IN decades past, one of the highlights of the year for local folk was the traditional annual gala.

I'm sure many of you remember the bustling showfield, with its display arenas, penny bazaars and colourful side shows.

Often, the entertainment would go on well into the evening, as morris dancing teams battled it out for top honours and the sound of marching bands filled the night air.

If you were a child, the most exciting part of the afternoon was the grand procession, which weaved its way through the streets and seemed to stretch for miles and miles.

There would be majorettes, pipe bands, lots of folk in fancy dress shaking their collecting buckets and usually some top TV or film personality who had been called on to declare this carnival open.' So many people thronged on to the streets you had to be sure to get your place early to ensure you got a good view as the parade passed by.

And the floats!

All the local organisations spent hours trimming up borrowed lorries, for a chance to be named the best in show'.

The carnival queen was an integral part of both the parade and the day, in satin and sash, with her retinue, flowers and ribbons.

Many towns crowned a carnival queen every year and each would attend all the other local shows.

Colne Carnival queen in 1964/65, was Gillian Perry, now Warner, who still lives in Colne, who has sent us this superb photograph of herself, on the right, with that year's Miss World, Ann Sidney, from the United Kingdom. Can you tell us who is on the left?

The occasion was Nelson Hospital's Gala in May, 1964, and this second picture (above) shows Gillian and her retinue on their float, which took first prize, in the middle of the procession in the town centre. Ann Sidney was the celebrity guest who opened the event and Gillian also met film actor Richard Todd, Dambusters' star of the time, who opened Colne Gala in 1965.