JAZZ bands, dancers and Halloween ghouls paraded through Harwich as part of the town's traditional Guy Carnival.

Crowds lined the route to watch the procession of 18 floats, three dance troops famous Big Heads in their satirical costumes.

The event, which started in Ainger Road, Dovercourt, and finished in West Street, Harwich, was organised by the Harwich and Dovercourt Rotary Club.

John Wade, who organised this year’s carnival, said: “We didn’t have as many floats this year but there were still lots of walkers joining us.

“It went really well overall and we had around 20 buckets of donations to count out.”

The carnival raised over £2200 through donations, which will be distributed to charity.

So far this year, the rotary club has raised about £10,000 for charities such as the Salvation Army.

The Guy Carnival seeks to parady - or guy - local events and personalities and this year fun was poked at the disputes over Dovercourt skating rink and Harwich as a ghost town.

The carnival this year co-incided with Halloween so spooky costumes were also encouraged.

Mr Wade said: “It was quite nice really as we had our own Halloween fancy dress competition and both adults and children were all dressed up along the route.

“Even though some were heading to their own Halloween events, they still turned out and gave to us.”

The results for the best floats, fancy dress and big heads at the carnival are as follows.

Small Firms and Organisations: 1st. Electric Palace Jazz with Chris Strachan and Friends, 2nd. Clacton Carnival Court.

Small Groups: 1st. Carnival Guys with Harwich Ghost Tours, 2nd. Ian and Debbie Jones with Wallace and Grommet, 3rd. Andy Schooler and friends with It’s All White on the Night.

Pub and Club: 1st Dovercourt Skooter Club

Man Powered Contraptions: 1st. Andy Milne and friends with Local Wicked Witches.

Best Dance Group: 1st. Bright Starz Display Team, from Brightlingsea.

Halloween Fancy Dress Prize: 1st. The King family as Halloween Witches.

John Cheesman Award for Champion Collector: Andy Milne, who collected £91.

Children’s Fancy Dress. Under 5s: Daisy King as a Halloween witch; age group 6-9: Amelia King as a Halloween witch; age group 10-14: 1st. Morgan King as SpongeBob, 2nd. Mikayla Mann as a clown.

Adult Fancy Dress: 1st. Anna Davies as the jilted bride of Frankenstein, 2nd. The Mann family as the Clown Group.

Most spectacular big head of the carnival: Laura Taylor as a White Walker.

Adult Best Big Head: 1st. Wendy Taylor and Mandy Tinniakos as the Witches of Facebook, 2nd. Devon Lord as the Swamp Lady, 3rd. Danni Taylor as Dead of the Dead.

Family Group Best Big Head Award: Becky Taylor, Tyson Lord, Harrison, Isaac and Jasper; age ten and under award: The Pickford Family for Batman.