Many of us who have grown up in and around Worthing, will have some recollection of visiting the festivities as a child, but for those who are not aware of the long history of the event and the Rotary, we take a look through the archives and share some historical delights.
1922 – The Rotary Club of Worthing was first founded by W.E. Wenban Smith
1923 – The first reported Bank Holiday Carnival / Fair, where a parade of decorated horse and carts, motor cars, lorries, bicycles, etc, with several hundred entrants. By the bucketful, the money that was collected was locked up in a cell at the Police Station until the banks opened on Tuesday morning. Funds raised were predominantly for the Hospital.
1925 – A pageant was held in Homefield Park, with 270 artists that walked in the procession from the old bandstand to the park, where crowds paid to attend.
1933 – Grand Carnival Fair, advertised by The Worthing Journal, promoted 50 side shows, baby show, Ladies Beauty Competition (Open to all England) and a Ladies Ankle Competition. A donation of 6d was hoped for from the admission to the park.
1953 – Bank Holiday Fair resumes post war with a procession through the town with elaborately dressed floats on flat-backed open lorries, loaned from the likes of Halls & Beaumonts, coal merchants.
1957 – Saw the introduction of the Carnival Queen contest.
1958 – The Concours d’Elegance for cars was introduced, covering 3 classes of vehicles.
1969 – The last fair was held at Homefield Park, ironically as the initial concept of the fair was to raise money for Worthing Hospital.
1970 – See a change of venue from Homefield Park to Palentine Park, mainly due to the expansion of Worthing Hospital. This was fine for helicopter displays, parachute jumping, galloping horses and trick motorcyclists. The event bore a new name, Rotorama!
Late 20th – early 21st century – Rotary takes (and formalises) lead role
The three Worthing Rotary clubs (Worthing, Worthing Steyne and West Worthing) came together to organise the event as the “Worthing Rotary Carnival”, turning it explicitly into a flagship charity event for the local Rotary clubs and formalising the parade + funfair + music programme. The carnival by this stage is described as one of the oldest in the UK.
2010s – parade route & programme familiar today
By the 2010s the parade customarily leaves Grand Avenue at around midday. It progresses along the seafront to Steyne Gardens, with a packed programme of live music, stalls and a funfair on the seafront, the format widely publicised in local press and event pages.
2020 – COVID
The first time since World War II, has there been a break in the August Carnival / Fair. Due to the imposed social distancing restrictions, the event was cancelled.
2025 – a comeback
Our biggest parade for many years saw 24 groups attend, over double that of the previous year. It also saw the largest attendance of cosplay characters from fundraising partner Cosplay Allstars, with 120 characters and 8 movie vehicles, whilst they also create a new side event at Beach House Grounds. For the first time, ITV Meridian news filmed the event which appeared on the evening news and BBC Sussex Radio, interviewed Simon Wells, (Carnival Committee & Cosplay Allstars Founder) all offering invaluable media exposure for the event and the town.
📱 Don’t forget to tag us in your own Carnival photos and use #WorthingCarnival so we can share your memories too!
Keep the Carnival spirit alive all year round.
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OUR SPONSORS
A massive thank you to the following companies who have sponsored our event.
Without their support, this event would not be possible.
