Carnival veteran Allyson Williams said the event was “a celebration of freedom and unity and resilience”.
The retired midwife, who received an MBE for her work in the NHS, has been going to Notting Hill for almost half a century after she was introduced to it by her late husband Vernon, one of carnival’s founders. She said: “My husband was a carnival band leader in Trinidad and he came here. When I met him I found out all about carnival.
