An Irlam and Cadishead festival will return once again this August for its 75th anniversary of bringing the community together.
The free festival will be hosted from Friday 22 August until Monday 25 August and look to maintain the traditions of the event dating back to 1950.
In recent years, the event has mainly been held on the bank holiday Monday in late August every year with market stalls, live music, sports, street theatre, free activities and more.
Before 2020, the highlight of the event was a firework display on the Monday evening which was regularly attended by thousands of people.
Unfortunately due to budget and other reasons it has not been possible for the festival to hold the evening part of the event for the past few years.
However, for the 2025 celebrations the Irlam and Cadishead Community Festival Committee (ICCFC) will be looking to bring back the evening event to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the first event, which was a puppet show and a few rides on Cadishead park.
Alongside an amazing firework display on the evening of Monday 25th August, and will be extending the festival to the whole weekend.
Emma Woodward, from the Irlam and Cadishead Community Festival Committee said: “With this year being the 75th anniversary we have plans in place, and we will have a weekend full of activities.
“We are making a push for activities and events, but also a return of the fireworks, which we used to have before COVID so that is why we are crowdfunding.”
She continued: “It is really important to have these things, as it is just bringing the community together. The community stalls help fundraise, and to help the community.
“For us all being volunteers it is a big strain for us all, but to make the one weekend happen is tough – but we want to push for more volunteers.”
Emma added: “As being a volunteer allows people to combat loneliness, and also learn a variety of new skills, it allows people to learn things they have never done before and things that they can take forward.
“We lost a committee member that has helped with the festival since the early 90s this year, he passed away last year so we want to keep it going for him as well.”
The festival will look to bring the community together, and with it being a free event it will hope to encourage as many people as possible to attend.
The Irlam and Cadishead community festival dates back to 1950, with the festival set up as a free event for the workers in the area, who couldn’t afford to take their families on holiday.
In a venture to provide some form of entertainment for local inhabitants arranged for some professional entertainment to be performed in both Irlam and Cadishead Parks.
As Emma added: “For families who couldn’t afford a holiday back then, it seems to have gone full circle with the cost-of-living crisis, as we want to put on free activities for children.
“We want to offer this to everyone, and offer children in deprived areas a chance to experience a wide variety of things, such as street dance, for free.
“You don’t know even need to buy food at the event, you can provide your own picnic. We want to make sure everyone can come.”
And with generations of families enjoying the festival, they are also on the search for anyone who has been to the first event.
The group have also set up a Crowdfunder, with the aim of raising £20,000, which will be used to help funding going towards the costs of the evening event on the bank holiday Monday including fireworks, music, security and fencing costs.
Any additional money raised will be used to support the rest of the entertainment costs on the bank holiday Monday – the fundraiser can be found here.
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