A 12-YEAR-OLD Chipping Sodbury pupil has been crowned as the town’s 2015 festival princess.


The judging took place for the Chipping Sodbury Festival princess on Saturday, March 14 where a panel of four judges,  Ann Clements and Nicola Rugg from the festival committee, Penny Coppens, and the mayor of Chipping Sodbury, cllr Wendy Whittle, chose Holly Pine, a pupil of Chipping Sodbury School, as the Princess for the summer event.


The judges also chose the princess’ two attendants, Carey Ward, 10, a pupil at Raysfield Junior and Poppy Bella Whitfield, nine, a pupil at Horton School, who will promote the festival in June, assist at events and participate in the judging of competitions and head the carnival parade in an open top vintage vehicle.


Chairman of the Chipping Sodbury Festival Society, Brian Hardy, said: “There were eight entries this year and the judges had considerable difficulty in making their final choice.


“All the girls will play a major part in this year’s festival attending and assisting at all the events and take pride of place in the carnival procession.


“This year is the 30th anniversary of the Chipping Sodbury Festival event and is considered to be one of the major attractions in the town according to the recent parish plan survey.”


Mayor Whittle said: "As mayor, I was delighted to be asked to help judge the festival princess and her attendants. It was lovely to get more interest this year.


"All the girls were charming and they had lots of different interests and hobbies. It was a pleasure to meet them and it made it very hard to pick just three girls."


The Chipping Sodbury Festival, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary this year, will run for 10 days, between June 12 and 21.