This year's Beccles and Bungay Journal Awards 2021 for Moment of the Year has been awarded to Beccles Carnival, which has been a central part of the town since pre-1900s.

Last month we launched the Beccles and Bungay Journal Awards 2021 to praise all that is good in our towns and villages, from thriving businesses to charity fundraisers and events that captured people's imagination.

Annette Tackley, is the organiser but said that the carnival would not have won Moment of the Year without the important support from volunteers.

She said: "It is lovely for the carnival to finally win an award we have been short listed and nominated for many awards but never won.

"The carnival is run and organised entirely by volunteers.

"There is a team of three of us who plan and run the whole event and do fundraising prior to carnival weekend.

"We rely on volunteers to help the weekend run smoothly but can never have enough of them.

"It takes a year of planning as there are lots of red tape to abide by and lots of licences to apply for along with insurances to sort.

"Mr Rudd has been in our parade on his bicycle for over 30 years.

"We didn't have a full parade for the last two years due to Covid but Mr Rudd ensured we did by still dressing up and completing the full parade route.

"The carnival dates back to the pre-1900s and prior to Covid had only ever not taken place during the war years.

"Other towns have lost carnivals but with the support of our town and our dedicated carnival team we have been lucky ours has survived.

"Hopefully the Covid situation will have improved enough for us to have our 2022 carnival in August.

"We wish to thank whoever nominated us and for those that voted for us we truly honoured and appreciate it."