A UNIQUE carnival will be returning to the streets of Harwich and Dovercourt this weekend 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 Saturday.

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.

Committee members of the Rotary Club of Harwich and Dovercourt, which organises the event, hope this year will be even bigger and better than usual after last year’s event didn’t take place.

Norman Cory, from the Rotary Club, said: “We are really hoping for a record turnout of floats this year and any individuals or companies wishing to enter should look for the entry forms on our Rotary Facebook page.

“We will, of course, be having the Big Heads back on parade - and the shop in High Street will be open for people who want to wear one of the heads to collect them a few days before the carnival.

“We are still looking for more float entries and those wishing enter their Pithy Pars - where people take the mickey out of each other - can do so on the Rotary website.

“Without a carnival for two years, we’re really hoping this will be a great one with lots of support.

“Even when it rains, we usually get a good number of people lining the streets.

“Youngsters save up their pennies and tuppences for charity - and the majority of the money goes back into helping local people in need.”

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, at 6.30pm, before making its way to West Street in Harwich.

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