'For the people, by the people' St Paul's Carnival to go back to roots

THE community behind Bristol’s biggest street party say they want to take it “back to our roots’, as changes and a switch in focus is being discussed.

- Tristan CORK

Huge crowds at St Paul's Carnival in 2010 and, inset left, Junior Saunders, who has joined the board of the carnival

(Jon Kent/Picture left: SWNS)

It could mean the St Paul's Carnival looks a little different next year and in years to come - and is more like the carnival of years gone by.

The driving force behind the initiative is Junior Saunders, who earlier this summer announced that after years of being a voice on the sidelines of the St Paul's Carnival, he'd been challenged to get involved, and so joined the board of the carnival itself.

Junior took up the role of engaging with the community in St Paul's, and last month held two meetings, under the banner “Back To Our Roots”.

One was to bring some of the longstanding families from St Paul’s Black community together, and a second meeting was open to all St Paul's residents, to talk about the history of the carnival, how it has grown over the years, and what the community wants its future to look like.

The St Paul's Carnival grew from a small-scale carnival procession followed by an afternoon and evening of DIY sound systems back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, to a much bigger event during the 2000s that attracted thousands of people from across Bristol and beyond.