Let Battle commence!

Thursday 11 August 2016

Jersey Police are reminding motorists it could take a little longer to drive into town this morning because of hold-ups caused by slow-moving Battle floats.

Float builders were up until the early hours putting their finishing touches to the floats, which have been many months in the creation. There are almost 30 fully floral floats in this year’s parade and many of them will be crawling their way to the arena on the Avenue at about the same time as the usual commuter traffic. Battle commences at 14:30.

Last night there was the usual rush to get ready in time, with the sheds at Meadowbank, Tamba Park, and half a dozen other venues a hive of activity, with volunteers sticking on flowers into the early hours of the morning.

There are 12 fully floral 40 to 45 foot floats – eight of which are parish floats. The bookies’ favourite is likely to be the Optomists Club. They’ve won the top prize the Prix d’Honneur for the past four years. This year’s entry is Ghost Ship.

This year’s Miss Battle – Miss St Saviour – is 20-year-old Aimee Le Brun. She’ll be accompanied by Battle Consort, Rebecca Amy, and 11-year-old Miss Junior Battle, Lucy-Anne Richford.

Mr Battle is 25-year-old X factor singing star Joe McElderry.

For those unable to make it to today’s parade, but still keen to catch a glimpse of the floats many of them will be on display at Millbrook Park after the show. And there’s the Moonlight Parade tomorrow night starting at 21:00.