Notting Hill Carnival - Europe's biggest

When, in 1964, members of a Trinidadian steel band were invited to take part in a street festival in
Notting Hill, in the west of London, none of them realised that they were going to give birth to Europe's
greatest street carnival.

There had been racial tension in Britain in the late 1950's, and the Black people who had come over
from the West Indies to work in London found it hard to mix with Londoners.

As a way of breaking the ice, the idea of a street festival was suggested; street festivals being popular
events on the Caribbean islands, the original organisers suggested that the sight and sound of a
Trinidadian steel band playing on the streets of Notting Hill would encourage local residents, both black
and white, to come out on the street and enjoy themselves for an afternoon.

The first festival was an immediate success; once the black people of Notting Hill heard the music of the
steel band, they came out into the street to dance and enjoy themselves as they might have done back
home in the West Indies; attracted by the unusual and rhythmic sound of the steel band, others too
came along to share in the experience. In short, the first festival was such a big success that the
organisers decided to organise another one the following year.

Since then, the Notting Hill Carnival has evolved into a huge multi-cultural arts festival, attended by up
to two million people; besides being the annual high point of London's Afro-Caribbean community, it
now attracts hundreds of thousands of people from all over Britain and other countries, and has become
the world's second biggest carnival, second only to Rin