Wilsden Gala is cancelled (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Wilsden Gala Committee cancels event due to lack of helpers

8:40am Monday 27th June 2011 in Wilsden

Organisers of a village gala have been forced to cancel the event due to lack of support.

Wilsden Gala Committee has pulled the plug on this year’s event, due to be held on Sunday, July 3, on health and safety grounds.

The committee said it needed to provide a minimum of 18 marshals for a procession at the gala – which usually attracts between 500 and 1,000 visitors – but only eight volunteers had come forward.

Twenty-five people were needed to man stalls and games, but just six people had volunteered.

Sponsors and offers of prizes for the gala’s tombola and raffle were also in short supply, a statement from the committee said.

Julie Petty, who runs Wilsden Village Hall, said the committee now hoped to organise a fun day, providing people were willing to to help, and a children’s disco to allow this year’s gala queen to be crowned.

She said: “We are sorry for the short notice of this decision, but feel with a committee numbering only four people, we cannot safely run an event of this size.

“We have been trying to get the message across, the village hall is for the village and it’s not owned by the council, and without events like this we could lose the hall.”