ON Monday, May 6, Ilkley is hosting its annual Bank Holiday Monday Ilkley Carnival.

Our committee of volunteers has been delighted with the support shown to the event since its return following Covid in 2022, with crowds and awareness for our Coronation-themed event last year exceeding all expectations.

Ilkley Carnival highlights the importance and the power of community spirit. It brings families, businesses, schools and local organisations together in the largest, volunteer-run, single day, annual event in our calendar - with around 10,000 people attending during the day and with thousands of pounds raised for local groups.

The Carnival shows what a group of enthusiastic volunteers can achieve when the town gives its support whether through sponsorship, volunteering or participating in the parade or wider activities. Without the input of our incredible community, there would be no Ilkley Carnival and we must say a wholehearted thank you to our main sponsors this year: Ilkley BID, to Bradford Grammar School which has sponsored and provided prizes since 2018, and SD Property Group.

Our event has dual aims of providing a family fun day while raising funds for local charities and good causes.

However, we are all living and working in difficult economic times with rising costs and considerable changes to navigate. As a committee, this has been a difficult year as we juggle spiralling costs with the challenges of planning for the incoming Martyn’s Law legislation.

Martyn’s Law is a draft Bill created in tribute to Martyn Hett, who was tragically killed alongside 21 others in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in 2017. The Bill - quite rightly - aims to improve the safety and security of public venues across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, ensuring there is better preparedness for and protection from terrorist attacks. Once introduced, we will see changes which affect all of us as we go about our daily activities as events, buildings and locations follow the new legislation to keep the public safe.

As with all community events across the country, we will need to increase our security and by introducing additional measures now, we can test their effectiveness prior to the implementation of the legislation. This year, Carnival visitors will notice some changes such as additional fencing around the site and scaffolding observation towers. While this is intended to provide reassurance that visitors are attending a well organised and safe event, there will be some inconvenience and of course, there is a monetary cost.

The annual cost of Ilkley Carnival is between £35,000 and £40,000 and we receive no public funding, indeed we have to pay Bradford MDC for the hire of the field and various licences and permissions. And with insurance alone going up by 56per cent this year, increasing our price on the gate to £8 per adult ticket is our only means of mitigating some of these costs. We sincerely hope that the usual community spirit and awareness of the voluntary role of every person who makes Ilkley Carnival happen, will ensure visitors recognise this is an unavoidable reality and support our endeavours to keep producing a fantastic family fun day for generations to come.

Looking ahead to the event itself, we have a whole host of entertainment planned on our showground from 12noon, including the only show of its kind in the world, Defying Gravity, combining freestyle BMX and the extreme sport of mountainboarding. There’s also a free craft tent, fun dog show, charity stalls, a host of children’s activities, food, drink and a range of community trade, business and charity stalls to browse around. We also have what promises to be our most vibrant and spectacular parade ever, with the Mardi Gras-themed 1,100-strong parade making its way along The Grove from 11am and finishing off at the East Holmes field Ilkley Carnival Showground.

Ilkley Carnival has “giving back” at its heart and this year, we are delighted to be donating half of our profits to the parent-run Airedale and Wharfedale Autism Resource (AWARE), an incredible charity which has pledged to use funds from Ilkley Carnival to help fund a confidence-building residential trip for young people with autism.

My final word has to be about the incredible, hard-working, volunteers who make up the Ilkley Carnival committee. Their roles include organising the complexities of our annual parade, navigating event legislation, health and safety, designing the programme and the banners, finding sponsors, co-ordinating volunteers and working almost 24 hours a day in the run up to the event! To our committee, thank you. To all of the volunteers from Ilkley’s local groups and organisations who come out on the day to help set up, take down, operate the gates and pick up the litter, thank you.

Ilkley Carnival is run by the people for the people and while everyone is facing challenging and changing times, our intention is to provide continuity of a community event which has been held on Bank Holiday Monday in Ilkley for over 100 years. To make memories, to raise funds and to make a difference. We hope to see you there!

* For more information visit ilkleycarnival.org

* Andrew Stacey is the chairman of Ilkley Carnival Committee.