HISTORIC Titchfield was flooded with thousands of visitors as its annual carnival took over the whole village yesterday.

The village welcomed about 30,000 visitors as it staged what is claimed to be the largest carnival in the region.

Traffic was closed off to visitors and villagers alike as the centre was host to live music, a beacon-lighting ceremony, side shows, fancy dress parades and grand processions throughout the day.

Festivities continued late into the evening and youngsters enjoyed a giant funfair on the outskirts.

Guest of honour Olympic silver sailing medallist Mark Covell attended the carnival queen-making ceremony as Simone Whittaker was crowned for the year.

The ceremony was watched by the event's first ever queen, Cynthia New-berry, of Wallington, crowned in 1946.

Dave Mckay, of the festival organisers the Titchfield Bonfire Boys' Association, said: "We've had a great day and we were expecting the day's total will be about 10,000 and the evening about 20,000.

"We hoped it would be a great day out for everyone and that seemed to be the general view.'' The streets of the well-preserved village rang to the sound of jazz, folk and Irish music, which competed with the cheers of the crowds watching the colourful floats of the day and the night carnival processions.

Among the mobile attractions was John Fisher, of the company Gosport Able Steel, who joined his colleagues on their corporate float in the carnival procession, dressed as women and danced to music.

Bill Day, of St Peter's Church, Titchfield, explained his float: "The mural on the side of the wall of St Peter's inspired our float, and is called Fishers of Souls.

"This is the second time we've entered as a congregation. It depicts Jesus telling his disciples to cast their nets wide and draw souls to close to him. The float took four people two weeks to build, with more than 25 people helping.''

Sharon Walcroft said her family float was called the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. It was created for Derek McClean, who wanted a float for his grandchildren Chelsea, Megan, Josh, Lottie and Aimee. He designed it and carried out most of the work building it.

Other carnival queens added to the regal atmosphere, including Hedge End's queen Hannah Ledger and Titchfield's French twin queen from the town of Vannes.

Mr Mckay said the event had lived up to the long tradition, since the 1880s, of the whole community and whole families and extended families being involved for many months in its planning. He expected about £14,000 would be raised for village charities by the carnival.