Shelf Gala 2016
Shelf Gala in 2016 was not as successful as in previous years because of adverse weather forecasts for gala day which included thunderstorms for most of the afternoon. These did not materialise but it resulted in numbers attending about half of the previous year but that is one of the risks you take with outdoor events. However, the gala went ahead and hopefully enjoyed by all the people who attended. Nothing was cancelled in the arena, the wagon floats had to alight on the main road and walk into the arena for the opening. We were also let down by a couple of catering stalls on the day.

Although the takings were down we still distributed just short of £5,000 to local charities and organisations. A big thank you to all the local people who attend the gala year after year coupled with our Sponsors and Advertisers which enables us to make donations at our presentation evening and provide a good day of entertainment for the local commuinity.

On stage and in the arena we had some great entertainment in the form of Selah Sounds, a great local group, The Imperial Crusaders Marching Band, local dance group The Magpie Movers, Shotokan Karate, Dance Stars and a demonstration by 8 Degrees Below Husky Rescue.

All the preparations went fine, again we used the new layout for the stalls stalls which seems to work better. This year the procession started at Witts Car Park, left on Halifax Road to Bridle Stile. This year we had to employ the services of a traffic management company and although shorter than the original procession it enabled us to still include it as it is a big part of Shelf Gala. Unfortunately it doesn’t go all through the village. We also now have a number of walking floats which include small children so probably the original route would be too long.

A big thank you once again to our sponsors Corel Windows, Interface, Blackshaw Holdings, Robinsons Farm Shop, Lightcliffe Volkswagen, National Breakdown and Witt UK Group for use of their car park. Another big thank you to all the advertisers in our programme who support us year after year.

Have a look at the pictures in the gallery. If you click on the bottom right hand corner of the picture you will see 4 arrows. Click on these and you will get full screen images on the computer. If you click on centre of picture you will get picture information and captions etc. Press esc key to return to normal page.

Photographs - courtesy of Andrew Walker.