Fleet Carnival marks its 67th year with support from homebuilder Vistry Group

Local housebuilder Vistry Group was among the sponsors of this year’s event, which was attended by around 4,000 people and the money raised goes towards Parity for Disability, a Hampshire-based charity which supports people with multiple disabilities – this will be announced at the fetes August annual guild meeting..

The company, which is building homes at Albany Park in Church Crookham under its Bovis Homes and Linden Homes brands, was a Gold sponsor of the event, contributing £1,250 towards staging the procession and entertainments.

Attractions on the day included the procession through the town and entertainment at Calthorpe Park, including a carnival market and food and drink stalls, traditional fete games, a petting zoo, fun fair, dog show and live music.

Carnival chairman Leanne Walmsley said: “This year was the 67th Fleet and District Carnival and we had an awesome line up of events which helped us raise lots of money for this year’s charity – Parity for Disability. The theme for this year was Safari, and it was great to see all the fantastic procession entries roaming through the streets of Fleet.

“The Fleet and District Carnival is a long-standing tradition in the Fleet community. It’s the one annual event that everyone looks forward to and the best part is that it’s free to attend. The carnival costs more than £20,000 to run and we rely very heavily on local businesses, such as Vistry Group, to kindly sponsor the event.”

Melanie Richards, regional sales director for Vistry Southern, said: “The carnival is such an important event on the local calendar as it has been bringing the community together for entertainment and fundraising for nearly 70 years. The volunteers who give up their time to make the carnival happen work very hard in a variety of roles to ensure that there is something for everyone and that it all runs smoothly on the day.

“At Vistry, we are committed to supporting the local communities where we build and we recognise the significance of this event to the residents of Fleet and the surrounding area. There are so many things to pay for to make an event such as this a success so it’s vital that local businesses like ourselves offer their support.”

To find out more about Vistry’s Albany Park development, please visit www.bovishomes.co.uk.