THIS year’s queens and princesses of a popular Witham event have been named for this year.
The Witham Carnival, a fun event which encourages the community to come together and display its talents, has held its carnival court selection.
Witham Mayor Susan Ager, district councillor Sindhu Rajeev, Witham Hub’s Tina Townsend, and 2017 carnival queen Lauren Stevens and court of Kent queen Lara Lynch judged this year’s applicants.
The Witham Carnival Court is a group of queens and princesses aged between five and 25 years old who are picked to act as ambassadors for the town.
The main aim is to raise money for local charities and organisations.
The court gets to represent the town for a year, leading the parade on carnival day, and attend other carnivals across Essex and Kent.
It is an exciting opportunity as the court also attend local events such as care home visits, school fetes and take part in Witham’s Remembrance Day parade.
During the selection process, the court members are selected on personality rather than a typical beauty pageant.
More than 30 applicants applied for the court and seven have been selected to represent the town for the next year.
Farrah Lipscombe, 16, a New Rickstones Academy student, has been named as the senior queen.
Angelika Fernandes, aged seven, of Holy Family School, is this year’s junior queen, and five-year-old Gracie King, from Acorn Academy, is the 2024 rosebud queen.
Two senior princesses have been named for this year, Erinn Murphy-Banham, 13, from St John Payne School, and Natasha Duvoisin, 14, from New Rickstones Academy.
The two junior princesses are Rose Papp, 10, of Holy Family School, and Anneliese Duvoisin, nine, who attends Templars Academy.
The court members will officially be crowned on July 6 at a ceremony in the town centre which will be overseen by the mayor and Witham MP Dame Priti Patel.
This year’s carnival takes place at Witham Rugby Club, in Spinks Lane, on July 13, starting at 1pm and the theme is countries around the world.
The carnival is a popular annual event which is run and organised by the not-for-profit organisation, Witham Carnival Association.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here