Rocester Festival 1979

The Rocester Toppers and the Wakebourne Band ("...19 drums - one fiddle...") keep the carnival era alive in 1979.

Rocester in Staffordshire is home to the JCB digger and the firm's vehicles feature in this film of the town's 1979 annual town festival, which was shot by Les Humphries. Topical references abound from the Dove Lane Dead End Kids, who are channelling the spirit of punk, to a float featuring the Post Office's then highly popular telephone bird 'Buzby'. However, as is common with carnivals, many other floats and costumes wouldn't have been out of place in the 1930s.