Carnival organisers hope to inspire next generation

As Luton Carnival celebrates its 49th year, organisers say its future can be secured by inspiring the next generation.

With a theme of 'Back to the Future', this year's event has an eye on guaranteeing the celebration for years to come.

From truck-free floats to children designing costumes, keeping the carnival alive is a focus for the generations of Lutonians behind the scenes.

Janet Skepple has been attending Luton Carnival for 19 years and admits it is smaller than it used to be.

"It doesn't seem like it's a carnival, it's more like a festival... Hopefully, we can get back to that," she says.

She is now the learning, participation and admin assistant at Carnival Arts, which organises the event.

The 61-year-old explains it is important to inspire future generations to secure the event's future and adds: "The plan is for me to take my skills and pass them on.

"We have three children who have designed their own costumes, literally from beginning to end. They've done the drawings, they've been here building it, and now they're decorating it.

"By the time they're teenager, they're not going to think 'this is not cool'... It's part of their history and they'll keep it going."

The grandmother got into carnival because of her mother, who took her to Notting Hill Carnival.

Since then, every generation of her family has attended the event in Luton

"My son, who is now 40, was six weeks old when he did his first carnival," she adds.

"Now his children are now doing carnival with us.

"It's a confident boost for the children who don't have confidence to go out there and do something that is not seen to be the thing to be doing."

Ruth Reid is a co-owner of Mas Incorporated, a group dedicated to passing on the passion for carnival costume design.

She first got involved with Luton Carnival through her daughter, who was involved with the event's band in 2017.

Last year, the 38-year-old made her first carnival costume as part of a development course; this year, she has created 25 outfits for the event.

She says: "We started in January making the costumes, even that was a short space of time between January and carnival in May."

Like many in the town, she has fond memories of the event over the years and is optimistic it can be a defining part of the calendar.

She recalls: "I remember coming down with my kids and really enjoying the day, it was a fantastic day.

"It's not the same as how it used to be, I understand why, with the budget cuts and everything - hopefully we can get to the point we're back to how it used to be and maybe better as well.

Chanice Thomas says this year's theme will see traditional costumes "a little bit more futurised".

She adds there is also a conscious effort to consider the festival's environmental impact, and only one petrol vehicle was used in 2024.

"This year there will be no trucks on the road, to reduce emissions, and body speakers will be used instead of sound systems to cut down on noise pollution," Ms Thomas tells the BBC.

"For the large floats we're building, we're now using trolleys as well, you won't see them, but there will be trolleys going down the parade with beautiful floats built up on top of them."

She explains that e-bikes will also be used to carry smaller speakers around the parade.

Teams have also been recycling materials from previous years to make all the costumes.

She says: "What we're doing is teaching [children] how to reuse materials that would be thrown away.

"We live in a generation where everything is disposable very quickly. We're now teaching the younger generations not to waste their time buying these things when we can use what we already got."

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