A Surprize entry at a 1990s Carnival

I served for five years as a member of Irthlingborough Fete and Charities, and I enjoyed it there. I was due to tow the carnival queen float from Irthlingborough to Rushden. Before being invited to join the committee, together with friends, we'd entered carnival floats over many decades. Early on we first entered Rushden carnival in the 1960s when Len Cherry was the parade organiser and had a hardware shop along Wellingborough Road.

I stood in for the driver of the queen’s float going to Rushden carnival one Saturday.

However, less than a couple of hours before getting the float, the towing vehicle - the usual one - started playing up and was lacking in power and would not respond to the throttle. With just over an hour to go, I rang the AA - as I was a member. 

Within minutes a patrolman appeared - he was attending another job in the area - but while he couldn’t get the job fixed in time for the towing duty, he rang his supervisor and passed me the phone, and he asked if I'd mind (!) if they let their patrolman, Kevin, tow the float in the parade! 

So that’s how the AA towed the Irthlingboro' carnival queen's float at Rushden that year.