A PROJECT to track down every Soham Carnival queen of the last 60 years is set to go national.

Cambs Times: Soham Carnival's first queen Jean Hobbs in 1953Soham Carnival's first queen Jean Hobbs in 1953 (Image: Archant)

The organisers of the annual event started an appeal in March to locate as many former queens and princesses as they could for a special parade at this year’s event, the 60th anniversary since the carnival was launched to celebrate the Queen’s coronation.

The appeal has so far turned up some promising results, with the carnival’s original queen Jean Hobbs, who now lives in Yorkshire, getting in touch.

But the appeal is set to get a timely boost tomorrow night (Wednesday) as some of the queens will appear on BBC TV’s The One Show, which starts at 7pm.

Kim Botting, chairman of the Soham Benevolent Association, said: “I am delighted to say we have managed to track down a considerable number of queens and princesses, especially from the 50s and 60s as well as more recent years but we still have some gaps.

“The biggest gap we have is the years 1975 to 1989 - we have just one for the year 1985 but no others so are desperate to fill that gap with some more names and will be appealing on the show for them to come forward.

This year’s carnival takes place on May 27 from 9am-5.30pm on the recreation ground, off Fountain Lane.

The queens and princesses who will appear on The One Show include:

Miss 1953 - Jean Hobbs

Miss 1965 - Wendy Beeton

Miss 1967 - Margy Mann

Miss 1968 - Eunice Spinks

Miss 1990 - Emma Sheldrick

Miss 1996 - Amanda Saunders

Miss 2012 - Mia Hession