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DPALondonCelebrations to mark the return of West London’s Notting Hill Carnival began on Saturday evening as more than 1,000 people gathered to watch the Panorama steelband competition.The carnival has been online in recent years due to the Covid-19 pandemic but will make its in-person comeback on Sunday and Monday.Revellers flocked to Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance Park, in west London, to watch a curtain-raiser featuring five steel bands - Mangrove, Croydon Steel Orchestra, Ebony, Metronomes, and Pan Nation. Defending champions Mangrove have won for three years in a row, and member Joelle Gardiner, 34, said: “It is hard to put into words how good it would feel to win tonight.” “I have been coming to carnival ever since I was six or seven, watching people play until I was at the age where I could get involved as well.” The return of carnival was exciting for spectators as well as participants and people of all ages were dancing in the streets on Saturday.
