AN IMPRESSIVE array of decorated floats and costumes wowed the crowds who turned out for Parkend Carnival on Bank Holiday Monday.

They included a two-person wild boar costume, a riot of pink on Parkend School’s Barbie-themed lorry, Minions characters from the Despicable Me films and “the Red Barrows”.

There was also a large turnout of vintage cars, buses, tractors and other vehicles from the Forest Vintage Vehicle and Machinery Club which has its own show at Speech House on September 7.

This year’s Carnival Queen was Lily Elliott who was joined on her float by a retinue of flower girls.

The parade started on the Cannop Road and made its way around the village to the main field watched by a large crowd of well-wishers.

Many of them had made their way to Parkend on the special “park and ride” train operated by the Dean Forest Railway from its main station at Norchard.

The carnival was officially opened by Natasha Hamm of Coleford who is the goalkeeper for the England and Great Britain deaf women’s football team.

She arrived in style, joining the procession in a 1969 open-top Triumph Herald driven by Mr Ricky Daleney.

Natasha is currently preparing for Great Britain’s match against Poland in Stoke which is part of the qualifiers for next year’s Deaf Olympics in Japan.

She thanked the organisers for their hard work in putting on the carnival and presented the prizes to the winning entries in the parade with the assistance of MC Mr Roger Deeks.

Among the winners were Parkend School, the Forest Musical Society for their float inspired by their next show, 9 to 5, brother and sister Lottie and Oliver Rhodes and wild boar puppet makers

The carnival featured stalls by local organisations, displays by the VB Samba Band, magician Colin Dymond, the Harmony Twirlstars marching band and Wye Valley Zumba.

The carnival also hosted the village produce show and saw the return of the hugely popular Ferris Wheel.