Dressing Up for Gala Day - Sepia Saturday

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt photograph shows a little girl in a studio setting,  dressing up with a bridal veil on her head.  (It did also occur  to me could this be a more serious occasion representing her first communion in the Catholic Church?   - 

 

But I stayed with my original light hearted theme).  For  I enjoyed dressing up  especially for my village's gala day. 

 

The Village Gala was the focal event of the calendar where we lived near Blackpool in Lancashire.  All the surrounding  villages had the their annual gala day, when the local band led the Rose Queen in procession with her maids of honour and retinue to a field where she was crowned Queen by some local worthy, followed by dancing displays  games, stalls, craft competitions, refreshment tents - and sports.  

 

Below is a picture of the junior dancers at  the Gala Day at  Staining, near Blackpool, Lancashire around 1950, and I am the little girl kneeling on the left of the front row. . 

These dresses were in apple green satin with silver cardboard headdresses and for some reason we carried shepherd crooks, decorated with crepe paper flowers. I remember other years wearing peach satin and yellow taffeta. For me, the dress was always destined to be my party dress for the year. I always wanted to be one of the bigger girls who danced with garlands.

The worst aspect was the torture the night before of having my hair put into rags, in the hope I would end up with ringlets the next day. 

After the dancing, a quick change into shorts for the races.   The egg & spoon   and bean bag and potato  races were for the "little ones".  More energetic versions were leapfrog races, sack races, wheelbarrow races and three legged races.  Do these still take place,  or, as I suspect, have they fallen foul of the current  "health and safety" regime?  I certainly remember plenty of thrills and spills.   The climax of the day was a tug of war competition for the boys and men - and afterwards a weary walk home.

Looking back, this was not long after the war, with people still having to put up with rationing, but the gala days were a great tribute to community efforts, and my mother, as the local dressmaker, was heavily involved in making the dresses, headdresses and  paper flowers.

 

The older group of dancers with their garlands, 

in  a guard of honour for the arrival of the Rose Queen.

 

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The two photographs below  I have featured before on my blog, but they  match the theme so well - there is even a even a wicker chair,  I just had to show you them again!

 

My mother Kathleen and her sister Edith were born one year and one week apart, in 1907 and 1908, daughters of William Danson and Alice English of Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. They remained close sisters all their lives. 

                  

Edith on the left and my mother on the right  at the front of this parade in Poulton, c.1911.    This is one of  my favourite photographs in my collection.  I love their big hats, frilly dresses and little bootees.  Neither look particularly happy!   The girls behind them have even bigger hats. 

I remember my aunt telling me the name of the little lad (Tommy Roskell) behind   the sisters and that the  banner came from his uncle in America.  But I never got a clear idea of the occasion - was it the  fancy dress parade on Gala Day, with Tommy dressed up as a chimney sweep, or was it Empire Day?  Just one of the many questions we regret not asking. 

Playing in the garden - Edith (seated on a wicker chair) & Kathleen behind. 

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Sepia Saturday gives an opportunity for genealogy bloggers   to share their family history and memories through photographs

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                                have related their family stories for this week.