MORE than 10,000 visitors are expected to descend on Blackwood this Saturday for what it is hoped will be the biggest carnival ever.

The parade will begin at noon and work its way through the High Street to Pontllanfraith Civic, where the festivities will begin.

Leading the parade will be 15- year-old carnival queen, Hannah Watkins, who is a pupil at Blackwood Comprehensive. She said: “It is my fourth year involved, I have been a court lady twice and a princess, so it’s nice to be the carnival queen.”

She will be joined by princesses Lauren Shankland and Aimee Thomas, court ladies Ellie Anthony and Charlotte Phillips and flower girls Sophie Bennett, Leah Griffiths, Ryley Partridge, Niomie Procter.

Locals are also invited to get dressed up for the annual fancy dress competition, with the theme this year heroes and villains.

Attractions will include a dog show, fun fair, animal exhibits, donkey rides, American civil war re-enactment and wrestling show. There will also be a number of live acts, including 16-year-old Yasmine Davies from Aberbargoed.

Ms Davies is one of the area’s most talented performers and will be recording vocals for the soundtrack of a film called Spiderlings this summer. She has also landed her first acting role and will start filming Blue Noon in Italy or France later this summer.

Blackwood town councillor Andrew Farina-Childs said it is one of the best line-ups he has known for a carnival and said he hoped it would be “the biggest and best so far”.