Float Committee

The Float Committee is a group and parents and carers that produce a float for the school that attends the John Newlands Procession in Bathgate as well as some other local Gala days.

Introduction -

The Float Committee is a group and parents and carers that produce a float for the school that attends the John Newlands Procession in Bathgate as well as some other local Galadays. Balbardie Primary School has a long tradition of producing quality floats that have been extremely successful in the float competitions at the Procession and Galadays. In the last 13 years we have won 1^st place at the Procession on 11 occasions and have taken 1^st place in local Galadays on many occasions. The Float Committee is a committed group of individuals that are keen to keep up the tradition of producing quality floats for the school and local communities to enjoy.

What's involved? -

Between October and December every year, we ask the children for suggestions for a theme for the next year, the committee then discuss what we could build, and then choose a theme from the list. Then the whole school are invited to take part in a design competition with prizes. The design competition gives the committee ideas for the final design for the float. There are usually around 3 meetings at school before the end of that year. The design is finalised in January by the design team and in February we all start the art work at the school. We run a Float Club on a Wednesday at school between 6-8.30pm that parents/carers and children can attend. This club runs from mid February until the Procession at the beginning of June. The vast majority of the paper mache character building and art work is produced on these Wednesday evenings. Pieces of artwork are also requested from the whole school and are made in school time. The build for the float takes place at a local farm. Unfortunately children can't attend the farm as the presence of the power tools required makes this an unsafe environment.

Skills required -

There are no specific skills required to be involved. Some of us are good at DIY, some artistic and some just good with a paint brush. It takes a diverse good of skills to produce the float and people give varying amounts of their time to the project. Anyone is welcome to come along and help, this is something you can do with your children, and it's a lot of fun. Every year we struggle to get people to help with the build of the float at the farm. If you have joinery skills, please consider lending us a hand this year. If you would like to be involved this year, or want further information, please give your name and telephone number to the school front office and a member of the float committee will give you a call.

2019 - Coco Float

In 2019 our theme for the float was the Disney movie Coco. We took the float to Bathgate and the local galadays, as we normally do, but we were also invited to attend the Linlithgow Marches. The float, in the past, attended the Marches but it has been many years since we last did. All the parents, children and Mrs Aitken that attended the Marches had a fabulous day. We were made to feel very welcome by the organisers, the sun was shining and we won 2 first prizes for the school. See below a summary of our achievements in 2019 -

Bathgate Procession - 1^st Prize Class 1 Vehicles, Best Overall Float

Armadale Galaday - 2^nd Prize Other Vehicles

Linlithgow Marches - 1^st Prize Judges Pick, 2^nd Prize Newbigging Cup, 1^st Prize Best New Entry

Whitburn Galaday - 1^st Prize Visitors

Photos 2019