THE six weeks since Worcester's carnival petered out from a sun-filled, street celebration of the community into an unplanned, undignified lockout at the gates to Pitchcroft's Arts 2000 Millennium festival haven't improved organising committee chairman Trevor Smith's mood.

His immediate instinct, at the disappointing end to an uplifting afternoon, was that his team would "never" work with the city council in bringing two events together again.

We had hoped that, eventually, he'd be left with different feelings - anything but a lasting view that we should never try to think big again.

That hope is about to be put to the test. And we're as nervous about the outcome now as we were then.

Because carnival committee members want to meet city council officials to discuss the July "fiasco", making it plain that they fear the public will remember the event as "badly thought-out" and "second-class".

That would be an unfair and an unworthy epitaph to the committee's dogged efforts in reversing the decline of public interest in the annual event over recent years.

For the sake of Joe Glovemaker and Family, and the Faithful City at large, the meeting must give everyone a chance to clear the air - and then resolve to learn the lessons of 2000, rather than watch a wedge driven between the essential parties.

The city's ambition in bringing the two events together wasn't misplaced, but it has emphasised that Worcester needs to step up a gear if it's to achieve its potential.

We're happy to make a contribution to the agenda too. Just as Worcester City FC and the city council must forge a partnership to make the stadium dream a reality, so those involved in the carnival must redouble their commitment to the event.

More than that, however, it's time for the city council to build a team devoted to organising and overseeing public events, drawing on the vast experience of volunteers, and guaranteeing Glovemakers young and old a yearly calendar of events and celebrations to remember.