A REVISED procession route due to the Tour de France did not spoil the fun for the hundreds of people who attended the latest Denholme Children's Gala.

Saturday afternoon's occasion was staged in the village's Foster Park.

Among the many attractions on offer were a climbing wall, a funfair, dance performances, Denholme Primary School samba band, a dog show, games, refreshments stalls, a sheepdog demonstration and a bucking bronco ride.

Gala queen Angel Mpofu, gala king Ben Lobley and flower girl Lola Jenkinson opened the event. The king and queen were crowned by Denholme town mayor Councillor Steve Nunn.

Prizes were presented to all three of the fancy dress contest entrants, including Lucy Ball, dressed as Rapunzel, her sister Katy Ball, dressed as a fairy and Jacob Ward, dressed as the cat in the hat.

Margaret Birch, chairman of the organising committee, said: "It went fantastically well. The weather was beautiful, it warmed up during the afternoon and a lot of charities would have made plenty of money."

She explained that the parade was diverted from its usual A629 route because the authorities had wanted this road to be kept clear during Grand Depart weekend.

Appealing for people to come forward and assist with future galas, she said: "There are only six of us on the committee, and one of our retired members who does a lot of work for the event is leaving to live down south, so we we'd really welcome more support.

"The hard part is getting everything set up then taken down again on the day itself. There's a lot of carrying involved and it's quite hard work, so any help would be appreciated."

Mrs Birch, who took over as committee chairman six years ago, added that the Children's Gala was now in its 17th year. She offered her thanks to everyone who contributed to this summer's event.