THE brave decision by Crossgates Gala Committee to go ahead with the village gala event was rewarded by a great community day.

The horrendous rainstorm which started around 6am last Saturday had left the gala committee considering cancelling the event.

The volume of water which fell in a relatively short period between 6am and 10am had certainly forced them to think about putting things off. Said the committee’s Barry Tillier, “The weather was really awful for a spell and to be honest things looked pretty hopeless at around 9am but the forecast was encouraging and we decided that by delaying the parade for around 90 minutes we could save the day. Fortunately the forecast was bang on and by the time the parade started and sun was coming out and it turned out to be a great day.” 2015 Crossgates Gala Queen was 11 year-old Poppy Johnston. Her princesses were 10 year-old Nicole Paltiel and five year-old Leyla Biggarstaff. It being 4th July the gala had an Independence Day flavour to it and everyone had a great time with the parade having a real US theme and the events at the park going great guns.

While the heavy rain of earlier in the day made things a little but soft underfoot things went pretty well at the park all in all the committee’s decision was the right one. Our pictures by Ted Milton capture Crossgates Gala Day 2015.