AN AVIATION enthusiast has recalled memories of being of being involved in the 1954 Chippenham carnival, where the upcoming space race was predicted.

Philip Tatam, of Churchview, Chippenham, was on a float named The Shape of Things To Come, where he wore a spacesuit and posed next to a model spaceship.

Mr Tatam was eight at the time and was a pupil at St Paul’s School, who designed the prize winning float.

The float had two sections: In Our Town and In The World. The swimmers and swimming pool represented the new open air pool that was due to be opened soon after the carnival and the space scene reflected global ambitions for space travel.

Mr Tatam said: “I remember being quite aware of the possibility of space travel, building up to the space race.

“But the whole thing seemed quite unrealistic 65 years ago.

“It was quite advanced of someone from St Paul’s to almost predict the future.

"I also think this is particularly relevant now as it is 50 years since the USA put men on the moon."

Mr Tatam worked as an air steward for BEA, and has always had interest in planes.

As a Christmas present, him and his wife recently visited Concorde as his passion for aviation is still there.

Chippenham's open air swimming pool, opened soon after the 1954 carnival and was extremely popular with the town's people.

Monkton Park Pool was there for the best part of 30 years, and was met with some uproar when closed in 1984.

The popular swimming spot was replaced with the Olympiad Leisure Centre in 1989 which has an indoor pool and still exists today.

This Chippenham carnival also took place a year before the space race started between cold war rivals USA and Russia in 1955.

Russia achieved the first successful space launch in 1957 when they put Sputnik 1 into orbit.

In 1961 Russia again exceeded expectations by putting Yuri Gagarin into space, the first person to ever achieve this feat.

The space race essentially came to an end in 1969, not formally until 1975, when the USA put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon.