ORGANISERS of Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival are hoping its third time lucky as the carnival committee finalises plans to stream the 2018 carnival procession live on November 3.

Previous attempts to stream the event live have unfortunately been beset by technical difficulties.

In 2016 a simultaneous surge of online viewers logging in to watch the procession live caused the stream to be abandoned as the server hosting the Bridgwater Carnival website couldn’t keep up with the unprecedented demand.

And in 2017 following a torrential downpour, the online stream had to be cancelled just minutes into the procession after the extreme weather caused the failure of a satellite dish and the dedicated link hired in especially from a specialist electronic communications company to overcome the issues suffered in 2016.

Dave Croker, chairman of Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival Committee, said: “We would like to apologise to anyone who has been disappointed and affected by the issues we have had with live streaming over the past two years.

"We are absolutely determined to get it working properly, and we have worked extremely hard with our technical task team to overcome some of the problems we have frustratingly encountered in the past.

“Both Somerset Web Services and Maniac Films have provided huge amounts of support and technical advice over the past few years with this project, and on behalf of Bridgwater Carnival I would like to thank them for the time and effort.

"I would like to reemphasise the technical issues we have had in the past have not been associated with either of their services. The planning for this year’s live stream started in early 2018, and the task team, together with QSS IT and Timeless Images, developed a solution using a dedicated cable connection.

"This solution was successfully tested in a technical trial which took place one Saturday evening in June where the conditions were replicated as near as possible to that on carnival evening.

“We are confident this year’s live streaming service will work and we would like to thank Timeless Images for kindly agreeing for us to use their broadband service for the day.

"We will also have a number of back up options in place, just in case we need them.”

The 2018 Bridgwater Carnival procession live stream will officially begin at 7pm and will also feature the spectacular squibbing display.

The streaming service will be free to use, however the Carnival Committee ask viewers to consider making an optional donation to the Bridgwater Carnival charity.

Bridgwater Mercury reporter Steven Salter will be out and about in the town on the day bringing you our live blog filled with plenty of interviews, carnival trivia, videos and pictures from the day time entertainment, through the procession, including the squibbing and the carnival results.

To find out more about the live stream service, visit bridgwatercarnival.org.uk/streaming/.