Apart from the normal sort of mistakes we grew to expect from the Hexham Courant (good photo there, ‘Colin’ Aldcroft!), the report in the subsequent weekend’s paper was comprehensive, fulsome and gracious.
I imagine that the Catton Line Dancers were particularly delighted with the photo, especially as in their Stetsons they took pride of place in the layout, relegating the Strong Men to the zone over the fold:
Over the years, Colin Briggs, then a presenter for Look North, the northeast’s BBC news programme (that name was correct, at least) has been a regular fixture at Allendale’s May Fair. I’m not sure what sort of head covering he was wearing though, unless it was some sort of a nod to the ‘hat’ theme of the fair. More of a sun protection, I’d assume.
In other years, the staff photographer had managed to capture the start of the Allendale Run, both adults and juniors, but perhaps for this year he arrived later, so that only a delighted winner of the women’s race managed to get snapped. I’d always thought that the synergy between the May Fair events and the Allendale Run was an exceptional demonstration of how local groups worked together.
At any rate, the 2009 May Fair was well promoted, well attended, and well reported. I’d say that the Allendale Lions Club members were well pleased with the effort, and so they should have been!