next year to see if we can reinstate donations in the future.”

Since 2009, the carnival committee has given more than £55,000 to charities in the local area, last year handing out between £6,000 and £9,000. Cash often goes to both Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Prospect Hospice, with money also going to smaller village projects in the Pewsey Vale.

Carol Parsons, company vice chairman and a member of the committee for nearly 30 years, said: "Costs are always going up. We were affected last year because the cost of the clean-up has now fallen to the company. Last year was the first time we had to pay another company to do it and we had no idea how much it would cost. For this year we now have a rough idea, but due to less entries in the wheelbarrow and four-legged events we also took less last year. I hope more people will enter this time round."

During the meeting members also said goodbye to three of the directors, managing director Sarah Adams, operations director Gavin Adams and children’s director Janice Grafton, who all stepped down from the committee. Mr Bulmer thanked them for their commitment and efforts to the carnival before welcoming two new directors, Rupert Chandler and James Walker.

"We are looking for maybe two or three companies to help sponsor the carnival and we are also looking for volunteers to help market it. Another role we are looking to fill is the programme printers. Wessex Printers did it for years but the woman who helped us has just left. She did such a good job and now we need someone else to take over," added Mrs Parsons.

Wiltshire councillor Phillip Whitehead confirmed this week that the costs of event clear-up operations such as the carnival were now the responsibility of organisers, after Wiltshire Council had had to stop taking on the work as part of budget cuts.

Pewsey Carnival 2016 opens with the car boot sale on July 10, along with a new event that afternoon, the Coopers Field Cossors Dog Show. The annual car treasure hunt will still be taking place on July 24, and the 2016 procession is on September 17.

Anyone interested in helping can contact the committee by emailing covicechair@pewsey-carnival.org.uk.