CARNIVAL spirit shone through the clouds and rain over Ringwood as hundreds of participants and thousands of spectators shrugged off the weather for the traditional parades through the town.

"We are not worried about getting wet, we are just having a good time and raising as much money as we can," said bucket-shaking collector Sarah-Jaine Cooper, 15, dressed as a French maid.

And a bit of drizzle wasn't going to deter carnival queen Samantha Elvy, 16, who reigned on her own parade at the head of Saturday's colourful cavalcade of floats and fancy-dress entries.

Samantha and her attendants, Hannah Beasley and Lydia Watson, rode in regal style on a flowery float drawn by six shire horses from the stables of Harbridge farmer Robert Sampson, whose family has been driving the carnival queen for 50 years and three generations.

To mark their golden jubilee the afternoon procession was halted at the Market Place, where Queen Samantha presented Mr Sampson with a commemorative plate.

Among the decorated floats and fancy dress tableaux, Ringwood Junior School matched the "going for gold" slogan on its Olympic Games-themed float by winning the prize for the best overall entry.

Not to be outdone, their younger counterparts from Ringwood Infants' School lived up the "high flyer" theme of their aerial-inspired tableau of trolley dollies and Red Arrows to be top of their class.

More black belt than Blackbeard, the Ringwood and Fordingbridge Judo Club threw over the judges with their Pirates of the Caribbean float.

Dick Dastardly - alias Jim Soloman - recreated the complete cast of men and machines for an award-winning homage to the popular cartoon series Wacky Races.

More TV stars featured in the I'm a Celebrity float staged by the family and friends of Vivienne Hoare, who starred as a Jordan lookalike. Another famous face on view was that of Olympic rowing hero Matthew Pinsent, whose cardboard cut-out countenance joined Orchard Close neighbours Sam Blake and siblings Jack and Ellen McGill in the "four men in a boat" entry, which was judged best junior walking entry.

There was a moment of real drama when the Ringwood fire engine and St John Ambulance taking part in the procession were called to an emergency at the Clarks Close almshouses in Quomp, where a 90-year-old woman needed treatment for the effects of smoke following a fire in the kitchen of her flat.