Raising the bar for 2023

AWARD-winning Huckyduck Carnival Club is appealing for new members to join them as it aims to top last year’s county championship-winning entry.

The club, based in Coleford, was founded in 1977 and switched to tableau entries in 1980. Since then it has won the County Cup overall championship seven times – sometimes sharing the title with Masqueraders CC or Gremlins CC – but was the sole winner last year with its black-and-white entry When Movies Were Movies.

The club has already started building this year’s cart; once the theme is chosen it remains a closely guarded secret and is not widely known until carnival programmes go on sale in October.

Members are also working on costumes along with organising vital fundraising efforts such as its hugely popular jumble sales. As with many other clubs, Huckyduck will also provide stewards at the Glastonbury Festival.

A spokesperson for the club said: “We’d love to welcome some new members in 2023. We are lucky to have a committed team who strive to produce the best entry possible. We take great pride in doing as much as we can ourselves be it carpentry, electrics, model making, painting, costume making, the list goes on.

“Recently we have seen some of our ‘more mature’ members deservedly retire from appearing on the cart (although they remain active with building and fundraising), but it is great to see the youngsters filling their places on the cart.”

For details, find Huckyduck Carnival Club on Facebook or call Mark Collis (chairman) on 07738 134077 or Tracey Young (secretary) on 07890 499346