Battle of Flowers looking how to improve in future

BBC A view of one of the flower displays at the Battle of Flowers parade. There are men playing guitars and a woman in a pink dress wearing a cowboy hat singing into a microphone. There are sprays of pink and white carnations and white gypsophila all over the float. BBC
A total of 23 teams took part in this year's Battle of Flowers

The Battle of Flowers will look for ways to improve after changes to the route this year were not "100% successful", its chairman has said.

The parade returned to its original route along Victoria Avenue in St Helier this weekend after passing through town on the Esplanade last year.

Crowds packed the area, with a total of 23 teams showing off illuminated floats and filling them with music and dancing.

Chairman Martyn Maguire said, while he was delighted with the turnout and atmosphere, "people still tended to gather down the bottom end of the arena", making it difficult to manage. But he also said about 12,000 people gathered for the day parade, with 20,000 watching the moonlight event.

Speaking to BBC Radio Jersey, he said: "We changed the format up a bit this year and we just had a one-pass parade to try and imitate what we did in town.

"I don't think it was 100% successful, so we're going to have a review of that. We've got to have a debrief.

"Once we've discussed that, we'll come up with some plans how we can improve things, how we can change things up and take it forwards."

a man wearing a white 'Battle of Flowers' branded polo shirt stands with his hands together while smiling for the camera.
Martyn Maguire from the Battle of Flowers Association was delighted by this year's atmosphere but will discuss possible route improvements with his team

Organisers had originally planned a fireworks display on Saturday night, but cancelled it because of "continuing concerns around the exceptionally dry conditions".

Islanders are now being invited to fill in a survey online about the event, detailing what they enjoyed and how they felt it could improve.

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