THOUSANDS of people lined the streets for Colchester Carnival.

The first “Colchester and Proud” procession from the crews at Colchester Fire Station welcomed a total of 18 floats alongside a host of police, firefighters and other organisations to parade through the town centre.

The organisers described seeing around 600m of the street completely taken over by the procession.

Firefighter Mick Rogers and his brother Alastair were both proud to see their first carnival go so smoothly.

Mick said: “It was fantastic, we had excellent weather and there were so many great participants who took part on their floats.

“Everyone was brilliant, they have put a lot of effort into their floats, what they were doing and their costumes.

“We were very happy with the event, considering it is the first we have done.

“Lots of people, performers and the crowd seemed to be having fun, and the feedback has been brilliant.”

The team is yet to confirm how much money has been raised from this year’s carnival.

The profits from this year’s event will be split between the Firefighters Charity, with the other half being donated to other causes.

The charity was selected as it was the crew at Colchester fire station which initially thoughtup this year’s carnival.

Mr Rogers said: “It was incredible to see so many people come and support the event, it was like a carnival before the procession even came through the town centre.

“We are really grateful to everyone who helped us and all of the participants who have made the event so special this year.”