NOT as many floats as hoped for but it was still a good attendance at the Ashburton Winter Carnival procession on Friday. The carnival is the oldest in Devon and Cornwall and began as a winter carnival in 1881, before going over to a day carnival in the summer. That kept going and the winter carnival was resurrected 10-12 years ago. A switch of dates – it was originally to be held tonight – due to a clash with the pre-meeting of the town's ancient Courts Leet and Baron, in readiness for the Annual Law Day, meant several floats who originally entered were elsewhere. The visiting royalty class went to Queen Bee, from Harbertonford. Keeping everyone happy with music for the evening was Paul Cobley and the Comets. Overall, the event, which was attended by the mayor, Cllr Wendy Gill, and the portreeve, Janet Drake, raised £707 which will be distributed to local charitable organisations. One of the organisers, Sharyn Phillips, thanked Ashburton firefighters, the police, marshals and money collectors, particularly Judy Stafford and friends from the Conservative Club. Ms Phillips also praised John Parkes and Phil Parle for organising the Bull Ring area, Chris Monnington for the PA system, Lisa Carpenter of Bradley Estate Agents, and Paul Knowles who provided the barbecue. 'I want to especially thank the young people of the Ashburton royalty float, Sensational Psychedelic Sixties – carnival queen Emily Bull, Sakhina and Amber De-Niro, Shanize Rimmer, Sammi Knott, Cheyanne Leach, Kerry Martin, Josh Hellier, Jack Martin and young Elvis Dylan Hellier. 'To all those who took part in and supported the event we would say a big thank you,' said Ms Phillips. The results: Visiting Royalty – 1 Queen Bee (Harbertonford); 2 Tranquillity (Torbay); 3 Samba Queen (Dawlish); 4 Princetown Royalty. Masqueraders: Single Adult – 1 The Ghost of Captain Hook, Roger Muspratt-Hamilton (Topsham); 2 Rainboa, Abbie Haines (North Somerset); 3 Mickey Mouse, Lisa Thomas (Topsham). Single Juvenile – 1 Beheaded, Georgia Kitchen (Frome); 2 Inzouta Space, Carina Haines (north Somerset); 3 Wizard, Alisha Ritson (Ashburton). Pairs Juvenile – 1 Fire and Ice, Lucy and Abbie Thomas (Sidmouth).