A FIREWORK rocket launch is being planned to start this year’s Wellington Carnival to mark the passing of a woman known as ‘Mrs Carnival’.

Josephine Chave was carnival committee chairman for 30 years and involved with the event for much longer.

Mrs Chave, who lived at Hangeridge Farm, Wrangway, died in a Glastonbury nursing home earlier this month, aged 88.

She was credited with saving the town’s carnival and reviving its committee when she took charge about 45 years ago.

The late Wellington Carnival Committee chairman Josephine Chave (waving) with carnival queen and princess entrants and then-mayor Cllr Vivienne Stock-Williams (wearing chain).
The late Wellington Carnival Committee chairman Josephine Chave (waving) with carnival queen and princess entrants and then-mayor Cllr Vivienne Stock-Williams (wearing chain). PHOTO: Family. ( )

Mrs Chave was also known for being president of Wellington St John Ambulance Cadets, a role in which she met Princess Margaret during a presentation to the brigade in Dunster Castle.

She was a prominent campaigner for the old St James Swimming Pool, in Taunton, and helped to raise thousands of pounds to see it reopened in 1986.

Mrs Chave served as a Wellington Without parish councillor and as a churchwarden for All Saints’ Church, Rockwell Green, and worked for a time as an usherette in Wellington’s Wellesley Cinema.

She started opening the garden of her Wrangway home to the public in 1993 and continued to do so every year, with her family continuing the tradition this week even after her death.

Mrs Chave leaves a son and daughter, Peter and Janet, from her first marriage, and a son, Robert, from her marriage in 1975 to Edward Chave, who pre-deceased her in 1996.

Her funeral service will be held in All Saints Church at 11.30am on August 2.