Eilmer left his stable in Bob Browning's garage on the Swindon road at 3.30 in the back of the Foxley Road Nurseries van, bound for Park Road and the preparation for his "big day out."

With his newly painted eyes and head dress (thanks to Clive King from Malmesbury Pottery), he looked every bit the part but the competition was fierce and there were a number of very large models to compete against.

Eilmer was very popular, especially with young children, who queued up to have their photographs taken with him.

The judge asked Dave and Rob about the building of Eilmer and was very impressed with their workmanship, taking one of the leaflets explaining the project with her.

Bob Browning's advice to make Eilmer as tall as possible certainly paid of in the High Street as we waited for the tail end of the procession to pass by the Market Cross - he loomed high above the marching band and looked very realistic.

We were unable to raise any money directly for the expedition, other than the prize money that the boys donated to the funds, but there is no doubt that the profile of the project will have been raised in and around the town of Malmesbury.

Eilmer is now enjoying life at his new stable at Foxley Road Nurseries and will make his next scheduled appearance at the Badminton Horseless event, unless he is need for anything else in the meantime.

Thanks to: Robert Hinwood, David Cooke and Barney Kenny for giving up so much of their holiday time to build Eilmer; to David, Robert, Julia and James for accompanying Eilmer around the procession; to Bob Browning for overseeing the project; to Clive King for the brilliant art work; and to Mike Hinwood for transporting Eilmer around. Finally thanks to the Carnival Committee for the excellent organisation of a very large and complex event.