Thousands celebrate Luton Carnival's 50th year

The streets of Luton came alive with vibrant colour and music as thousands gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the town's carnival.

Luton International Carnival, hosted by the UK Centre for Carnival Arts, started in 1976 and was inspired by African-Caribbean culture.

Sunday's eye-catching parade started at 13:00 BST at Market Hill, wove through the town centre and ended at Wardown Park, where the sun-soaked party went on into the early evening.

Many of the dancers, musicians and community groups were decked out in gold to mark the carnival's golden anniversary. An estimated 15,000 people were at events across the town.

• As it happened: Thousands celebrate Luton Carnival's 50th anniversary

As the parade set off, temperatures soared close to 30C (86F) as parts of England experienced a heatwave.

It was the first time the event had returned to the town's Wardown Park since before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Amber Ogunsanya-William had come up specially from London to be the flag bearer for the Paraiso School of Samba.

She said it had been a pleasure to take part.

"Carnival is the most significant event, in my opinion, of the year," she said.

"It holds so much significance and it really does change a life just for the day.

"You forget about your worries, misconceptions and you can just have fun and enjoy each other's company."

Blenda Shibu, from the Luton Malayali Samajam group, who is originally from Kerala, in India, said the carnival gave her members the chance to "showcase the whole of Indian culture".

The 49-year-old has lived in Luton for 17 years. It was the second time her group had taken part in the parade.

"We are so many miles away from India, but at the same time our culture and traditions are so well rooted that we think we should definitely showcase [them]... we're proud," she said.

Shibu said the children in the group had been "so excited" to take part, and it had been a chance to remind them about India's culture and traditions.

Steve Pascal, executive producer of the carnival, said Luton was a "very special place" thanks to its diverse community.

"It's very special because its 50 years of carnival, but in fact carnival itself in the borough started off with a hat parade and is a number of hundreds of years old."

Pascal said the event had taken months of planning, but it had been worth it.

"All you have to do is look around. This colour is the personification of carnival."

Claudette Whittingham, executive director of the carnival, also said she was pleased the event was back at its spiritual home: Wardown Park.

"The community have said for a while they wanted it to be back in Wardown Park and we're really pleased to have been able to do that.

"We did have a low period because of Covid, but it's growing and growing, and we're back here and it's a platform on which we're going to build and it's going to get bigger, better, grander and bolder, so just keep coming," she added.

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