Sunday 5 July 2015

Three Down and Three To Go

Hi everyone

Since I last wrote we have done three more galas with three more to do.

Here we are at Fleetwood and it rained all the way round the procession until we were on the last stretch and then the sun decided to shine and it shined for the rest of the day. I can't take credit for this photo but a photographer from Fleetwood called Robert Stead took it.(I just love it) He is also a judge at our annual flower and craft show.
Lots of people came out to watch the parade despite the rain and we all enjoyed it. We got third prize for visiting queen.

 Nine umbrellas drying in our bath and seven rain ponchos hanging on the line.  


The next gala we attended was Lytham Club Day. We got up at 6am so that I could do L's hair which can take me up to an hour with plaiting and back combing and pinning and the rest. As we borrow a wagon from the council it has a tachograph attached to it and you can't go over 30mph so it took us almost an hour to get to Lytham for 8.30am. After arriving we needed to set up the chairs on the back of the wagon and do any quick repairs ready for 9am judging. During the week we made two exra panels for the wagon to hide the toolbox, I painted them white, L wrote and painted the names, in the colour of their dresses, of all her attendants and M stapled on some artificial ivy that was leftover from our previous gala season. Then I varnished the boards so that the paint doesn't run if we have any more rainy days and finished them off with some gold glitter spray.
We had lovely warm weather with a cool breeze which was ideal for a long walk. We went down the high street and back along Lytham's promenade and almost every street was lined with crowds of people. It was lovely to see so many people out to support such a great event. Later the sun came out in time for the crowning ceremony at Lytham Hall. We finally got home around 4pm after a fantastic day. We came fourth in the visiting queen section.

Yesterday we were at Hambleton for their crowning ceremony. There was no street procession as they struggled to get marshals to help with road closures. For the first time ever they crowned a king instead of a queen.
Hambleton is village and not enough children were interested in the part. The queen who was uncrowned is in the same year as L at school and they know each other quite well which was nice. All the queens and their retinues paraded around the arena and were judged followed by some great kids entertainment (best ever) and then the trophies were presented. We got first for visiting queen and our Princess and her retinue also got first. (yeah) The little girls (and boy) are so beautiful and get on so well. So proud of them all.

Next week we're at Preesall and Knot End for another very long walk with a pit stop halfway round at a very welcome pub. Good for refreshments and bathroom breaks.

It's just started raining here after a little bit of thunder. We had a smashing thunder storm earlier in the week and another on Friday night. It's saved me from watering my tomato plants.

I'm off to visit my dad now as he came home from his holiday yesterday.

Carolx







 
             
     

5 comments:

  1. Such a shame that it rained but you all look very summery in the other pictures. I hope the next two days stay fine for you. I'm sure Rob Stead used to go to my old high school.
    xx

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    1. Since Fleetwood we've had some nice sunny days. We're keeping our fingers crossed for the next ones. Wow what a small world we live in. If you're ever in Fleetwood Robert has a photographic shop on Poulton Road near the corner of Lords Street.
      Carolx

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  2. What a wonderful tradition to keep going. It looks like you had an amazing time and I love the rainbow brollys.

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    Replies
    1. Our gala, for Thornton Cleveleys has been going for 116 years. I don't know about the others. L is having a fantastic time but it can be hard work for us parents.
      Carolx

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  3. Wow what a lot of work for you all, you all must be exhausted! Congrats on all the prizes though, and those brollies are fantastic!! A x

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Farewell

I've taken some time to think this through and decided to stop blogging. I'm not getting out of it as much as I did when I first sta...