The Kersal Fancy Dress Parade

 

A series of pictures devoted to a fancy dress parade in Kersal in mid 1970s. This was a very large parade which involved parents dressing their children up and parading around Kersal with a brass band. The parade finished on the fields at the back of John Bacon Court and the mayor of Salford choose the best three costumes to receive a prize. I came second because of my Dalek costume. As a child I thought that the costume was the best thing ever and that it looked like a real Dalek. I believed that people would quiver before my metallic menance and that people would mistake it for a real Dr Who villain. If anyone dared defy me I would destroy them with my lethal Dalek ray gun. Over the years because I did not have any photos of this event the memories of my stunningly realistic Dalek costume firmed up in my mind. Thus 30+ years after the event I still believed that my Dalek costume was realistic and generally "dead ace." The pictures below show how sadly misguided I was.

All these pictures are taken from film of the event taken by the late Herbert Randle and this film can be viewed in the movies section.

If you recognise anyone in these pictures please email kersalflats@hotmail.co.uk

 

A newspaper report from the Salford City Reporter on the 6th June 1975 on the first Kersal Festival. Click on the image for a large version.

 

The brass band reaches the back of John Bacon Court. The lad in the red box dressed up as a box of Oxo is Martin Ormandy

 

The parade is in full flow

You can see the size of the parade as it trails down South Radford Street

 

A hectic day

The parade fills South Radford Street

 

Some girls have come dressed as suffragettes, and some strange person in a yellow barrel !

 

A clearly reluctant young lad next to a very weird looking witch.

 

This young fellow is dressed as Joseph and his Technicolour Dream Coat. The lad is my brother Mark Sullivan

 

The parade reaches the field at the back of John Bacon Court and again we can see Martin Ormandy dressed as a box of OXO cubes.

 

And here I come in my Dalek costume! The girl dressed as the Princess standing to my right is my sister Dawn Sullivan.

 

The crowd await a decision

The Lady Mayor looks on