Blackridge Gala Day

Blackridge, Westrigg and Westcraigs Gala Day.

Jim McGregor galablackridge.org.uk

2010 Gala Day Fair on Sunday 27^th June

General opinion is that the 2009 Centenary Gala Day was a hard act to follow and the Gala Day Committee have remarked that they owe a great many thanks to a great many people. As to the 2010 Gala Day, a number of major changes have been forced on the Committee.

Due to landscaping work having been carried out, it has been resolved that Westrigg Park is unfit for purpose for this year’s Gala Day. The pitch itself is useable but the bankings for spectators are not suitable for an event as important as our Gala Day. The Committee have decided that, subject to the necessary permissions being granted, we will hold a Gala Day Fair in the school grounds and nearby.

The idea, then, is to turn Sunday 27^th June into a fête or fun day and this means a few changes to the usual practice. The Gala Day Fair will commence with a shorter parade leaving the Craig Inn Centre yard at 12:00 prompt and heading for the school playground. The parade will incorporate all of the fancy dress characters and unpowered vehicles along with four bands. It is impractical to have floats for the short journey but we still want to include the small decorated vehicles - that includes decorating your bike! The bands will start from different points in the village, converging at the Craig Inn and marching to the school accompanied by children, big and small, in fancy dress.

Due to space constraints, and the lack of volunteer helpers, there will be no food bags this year but there will be many more food stalls on the site to compensate. For similar reasons, the sports are cancelled for this year and, hopefully, when Westrigg Park returns to its proper condition, these can be reinstated.

Because of the enforced late changes to our Gala Day, the agenda has still to be finalised and some attractions have yet to be confirmed at the time of writing but, looking at the big picture, this is how the Committee see it -

We promise that you and your children will be entertained.
We still want fancy dressed characters, Senior and Junior, also Junior Groups, as before, along with the decorated bikes and buggies. There will be a stage set up where the characters will be judged and where we can all see them - starting from one o’clock.
Our local dance group will be giving a display and we will have recitals from the bands taking part in the parade.
The stage will also feature a concert from a local orchestra.
Besides food stalls, there will be many other stalls selling all kind of things in the side playground.
There will be birds of prey on display and more fairground shows than we normally have, most of which will be in the sports’ park behind the school.

The Gala Day Fair’s finale will be ‘Blackrigg’s Got Talent’ - a Junior X Factor-type competition starting at 3.00pm, to finish the day off.

What is your talent? Comedian? Impressionist? Juggler? Magician? Singer? Ventriloquist?
Application forms are available from Linda in the Craig Inn Centre
There will be no auditions but you will need to start rehearsing right away
The competition will be open to all schoolchildren from Blackridge
Children must have their parent’s permission to take part
Registration will take place on the week before the Gala Day Fair – days and times will be advised in the Courier

If, God forbid, it rains, we will be able to move into the adjacent community wing and continue our non-stop entertainment. The Committee are seeking to book more entertainers and will keep everyone in the loop through the local press.

Blackridge, Westrigg and Westcraigs Gala Day

Sunday 27^th June 12:00 to 16:00

11.30 each of the four bands will leave from:

Ø Bottom of Westrigg at PHS

Ø Front of Bedlormie Drive

Ø Top of Westcraigs

Ø Top of Hillside Drive

all marching to the Craig Inn Centre which will open early for toilets and shelter.

Fancy dressed characters can walk with the bands from their respective areas or come direct to the Centre as they wish. All fancy dressed characters, groups and small vehicles should be at the Centre from 11.45. The procession will be formed at 12.00 noon at the Craig Inn and march up Main Street to the school playground.

The parade will disband in the top playground where a stage will be set up near the AstroTurf with seating, theatre style.

Ø 12.30 Bathgate Brass Band will play on-stage

Ø 12.45 Rangers Accordion Band will play in the top playground

Ø 1.00 Fancy Dressed Characters will the be judged on-stage

Ø 1.15 Dalkeith Pipe Band will play in the top playground

Ø 1.30 Torphichen & Avonbridge Church Orchestra will play on-stage

Ø 1.45 Blackridge Flute Band will play in the top playground

Ø 2.15 Amazing James magic show takes place on-stage

Ø 2.30 Steps Dance Group will perform in the top playground

Ø 2.45 Wattie's Race will take place on the assault course in the sports field

Ø 3.00 Blackrigg’s Got Talent!, junior X-Factor type show, will be on-stage

chaired by Shuggie Naismith.

Note that the Blackrigg’s Got Talent! applications (available from Linda at the Craig Inn Centre) must be returned to the Centre by Thursday 24^th June and all applicants must have parental permission

If the weather is poor, the Community Block has been booked for the stage show and also has toilet facilities.

In the playground, there will be two face-painting stalls, free to the kids, along with Checo's glitter tattoos also free to the kids. There will also be a balloon-artist walkabout and a plate-spinning workshop.

There will be stalls with a tombola, a jewellery stall (Addicted to Beads), sweetie and candy-floss stalls and many others.

There will be teas and food on sale near the stage supported by two burger bars, Jimmy's chippie and Craig’s Ices.

The Birds of Prey display will be next to the public park, facing the Clachan.

The Army Cadet assault course, along with a greater than usual number of traditional shows, will be in the sports park behind the school.

Committee are still looking to book more attractions including a Bucking Bronco.

The Gala Day was blessed with good weather and the parade set off from the Craig Inn to Blackridge Primary School promptly at 12:00. There was a full programme of events and attractions in the playground where the following competitions were decided.

Fancy Dress Junior, First, £25 & the Liz French Trophy, Mad Hatter - Stephen Brown; Second, £15, Bandaged Man; Third, £10, Luminous Fairies.

Fancy Dress Senior, First, £25 & the Jean Waddell Trophy, Mini Mouses.

Fancy Dress Group, First, £25 & the Sadie Knox Rose Bowl, 101 Dalmatians - Craig Inn Nursery; Second, £15, Steps Dancers; Third, £10, the Borrowers.

Decorated Junior Vehicle, First, £25 & the Robert Boyd Trophy, Cops & Robbers - the Kerr Family.

The best overall Fancy Dress and the George Wimpey Trophy went to 101 Dalmatians - Craig Inn Nursery.

The judges for Fancy Dress were Councillors Jim Dixon and Stuart Borrowman and Mary Mulligan M.S.P.

The Best Decorated House, £25 and the Ralph Bell Trophy went to Craig Boyd, Bedlormie Drive. The Best Decorated Commercial Premises, £25 and the Avondale Travel Trophy went to Craig Inn House. The premises were judged by Brian Corrie, R.W.M. of Lodge Blackridge 1145.

Wattie’s race was won by Walter Robertson with Jim Gallacher finishing a poor second.

The day’s finale, Blackrigg’s Got Talent!, was hotly contested and the trophy winners were –

7 & 8 year olds, First, Kelsey Barr; Second, Charlotte Naismith; Third, Jack Meechan.

9 & 10 year olds, First, Lewis Horsburgh; Second, Katie Woodside; Third, Michaela Connolly.

Prizes of £25, £15 and £10 were awarded to 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd but all entrants received a prize for their excellent efforts.

The Gala Day Committee would like to thank Shuggie Naismith for acting as compère for Blackrigg’s Got Talent! and Paul Gallagher, Eddie from Blackburn Gala and Billy from Seafield Gala for the difficult task of acting as judges at the event and hope that they got away safely.

There were a great many people who assisted in making the day a success for the bairns of the village and the committee thank them and hope to see many more on the committee next year to ensure even greater success.

Gala Day Photos by Caroline Bell