MORE help is needed if Penhill Carnival is to return to the area’s calendar, according to the organiser of a fun day running tomorrow.

The 2013 carnival was cancelled last July after the organising committee dwindled to two members, who finally gave up the ghost and accepted there were not enough volunteers to keep it afloat.

Loopy Lewis, 42, of Inglesham Road, is secretary of the organising committee for the carnival, and has pulled together much of tomorrow’s event, a pre-carnival fun day, off her own back.

The former youth worker said her biggest challenge in organising the event, designed to raise awareness ahead of a potential 2015 return for the full carnival, was finding support.

“I feel like I have done everything on my own, although I haven’t,” she said.

“David (Ibitoye, committee chairman) works full-time, looks after four other groups and has children.

“The meetings we have had consist of me, David and Roxanna (Cox, committee treasurer). They just ask me what I have done. I haven’t done it all myself, but I have been extremely busy. I do feel that really it needs more members.

“Dave, he’s got the intention I have, but he’s not got the time I have. We have been doing things on our own because there isn’t the time or people to do everything.”

However, she said the final programme for the day, which runs from noon until 6pm around John Moulton Hall, has been finalised.

Kelvin Young will be the special guest, an open mic session will be available, Swindon band Dirte will be performing, and there will be a pool competition run by Clivey & Twist inside the hall itself.

Also on the bill are DJs Brett Gray and Julian Hogan, acoustic music from Nick Felix, a dance performance by GW Academy, cream teas, as well as arts and crafts from Penhill Community Association.

Loopy said she is happy with the line-up, despite the last-minute organising she has needed to do.

She said tomorrow’s event was heading for postponement as recently as last week, when she was struggling to pull the final pieces together.

“I’m happy with it because I think it’s a massive achievement for somebody to do in a couple of weeks,” she said.

“Lots of things have gone on in my life in the past and I felt there was never help for me, so I became a youth worker.

“I wanted to continue my work in the community with this, but I didn’t expect to be working 30 hours a week unpaid.

“I was on the skin of my teeth the other week. I had taken some time off with personal problems and nothing got done for a week, so I was ready to postpone the whole thing.

“But Marilyn Beale put an advert in the Penhill News, and when I saw that I knew I had to carry on and get the event going.

“It picked me up seeing that. I needed it.”