I am in no way suggesting that we change the day into something it was not intended to be, and am very proud of the churches that do get involved. I am, of course biased here, but am particularly proud of the youth organisations and as I am on the committee at 2nd Kirkham Scout Group know how hard it is to get the kids to walk and how much of a challenge it is for them to walk the 3 mile circuit.

I know that you cannot please all of the people all of the time but there does seem to be a marked drop on interest – I notice, as I’m sure you did, that there were less people gathered for this than there were for the Kirkham & Wesham Football Club parade.

There just doesn’t seem to be the excitement for Club Day anymore. Many people I spoke to before hand didn’t know it was on, and you will have seen the posters that were up reminding people when the morning procession was on. When the carnival was on in the evening there was a completion to the day with everyone gathering together to celebrate the secular part of Kirkham & Wesham.

I have not lived in Kirkham all my life – only for the last 20 years of it – meaning I am still an outsider and a lot of the people that are involved with the organisation of the clubs etc that are involved on the day are ‘outsiders’ – many of them not even living in the towns itself. It may be the nostalgia of childhood but when I first moved up it was a fun filled and exciting day when the community seemed to come together to be proud of the achievements the various groups have accomplished. I came from a town which had a carnival day and club day seemed to mean more than this because of the church’s involvement.

I’m sure you can agree that there should be more events to bring the community together maybe an entirely separate event may be the way to go, particularly for those who do not belong to any of the churches or youth organisations. Wesham, for instance, has a large independent (from the churches) event every Club Day which seems to be popular with all involved. We, in Kirkham, have to suffer the noise and trouble that the Fair brings every year.

Now, before you mention the fact that the Fair brings the money to pay for the insurance and road closures etc. I ask the question why not have the Fair in Kirkham one year and Wesham the next? It would certainly save the ears of Kirkham for a year.

Further events for the children would be a good idea and further events for the adults, that are non-alcohol based would also cut down on the need for so much police presense, which either intimidates or dampens down the atmosphere. Maybe something on the Market Square?

The event held a few years ago for the 700th anniversary was a success and one people still talk about purely because of the extra events.

There were a lot of ideas floated around on Club Day between various people who walked and those who got involved in the crowning events… and hopefully organisations like the Scouts and other groups can bring them to fruition.

If the Club Day organisers weren’t so difficult to find, I would be happy to help them fundraise (having quite a bit of experience doing this with the Scouts) and I will be happy to see you at any events for this.

Just think there are 10000 people in Kirkham & Wesham – if every person gave £5 towards it that would cover any costs and help make it an event people remember again.

Penelope – It makes me sick thinking about how we treat our elderly. It makes me wonder how much worse it is when it isn’t visitiing hours as you would have thought it would have been ‘best foot forward’ when the families are in?

Quantumfog – Outside bad… It was nice… More pictures (so many more) over at Flickr!

Selma – Honestly I think it’s got to ‘comfortable’ instead of ‘better’ – it just gets to a stage where ‘giving up’ becomes an option and from what I can gather I think she’s there.

You have reminded me of some happy childhood memories – the crowning of the Rose Queen bought into my whole ‘I want to live in Fairyland’ childhood ideal. Those were the days!

Selma’s last blog post..Not Enough.

Penelope’s last blog post..Best friends.

Nat’s last blog post..It was wrong. We were wrong.