Oral History interview with Jackie Heald. Conducted by Charlotte Dickerson for The Carnival Archive Project. www.carnivalarchive.org.uk

00.00 Charlotte: It’s Thursday the15th of November 2012, and I’m here with Jackie Heald. Could you tell me about some of your memories of Cromer Carnival?

00.14 Jackie Heald: The first thing really I remember is my determination to win the competition for the Carnival Princess and, I can’t remember the date of the competition, but it was a few weeks before the carnival, it was probably in July, the actual competition, and it was held in North Lodge Park, and I went along with my Dad. I think it was just my Dad and there were all these other little girls there. I remember my sister did my hair for me, she made my hair all curly and the girls at school laughed at me because I had my hair all curly. We went along to the competition in the evening and we all had to parade round, and then they reduced us down to so many and I was left in the final, the final six, and then Alfie, who was the Town Crier, he used to organise everything, and he sort of tapped me on the shoulder and I thought I’d got to go away, I didn’t realise I’d won it at that stage and I started to walk away, and he said “No, come back, you’ve won, you’re the Carnival Princess!” (Laughs).

01.44 Jackie Heald: I remember walking off because I didn’t think I’d won it and he said “No, come back, come back!” (Laughs). So that was that and I was really thrilled to bits that I’d won and then next day when I went to school, I was telling all my friends at school and they didn’t believe me! I don’t quite know, I think they believed me, it was in the paper, probably in the local paper, and I think that’s when they believed me when they read it for themselves.

02.24 Jackie Heald: I think... I’m sure the competition for the Carnival Queen was either the next evening or certainly a few days later anyway, after the Carnival Princess competition. My sister entered for the competition for the Carnival Queen and she came second. The competition was held on Cromer Pier. The lady who won, I think her name was Rosemary and her surname was Webster and she was the daughter of the Chairman of Cromer Council. I remember when my sister came home, or the next morning as I was probably in bed when she came home, but the next morning she said she’d come second and I remember feeling a bit disappointed because I was so desperate for her to be the Queen because I was the Princess. But I was still happy that she was going to be with me in the Carnival.

03.25 Jackie Heald: Then we just had to get things sorted out, our dresses and everything, and then the Carnival took place on Wednesday the 1st of August 1962, and I remember being so proud and getting all dressed up, and I had my sash, it was a blue sash with yellow writing and it said ‘Cromer Carnival Princess’ on it (laughs). We had to go along to North Lodge Park, for the crowing ceremony, and we went on the stage and there was a lady called Yana, who was an actress, who did the crowning. She crowned the Carnival Queen and afterwards we had to walk back, and the Carnival Prince and myself, we had to hold her train because she had a long velvet cloak, like a train, and we had to carry that whilst she walked, so we had to walk behind her. I was so proud! And then I remember we went for lunch, and Mum and Dad came along as well, and we went to lunch to… oh I can’t remember the name of the hotel now… Newhaven Court, yes Newhaven Court and we all had lunch. It sticks in, and another thing, even though I was only, how old was I? Seven. I just remember that when they came around and asked us what we’d like to start with, there was probably a choice of soup and something else, and I remember saying to the waitress “I’ll have what the Prince is having!” (Laughs). I thought I was so grown up! I can’t remember what I had but I just said “I’ll have what the Prince is having” because I just felt so grown up!

05.19 Jackie Heald: Then after lunch we had to make our way to where the float was. (Looking through the 1962 programme) I’ve got the, I’ve still got the programme from that year; Yana signed the front of the programme for me. We had to go to park Road, Suffield Park. And then we had to get onto the float and it wasn’t until I went to sit on the float that I realised that the only thing between us and the ground was just a narrow bit that was roped off and I was absolutely terrified the whole time. The float probably didn’t move any faster than about one mile an hour or something (laughs), it was really slow, but I was only little and I was really scared! Everybody was saying to me “Let go, let go! You can’t cling on!” and I was holding onto the side. I remember that so well, you can see it in the photos and there’s one photo where I look absolutely terrified. I was trying to hold my flowers, hold the side of the float and wave with my other hand. I think the only photos where I look happier are where we were driving back up along the Runton Road, because I knew the journey was nearly over and I could take my hand away then because we were nearly back (laughs). I did enjoy it, I was just scared, I thought I was going to fall off.

07.08 Jackie Heald: Then later on, we went along back to North Lodge Park. It was early evening and we had Alfie’s Family Dance and I remember I wanted to stay there all evening. But I think at a certain time, about 9 o’ clock, I think I was taken home to bed, being only seven, but I really enjoyed that, being at the dance.

07.36 Jackie Heald: I think the next day, my sister and I dressed up again in our dresses so that we could have some photos taken in the garden but I was really grumpy because the carnival was over and I knew that was the end of my reign as Carnival Princess (laughs). So in the photos I look a bit grumpy because I knew the carnival was over, and they were all saying “Smile Jackie!” and I was saying “No, I don’t want to smile!” So we had some photos taken in our back garden, and that’s really my memories of the carnival.

08.09 Charlotte Dickerson: Did you go to the carnival other years?

08.11 Jackie Heald: Yes, because the following year I wanted to go to watch the Carnival Princess competition and I remember my Dad had promised he’d take me but he was late home and I remember crying because he didn’t get home in time to take me to watch the choosing of the Carnival Princess. But we always used to go to the carnival, even when I was older, if I was in Cromer we always used to go out and watch the carnival.

08.43 Charlotte Dickerson: So it was important to the town?

08.45 Jackie Heald: Yes, I think it was because it used to draw the crowd and because it was held in August it was obviously, for a lot of people it was holiday time, because the schools were on holiday. It used to draw crowds and it used to draw visitors to the town. So, yes I think it was important to Cromer.

09.09 Charlotte Dickerson: Any other things you remember about the activities?

09.11 Jackie Heald: I remember in the week leading up to the carnival they had lots of competitions and I think we went along to watch them. It says in the programme “on Wednesday the 25th of July at 8 o’clock was Alfie’s Beach Barbecue, but I probably wouldn’t have gone to that because it was too late in the evening. I do remember they had, and I think it was probably started the same year, they had a competition in the week leading up to the carnival, you had to fill in an entry form and they had things in the shop windows and they would have something in the shop window that wasn’t normally sold in the shop. For example, if it was the sweet shop they might have had a ball of wool in the window or something like that, and you had to spot the object that wasn’t normally in the window. Then you filled all your form in and then took it somewhere and then they drew out the winners.

10.18 Jackie Heald: I also remember, the day before the carnival there was beach sports, which again it was just… Alfie just, as I say he was the Town Crier, and he just seemed to be involved in everything, and I remember being on the beach and there was a treasure hunt on the beach and I seem to remember that either I won it or my brother. You had to find the treasure and it was an envelope and in it there was five pounds, I’m sure it was five pounds, and either I found it or my brother found it, one of us won five pounds.

10.54 Jackie Heald: We tried to go to as many things as we could really, in the week leading up to the carnival. I think that year, 1962, I think it was the first year they had events for a week because prior to that, in previous years they’d only had the one day. I think Alfie wanted to make it a bigger occasion to make it last longer. That’s about it really.

11.24 Charlotte Dickerson: That’s fantastic, thank you very much.

11.26 Jackie Heald: Okay.