THE 2011 Colchester carnival will be the first organised by the town's Round Table.

The charitable group hopes to restore the event to its former glory and make it an occasion that can grow.

At its height in the mid-Eighties, the carnival attracted 40,000 spectators, 3,000 performers and 150 floats.

It hit trouble in 1999 because of the cost of paying for barriers on the route.

Organisers the Town Centre Management Company went into liquidation in April, 2000.

Plans to reinstate the event in 2002 were halted by the foot-and-mouth outbreak and later by road restrictions.

The carnival was revived in 2009 but did not go ahead last year, with failure to get permission to close roads.

Carnival secretary Dan Woodruff said: “Jamie Hooper, chairman of our committee, felt Colchester deserved something better.

“We’re a registered charity with volunteers ready to help, so we stepped in and it has snowballed.

“The Round Table is an international organisation and while we in Colchester don’t have the experience of organising a carnival, the organisation does.

“We’ve had lots of help and advice, which has been instrumental in us receiving permission from the relevant authorities.

“All the organisations in the town have been extremely supportive because they want this to happen, and that’s been heart-warming.”