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.

1955 600 carnival 0005 1956 600 carnival 0007 1957 600 Carnival 0007

   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

  

1959 600 Carnival 0005 1960 600 Carnival 0004

 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

 

1965 600 carnival 0018 1966 600 carnival 0020

The colour change is obvious, but for 1966 the word Tombola was added to the artwork created for the 1965 programme.

 

1967 600 carnival 0022  

 

1972 600 carnival 0024

1972, the first after decimalisation. It was a flimsy 12 paper pages.

 

1973 600 carnival 0026

  

More Kenilworth Carnival articles on this website:

Origins of Kenilworth Carnival, and its post-war revival, Patsy Wheeler

Kenilworth’s ‘Lost’ Wartime Carnivals

Kenilworth’s Forgotten Carnival Queen

Carnival Queens

Carnival posters and tickets, 1962 -1967

Pre-war Carnivals

How many carnivals has there been?

Kenilworth Carnival on film