Cullen Harbour Gala beats the rain with fun for all the family across three sites
Rain showers did not deter young and old alike flocking to a popular harbour gala recently.
Cullen Sea School’s (CSS) annual harbour gala heralded fun for all the family when it got under way in the morning of Sunday, July 27, running through to later in the afternoon.
For the first time the gala was spread over three locations this year - the sea school itself, and the harbour’s North and West Piers.
Despite unsettled weather during parts of the day, including rain showers, everyone soldiered on for what was described by Three Harbours Association - the group which runs CSS - chairwoman Margaret Paterson as being a great day.
She said: “The gala went very well and the feedback we’ve had from the stallholders is that they had good footfall during it and that they’re quite content with how things went.
“We had monitors at each site and everything went smoothly with no reported problems.
“It’s the first time we’ve done the three sites approach and had stalls on the West Pier, which all went very well. All three sites were well populated by visitors, so we’re very pleased with that.
“With the stallholders we were aiming to get as much variety as possible - it was good, for example, to have the face-painting stall this year. We wanted to get as many local services and traders involved as possible but no-one was turned away and we were delighted to welcome people from further afield. There was also a wide range of food and drink options on offer.
“Having something for kids to do was a priority as well, and we had a colouring competition - I think we'll look at advertising this earlier next year - and a harbour quiz where people had to go round the gala to get the answers.
“It’s all very encouraging for next year and we’ll be looking to return bigger and better.”
At the sea school there was a car boot sale along with a boatbuilding workshop. On display was the Puddock, a Wemyss skiff built at the sea school.
Local band The Cool Jam Cats were on hand to supply some popular tunes.
Over at the North Pier, guests from the emergency services were on hand. Joining members of the Cullen on-call firefighter team and the Coastguard were Buckie’s RNLI lifeboat William Blannin and her volunteer crew as well as some of the charity’s fund-raising team.
Finally, on the West Pier there was a wide range of stalls, including Buckie Wildcat Community First responders, who were demonstrating a range of life-saving skills, and face-painting for kids.
The West Pier also hosted taster sessions for skiff rowing and paddleboarding.