Village Hall Committee 5
Village Hall Committee 5
The
third Aire Faire took place on May 11th 1975, with messages of good
wishes from the producer Barney Colehan and two well known commentators
from the TV Knockout programme, Eddie Waring and Stuart Hall. New
attractions included the City of Bradford Pipe Band and a parachute drop
by the Blue Eagles sky-diving team. There were more than 50 stalls and
trade stands, a crowd of 13,000 and £2,000 for the village hall fund.
In
1976 the committee were able to advertise the Aire Faire Superstars.
The junior It’s a Knockout continued, attracting six teams. Leaventhorpe
Middle School were again the winners. The superstars competed in a
series of events sponsored by a big variety of companies who recognised
the Aire Faire as big enough to be a significant advertising
opportunity. The events were Penalty Shooting against Bradford City
goalkeeper Peter Downsborough, 100yard Sprint, Push-ups, Welly Throwing,
Target Golf, and Cross Country. The celebrities were Duncan McKenzie
(Leeds United), Frazer Hines (of YTV Emmerdale Farm), Derek Ibbotson
(former World Record Holder for 1mile), Andrew Fielder (British
International Show Jumper), David Redfearn (Bradford Northern and
British International Rugby League), Jim Breaks (European Wrestling
Champion), John Spencer (British Lions and England Rugby Union ), Ian
Cooper (Bradford City). David Redfearn was the versatile winner. In
addition to all this excitement, the Sealed Knot staged a battle, there
were gymnastics and karate displays and open air theatre. 18,000
attended and the outcome was another £2,000 for the village hall. In
addition to this, many other voluntary organisations were encouraged to
bring stalls and gain publicity and raise funds for themselves. Dr.
Wheelock stressed the community aspect of the day.
May
8th 1977 was a repeat of the format. Frazer Hines and David Redfearn
made a return appearance, joined by Roger Greenwood from ITV, Stewart
Francis from Pennine Radio, Joe Cooke (Bradford City), Brian Campsall
(Morley and Yorkshire Rugby Union) and Dave Slater (Bingley’s
International Athlete). Heavyweight Champion Richard Dunn was not able
to compete because of injury, but still came and presented the Knockout
award to Gilstead Middle School. There were a fun fair, inflatables,
entertainment from several bands and plenty of stalls. Rain did not
deter a crowd of about 12,000. There were a couple of complaints in the
local paper after this Faire about the state of the grass due to
vehicles driving in and out when the ground was soft, although the Aire
Faire involved far less traffic than Bingley Show and the field
recovered quickly. By this time the village hall was built and paid for,
and a Telegraph and Argus reporter asked what the proceeds would now be
used for. Dr. Wheelock explained that there was still equipment needed
for the hall, but after that they intended using the money for the
benefit of the village. This would include grants to local
organisations, especially those that were just setting up. Money had
already been voted for the new amateur dramatic society and towards
equipment for the village playgroup.
In
1978 the winning formula continued, with a slight variation in the
adult section. Once again local firms entered teams in what was now
billed as the Aire Faire Top Team and It’s a Knockout. The firms’ teams
were joined by invited celebrities. Bradford’s Lord Mayor Paul Hockney
was unlucky in a game that involved riding to rescue a ‘damsel in
distress’ when he was allocated a donkey that could not be persuaded to
move. The Morrisons’ team he had joined came last. Other celebrities
taking part were David Redfearn from Bradford Northern and Pennine Radio
disc jockeys Stewart Francis and Peter Levy. The firm of Chartered
Accountants Russam Claridge Turner (who eventually became Baker Tilly)
were the winners. In the junior section, the escapologist Shahid Malik
presented prizes to Gilstead Middle School. Helicopter rides (hovers
rather than flights) were an additional attraction.
The
amount of time, energy, perseverance and ability demonstrated by a
group of volunteers from a village is almost unbelievable. Verner
Wheelock was the great driving force, keeping enthusiasm going even
through the set backs. He was ably helped by the rest of the village
hall committee and also by many other village society members whose main
interest was some other aspect of the society’s programme. The social
committee in particular could be relied on for catering for the first
few years. Starting in 1977 they were happy to let a commercial caterer
take over, in return for a percentage of his profit. Other members
helped, with varying degrees of skill, in the beer tent. There were so
many faithful workers year after year that it seems unfair to name any,
but just to give an example of the way things were divided out, in 1975
organisations wanting a stall or trade display needed to contact Ron
Wilson, those wanting to advertise in the programmes or with a banner
round the arena could do so via Peter Hopkinson. Ian Constantine was in
charge of games, Ian Kirkbride of teams and entries. Eric Hindley was
responsible for programme sales, before and on the day. Outlets for
programmes were shops in Bingley, Shipley, Keighley and Bradford. Denise
Wilson organised the catering team that year and Ken Pitchers was in
charge of all other staffing. A group of volunteers worked all year
inventing new games and making the necessary equipment. Publicity
included articles in the press, posters, handbills and car stickers.
Over the years, the hall committee persuaded celebrities to take part
and prominent firms to provide sponsorship. A Shipley garage had a big
advert in the local paper urging customers to “see us at the AIRE FAIRE
this Sunday in Myrtle Park”. The West Yorkshire bus company put on extra
services and duplicate buses on their normal services to cover the
start and finish of the Aire Faires.
Of
course there were problems and complaints and once again it fell to
volunteers with little previous experience of events on this scale to
sort them out. The huge jump in attendance to 8,000 at the 1974 Faire
showed up the lack of toilet facilities, with one of the three ‘Ladies’
in the park out of use and those in Bingley town centre closed. For 1975
the council agreed to open those in the town and check out the ones in
the park and provide portaloos. The 1976 complaint came from some stall
holders who found there were too many of them trying to sell the same
things. For 1977 the committee made it a condition of accepting bookings
that traders brought only what they originally stated and did not add
other types of goods, so that a balance could be achieved.
The
Aire Faire became victim of its own success when a Bingley Parks Action
Group formed, to protest at the number of big events using the park.
The state of the field formed one prong of their attack. Another was
that people were being charged to go into the park if there was an event
on. Bradford Council was obliged to follow up the complaints and their
legal department discovered that entrance money should not be charged on
Sundays. Years later, Bingley Agricultural Show changed its date from
Wednesday to Sunday and continued to use the park, charging for
admission. Perhaps the law has been changed? Officials from the
Recreation Department told Dr Wheelock they had reached the decision
with great regret but in the light of their researches they had no
alternative but to reject the society’s application for the use of
Myrtle Park in 1979.
WVS
now had to consider whether to change the venue or the day. The Aire
Faire had been an important source of income for the society and the
many other people who had taken advantage of such a popular event to
generate money for their own causes. After five years of seeing its
reputation as a local event grow, they were reluctant to take it out of
Bingley, nor did they believe it would do well on a Saturday. The
decision to move to Spring Bank Holiday Monday upset the Aire Valley
Young Farmers who had held their own show on that date at Bingley
auction mart for the last eleven years. Naturally they did not want to
change but the village society could not see any other date they could
use for the Aire Faire. An agreement was reached to promote the events
jointly and hope that neither would suffer.
Another
change this time was the decision not to have a beer tent. Noel Bourke,
WVS chairman that year, said that they felt the Aire Faire was a family
outing and drinking and family outings did not go together in quite
that way. In addition there was a tendency at such events for a certain
amount of aggro stemming from the ale tent, not a lot but just enough
for them to have had another think about it.