- With the Battle of Flowers just a week away, the JEP meets some of the people involved
- Interview with teenage filmmaker capturing the parade action
- Pictures: Battle flowers arrive in the Island
- My Battle: Musician Ernie Mallett
A BUDDING teenage filmmaker has been given the opportunity to make this year’s official Battle of Flowers DVD.
Andrew Pallot, who is due to embark on a film production degree at Southampton Solent University in September, has been filming float building since May and will be in the arena to capture the carnival atmosphere of both parades next week.
It will be the second year running that an Island student has been given the chance to make the official Battle film, following a decision last year by organisers to give young talent an opportunity to shine.
Last year, Hautlieu student Jessica Jarvis was chosen to make the official DVD.
Andrew, who has just finished a two-year media studies BTEC diploma at Highlands College, produced the DVD for last year’s Christmas Parade and it was that production which convinced Battle organisers to give him the lead role in the summer event.
‘Last year I was asked to have a go at making the film for the Christmas Parade and I really enjoyed the experience,’ he said.
‘The organisers said they really loved it and asked me if I wanted to do the Battle and I was delighted to say yes.’
Although the 18-year-old, who is also the vice-president of the St Martin’s Battle of Flowers Association, has made several short films as part of his studies, he says making the DVD will be his biggest challenge to date.
‘It’s really exciting but I’ve also got quite a nervous feeling about it,’ he said.
‘There’s so much to capture – all of the floats, all of the performers – it’s quite an adventure.
‘I started shooting a few months ago and so far it’s been going well.
‘I’ve been taking lots of footage of the floats and I just need to figure out how to incorporate it with the footage from the two parades.’
This year will be Andrew’s tenth Battle, having previously worked on floats with the Barette Family and Friends and the Friends of Galaad, as well as the St Martin entry for the last three years.
And he says that having experienced the Battle on so many
previous occasions will give him added perspective when he films the parades.
‘I’m going to have two cameras set up at different points on the arena and then I’ll be running around myself with another camera,’ he said.
‘Hopefully I’ll be able to capture a few special moments that the crowds did not see.’
He added: ‘The Battle is something that I really enjoy and look forward to every year – it’s a real family event and I’m so happy to be involved in a different way this year.’
- It was full steam ahead last night as the first of millions of blooms arrived from the UK and the Netherlands to be stuck onto this years 25 Battle of Flowers floats, with more Dutch flowers due to arrive today and tomorrow.
- Having spent months building their exhibits, Battle teams are now preparing to begin the laborious task of sticking the flowers onto their entries ahead of next Thursdays parade.
- Constable Sadie Le Sueur-Rennard and fellow St Saviour parishioners sort blooms for their JEP-themed float, Hot Off the Press, celebrating the newspapers 125th anniversary.
Musician Ernie Mallett (67) has been drumming up Battle atmosphere with his band Run for Cover since 1999
When was your first Battle and how were you involved?
I used to take residents from Les Amis to watch the daytime parade and one year I remember seeing one of the bands and thinking it would be absolutely amazing to play in the next one.
The 1999 Battle was my first playing with my band Run for Cover – we played before the parade started and then went up and down the Avenue on the back of a lorry.
How have you been involved since?
Since our first Battle experience, we have played 17 years straight.
The first year was so much fun and our music seemed to go down really well with the crowd and we have kept on being asked back.
I remember being told there was probably 35,000 people watching and feeling a bit daunted by that.
It’s always really great to see people who you haven’t seen for years and seeing so many people enjoying themselves.
What are you doing this year?
We will be playing all of our usual tunes, lots of Irish songs that people can really jig and clap along to. The band are going to be joined by a few youngsters who are going to be playing tambourine and our float will be tugged along the Avenue by a Jeep.
What’s the best float or performance you’ve ever seen in the Battle?
There’s always some fantastic floats, but I think my favourite performers would be the Bournemouth Carnival Band.
They used to dress up as Spiderman for the daytime parade and as the Thunderbirds for the Moonlight Parade.
They would mess around and have so much fun as they were playing. Their performance was always brilliant to watch.
Why do you love being involved with the Battle?
I think the best thing about the Battle is that it’s a real community event with people of all ages coming together, working as a team and having fun.
It’s such an important part of the Island’s culture and not many places around the world have anything that compares to it.
Have you ever wondered where the Battle of Flowers gets its name?
Well, for the first six decades of the annual parade’s existence it actually used to end with a real battle of flowers.
The first floral parade took place 1902 as a celebration of the coronation of Edward VII. At its finish, a spontaneous ‘battle’ broke out when everyone started ripping flowers off the exhibits and throwing them at each other.
This inspired the parade organisers to name the event the Battle of Flowers the following year.
For a number of decades, this tradition continued, and within minutes of the parade finishing each year the floats would be reduced to bare carcasses.
However, in the early 1960s the battle started to get more and more violent, with hooligans breaking up entire floats and using pieces of wood as missiles instead of flowers.
As a result, 1963 was the last with an actual ‘battle’.
In 1964 a helicopter dropped petals onto the Battle arena instead.
