One of Notting Hill Carnival’s biggest bands, Flagz, is to headline at the famous Battle of Flowers on the Channel island of Jersey. It’s believed this is the first time a mas band has been invited to participate in the 121-year-old event. It probably breaks new ground for soca music too.
The Battle of Flowers began as a one-off parade of flower-decked carriages and floats to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902. It proved so popular with islanders and visitors that it became an annual event, though interrupted by the First World War and the German occupation of 1940-45.
It was resurrected in 1951 to celebrate the Festival of Britain. In those days size really mattered: one float was 51ft high and another was 70ft long! The crowds became massive too, reaching 60,000 by 1969, almost equalling the island’s entire population.
Naturally, the ‘Battle’ is competitive. There are strict rules and proper judges, but in the past there was a curious ‘pay-to-judge’ system – anyone who sat in the most expensive seats was given two votes to cast as they wished. The highest award is the Prix d’Honneur, which last year went to The Optimists Club for ‘When Movies were Movies’, which included an impressive re-creation of a 1930s cinema.
The ‘battle’ came about because at the end of the festival, participants stripped flowers from the floats and threw them to spectators, who threw them back. That bit of the tradition ended when some people started taking the battle more seriously than the flowers!
Today, the elaborate chrysanthemum-clad floats head along one side of Victoria Avenue in Jersey’s capital, St Helier and return down the other, passing stands and pavement seating (ticketed at between £19 and £35). The Grand Day Parade sets off at 5pm on Friday 11 August and the Moonlight Parade – with the same floats but dramatically illuminated – begins at 9pm on Saturday 12 August. Both parades take about two hours to pass.
As well as the injection of Notting Hill bacchanal, an innovation this year will be a show-ending illuminated drone display.
- Details at jersey.com or email: [email protected].
