As ever, hundreds of Islanders have spent months working in sheds and marquees across Jersey building their exhibits, and in recent days they have begun sticking fresh, wild and even paper flowers to them. On Wednesday, many Battle teams will be working through the night to ensure that their floats are ready for Jersey’s carnivals.
The Battle day parade will take place on Victoria Avenue on Thursday afternoon, with the winners of many of the top awards set to be announced later that day. On Friday evening the teams will be doing it all again – but this time their masterpieces will be covered in thousands of illuminations for the 22nd Moonlight Parade.
The first Battle of Flowers took place on Victoria Avenue on Saturday 9 August 1902 to celebrate the Coronation of King Edward VI. The event was suspended for both of the wars – being held at Springfield Stadium between the wars – but since it was re-started in 1951 has been held on Victoria Avenue every year, celebrating its 60th consecutive year there last year.
BBC Jersey presenters Claire Peters and Tim Pryor will once again be the comperes at both the day and night-time events, and this year’s chosen Battle charity will be the RNLI.
Miss Battle’s celebrity escort
THIS year’s celebrity Mr Battle will be Emmerdale actor Matthew Wolfenden.
The 32-year-old, who hails from West Yorkshire, has played David Metcalfe in the ITV soap opera for six years.
Earlier this year he also took part in the seventh series of ITV’s Dancing On Ice, which he went on to win.
A former gymnast, Matthew represented Great Britain at junior level until injury prevented him from continuing the sport, so he instead turned to acting.
Prior to landing his role on Emmerdale, Matthew performed in a number of West End musicals. Earlier this year he was nominated in the Sexiest Male category at the British Soap Awards.
Miss Battle this year is 19-year-old farmer’s daughter Becky Houzé.
Currently studying agriculture at Harper Adams University College in Shropshire, the former Beaulieu Convent pupil hopes to one day follow in her family’s footsteps and become a farmer herself.
Becky grew up on her family farm – her family is now in its third generation of farming – and helps to look after the 45 calves whenever she is back in the Island from university. She beat 14 other finalists to win the title at a competition at the Hotel de France in April.
Meanwhile, the other visiting carnival princesses taking part in this year’s parades will be Miss Le Havre, Pauline Chevalier; Miss Dauphine, Coralie Brito; Miss Spalding Flower Queen, Amy Harrison; and Miss Alderney, Charlie Barker.
The Moonlight Parade
FOLLOWING Thursday’s grand Battle parade, on Friday night Victoria Avenue will be transformed into a spectacle of light for the 22nd Moonlight Parade.
The second of the week’s two parades generally has more of a relaxed, party atmosphere and gets under way as soon as it gets dark. A grand firework display at the end of the parade will then bring the two-day Battle celebration to a colourful climax.
The first Moonlight Parade took place in 1990 and was a relatively small event, held on the Thursday evening, with only a few of the smaller floats taking part with basic lights.
However, the evening event soon became so popular than larger floats and bands wanted to join in, so the event was moved to the Friday night to give the participants more time to prepare – and rest.
All but one float from Thursday’s day parade will be taking part, having all been transformed with an array of creative – and in some cases state-of-the-art – illuminations. They will be joined by bands and other acts from the day parade, as well as Miss Battle, Becky Houzé, Mr Battle, Matthew Wolfenden, and the the other visiting carnival princesses.
Awards
AS ever, exhibitors will be battling it out for a number of awards at next week’s parades.
Teams will this year be informed if they have won any of the big prizes during Thursday’s event, with Mr Battle Matthew Wolfenden and Miss Battle Becky Houzé then due to announce the winners at the end of the parade in front of the main grandstand. A full list of results will then be published in the JEP’s special Battle of Flowers supplement on Friday.
The highly coveted top award is the Prix d’Honneur, which the parish of St Clement will be competing to hold onto for a third consecutive year. The second best float will receive the Prix d’Excellence and there is also a Prix d’Honneur de Papier for the best paper flower float in the parade.
Other top awards include the Grand Prix des Fleurs, the Grand Prix des Paroisses, the Prix de Mérite and the Prix Décor.
There are also a number of specific awards, for categories including the most humorous float, best carnival atmosphere, best animation, and the best costumes.
Battle-goers are also being encouraged to vote for their favourite float online this year, on the Jersey Battle of Flowers Facebook page.
A number of awards will also be presented after Friday’s Moonlight Parade, including prizes for both small and large exhibits in in the Best Illuminated Float and the Best Moonlight Carnival Atmosphere categories.
Entertainment
WHILE the floats are always the stars of the show, the Battle of Flowers would not be the same without the bands and other entertainment acts who also take part in the two parades.
A total of eight local entertainment acts will be taking part, as well as eight visiting national acts.
Sticking with tradition, a performance of the National Anthem by the Band of the Island of Jersey will herald the start of both parades – they have been performing at the Battle annually since the early 1950s.
Run For Cover are another local band who have now become firm Battle favourites and this will be their 14th year of participating.
Meanwhile, other Jersey bands taking part will be the Jersey Scout Band and the Sea Cadet Corps, with local acts the Jersey Rockettes Cheerleading Squad, the Rainforest Bladers and Forest Fauns, the Jersey School of Performing Arts, and Princess Pa Parties also set to provide entertainment.
Visiting bands from the UK this year include the Dolphin Marching Band, the Herne Bay Sea Cadet Band, and Portsmouth-based samba reggae band Batala Portsmouth. The Chesterfield Musketeers Showband will be returning for their seventh Battle, while it will be the 13th Coventry Scout Band’s fifth parade and the Marching Band of the 948 Squadron Air Training Corps’ second Battle.
Taking part for the first time this week will be Samba Burros, a Samba band from Guernsey, and Auto-Matik, a robot created by Nigel Phillips from Devon which took part in 20 carnivals around the UK last year.
The Battle Fair
THE Funtasia Travelling Theme Park is once again back in the Island for Battle fortnight.
Located at the People’s Park, the fair, complete with white-knuckle rides, was opened by Miss Battle, Becky Houzé, last Friday and will run until next Sunday.
The fair will be open from 2 pm until 10 pm from Monday to Wednesday, remaining open for an extra half an hour until 10.30 pm on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
On Friday it will stay open until 11.30 pm, so people can visit it after the Moonlight Parade. However, it will be closed while both parades are taking place.
