MARLBOROUGH International Jazz Festival 2002 was the biggest and best in its 14-year history just as festival director Nick Fogg promised.

The weekend gala of music and magic brought an estimated 10,000 visitors flooding into the town.

In bright sunshine that defied the weather forecasters' doom-laden warnings of rain, the town jumped to the rich sounds of music from all round the world.

Marlborough police said the event was trouble free, apart from a few drivers parking inconsiderately.

Exotically-dressed dancers from the Notting Hill carnival brought the weekend to a close on Sunday with a lively parade down the High Street.

Rhythm and blues

THE carnival parade billed as the grand finale of the weekend Marlborough International Jazz turned out to be a bit of a let down.

Taking part on Sunday were the dancers from the famous Notting Hill Carnival, including Avian Buckran who led the Queen's golden jubilee parade along The Mall in London in June.

It had been hoped that the parade of carnival dancers would provide a memorable end to what was hailed as the biggest and best jazz festival the town has seen so far.

The festival programme said: "Thrill to the exotic atmosphere of a West Indian carnival, the colour, the splendour and the vibrancy. . .pulsating music and costumes like you have never seen before outside Rio or Trinidad."

Many families were disappointed, however, not only with the size of the procession, but also with the fact that it started ten minutes early.

One family from Five Stiles Road, Marlborough, arrived at the starting point five minutes before the parade was due to get underway only to be told it had already left.

The 'pulsating music' came from huge amplifiers on a van that followed the Fuller's Brewery dray pulled by a pair of shire horses, Griffin and Pride.

The few Notting Hill dancers who did turn out, however, wore spectacular costumes that would put any West Country carnival entry in the shade.

Some of the fantastic multi-hued costumes were 20 feet wide and nearly as high.

In the afternoon's bright sunshine, they brought a touch of South American mardi gras to the finale of the jazz festival, which attracted tens of thousands of people to Marlborough over the weekend.

The dancers bopped their way from The Parade where the procession started, into New Road and to the High Street, where they were joined by the song and dance band Siyaya from Zimbabwe.

The festival organisers had asked Marlborough people to join in the parade and carry decorated brollies or devise their own exotic costumes, but only one pair of girls turned up with a fancy dress umbrella.

Festival director Nick Fogg said the organisers had been expecting a lot more of the Notting Hill carnival dancers to attend and mirror their successful parade at last year's festival.

He said he apologised if anyone was disappointed and added that it was impossible to be sure how many of the carnival entertainers would turn up on the day.

"Because it is now post-jubilee they ask people to turn out but it is a voluntary effort and they have no idea how many will come," said Mr Fogg.

"Most people agreed that those who did come were spectacular."