THE Astwood Bank Carnival royalty for 2019 has been announced ahead of this year's event.

After much deliberation the carnival team have announced that this year’s royalty will comprise a carnival queen, supported by three princesses.

Carnival queen will be Poppy Marshall, 16, from Bournville College, who is a young leader at Astwood Bank Brownies and member of the Young Firefighters Association.

The princesses will be Orla Harrington, aged 11, from Astwood Bank Primary School, Rebecca Davis, also 11, from Astwood Bank Primary School, and Daisy Stewart-Clarke, aged 11, from Ridgeway Academy.

Leading the judging panel was Vicky Johnson.

She said: “As ever we were delighted with the number of applications by young people wanting to play a key role in our local community.

"The standard of applications was as high as ever and we were entertained royally by all of our applicant’s auditions. It is always hard picking from such a strong group, but now we look forward to working with this year’s royalty and getting them involved with all of the community activities we have planned for 2019.

"No doubt one of the highlights will be leading the procession on carnival day on July 13.”

Astwood Bank Carnival committee run several events throughout the year to help raise funds for local groups and charities.

Without doubt, the highlight of the year is the carnival weekend which starts with a barn dance on Friday, July 12 before the main carnival procession on Saturday, July 13.