This blog explores the story of Perpetual Beauty Carnival Club, the Stoke Newington Mas Band that introduced Caribbean carnival traditions to the borough in the 1970s, inspiring generations of Mas makers.
Mas Comes to Hackney
In the 18th and 19th centuries, enslaved people in the Caribbean developed Mas – short for ‘masquerade’ – as a form of resistance. For carnival, they created characters and costumes that told a story, which they would present through dance along a parade route.
Between 1948-1971, people arriving in Britain from the Caribbean (known as the Windrush Generation) brought their traditions with them, including carnival arts such as Mas.
The creation of Notting Hill Carnival, which by 1975 around 250,000 people attended, saw Mas Bands established around the country to take part in the celebration.
Among these pioneering bands was the Perpetual Beauty Carnival Club, which formed in 1979 as one of Hackney’s first Mas Bands.
The King of Notting Hill
Growing up in San Fernando, Trinidad, Lincoln Rahamut was involved in the preparations for the annual carnival, designing and making elaborate costumes for Mas bands.
After moving to London in 1970, he used his impressive skills to design large and colourful costumes for Notting Hill Carnival, introducing a new standard of Mas and costume design to the celebrations. To some, he was even known as the ‘King of Notting Hill’.
In 1979, while working at a furniture shop in Stoke Newington, Lincoln co-founded Perpetual Beauty Carnival Club, one of the borough’s first known Mas Bands, for which he was the lead designer. For the next two decades, Perpetual Beauty introduced Mas and carnival arts to Hackney.
Mas Camps on Leswin Road
The co-founders and original members of Perpetual Beauty Carnival Club were from four families: the Rahamuts, the Raghnals, the Taylors and the Augustes. They initially created costumes in their homes and back gardens.
Working as a caretaker at the Old Fire Station Community Centre on Leswin Road, co-founding member Ken Auguste organised the group to move into the building, transforming it into a year-round Mas Camp. A space for the community, the club achieved a wider reach by inviting many young people to join in and becoming one of the biggest Mas Camps in London.
After a couple of years, the Club moved to Leswin Place, an old stable down the road from the Old Fire Station. This would be their base for the majority of the club’s lifespan.
With outside space and large open rooms, the band created larger than life costumes. They had spaces for metal welding, sewing machines and teaching, where they introduced carnival arts to a new generation.
In the lead up to Notting Hill Carnival, the members worked through the night.
“The workshop is still busy at midnight. Around the huge table, dozens of people are stitching, cutting, sticking, stapling and painting. They’re surrounded by fabulous fabrics in a rainbow of shimmering shades. Ribbons, feathers, sequins, foam rubber, cardboard and paper of bright blues, oranges and yellows all litter the floor. Work started many hours earlier in preparation for the big day and the room is full of excitement and laughter with only the occasional artistic tantrum.”
‘Carnival’, Inspirations Magazine, 1996, p. 83
The Club aimed to make carnival arts accessible and inclusive to everyone and they supported those with physical disabilities to participate. Over two years, they made improvements to Leswin Place that enabled everyone to access the building and participate in making their own Mas for carnivals.
The ‘Last Lap’ of Notting Hill
Perpetual Beauty took part in Notting Hill Carnival every year. Arriving back in Hackney, the members would continue the parade down Stoke Newington High Street. They called this unofficial parade the ‘Last Lap’ of Notting Hill Carnival.
At the same time, Perpetual Beauty also took part in local community festivals in Hackney, bringing more elaborate Mas costumes to the parades and local events. This included Finsbury Park Carnival (which went through Stoke Newington) and Hoxton Carnival in the 1980s, and Hackney Downs Show and Stoke Newington Carnival in the 1990s.
Ending around 2004, the former members of the club retain fond memories of being part of Perpetual Beauty, from starting the first ever Carnival College, which offered GNVQs in art and design, to winning top prizes at Notting Hill Carnival for their Mas.
Many people today have been inspired by Perpetual Beauty, starting their own Hackney-based carnival bands or discovering a creative skill of their own. A reference to the days of Perpetual Beauty, some still refer to Hackney Carnival (established 2010s) as the Last Lap, staged at the end of the summer carnival season.
Content for this blog featured in the exhibition ‘Making Carnival: 50 years of Mas, Music and Movement in Hackney’ at Hackney Museum 10 September – 31 December 2024.