SNAPSHOTS' FAN Mary Montgomery and her brother John, who live in Canada, keep abreast of events in Bournemouth by reading Daily Echos sent to them by their brothers, Bob and Peter, who still live in the area.

Their parents moved the family to 13 West Howe Close, Kinson just after the Second World War and Mary has fond memories of the local carnivals and the starring role that her mum played in them.

Her mother, Violet Gritt, would invite most of the children living in their road to form a tableau of one of her favourite themes, Wedding of the Painted Doll or Mary Mary Quite Contrary, and entered them into the carnivals.

Violet would charter a coach and they would take off for a day at one of the local carnivals, Bournemouth, Poole, Swanage, Wimborne, Ringwood or Christchurch.

Violet was always there with her troupe, not just with all the children in tow, but dressing up herself in her handmade costume. Her favourite was Buttons and Bows. Mary says her mum went to so much trouble to hand-make all the costumes for the tableau and herself.

"Mum's Buttons and Bows costume (inspired by the song) was a white dress with a flared skirt and lots of lace and frills over it. She hand-sewed different coloured buttons all over the dress, along with many coloured and different sized bows and little bunches of flowers. She also wore a beautiful floppy picture hat similarly decorated. It was a work of art and mum looked gorgeous in it," says Mary

"Among many other costumes she made was a Polo Mints' costume, which one of my three brothers wore at different stages in their growth! The costume was a pair of black trousers and a black tunic top and she covered the suit in mints, which she diligently hand sewed on. She stitched the word Polo down one leg and Mints down the other.

"Even a black felt skullcap was decorated with mints and the wearer carried a flat box also decorated with the words Polo Mints (she must have spent a lot on those mints!).

"The tableau theme Wedding of the Painted Dolls was unique. I, of course, was the bride! A close neighbour, Alan Norris, was my groom and about ten other young girls were bridesmaids.

"Then, after parading in the carnival we'd take off to have fun at the sideshows. Later in the day we were brought home in the coach.

"The other theme Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary starred me as Mary. Again, mum made all the costumes for the children including decorated with clippings from magazines of flowers and she sewed paper flowers onto our pretty dresses.

"We carried baskets of flowers and had such fun. Mum did this for many years. Where she got the energy to do all this I'll never know, but she obviously loved it and loved helping the neighbourhood children to have a new experience," said Mary.

Local character Ken Baily, who for years turned up to major sporting events wearing a Union Flag suit, gave Violet the title First Lady of the Carnivals which Mary says she certainly earned.

The children would ride on lorries in the parade but Violet used to walk the whole route, which in the case of the Boscombe Carnival was from Gorsecliffe School Playfield Field, situated in Walpole Road when it proceeded to the Crescent, along Christchurch Road to Gloucester Road and then into Kings Park where it dispersed.

Violet is standing at centre back of the Mary Mary photograph above. She entered the Carnivals until she was well into her 90s and died aged 98 in 1999.

Many thanks for this Heather I've tickled the copy about a little. Have a read and if everything is okay I'll upload it to the web on Monday. Cheers Nick