IT WAS a celebration for Bridgwater Carnival organisers, as they received a support grant from Arts Council England for the fifth consecutive year.

A sum of £32,125 has been awarded for this year's carnival celebrations by the Government funded body.

This year, nine separate educational carnival projects have been arranged for school children to participate in.

These include workshops to build lanterns from recycled materials for the parade, decorating large fibre glass carnival masks and a young writers competition .

There is also a design and build a model carnival cart competition, a colouring challenge and a choreographed dance parade through the town centre on the day itself.

There are also small papier mache masks for decoration as well as school visits to discuss the history and traditions.

Malcolm Cattle, president of Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival Committee, said: "This is absolutely fantastic news for everybody associated with our carnival, and I would like to thank Arts Council England for their much needed continued support, and for recognising the role our carnival related activities play in the development of arts in Somerset.

"This money will enable us to continue and increase the work we are doing with local schools in spreading the carnival word.

"It will also allow us to invite carnival groups from other UK carnivals to take part in our carnival, to introduce a series of carnival skills workshops, and to provide a full programme of top class entertainment on carnival day itself."

The building of new VEX robotic carnival carts has been introduced.

This initiative allows school children to build and design carts from kits donated to the schools, and pupils will be invited to demonstrate the capabilities of their finished models against each other.

The grant will also enable people from across the south west to take part in a range of taster workshops.

The sessions will be held at Bridgwater College from Friday 2 to Sunday 4 September when college tutors, experienced carnivalites and members of Luton International Carnival will provide expert guidance in things such as stage make-up, welding, costume construction and model making.