[West Ender]

I'm not in Accrington, obviously, so I can only comment "remotely". We had our village "carnival" last weekend and, like you, I was disappointed in the lack of floats etc. The thing is it's not money that's the problem.

A float needn't cost much. You need the loan of a lorry - I don't know about Accrington but our local committee provides the insurance so that's not a problem and local firms are quite good about lending them out. You need people to decorate the lorry - my daughter, Brown Owl with a local pack, does that with her helpers, all the other orgnisations do it too. You need people dressed up - who needs to hire costumes? A bit of imagination and the odd nip and tuck works wonders.

There seems to be apathy, everywhere, about this sort of thing. It's very sad.