New home for Saddleworth show

Reporter: Lewis Jones
Date online: 14 December 2011

ROTARY Club organisers of the Saddleworth Summer Show are celebrating after securing a new venue for next year’s event.

They breathed a sigh of relief after booking Saddleworth School in Uppermill for the giant fund-raiser.

Organisers feared the fun-filled family show would have to be scrapped, due to the closure of Churchill playing fields in Greenfield in March for extensive drainage work. But the team is now even considering making it a two-day celebration.

Saddleworth Rotary Club show director Stan Bowes said: “It has been a major worry for us. For a long time we thought we would still be able to use Churchill fields. The hard thing was not knowing. It will be a different show next year but we’re thrilled it’s now on. It would have been terrible to have to scrap it.”

The much-loved festival has usually been a one-day, Sunday extravaganza. Now joint organisers from the Saddleworh and Oldham Metro rotary clubs are finalising plans for a two-day run on June 9 and 10.

But the show’s move won’t be without casualties. Some larger events, such as the donkey derby and towering fair ground rides, will be dropped, as will a vintage car show.

But it will be business as usual for the rest of the attractions, with discussions under way for the prospect of a food hall, and more emphasis on handicrafts and music as well as headline crowd-pleasing acts.

Stan added: “At this stage it’s temporary, until we can get back to Churchill fields - but we’ll wait to see how we get on. It will certainly be easier for us to organise at the school, who have been so great to let us use the grounds.”