In a departure from his usual columns BRIAN HAYHURST is helping some old friends promote Padstock, a music festival to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee held in Paddock, Huddersfield, next week.
Brian and wife Elaine, who have lived in Spain for over 20 years, previously ran two busy pubs The Angel and Royal Oak in Paddock. Brian was also a governor at Royds Hall School and Elaine ran a sports shop in the village.
When you’ve lived and worked in a village for over 25 years you have the opportunity to get to know people in the community, as Elaine and I did in Paddock.
There is one group of lads I have known from being (occasionally) boisterous teenagers at Paddock Youth Centre which I ran, who I still call friends into adulthood.
They have earned my respect and admiration, having taken over the running of the local Paddock Cricket & Bowling Club which was slowly falling into debt and needed action to restore it.
Along with a growing membership, this go-ahead driving force took over as committee of this one-time famous 150-year-old club in the heart of the village turning it around with events and community activities for five years. The club is one of the oldest in Huddersfield, formed in 1872.
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Gaining strength and support from others, the group have spent months planning and working tirelessly towards one of the biggest events ever seen in Paddock and district, by staging a huge venture to be held on June 3 and 4.
‘Padstock’, as they have called it, is a two-day fun extravaganza of music, food and refreshments for both young and old, in celebration of the Queen’s 70th Jubilee and the club’s 150th anniversary.
Costing £6.5K to stage the event, they obtained much needed, generous sponsorship and advert banners giving them about half the sum. Two of the group, confident of success, decided bravely to underwrite the project!
Following the closure of the five pubs and two clubs down the main street of Paddock, locals were at a loss for somewhere to meet up socially.
They ended up using the club with its attractive function room and quickly became interested in the club’s future as it steadily slid towards demise!
After a long series of meetings and much dialogue, it was decided to say goodbye to the cricket team and consider other uses of the grounds to pay for on-going maintenance and repairs.
With help from other enthusiastic members, the group decided to set about designing and building (labour free), a 30m by 4m stage outside for some well-known bands, arrange for beer and food tents, children’s activities and much more.
Friday June 3 – All welcome as the club opens at 4.30pm in readiness for the outdoor events to begin at 6.30pm.
Following a DJ to set the scene, a superb Jam tribute band called Malice will entertain as people enjoy and sample the beers and soft drinks, crafts, stalls, food etc in and around the floodlit grounds.
Saturday June 4 – A fun/music day is planned from noon onwards with much going on. At 4pm an excellent Motown group called Little & Often will kickstart the music, followed by Eleven 18, a classic rock band at around 6pm.
The session will finish at 8pm with the outstanding local group – Storm. Tickets available at the club in West View Rise, Paddock.
We wish this tenacious group, and fellow members, all the very best for a successful project with excellent weather throughout the weekend. So please come down and support the team.
Hopefully by next weekend we’ll still be celebrating Huddersfield Town’s return to the Premier League and Huddersfield Giants winning the Challenge Cup!
