The omens were not good. May was very wet and June turned out to be even wetter. In fact, it was the wettest on record. The Thursday night forecast included a Weather Warning for East Anglia. Friday morning arrived and torrential rain delayed preparations - it was looking ominous.

But we weren't scared. The rain stopped late Friday morning and by Friday evening we had caught up.

Saturday came and the sun shone down on Braintree (intermittently anyway). The crowds lined the streets for the procession and thousands enjoyed the entertainment at Meadowside.

30 floats took part in a huge procession that took over 30 minutes to pass our collection point. The Street Collection raised a record breaking £2,187 for Farleigh Hospice.

The Chairman made a last minute decision to increase the Lucky Programme prize from £30 to £100. Unusually, the arena events ran to schedule (more or less). Unfortunately, the Face Painting, Tombola and the Fruit Juice stalls failed to arrive due to various unfortunate events. Hopefully they will be there next year.

The pleasant afternoon turned into a pleasant evening. As you will see from the pictures the carnival was still going strong at 9pm when the remaining Carnival Sideshows finally closed. At 10pm the last group played its final song and the fair rides closed, as the event has to finish at this time.

Packing away went like a dream with the two vans working perfectly. The final load was taken off the van at 1.32am, which is a good 2 hours earlier than previous years. We were very happy.

See you all next year.

It has been a year since we opened the new Farleigh Hospice building and the charity is fast approaching its silver anniversary. As we prepare to celebrate 25 years of hospice care for the people of mid Essex the amazing commitment of our supporters and volunteers shines through.

This commitment is evident by the fact that we have been chosen as the benefiting charity for this prestigious local event and we know that commitment will be mirrored by the families and businesses that support Braintree and Bocking Carnival - local people supporting a local cause.

Last year we cared for a record number of people, 2,531 in total and over a third of those come from the Braintree district. That support was provided totally free of charge, with the majority provided in patient's own homes as our community services continue to develop. Our day hospice in Braintree Chelmsford and Maldon were well used, with many benefiting from the range of therapeutic activities and peer support that is offered. Our new in?patient unit with 10 beds open saw 275 admissions for the specialist 24-hour care that our dedicated and professional team provide.

All this care is only possible because of the continued support we receive from the local community. Our services rely on people choosing us as their benefiting charity, fundraising, making donations or supporting the hospice by leaving a gift in their Will. The support for Farleigh Hospice from the carnival organisers is greatly appreciated by us all. We hope you enjoy the event safe in the knowledge that any funds raised for Farleigh Hospice will be put to good use helping us continue our work 'caring for life' throughout our local community of mid Essex.

Story so far - Months of planning and three days of work on the field has got everything ready. All the planning has paid off and the Carnival has run like a well-oiled cog - well maybe a lightly oiled slightly rusty one. 10pm approaches, the band finishes, the fair rides close and the fireworks finish off proceedings. Now the real fun starts.

All that went up must come down. And everything that has taken three days to get to the field must be taken away again in one night. It is like a military operation - a very bad one where all the generals have gone off for a cup of tea and forgotten to tell any one what to do.

Twenty years ago this took all-night and well into Sunday morning. We now aim to finish by 3am so we must be getting better - slowly.

The stalls are fairly straightforward and generally less complicated to take apart than put together. However, their complexity has got the better of people and a good sturdy hammer usually does the trick. A good knife is also useful to cut through the various tape and tie-wraps used to lash it all together.

The poles that took so much effort to put up come down and get placed gently in the van with everything else. There is usually a scramble to avoid the [muddy] end.

The poles that took so much effort to put up come down and get chucked placed gently in the van with everything else. There is usually a scramble to avoid the [muddy] end.

Slowly the field is cleared of stalls, poles and caravans and it's time for a midnight tea break. It's about this time that you realise that not only did you miss dinner but you have missed tea as well. Unfortunately, even the left over sandwiches do not look appetising. Hopefully, someone has stashed away some packets of biscuits and crisps. This is the best part of the day and the camaraderie is at its best. Stories of the day are swapped and it is the first time in the day that the core helpers are together since breakfast. How long ago that feels.

You are shattered and you just want to go home to bed but unfortunately, the worst part is yet to come. It is now the early hours of the morning. The field is almost cleared; it's just the last few bits but these are the bits that have so far been avoided:

• Two water pipes - obviously these are wet and refuse to coil up neatly.
• Numerous water boilers - most are still full of hot water as we all forgot to empty them earlier.
• Barbeque - still full of hot ashes but at least we find a use for some of the water.
• Trays, plates, cutlery, plastic cups, jugs, containers, dishes and all the fiddly bits that have been left lying around in various places.
• Gas cylinders, fencing, stakes, chairs, tables and the steps from the stage.
• Electrics - obviously some of the electrics are used for lighting, which is useful whilst packing away.
• Poles - catch 22 here. The poles are used to carry the electric cables for lighting. You don't want to turn the lights off until you have packed all the poles away. You cannot pack the poles away until you have switched the lights off and removed all the electric cables from them.

Finally the last vanload is unloaded and it's time to go home. You try to convince your tired legs that they want to drive the car one last time. The few remaining helpers disappear into the night. It's all over for another year and tomorrow - well you start planning for next year.

• First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
• Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint, which we promptly chewed and licked.
• We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets.
• When we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.
• We would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
• We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
• We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.
• We ate chips, bread and butter and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because we were always outside playing.
• We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark.
• We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
• We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.
• The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
• After running into stinging nettles a few times we learned how to solve the problem.
• We had no play stations or video games, no personal computers, or Internet chat rooms. There was no daytime TV, no videos or DVDs, no mobile phones. We had friends - we went outside and found them.
• We raced snails, played marbles and British Bulldog. Sometimes it really hurt.
• We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
• We did not rely on Mum or Dad driving us to school, we walked.

• There has only ever been one Germany.
• Uptown Girl is by Westlife and not Billy Joel.
• AIDS has always existed.
• Michael Jackson has always been white.
• You cannot leave the house without your mobile phone.
• and they don't know how to switch off the TV without a remote control.