WEYMOUTH Carnival may just live to fight another day with organisers ‘optimistic’ it will go ahead after they extended their fundraising deadline.

The committee had originally said that £10,000 was needed by the end of March or they would pull the plug.

This deadline has now been scrapped with the carnival committee extending fundraising deadlines until the end of May.

The extension comes as a result of increasing support and the spike in interest following confirmation that the Red Arrows and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight have been booked.

Chairman of carnival trustees, Ryan Hope, said: “Optimistic is a good word. Some businesses are now coming forward and we want any sort of amount that any business wants to contribute.”

Fundraising has stepped up in recent weeks with a Crowdfunder pledge page raising almost £2,000 of a £18,000 target so far.

The Crowdfunder has until May 12 to raise the full amount stated or the carnival receives none of the money pledged.

There are also now collection boxes in some Weymouth shops such as Planet Games and Gadgets and Blondz for people to donate to the carnival.

One business supporting the carnival is TLC hair and beauty salon who are asking every customer to give a pound towards the Carnival when they come in to have their hair done.

Owner, Sharon Silvester explained why she is backing the carnival.

She said: “I’ve been here 30 years. I’ve taken my children to the carnival and I’m now taking my grandchildren, it‘d be a shame to lose it.

“A pound is not a lot - it’s less than a cup of coffee. Some people even come every week and they’ve donated another pound.”

One of the other ways the carnival is hoping to raise money is by getting seafront hotels to pay a pound to put a carnival programme in each one of their rooms.

Mr Hope said: “We’ve started speaking to some of the hoteliers. The idea is they provide a programme for each one of their rooms they have, giving a pound per room.

“Some of the hotels only get 10 people, some only four, some have hundreds, if each of these hotels did this that would be three or four  thousand pounds.”

A Weymouth business which hasn’t even opened its doors yet has also pledged to the event with Boombox nightclub pledging £500.

The club, which is set to open on The Esplanade over the Easter weekend, is keen to show its support for the carnival.

The carnival committee wants to re-affirm the fact that they are not looking for any actual money at present, just a pledge or promise of support.

Weymouth Carnival is currently pencilled in for Wednesday, August 19.

If you want to pledge support, go to http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/weymouth-carnival-1/

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