Askam Carnival in 1988 raised a record £1,400, to be split between Askam Band and four local charities.

After 1987’s wash-out carnival day sun in 1988 came as a welcome relief and the crowd lining the road gave generously in a year when Askam Band needed to build up its funds, having won a place in the National Brass Band finals in London later that year.

The award for the most successful collector went to John Kellett while Ian Walton won the best dressed collector award for his Danger Mouse costume.

The ‘chimps tea party’ won the best float award for Askam Hotel.

A tradition of the carnival since it was restarted by Joe Phelps and Fred Baker in 1977 was that the carnival queen laid a wreath on the war memorial.

The queen in 1988 was Jill Tyson, 13, who played repiano cornet in the town band and as she laid the wreath the Last Post was sounded by solo cornet player Robert Kangavana.

Harry Martin, one of the parade’s main organisers and a member of the band, said Jill was following in the footsteps of her sister Sharon, who became the first band member to be carnival queen four years previously.

The parade featured a wide variety of music, from the brass sounds of Askam and Barrow Steelworks, to the pipes of the St Andrew’s Pipe Band, the Barrow Sea Cadets, Ulverston Majorettes and the Latin American sounds of Pete Moser’s Barracudas.

But as always with the Furness parades the main attraction was the little dancing girls, parading row after row in costumes that mums had taken all winter to sew.

On the carnival field the dancing girls went through their routines on two competition boards and among the winners were:

Six and under Ugly Bug Ball (Barbara French); 7-9 Krypton Crimebusters (Imperial School of Dancing); 10-12 Annie's Wild West Show (Imperial School of Dancing); 13 and over The World of George Formby (Barbara French); mothers' troupe Golden Toppers (Nellie English); most entertaining, board one Ugly Bug Ball (Barbara French); board two Beat Fever (Imperial School of dancing.