04/10/2026
❤️ TONIGHT OUR HEARTS GO OUT TO ILMINSTER CARNIVAL ❤️
Tonight should have been one of the biggest nights of the year for Ilminster Carnival.
Months and months of work, planning and preparation had gone into making tonight happen. The procession had barely begun when, due to a suspected gas leak in the town, the emergency services made the decision that the carnival could not continue.
Of course, public safety must always come first — but we can only imagine how absolutely devastating that decision must have been for the committee, carnival clubs and everyone who has worked so hard to make tonight possible.
For us at Devon Truck Show, this one feels particularly close to home.
Many people probably won’t realise that the Ilminster Carnival team are also the amazing people who give up their time every year to help organise and run our DTS campsite.
They are there for us year after year.
Tonight, we’d really like to be there for them. ❤️
Cancelling a carnival doesn’t cancel the bills.
Thousands of pounds will already have been committed to things such as insurance, security, medical cover, road management, toilets and all the other infrastructure required to safely put an event like this on.
Normally, thousands of spectators lining the streets would put their spare change, ÂŁ1, ÂŁ2 or ÂŁ5 into the collection tins as the procession passed.
Tonight, because the procession had barely started, that collection simply didn’t get the chance to happen.
If you would have stood on the streets tonight and dropped something into a collection tin, please consider putting that same amount into the virtual one instead.
It doesn’t have to be a lot.
ÂŁ1 from a lot of people can become thousands of pounds.
And if you can’t donate, please share this. Let’s get it in front of as many people as possible.
The Ilminster Carnival committee have supported us at DTS year after year.
Now it’s our turn to support them.
❤️ Let’s show them just how much the carnival community — and the wider community — is behind them.
ILMINSTER CARNIVAL VIRTUAL COLLECTION TIN
👇 DONATE HERE 👇
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=E5BEEVW5GPLSW&source=qr
