St Peter’s Church Centre, Lake Lock Rd

The annual St Peter’s Summer Gala was held on Saturday 2nd July in the field next to the Church Centre. The event raised £1,645, which was an amazing amount. We are very grateful to everyone who gave so generously and who came along in such huge numbers to make it a really successful event.

Of course the glorious weather helped enormously and the stallholders were grateful for the shade offered by the gazebos that were erected over each of the stalls. Many thanks to everyone who put the gazebos up and then took them down again at the end of the day. Thanks also to the stallholders who spent much time and effort putting together their stalls, and to the cubs and scouts and others who cleared the field of litter earlier in the week.

The gala was opened at 1pm by Rev Bill Henderson, then the St Peter’s Community Singers led a singalong of ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory’.

There were lots of stalls to visit: tombola, cakes, books, toys, bric-a-brac, soft toys, crafts, children’s tombola, sweets, bottle tombola, greetings cards, plants, as well as several games and activities including face painting, Splat the Rat and a craft/painting area. Refreshments included a BBQ, pop and crisps, and cream teas—many thanks to everyone who worked so hard cooking on the BBQ and serving in the café.

Thank you to the local businesses who donated items for our Grand Raffle: Kev's Fish Shop gave a fish and chip supper and St Peter’s Community Café donated a voucher for a breakfast for two. Other prizes were: a cash prize of £60, a wonderful hamper, a bottle of whiskey, toiletries, a watch, and a M&S voucher. Thank you to the individuals, including Mrs Firth and Mrs Sunderland, who provided these great prizes.

During the afternoon, spectators were treated to some fantastic entertainment in the central arena: the always popular Normanton Dog Training Club who gave a wonderful demonstration of dog obedience, agility and ingenuity, the very entertaining Stanley Starlights Majorettes, and the excellent Christine Popple School of Dance.

The whole gala was a very happy and successful event. A huge thank-you goes to all the organisers, stall-holders, and above all, everyone who came along and supported the event.