Calls for new approach after scaled-back carnival

There are calls for a new approach to St Pauls Carnival after this year's event was deliberately scaled down.

The carnival's organisers said they "reflected on finances" and as such there was no big parade but instead a series of smaller events were held to celebrate Bristol's African and Caribbean communities.

However, a spontaneous street party evolved on the evening of 5 July and the area was filled with thousands of carnival-goers.

Richardo Sharry, the carnival director, told BBC Bristol's Joe Sims the original event had to be scaled down due to a lack of money for appropriate safety measures, which were not considered at the "pop-up" event.

He said: "I saw some of the young people climbing up on the scaffolding [at the pop-up event] and part of me is like, that's great, but what if someone falls off? Who pays for the injury and public liability insurance?

"It's about getting that balance between making sure that the community can still have that grassroots event, but we as a city take ownership of making sure people are safe when they come."

The theme of this year's event was "Roots of Resilience" to commemorate the passing of The Race Relations Act 1965.

The Act was introduced two years after the Bristol Bus Boycott and outlawed discrimination in public places.

Many people who attended the "pop-up" carnival told BBC Bristol's Primrose Granville this year's festival had more of a community focus.

Kareem Burton, 30, said: "It felt like a more community thing. It felt less commercialised - felt less like a money making thing.

"It was just people coming together as a community."

After the event, volunteers arrived early in the morning to clean up the streets.

Mr Burton, who is a filmmaker, added: "Our ancestors brought this carnival to this city.

"This carnival shouldn't be dictated by this and that. It's our community event - we were there, we looked after the community and we cleaned up after the community."

The carnival director said the clean-up was a "testament to the spirit of the carnival".

He said: "Back in the day it was volunteers that would come out, pop up, clean up, a week before pull together all of those different aspects of it.

"Given we were celebrating the 60th anniversary, the fact that the community did reflect on the ancestral legacy of the carnival - that really does epitomise what we're trying to do at St Pauls."

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