THE ORGANISERS of Yeadon Carnival breathed a collective sigh of relief as heavy rain stopped in time to allow thousands to enjoy the event.

Delighted at scoring a triumph in the face of some foul weather earlier in the day, organiser Steve Maw said: "It went absolutely brilliantly despite raining really heavily for hours in the morning.

"That really hampered the schools who were putting on the floats but by the time of the parade it came clear and we had three clear hours - which was just long enough for us to get everything done.

"So we were certainly a bit lucky. We must have had between two and three thousand people there in the end, I was surprised at how many turned out after the morning we had.

"The rain did mean the marching band we were meant to have cancelled, so we didn't have any live music on the parade. A few stall holders cancelled too, but not enough to stop everyone enjoying themselves."

Fairytale and Fantasy was the theme of this year's carnival and the Best Float prize this year went to Queensway Primary School, which drew its inspiration from Roald Dahl's novel version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Head teacher Gail Palmer-Smeaton said: "We were here at 9am on Saturday morning and the weather was absolutely dreadful!

"But the weather did thankfully improve by the time of the parade and, although we had to keep one side of our float tied up, we took part and were picked as the best decorated!"

Rawdon Littlemoor Primary was also highly commended for its float. Other lorries featured imaginative displays from South View Junior School, St Andrew's Church, Yeadon Methodist Church and the New Inn Pub.

The GMC Band entertained carnival goers at the field behind Yeadon Methodist Church, which was full of stalls and a funfair. Yorkshire Television weather presenter Jo Blythe opened the event and also crowned the Carnival Queen (Aylish Griffith, of Rawdon Littlemoor School) who was supported by her attendants Zeynep Akkul (Yeadon Southview Junior School) and Farah Frain (Queensway Primary School).

The Rawdon Park Twirlers, dancers from the Northern Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) and the Horsforth Egyptian Dancers also performed.

Show entries in classes ranging from Neatest Handwriting to Best Miniature Fantasy/Fairytale Garden were on display in the Methodist Church. Details of winners and runners up are on www.yeadoncarnival.org.uk.

Local shops and businesses decorated their windows using fairytale and fantasy themes. The winner of the best decorated window was Lloyds Chemist, while Stiff Hairdressers was highly commended.

Mr Maw said: "I would especially like to thank McFarlanes and Peaties for the free use of their lorries. Also thanks to Bev Woods for the head dresses and posies for the queen and her attendants, and the Methodists for the use of the hall for the show. Jo Blythe also did us proud. She stuck around afterwards to see everything and even tried her hand at belly dancing!"