Thousands thrilled by Melton Halloween and fireworks spectacular

Heavy rain and high winds had placed Friday night’s event in jeopardy but conditions cleared sufficiently for eveyone to enjoy proceedings.

It was the biggest ever Halloween and fireworks occasion so far organised by Melton Mowbray Town Estate, after last year’s was cancelled due to the pandemic restrictions on public gatherings.

Senior Town Warden, Ian Wilkinson, lit the bonfire to mark the start of what was a quite brilliant firework display - the biggest in scale ever to be staged in the Melton park.

Organisers were delighted to welcome more families than ever to enjoy the event and they received many compliments on the night for a wonderful show.

The fancy dress contestants did their best to scare all the visitors in traditional fashion and fairground attractions added to the mix.

Town Estate chief executive, Billy Boulding, said: “Having had to cancel last year, it was fantastic to finally get the event back on.

“Our wonderful staff spent many hours organising and setting up the event, and seeing so many families having a great time made it all worthwhile. “We were delighted to see so many people in fancy dress and our congratulations go to the winners.

“We look forward to coming back bigger and better next year.”

Special thanks have also been given to members of Melton’s Lions Club, who helped collect money on the gates, and to local retailer, Melton Toys, which kindly donated prizes for the fancy dress competition.

After a difficult task, because of the very high standard this year, judges made eight-year-old Erin Perrett the fancy dress winners.

Maisy Sampson, aged seven, came second, and five-year-old, Millie Jones, was third.