Peak Dale summer fête brings village together again in glorious sunshine

The event was hit by torrential rain in 2021 so organisers had their prayers answered by clear blue skies on Saturday, July 16.

Kerry Naden, who chairs the organising committee, said: “It was an amazing day with perfect weather, and packed with lots of people we knew and some we didn’t. It was a massive success.

“After last year, it felt like we were back with a bit of a bang. It had that real fête atmosphere we’d all missed. To see all the children playing together, and all the adults dancing into the night, was lovely.”

The most anticipated fixture of the day was perhaps the hotly-contested ‘dads versus lads’ football match – which saw the dads draw on all their years of experience to triumph over the young pretenders.

Elsewhere on the field the was the annual ‘boat race’ which gave way to a cooling slip’n’slide track, rides, games, vintage vehicles, stalls sandpits and lots of other free fun which allowed families to stay out for the whole day.

Great Rocks Social Club provided an outside bar for the day, with a barbecue, ice creams and pizza oven to soak it all up. In the evening, Breaking Poynt provided live music from the back of a trailer to send everyone home on a high.

The fête helps to raise money for future village events and extra resources for the community, with Peak Dale Primary School set to benefit this year.

Kerry said: “We’re still counting it all up but we’ve probably raised around £1,700. A couple of children were going around with buckets and they collected around £110 by themselves. The school want some new outdoor play equipment so we’re hoping to contribute to that when the time comes.

“A big thank you to all the local businesses who helped with donations, all the volunteers who came together to make it happen, and everyone who turned up. We’ll be back again next year.”

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