A YOUNG child's portrayal of Romsey in Stuart times stole the show in Saturday evening's carnival parade.

Clutching a chicken in her arms, three-year-old Olivia Willis looked like a princess in her charming outfit. Her dad Paul made the horse and carriage Olivia travelled in. "It's the first time we've taken part. We entered because it's charter year," said Paul.

Judges awarded Olivia the Smith Bradbeer Cup for best entry in the parade. Olivia was also presented with the Romsey Town Council Cup for top entry in the pedestrian category.

Romsey's Brownies hogged the limelight in the float section with their eye-catching entry entitled Mill and Market 400 years of Romsey Charter.

Led by former town librarian Robin Allwood and his wife Angela, the Brownies float scooped the Romsey Town Council cup and a cash prize as the top entry in the motorised theme class. The float was also runner-up overall.

Robin dressed in an old hessian sack posed as a beggar and Angela a nun. Brownies dressed as nuns, Victorians and Elizabethans. The float included a cardboard replica of Romsey salmon leap with three salmon and Mill House complete with two turning mill wheels, built by Robin. Names of streams around the town were also included in the Brownies exhibit along with bags of flour.

"This has been a real family affair, my daughter Rachel came down from Nottingham and my son Paul is here with his girlfriend. It's been team effort to make the float," said Robin.

His wife and Brownie pack leader, added: "We are delighted to have won but I wished there had been more competition."

For one Brownie - Poppy Hardman - Saturday was extra special, it was her eighth birthday.

Woodley-based music and drama society Nomads revisited the flower power era with Summer of Love 1967. Society members dressed as hippies Sandy Shaw' Eurovision winning song Puppet on a String filled the air as the float made its way through the town. Plastered all over the float were snippets of information recalling 1967 prices with beer at 2/6d a pint and the average home on sale for £4,330. Businesses that were then thriving in Romsey were also listed. These included Strong and Co of Romsey, International Stores, Pearce's Bakery and Victorian Restaurant, Moody's Gunshop, Diana Dukes Pets and Garden and AR Wills Tomato Factory.

Nomads' float was runner-up in the motorised section. Romsey Primary School's entry, Ugly Bug Ball, came third with a float carrying youngsters dressed as butterflies, bees and caterpillars. The final entry in the float section was from Romsey Sea Cadets, who brought a dinghy and canoe with them.

Long-established carnival-goer 15-year-old Cathleen Hall and her five-year-old niece Lillian Hall dressed as punk rockers. Although they didn't win a prize the pair certainly turned a few heads.

Carnival queen Chloe Aslett and her attendants Tiffany Nicholson and Tiffany Knight waved to onlookers from their carriage as it made its way along the procession route. Romsey Old Cadets Carnival Showband dressed as toy soldiers', the Liberty Pride Cheer Leaders and Wight Diamond band completed the parade line-up.