Page 14 - TUNTUM 35th Anniversary Brochure

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A Tuntum story 1999
Rescuing the Nottingham Carnival
Nottingham Caribbean community were so upset with the cancellation of Carnival 1998 that hundreds attended a city centre march in protest.
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The Nottingham Caribbean Carnival was against the City Council for taking away first held in 1958 and is one of the oldest their cultural event. In response, the City
Carnival. Tuntum’s closeness to the local community, its organising capacity and its
ability to attract new volunteers was the only hope for the revival of the Carnival.
As a result, Tuntum rescued an event
that was of paramount importance
to Nottingham, particularly its black community. The Association became the organising hub for dozens of volunteers, many of whom were tenants and all
with a great passion for sharing their cultural heritage brought to the UK by the Windrush generation.
Caribbean carnivals in the UK. Although councillors promised to support a revival only held a few times after that date, of the carnival in 1999 provided new
in the early 1990s it was revived by a event organisers could be found. number of people from Nottingham’s
The 1999 Carnival was a massive success and by far the largest ever held in the City. Hundreds of young people in colourful costumes danced through the streets of Nottingham’s inner city areas and thousands gathered at the Forest Recreation Ground to hear dozens of musicians including international
reggae artists.
black community.
However, in 1998 the Carnival was cancelled by Nottingham City Council due to a lack of confidence in the organisers at the time. The cancellation brought about a significant protest from the community and hundreds marched
An attempt was made to establish a new organising committee and Tuntum’s office was used as the meeting place. However, the new committee struggled to organise the event and, as time was passing, the City Council approached
the Board of Tuntum to ask if they would take on the organising and running of the
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