Briercliffe Gala set to return

Family fun will be the order of the day when Briercliffe Gala returns this summer more than a decade after the last one was held.
Briercliffe Gala in its heyday (s)Briercliffe Gala in its heyday (s)
Briercliffe Gala in its heyday (s)

Briercliffe Festival, as it has been renamed, will take place on Queen Street recreation ground on Saturday, July 7th.

The festival has been organised by Brad Pounder, Liam Kilbride and Ju Smith, who wanted to breathe new life into one of the village’s most treasured events.

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“We had originally called it Briercliffe Gala but a few of the youngsters didn’t know what a gala was. So we’ve gone with festival,” said Ju.

“It was Brad’s idea but he realised it was too much to take on for one person so he asked me and Liam to help. We actually wanted to hold it last year. We started planning it in January 2017 but we just ran out of time. There was no point in doing it half-hearted so we decided to put it back a 12 months.”

The festival will run from noon until 9pm and there will be live bands and DJs, a licenced beer tent, fun fair, tug of war, craft stalls, face painting, a football tournament and much more.

“Briercliffe Gala was massive in the 70s and 80s,” said Ju. “There have been a couple of attempts to resurrect it but they’ve never really taken off.

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“We want to try and bring the community together. Everybody is quick to moan about dog fouling and things like but the one thing that puts a smile on people’s faces is talking about how good the gala was.

“So we wanted to try and recreate that. We’re not trying to rewrite the rule book. We just want to put on a great day for all the family.

“There’s going to be a float procession as well so we want people to get their thinking caps on and get decorating a truck, a milk-float a pick-up, anything. There’ll be a prize for best float.

“We’re looking for a main sponsor and any businesses or people who would like to sponsor the beer tent, the stage, things like that. No sponsor is too big or too small. There will be a programme on the day with everybody’s names in it.”

Anybody interested in becoming a sponsor or for more details, ring Ju 07971884235, Brad 07983116842, Liam 07799898851 or email [email protected].