portaferry
to the saddened member of the community.. i have been on floats for over 15 years now and the float im on DO NOT allow drink on there float never have its not good if the judges see u drinking. i would say the rest of the bars r the same. i take it u dont take part in the floats if u did u would no there is no drinking on them....... i think the dates r set for that week because alot of people r of on there july hoildays. stop complaining...
Portaferry
I am sure I am not the only one who shares the following thought. Would it not be better if the Gala was only on once every 2 or 3 years, this would give more time to fund raise, get more events.
It seems the old buzz is lacking in recent years, I certainly feel ever since the Market Day was moved from the Square it lost an awful lot of appeal, also the lack of a Gala Ball, there seems to be a decline in the number of events for Older Children too.
I feel rearding the Social Community Aspect of the Behaviour of some people on the Floats, that the Gala Committee, have to address this situation along with the Local PSNI, it needs to be a joint Working together to sort this out, no Alcohol should be allowed on the floats 0% tolerance on this should be implemented.
Would it not be more sensible now to change the date of the Gala Week too, with more people being paid monthly it is a bad time in the month, surely the first week of the month or the last week would benefit more of the community better.
Site Ed Reply:
The location of market day was taken out of the Gala committees hands as trading licences were required by the council for those stalls trading on the streets, by placing it in the football field we were able to overcome this obstacle, still attract stall holders and continue to hold this popular event.
The committee did have a Gala Ball in 2007 to mark its 40th anniversary, but this was not greatly attended. To have a ball we need to arrange extra things such as venue hire, bar/entertainments licence and as such this means we need to charge entry, which then puts people off attending. That is why we opt for having outdoor concerts where there is no charge and all the village can attend.
We are looking at events for the older children so any help that you can give would be greatly appreciated in this area.
The gala has historically always ran on the second week of the July fortnight, there are still a lot of people who take these 2 weeks of work and as such we still feel that this is the best time to hold the events. Most events are free to attend and take part in so we do not feel that we are placing any financial burden on people by having the gala in the middle of July. The gala is an annual event and as such has survived now for 43 years, the programme is full of events that we can manage to organise and control. If more people joined the committee and offered up their free time then we would be in a better position to offer more events in the programme, most of the committee members have family and work commitments and are restricted in their availability throughout the week. You must remember that the committee is made up entirely of volunteers.
portaferry
As a "retired" member of a float team, the two weeks running up to float w/e is exhausting, 2 weeks of annual leave taken to work on floats. 5-6 hours on Fridays night on float. Po day relax and enjoy. Bad language in Portaferry is always OTT whether Po day or not. Re comment of bar owners not being present, in my day they stayed in their pubs to welcome and greet the others pubs! The new gala members are doing a great job, dont be disheartened by the moners!
Portaferry
Well said Susan.
portaferry
To disgruntled resident as you have so many suggestions why do you not join the gala committee it is an open meeting and we are always needing extra hands to help out/make suggestions/voulenteer there time e.t.c.It's very easy to sit back and comment from the outside but if you actually witnessed the time,energy and organisation it takes for just one gala event i feel your opinions would drastically change.Again we are VOULENTEERS meaning we get no payment,no meal at the portaferry hotel infact if anything we are usually out off pocket so to imply that we dine out on gala funds frankly angers me and is infact a very immature and petty comment to make,we give what time we can so i believe your criticism to be harsh and unfair especially been as we have all put so much effort and time in and we get rewarded by comments such as yours which as you can see by this guestbook and the general community is not shared.so my suggestion join the commitee,give up your own time and infact your gala week with your family. i think you will realise how much goes into it. As a commitee we are constantly trying to find new events that we can A-fund and B- put together We organise events for all ages and in most cases where we can these events are free there are not many festivals that you would get that at i think there were a lot of great new events this year that were very popular the town challenge was a blast,the BMX display went down a storm the kids had a ball at the mad hatters tea party so disgruntled resident i look forward to seeing you at the next gala meeting .To all else i am glad you enjoyed gala and it was great to see everyone enjoying the week.