Little Lever carnival returns thanks to village schools

Primary schools in Little Lever brought the tradition alive back after more than 30 years.

The Little Lever Schools’ carnival parade took place on Saturday, July 2 and harked back to the days of the village carnival in Little Lever.

All six primary schools from Little Lever were involved – Mytham, Ladywood, St Matthews CE, St Teresa’s RC, Masefield and Bowness.

Guest included Mayor Akhtar Zaman, Little Lever councillors Andrea Taylor-Burke and Sean Hornby.

Clockwise from top left: dancers from St Teresa's RC Primary, St Matthew's CE Primary, Bowness Primary and Ladywood Primary schools.

Also attending were two previous carnival queens from the days of the old Little Lever Carnival, Samantha Chapman and Driema Bateson.

Headteacher of Mytham Primary School, Angela Bogle, said: “There used to be a carnival every summer in Little Lever, but it stopped in the late 1980s.

“There were people with floats through the street, organisations like schools, churches and businesses joined in and made their own floats.”

Top: dancers from Mytham Primary School and bottom: dancers from Masefield Primary School

She continued: “The six primary schools in Little Lever worked closely together on an arts project to revive the carnival.

“We applied for a Heritage Lottery Grant and were successful and were awarded the grant in 2019.”

The Covid-19 pandemic halted progress for the carnival, which had been planned to go ahead in July 2019, but all involved were glad that it finally went ahead this year.

The carnival involved a procession, with ‘bright and colourful’ floats from all the schools, stalls to raise money for Little Lever Youth Club.

An amazing photograph of Little Lever Carnival in 1910, 112 years ago.

The event also celebrated the local heritage project ‘The Lost Carnival of Little Lever’, an exhibition which all six primary schools were involved in.

The exhibition, which will be at Little Lever Library, will showcase photos from previous carnivals in Little Lever and heavily involved the schoolchildren in its research.

Angela highlighted the contributions of Yvonne Heywood from Ladywood Primary School and Nicola Robinson from Mytham Primary for their work on the Lost Carnival project.

A float from the original village carnival, estimated to be from the 1960s.

She said: “I’d really like to thank anybody who played a part in the carnival, whether it was a large or small contribution.

“It was a joyous occasion. It was so good to be able to bring the community together, especially after what we’ve all been through in the last two years.

“Who knows, it might be the start of a new tradition.”