London's Notting Hill Carnival, known for its colour and vibrance, takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend each year. It first began as an indoor event back in January 1959. Led by the Caribbean community, the carnival was organised in response to the poor state of race relations at the time. By the mid 1960s it had moved outdoors and changed to the month of August, which is how we know it today.

Since then its size and popularity has continued to grow. A reported 1.5 million people join in the celebrations over the three day event, making it Europe's largest street party.

The stamp below was issued in August 1998 as part of the Europa, Festivals, Notting Hill Carnival stamp issue.

Illustration

Stamp from Notting Hill Carnival issue