A UNIQUE carnival will return to Harwich this autumn after being cancelled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The popular Guy Carnival will be back with its traditional “big heads” and spooky parade on October 30.

The festival was cancelled for the first time in 67 years due to the Government's Covid-19 restrictions last year.

The carnival pokes fun at topical issues in a tradition known as guying and is believed to have been started by the Royal Naval Shipyard apprentices in 1854 in conjunction with remembering Guy Fawkes.

It also sees papier-mâché big heads parading through the streets alongside satirically decorated floats.

But committee members of the Rotary Club of Harwich and Dovercourt have decided the carnival will return this year.

John Wade, chairman of the club’s Guy Carnival committee, said: "After having to cancel it last year due to the Covid-19 crisis, we are pleased to say that we are looking for organisations, clubs, pubs and companies to start preparing for the event.

"With all the things that have happened over last months there should be plenty of local happenings that deserve to be announced via the topical items for floats to 'guy'.

"Pithy Pars will be again raising its head and details of how to enter will be announced soon and entry forms will be online."

The original Guy Carnival procession goes back to the days of Harwich's shipyard, but the event came to a halt during the war years.

In 1953, the carnival restarted and it’s been part of the town's calendar ever since.

The carnival, which usually attracts 2,000 to 3,000 people along the route, and starts from the top of Ainger Road, Dovercourt, before making its way into town.

The traditional event is the Rotary Club’s main fundraising event of the year.