What a fantastic Summer Gala we’ve all had this week!
A spokesperson for Blantyre Community Committee told us, “We did it! Blantyre Summer Gala festivities are now over. Held over an incredible 4 days between Thursday 13th and Sunday 16th June, it was our largest and most complex endeavour yet. It’s time for thank yous. To all the people who made this happen.
A huge round of applause first to ourselves. We really did all work very, very hard some of us walking over 50km in the park setting up, maintaining and removing. We’re all exhausted. Blantyre Community Committee are Arlene Green, Paul Veverka, Stephen McDade, Hazel Krawczyk, Barry Watt, Maz Anne, Louise McWilliam Plummer, not forgetting Joanne Watt, Alan Britton and James Green for helping and last but definitely not least 7 year old Lewis Watt who is a total star and commanded the dog watering station and the penalty shoot out as well as doing hundreds of other things!
Market
We’d like to say thank you to all our amazing Market Vendors for making the day such a success. We understand fully how much work there is in packing up , setting out, selling then packing up again on some of your beautiful displays. We hope you all did well.
Marquees, Power, Cabin and Inflatables
Thank you again to Crown Marquee for the marquees, flooring, heat and lighting and to their sister company ‘Beatties Leisure Ltd’ for most of the inflatables. Thanks to Malcolm Bailley for his mega dragon castle. Generator Power was supplied from Hire Power, who kindly also connected up the portacabin, which was sponsored by Portakabin on Whistleberry Road. The cabin was the committee’s welcome “home” for a few days and much appreciated. Precise Audio supplied our stage.
Fairground & Food
Of course we need to thank the Fair. Taylors of Edinburgh were amazing. Seriously, you don’t know how much they helped us all. Providing free use of forklifts, fencing off our site and giving us wristbands to give to royal gala children. Well done to all the staff in the fair who left the site immaculate. Thanks also to Katrina for her generosity at the food van.
Cleaning, Tables and Chairs
Thank you to Sparkling Cleaning Services, in particular Angie and Jacks who worked tirelessly to ensure the toilets were always spotless. The park was incredibly tidy due to their efforts and that of Ronald, who went around with his litterpicker the whole weekend. Thank you to South Lanarkshire Council’s James Meechan, Ian Paterson and Peter Dryden for their help with wheelie bins and permissions. Also to the ladies, who came down to volunteer without needing to be asked. Thanks to June for wiping down tables.
Additional seating and tables were hired from Cairns & Scott. A huge thank you to Coalfields Regeneration Trust for their impressive grant which allowed us to buy 38 tables and 108 seats of our own for future use.
DJ, Sound & Lighting
A massive thanks to our DJ, Barry Watt, who also as a committee member was working incredibly hard. Barry’s company Bespoke Event Services is highly recommended. We’re sure you’ll agree the music, lighting, LED tables and dance floor looked amazing! Thanks also to Terminal One for hiring some of their sound equipment.
Games & Entertainment
A special thanks to our fantastic Facepainters Bonnie and Nicola and to Sammy at Rainbow Twisters. FREE facepainting for all kids was important to us. The ladies were very busy. Alastair at ‘Glasgow Jautja‘ was excellent dressed up as the predator, as was David at DR Entertainment as Spiderman. Thanks also to our fantastic Elsa, who looked frozen at some parts of the day! Tom at Gavin Watson Printers also donated many balls as prizes for the Goal Shootout game, hired from Alexander Fleming at BounceXL.
Live Animals and Birds
It was nice to see the Shetland pony at Healing Hooves make an appearance, popular with all visitors. As were the lovely birds at Alba Falconry and Hoots Owls.
Security, First Aid & Policing
William, Shona and to Brian for their steward services throughout Friday and Saturday evening. First class service. Police Scotland also sent some officers down, which was appreciated at the end of the night as we tried to clear the park and pack up. The ladies at St Andrews Ambulance service provided first aid cover, with special thanks to Audrey for her extended involvement.
Piper & Limo
Thanks to Jack McMahon, our excellent piper. Jim Lees at Co-Op Funeral Care supplied not one, but TWO limos to pick up all the gala kids. Amazing!
Toilets
Billy Hammond at Lux was amazed at how clean the toilets were when he came back to pick up his hired toilets. Thanks to Billy for his efforts in emptying the toilets frequently.
Gala Royal Kids
10 lucky kids were crowned in the gala party, the largest yet! We say thanks to Blantyre Gala Queen Eva ELLIOTT (8), Gala King is Liam FORD (7), Assisted by Lord Blantyre Sam MCDONALD (10), Lady Blantyre Charlie MILNE (7), Prince of Blantyre Logan FAULKNER (7), Princess of Blantyre Kody NICOL (9), Duchess of Blantyre Kara O’BRIEN (8) and, Duke of Blantyre Jack DOWNIE (9), Count Blantyre Xander LAIRD (8) and Countess Cerys BROWN (9)
Thanks also to Katrina at Cut Above for hair services, to Taylor and Denby for crowning the kids, to Rose and Caroline Lee for kindly making further robes, and to Susan for graciously buying the material.
Artists on Stage
What a line up we had on stage! Thanks to Dance Central, Jessie Lou, The Verces, Paige Fleming, The DIstance, The Comfort Zone, One for the Road, Jacdaw, Shoogleroon, The Sneaky Beats, Stephen Kelly, Neon Waves, Mick n Phil and Indie FM.
Sponsors
A huge thank you to BIG community Lottery for their very necessary grant. It added so much sparkle to the event.
Overall sponsor was The Cafe, thanks to Craig for all his support. Thanks to Gavin Watson for their printing services, to B&B Autocare, TWM Joiners, Carmens Dog Grooming and to Balloon & Partyzone for their wonderful balloon decorations. Thanks to Cath McInally for her kind donation in helping with medals and trophies.
The Bar
The Hoolet’s again provided an excellent bar service, building their own impressive bar, which provided popular and busy. Their staff worked very hard given how much larger we’d made the event.
Thanks to Visitors
Hopefully we haven’t missed out anybody, but apologies if we have. Finally, a thanks to YOU! The people who attended. Feedback has been brilliant. The Summer Gala will return again next year in 2020…..and we’re already discussing plans to shake it up a bit, make it more exciting and compact.
Here’s our photos of the Gala.
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