ORGANISERS of Verwood Carnival say they succeeded in recreating the kind of event they remember from childhood.

Hundreds lined the streets of the village for a lengthy procession and there were queues to get into the carnival field off Crane Drive.

The event took place in glorious weather on bank holiday Monday.

It was the result of several years of work to get the carnival back to the scale of event seen in its heyday when the current organisers were children.

Shelley Morris, chairman of the carnival committee, said: “It’s been absolutely amazing.

“We’ve had a huge turnout for the procession and loads of floats, which is great because what’s what we used to have.

“There was a big turnout in the village, lining the roads in Verwood, and lots of people out in the sunshine.

“The procession ran over by a quarter of an hour because it was so full and we came back to a huge queue of people waiting to get into the field, which was worth all the hard work that we’ve all put in.”

Carnival queen Demi Tucker, 15, presided over the event, with the help of princesses Megan Giltrow, nine, and Sienna Rhodes, 12.

Floats in the procession represented everything from a day at the beach to the story of Mary Poppins, while Verwood Town Council took the opportunity to promote the efforts of Verwood In Bloom in its entry.

The entertainment included two spectacular BMX arena shows, Longdown Mobile Farm, Liberty Owl and Reptile Centre and Titan the Robot.

Crowds enjoyed a fun fair provided by William Cole and Sons.

Shelley said: “For four years, we’ve been trying to build it to what it was when I was a girl in Verwood.

“Verwood fair used to be a huge thing at Whitsun when we were young and Coles used to do the fair.

“When I came back eight years ago, the carnival was under threat because they didn’t have the volunteers and in we’ve turned it around.”

She said hard work by the committee and their supporters had reaped rewards.

“We’ve worked and worked and it just goes to prove it was really wanted and supported,” she added.