From September 7, 2005 The third Kingston Carnival was bigger and better than ever, with young and old alike in glorious feathered costumes joining in the exuberant procession through the town centre to the Guildhall.

The grand street parade, accompanied by music and dancing, started outside Lloyds and HSBC banks in Castle Street on Sunday, September 4, 2005.

It then made its way through the Market Place to the Guildhall.

Numerous food stalls sold exotic food, including fresh coconut juice, fruit punches and jerk chicken.

The Surrey Comet, which sponsored the event, gave away free goody-bags and put up a bouncy castle for the youngsters.

Music included four bands handpicked from the Notting Hill Carnival.

Gregg Brown with Osibisa, Kico Cowan with his Afro-Cuban salsa fusion, the Beerafaar Sweet Combination dance troupe and Metronomes Steel Band all entertained carnival-goers with their talents. 

There was also the percussion beats of Bang On, and Bollywood dancing from the Gujarati School.

Mayor of Kingston Yogan Yoganathan officially launched proceedings before the music and dance acts took to the stage.

Councillor Shiraz Mirza, was one of the many revellers.

He said: “The carnival was very colourful and very enjoyable. The way people were enjoying themselves made it look like it had been going on for years.

“It was a real community event.”

The event was organised by Kingston Race and Equalities Council (KREC) and head of the organisation John Azah said it was a “brilliant and extremely successful day”. 

Revellers were not put off after the event had to be relocated to the Guildhall complex because of building and maintenance work in the Market Place

50 YEARS AGO: August 4, 1965  Kingston Horticultural Society’s annual show was a washout. The  huge drop in entries at the show  at the Tiffin School was due to an unusually wet summer. There was only one entry in the apples and pears category; this was “very poor” according to judges.

25 YEARS AGO: September 7, 1990 Building work at John Lewis confused bus drivers when the stops were moved. One elderly shopper ended up in Hampton Wick after a bus driver swung down the underpass instead of turning left around the store and into Wood Street.

10 YEARS AGO: September 7, 2005 A group of New Malden thespians were looking for a black actor to strip off for a production of the Full Monty. Alas Productions were planning to perform the musical but could not find anyone to play black character, Horse.