ORGANISERS of Burtonwood Carnival must have been wishing they had the benefit of hindsight after a raincloud cast a jinx on the annual event.

Just minutes after the five float procession had completed its route under a near torrential downpour, the clouds dispersed and the sun came out to shine.

All field events were cancelled an hour after the event started after the recreation ground became waterlogged and unsafe and as a result, incoming carnival queen Victoria Taylor, aged nine, had to be crowned in Burtonwood Catholic Club.

Floats were entered into the procession by Warrington Collegiate Institute, linedancing troupe Burtonwood Boot Scooters and St Michael's Church but the prize winner belonged to residents in Almond Drive who had spent five months turning the back of a lorry into an African wonderland.

Golborne Brass Band also turned out despite the rain to bring some musical entertainment to the tour and Burtonwood Bulldogs still managed to take on Latchford Bulldogs in an under-nines and under-10s match.

Carnival secretary Val Lawton said: "Everything was against us this year - as if it was jinxed.

"The weather was so bad the floats nearly floated away! If we had put it back an hour things would have been alright - but for all we knew it could have got worse.

"As we were going along we were surprised to see how many people had braved the weather and would like to thank them for that.

"Unfortunately, the rain meant we made nothing like as much money as we had hoped and will be holding a craft fair and car boot sale to try to cover costs."

Anyone interested in taking part in either fundraiser can call Val on 223327.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.