A GLAMOROUS Weymouth Carnival Queen attendant from 1980 has come forward.

Shirley Moran got in touch to tell us that she recognised herself in the photo of the queen and the runners-up from the 1980 contest from last week's Looking Back.

Shirley, 58, still lives in Weymouth and was 23 at the time she became carnival royalty.

She said: "At the time of the contest I was working at Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.

"I remember telling the chief executive that I was going to be in the carnival and he didn't know what to make of it.

"I happened to be a carnival queen attendant completely by chance.

"I went down there to the competition with my boyfriend who happened to be in the Round Table and at first thought the whole thing was very boring, but I thought I would join in."

Shirley has very fond memories of the carnival day 30 years ago.

She said: "It was a lovely day. I have never smiled so much in my life.

"We were going around town drinking champagne and I know people complained about it!"

Shirley remembers the carnival queen Jeanette Donnison but thinks she has left the area.

"I think Jeanette never came back to the area, she was working for Debenhams in Bristol.

"I believe she came down for the actual parade on the day, she was a very good carnival queen."

Shirley won a prize of having some professional photos taken by a photographer in Derby Street.

She said: "We also won a meal at Pallingers Restaurant and I remember we were treated like royalty there.

"A man off the television crowned us - Terry from Terry and June, Terry Scott.

"It was an amazing day and we were allowed to keep our dresses.

"They really tried their best for us. It was a time when carnivals were carnivals."

Shirley also remembers the compere of the carnival that day, Trevor Wormald, who was a partner at Comptons Stationers which used to be in St Thomas Street.

After the carnival Shirley went on to marry Richard Dunne.

The pair were married 33 years until Richard sadly died last year.

Shirely said: "We met when I was a polling clerk and he was a councillor.

"He walked into the polling station one day and it went from there.

"He was a lovely man and we got married in 1981."

Shirley still has some mementoes from the day and has very kindly shared her scrapbook with Looking Back readers.

She said: "I will probably be embarrassing my children with these pictures but I thought people would be interested in seeing them.

"In the years after I was in the carnival we carried on being involved in it.

"I didn't bother to enter any more carnival queen competitions afterwards, I didn't take the whole thing very seriously.

"I'm quite a feminist but I do think the competition is quite a lot of fun."

"Richard went on to become the carnival chairman and even went up with the Red Arrows one year in a plane."

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