THE Sale Festival Committee held its Annual General Meeting in the Waterside Arts Complex on November 18.

It was a meeting attended by committee members, participants of the 2015 Festival, supporters and also some of the recipients of donations to local charities.

It is sometimes forgotten that as well as finding an interesting series of events in the Festival week in June, the committee also makes donations to local charities.

This meeting was attended by the Mayor of Trafford, Cllr John Holden, and he received a donation to the Mayoral charities from the Festival.

Other charities from the area received donations: the Alex Hulme Foundation, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Sale Civic Society, Friends of Worthington Park, Friends of Walkden Gardens, Stockdales, the WRVS, Sale Squadron 318 of the Air Cadets, Sale Cruising Club, Sale Photographic Society, Glebelands City Growers and the mental health charity, New Way Forward.

In addition, local arts groups who taken part in the Festival received a percentage of any profits their event had made.

So it isn’t just a June event. It makes a difference to a lot of groups in the community throughout the year.

The small committee is already planning for next year, with some exciting surprises. So the more people who attend events the bigger the donations will be.

Look out for the Festival programme and for the details to be published on our website.

Garth Jones, chairman of Sale Festival