A bid by a group of nostalgic volunteers to resurrect a carnival in their market town hinges on whether they can find enough vehicles to form a procession.

The last time Sudbury’s streets were festooned with floats and colourful parades was more than two decades ago.

A committee formed to bring the popular event back is appealing to local businesses to loan lorries and trucks for the day, which would make suitable floats.

Carnival chairman Jack Owen said the raft of modern health and safety regulations made organising the carnival more complicated than it would have been during its heyday, but he is determined to see the event go ahead on the August bank holiday Saturday.

As a warm up to the main event, a separate ‘Carnival Queen & Princesses’ Dance will take place in May.

MacFarlane Packaging, based on the Chilton industrial estate, is the first company to offer a vehicle for the carnival.

Regional business manager John Wiley said: “Although we are a national company, we employ all local people at the Sudbury branch and we like to contribute to the town wherever possible so we were very keen to see the carnival brought back. We are giving them a class-two curtain sided lorry for the day with one of our drivers so that the insurance aspect is covered.

“We have asked for it to be used as a float for one of the town’s youth organisations.”

Mr Owen is now looking for other businesses to follow Macfarlane’s lead. He said: “We have taken some advice from the organisers of Felixstowe Carnival so we are confident we can overcome the health and safety issues but we are experiencing some difficulty in securing suitable vehicles for the event.

“So if there are any public-spirited truck or lorry owners out there who would be willing to help, we would be very keen to hear from them.

“Likewise, we would also like to hear from people or groups that would be interested in getting involved in the procession.”

For an application form or to offer suitable transport, call Mr Owen on 01787 374025.