The day began with the grand opening at 11am by the Mayor and his Consort and they were joined by our current Head Boy, Ewan and Deputy Head Girl, May. Ewan and May did a wonderful job of making sure that the Mayor and his Consort had a great day that included a tour of the activities, taking part in some and then enjoying a delicious afternoon tea.
The Mayor and his consort had the very lucky but also tricky job of judging the Great Balshaw’s Bake Off. The students did the most brilliant job with their yummy bakes and Fin, from Year 7, was declared the winner with a beautiful rainbow cake! Fin got the famous handshake from the Mayor and Fin said that he was surprised to win. The cakes were then sold and enjoyed by many.
We are incredibly lucky to be able to showcase such a wonderful range of talented musical performances, that included our current students, former students and staff. There were performances by our upbeat Brass Group, amazing Choir, songs from the shows, songs from the movies, pop & rocks songs, and even an original song! Once again, Zac and Esme did a most wonderful job of compering the acts.
There were a variety of amazing stalls – including plants from Leyland Market, jewellery, painted & decorated plant pots, handmade gifts, upcycled candle holders, keyrings, bookmarks, personalised box frames, clay creations, a face painting stall, bead bracelets & cups, knitted toys, toys, a gift & games tombola and not forgetting our legendary chocolate tombola!
Refreshments were aplenty with delicious crepes (from Daisy Crepes), yummy cakes (from Tanya's Baking), pizzas, hotdogs, ever popular drinks, snacks and much needed ice cream.
Lots of fun was had on the giant inflatable, hook-a-duck, striker game, paintball, coconut shy, twister, giant Jenga, fun games; beat the lemon, buzz wire and play your cards right, along with a fun penalty shootout and a new activity for this year with ‘Name the Bear’, who took up residence outside the front of school, looking dashing in his Balshaw’s blazer and tie!
In addition, we were delighted to welcome back the North West Reptile Association and their collection of exotic pets who are always very popular and were as marvellous as ever! You can see more on their website here. Joining us for the first time, we had a sheep and two lambs, who seemed really happy to be enjoying the shade and were popular with our visitors too!
We welcomed representatives from the Leyland Taekwondo group, who also demonstrated their fabulous skills, Leyland Squadron RAF cadets, St.Catherine’s Hospice, the Waitrose truck, along with Friends of Cuerden Valley and their ‘Guess the amount of LEGO bricks’ game.
Our raffle this year was especially magnificent and prizes including, a hair straightener and brushes, that were kindly donated by celebrity hairdresser and former Balshavian Michael Douglas, vouchers from Gym Etc and Subway, along with bottles of wine, candles, games and gifts galore.
We are so grateful for all our dedicated staff, students, PTA, volunteers and supporters who give up their time to make this day so much fun!
A huge thank you to everyone who come along to support our event in any way. The total amount raised was over £2,200 – which is incredible!
Here are some photographs from the day:
