SEVERAL hundred people turned out to support a village gala – despite the absence of a procession for the first time in its history.

Organisers of the annual Riddlesden event blamed "an obsession with health and safety" for the axing of the popular parade.

But an estimated 400 people still supported other activities which went ahead as normal on Saturday at Riddlesden St Mary's Primary School.

And about £1,100 was raised for this year's chosen charity, Childline.

Gala chairman Geoffrey Baldwin said it had been a "very difficult" day, with heavy rain throughout the morning – which forced many attractions indoors – and the lack of a procession.

However, he added that the result was better than anticipated.

"The procession does bring people into the gala field and is part of the day so its absence had an effect," said Mr Baldwin.

"It was definitely missed. We will do what we can to get it up and running again next year.

"The weather also had an impact on numbers.

"Although the rain actually stopped before the gala got underway, some people would have already made the decision to do something else that day.

"Because we couldn't set-up stalls outside in the morning due to the conditions, we had to take the decision to instead put them inside the school.

"Some things of course had to be held outdoors owing to the nature of them, and as it turned out the weather was favourable.

"All things considered, we were pleased with the result and I'd like to say a big thank-you to everyone who gave their support.

"Everybody who came along seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves and to still make a profit for the charity was tremendous.

"In fact, some of the stalls made more money than they did last year. The cake and book stalls did particularly well."

City of Bradford Pipe Band, which would have led the procession, entertained in the grounds.

There were also performances from the Silsden All Stars majorettes.

Other attractions included Punch & Judy, a roundabout, an inflatable slide, bouncy castle, hook-a-duck, birds of prey, a coconut shy and wet sponge throwing.

There were stalls, a tearoom, drinks and ice creams.

Gala bosses announced last month that the procession, which has always traditionally kicked off the event, would not go ahead this year.

They said an insistence by Bradford Council that a so-called 'Chapter 8 accredited' road traffic management team would be needed to control road closures for the parade, would cost hundreds of pounds.

The council said it had a statutory duty to ensure public events complied with Government safety legislation.