St Brelade loses battle to show off its float to judges

The St Brelade float remained grounded at Millbrook playing field during Thursday's Battle of Flowers Parade as a result of technical problems. Picture: Tom Innes (33998472)

AFTER weeks of preparation and hard work, involving no fewer than 36,000 chrysanthemum stems, the Parish of St Brelade float was unable to join the parade at this year’s Battle of Flowers.

Following delays in completing Pirates and Princesses, the parish’s most ambitious ever entry into the annual summer pageant, a last-minute technical problem on Thursday afternoon left the float grounded.

Daniel Avrill, the chairman of the St Brelade Battle of Flowers Association and a co-designer of the float, said Thursday had been a very difficult day, although he was confident that the parish would be able to join last night’s Moonlight Parade.

He said: ‘We weren’t quite finished on time, which meant that we were disqualified from being judged as planned, although we were still planning to join the parade.

‘We had a lot of people working on the float, including those who’ve been involved before and a lot of new people, but we just ran out of time and people in the end.’

As the float, which measured 50ft long and 24ft high, arrived at Millbrook Playing Fields for a delayed appointment with the judges, it became apparent that technical issues were putting its prospects in jeopardy.

Mr Avrill added: ‘We had a problem with our generator that was causing a shortage and draining the battery.

‘If we had got into the arena there was a real risk that we could break down, or the brakes would lock, and we’d have brought the whole parade to a halt.’

Young dancers in pirate costumes were able to join the parade, and Mr Avrill said that St Brelade had received excellent feedback and would definitely return to Battle in 2023.

This year’s event marked the 120th anniversary of the first Battle of Flowers in 1902 and was held in record-breaking temperatures of 31.9°C. The top prize was claimed by the Optimists Club for their entry ‘When Movies were Movies’, while a string of other awards were announced yesterday.

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