SCORES of superheroes descended into Swanage town and along the seafront for the annual carnival procession.

Thousands of visitors and residents from across Purbeck and Dorset cheered, clapped and threw money in the charity buckets of the floats which travelled around the town in a haze of colour on Sunday, July 26.

Despite rainfall in the morning, which pushed the start time of the parade back by an hour, the weather couldn’t dampen the spirits of those taking part, who donned Batman and Spiderman costumes or created their own superheroes.

Linda Welsh, Swanage Carnival secretary, said: “I’ve been associated with the carnival for many, many years and I think that the last time we had to cancel the procession was around 30 years ago. We are always optimistic that the event will go ahead if it can.

“It has been absolutely amazing. I don’t know how many floats we had but they were all so good.”

Volunteers from Swanage Lifeboat Station, HM Coastguard, Purbeck and Wareham Young Farmers, Ringwood Pipe Band, Purbeck Rally and Autojumble and Margaret Green Animal Rescue are just a few of the organisations and groups who took part.

Masquerade 2000, which promotes Carribean Culture and Carnival, brought the Notting Hill carnival atmosphere to the event and got the crowd dancing as they travelled in the parade.

Linda said that Swanage Carnival is “one of the biggest events on the south coast” and said it was great to welcome so many people to it each year.

She also said that during the rest of the carnival week, there will be a host more entertainment for families including “two fireworks displays, a wheelbarrow race, treasure hunt, dog show and music on the main stage.”