“It’s the greatest show on earth”, said Mark Fisher, as the biggest illuminated carnival in the world took off with all lights blazing at Bridgwater last night.

Mr Fisher is chairman of Hillview Junior Carnival Club from Burnham-on-Sea, like all the junior clubs, bringing on the next generation of carnivalites who will be taking the long tradition into the late 21st Century.

“We have 22 excited children and they are all going to be dressed as clowns and all sorts of characters,” he said.

All had come from a full day at school to help thrill a crowd of up to 100,000 with a two-mile, two-and-a-half hour singing, dancing, musical extravaganza.

Some clubs had to deal with last-minute hazards.

The top of the decorated tractor unit on Cavaliers Carnival Club’s kart, Magic Masters hit the branches of a tree on the way to the start of the procession, causing slight damage to some of the witch silhouettes.

But captain “Nige” Priddle was unphased. “we’re not here to win, we take part for the fun, for the camaraderie, and to do the best we can,” he said.

Like most who took part in the event, fellow Cavaliers Club member Kevin Andrews had been working on the cart for nearly 30 hours, with little sleep.

Gremlins Carnival Club, which has won so many top awards at its home town parade, was back in style with a powerful entry of giant elephants, sinuous snakes and beautiful birds for Jungle Drums.

Another stunning entry was Marketeers’ Flying Machines, beautifully built sea planes from the dawn of aviation ready to fly from boats set in a frothing sea. Torrential rain during the afternoon had made many fear the worst. The sky was so dark and the gloom so deep that motorists drove with headlights, gutters overflowed and drains could hardly cope.

One hundred schoolchildren parading over the town bridge and into the town centre to provide an afternoon dance show had a lucky escape giving an inspirational performance before the heavens opened.

The entire carnival was filmed by a German TV company, and friends from Bridgwater’s German twin-town were among the crowds. Every year the huge parade ends with the amazing spectacle of squibbing – giant fireworks held high on poles by selected members of the carnival.

And as the show passes on to North Petherton tonight and elsewhere across the West thousands of Guy Fawkes bonfires are lit, a Somerset farmer is making an urgent plea to anyone planning to launch rockets.

Robert Harding, of Winford in the Chew Valley, found a huge firework in his yard near a barn full of fodder this week, even though he lives a quarter of a mile from the nearest house.

“I’d just like to warn people to think which way the wind is blowing before they let fireworks like that off,” he said.

“If a firework destroys fodder it is the livestock that will suffer.”