Jane Gibbs – The carnival floats
Simon: I mean this is something that quite a few people have mentioned to us, is the floats that that they used to have for various Parades. Do you remember some details about those?
Jane: I do remember the one which I thought I was imagining but I obviously wasn’t. It was of a cage with models inside with different costumes on. I can’t even remember if it was furs or whatever which these days would not be very politically correct, but I know I remember they were quite glamourous models and they were dressed up inside this cage. I do remember there was the Concorde, they did one year and I’m sure my dad must have been involved in that as well, but it’s amazing to think that Pack and Cullivers and David Guy was paying someone to do a float. In those days probably very good advertising.
Simon: I was thinking yeah, it’s sort of what would be called a Marketing Budget these days.
Jane: Yeah, very and pretty good Marketing ‘cos you’d go round … obviously the Carnivals were always held in the summer, so you wouldn’t just have the Islanders there, you would have a whole floods of tourists that would come just for the Carnivals. So yeah, very good Marketing ploy, so dad must have done it quite well. I hope it worked.
Simon: The photos I’ve seen of the cage, it looks substantial.
Jane: As in how huge?
Simon: Oh, as in 7 foot across by 3 or 4 foot. But you know solid bars. I mean I guess they were wooden rather than metal.
Jane: On no, they would have been wooden. ‘Cos dad was a chippy, a Carpenter he trained originally so yeah. And you asked about the work, I think I mean it would have been anything from replacing woodwork to painting anything that looked a bit shabby and needed a lick of paint or any repairs at all. Dad was your man. Mr Simmonds, Leonard Simmonds, Builders of Ryde.