THOUSANDS of people packed a Suffolk resort at the weekend to see the decorated floats, seaside air show and carnival queens. With the theme of this year's Felixstowe Carnival being nursery rhymes, the procession involved some well-known childhood characters.

THOUSANDS of people packed a Suffolk resort at the weekend to see the decorated floats, seaside air show and carnival queens.

With the theme of this year's Felixstowe Carnival being nursery rhymes, the procession involved some well-known childhood characters.

Ten-year-old budding artist Sophie Steele, from the town's Ferry Lane, thought up the theme and her picture of Jack and Jill featured on the 12,000 programmes handed out at the carnival.

Richard Stewart, vice-chairman of Felixstowe Carnival Association, said yesterday that this year's carnival had attracted even bigger crowds than last year.

He estimated there were about 40,000 people lining the streets to see the procession, floats and majorettes as they made their way from Beatrice Avenue on Saturday .

People had gone through the crowd to collect money and had raised 45 buckets full of cash for local groups.

He said: "We had a lot of entries to the procession and they stuck to the theme. There were some superb floats and the winners in each class thoroughly deserved their first places. Even the weather held for us."

The carnival kicked off on Friday with attractions and activities in the town's Langer Park, crammed into the weekend - with day receipts up by 75% on last year.

Yesterday, people grabbed their spots on the beach to see the dramatic air show around the pier, with a display from a RAF Jaguar and RAF harrier.

The search and rescue display showed off the skills of the coastguard and the RAF Wattisham helicopter, while the Scooby formation team included two YAK 52s and a Stearman plane.

A funfair, local bands and John Coghlan, the original member of Quo - the Status Quo tribute act - all provided entertainment until the fireworks and Glambusters musical finale on last night.