Hundreds of people are expected to wrap-up warm and head to Tenby tomorrow (Saturday) night for the resort's annual Winter Carnival.

As dusk falls, the town will be turned into a winter wonderland as the Christmas celebrations get underway in earnest.

Organised once again by the Tenby Chamber of Trade and Tourism, last year's carnival was a superb after-dark fiesta with illuminated floats and colourful fancy dress walkers bringing the streets alive with a party atmosphere.

Hopes are high that people have again been hard at work creating their imaginative entries and that there will be another good turnout for the event.

The fun begins early in the day with a lantern-making workshop at St. Johns Church Hall.

Sponsored by Morris Brothers, the workshop, for seven to 14-year-olds, is being led by Angela Rogers and will see children make hand-held lanterns to their own designs with professional artist Christopher Elliott and youth worker Vince Pereczes.

The frames will be made from willow, covered in lots and lots of tissue paper and then attached to a bamboo pole.

When the children join the carnival parade on its way to Tudor Square to proudly show off their lanterns, a lighted candle will be placed inside and this will help to illuminate the parade even more!

The workshop will run from 10 am until 5 pm and as spaces are limited, booking is recommended. Contact Angela on 871931 to reserve a place and remember to please bring a packed lunch.

Also during the day, there will be an NSPCC Christmas Tree Festival at Church House, between 10.30 am and 4.30 pm.

Businesses in the town will be sponsoring a tree and decorating them throughout the day. High Sheriff, Penny Drew will be judging the creations and a trophy awarded to the winner.

Entry is £1 to include coffee. There will be mince pies and bacon butties for sale, also a cake stall, Christmas floral arrangements, hand-made soaps and Christmas decorations.

There will be festive music throughout the day and at 1 pm the Cubs and Brownies will be singing Christmas carols.

From 12 noon onwards, there will be a fairground organ playing in St. George Street.

During the afternoon, there will be storytelling for children aged between four and nine years at Tenby Bookshop, from 1 until 3 pm. Under sevens must be accompanied by an adult.

Thanks to Carolyn Cox, 12 stories for Christmas will be read, including 'Night Before Christmas', 'Angelina Ballerina' and 'Spot's Magical Christmas'.

Call into the bookshop and listen to the stories come alive, come and go as you please, entry is free, but all donations welcome.

At 2.30 pm, musical entertainment will be provided by a young talented local musician, Miranda Rees, and some of her pupils aged between six and eight.

At 4 pm, there will be a puppet show with KCF outside Barclays Bank, where hot Welsh cakes will also be served.

Spectators will also find plenty of festive fun in Tudor Square from 4.30 pm with DJ Adrian, who will be cranking up the party atmosphere with Christmas music.

Also dropping in on the pre-parade celebrations will be Father Christmas who will be arriving in the town and making an appearance in Tudor Square at around 5.30 pm.

Then as the clock ticks around to 6 pm, the cavalcade, led by the Swansea ATC Band, will move off from the Butts Field car park.

It will travel via The Norton, White Lion Street, South Parade, St. Florence Parade, Lower Frog Street, St. George Street and into Tudor Square where the winners in the various sections will be presented with their prizes.

The winners in each of the four float classes - charity or organisation, business, school or college and private - will pick up £50, while the sum of £25 will be won by the winners in the fancy dress competition.

The categories for the walkers are under eights, eight - 14 years, over 14s (including adults), best pair and best group.

And for those who get inspiration today (Friday), there is still time to enter, with forms being available for both competitions at Morris Brothers in High Street.

Floats are asked to meet at the Butts Field car park at 5.15 pm - please remember to bring all the relevant insurance documents - while walking entrants are asked to assemble at 5.30 pm at St. Johns Church Hall, where the judging will take place in the warm, before entrants join the main parade at the junction of White Lion Street and South Parade with Santa and children with lanterns.

A bucket collection will be made during the parade in aid of carnival funds.

"We have had a good entry of floats so far and are hoping that the bucket collection will help us raise enough funds to have a fireworks display after next year's carnival," said one of the organisers, Ann Rowell.

Adding to the festivities around town has been the shop window competition, which was judged on Thursday, and the shop fancy dress competition taking place tomorrow (Saturday).

So all in all, it adds up to a cracking curtain-raiser for the Yuletide season. Enjoy yourselves!

For further information about the carnival, contact either Ann Rowell on 842345 or Elaine Rowe on 844175.