It's party time in Batley
BATLEY town centre will host the biggest party of the year on Saturday.
Batley Live, the replacement for the annual Carnival 4 Life, looks set to wow the crowds with weird and wonderful entertainers, live acts and family fun from 11am to 4.30pm.
The day has a storytelling theme, with the fun spread out over three separate zones in and around the Market Place - a live stage, a family fun area and a community zone.
Comic theatre company Bread and Butter will be compering events on the main stage.
In the children's area, at the memorial gardens, there will be storytelling, a teddy bears picnic, a teddy character handing out biscuits and face painting. Wacky entertainers also include a washer woman helping children decorate pairs of underpants and a 12ft mythical puppet creature called Veronica, from Thingamajig Theatre Company.
Performances will include shows by a woodwind trio, Celtic Beat, a steel band, singers Sarah James and Jade Helliwell, Bollywood dancing from Manasamitra and an African drumming workshop by Faceless Arts. Shirley Ray will also be doing balloon modelling.
The cup-winning Batley Bulldogs will also be turning up to chat to the crowds with faithful mascot Battler.
Coun Peter O'Neill (Lab, Batley West) said: "Batley Live, our annual summer event funded by Kirklees Council, is an opportunity for Batley folk to get together as a community and have a good time.
"It is a celebration of life in Batley and hopefully, the increased footfall in the town will bring a much needed boost to town centre traders."
One of the highlights of the day is set to be the grand final of this year's Batley's Got Talent, from 3.15pm on the stage, compered by Cev Barker. Dozens of you entered the contest this year, with three heats taking place last week at the Frontier.
The competition was fierce, but the 10 acts chosen to go through to the final were singer Hollie Cooper, rock band The Syndicates, singer Chantelle Potter, dancer Georgia Brooke, singer Leah Earnshaw, the SL Academy breakdancers, singer Kaisha Davidson, dancer Eve Mulwhinney, singer Liam Gill and singing duo The Wobbles.
Deciding who will be crowned the winner will be judges Coun O'Neill, solicitor Andrew Marsden and the News' Claire Armstrong.
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Weather for Batley
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
