Carnival Programmes 1936 – 1975

I have been given a large collection of Carnival memorabilia including post-war programmes up to 1973. There are gaps; I am hoping to fill all up to 1975; can you help with the missing ones?

(Missing are: All pre-war except 1936; and 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975)

1936 Carnival Programme Pages

1936 Carnival Queen Joyce Mills personal copy of that year’s programme.

1947 carnival 0001 600 The 1947 Carnival was organised by and was for the benefit of The British Legion and the Ex-Servicemen’s Memorial Centre. With a large military participation, it is generally accepted as being the best Carnival ever.

1951 600 carnival 0003

The 1951 programme had an extra 14 pages, and a glossy insertion for the photographs of the Queen and her attendants.

1958 600 Carnival 0006

The proceeds of a number of Carnivals in the 1950s and 1960s went to the Carnival Comforts Fund; this was to ease the suffering and to help the local sufferers of tuberculosis

Although the clown logo is the same, there are many small differences between the covers for 1959 and 1960, apart from the obvious colours.

1961 600 Carnival 0003

In 1961, for the first (and perhaps only) time, the entire carnival proceeds went to one out-of-town cause – the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind. The decision was made at a lengthy public meeting at the Abbey Hotel on 18th January. It was said that the Comforts Fund had plenty in reserve and no-one in Kenilworth would lose out.

1962 600 Carnival 0002

1963 600 carnival 0029

The programme for 1963 was the most basic and perhaps the worst; it was a simple folded sheet. It returned to its booklet format for 1964. The Talisman Theatre, homeless since the closure and site clearance of the tannery where it had had its home, was amongst the beneficiaries.

1964 600 carnival 0016