A gala, where is it ?

[macintosh]

Possibly Empire Day Celebrations.

James

[majm]

Possibly Empire Day Celebrations.

and

The flag seems to be upside down in both photos.     

Empire Day celebrations happened in each Primary school in New South Wales until the mid 1950s.  Often a parade, always the Union Jack.  School children got 1/2 day, and in the evenings there was bonfire and crackers.  (24 May is late autumn in Australia, whereas Guy Fawkes 5 Nov is height of bushfire season).     To me, the outfits are so very similar to my own childhood recollections of 'what I wore".   Australia had  rationing for quite a number of years, due to WWII.  The rationing continued into the 1950s for some items.  Not sure about clothing.  But also, in many rural districts, children were expected to wear 'hand me downs' .... So the eldest got the school uniform, and then when he/she had outgrown it, it went to the next sibling, and the eldest got 'new' .... sometimes the 'new' was actually hand me downs from neighbours or etc.

Australia's flag was not actually formally authorised until the Flag Act of 1953, which QE2 signed off on.    So until that time, it was not usually used for non military purposes.   So, public schools usually used the Union Jack and school children, at least once a week at a formal Assembly, recited "I salute the Flag"    (the Union Jack) among other words of allegience to the British Empire.

Cheers,  JM

[Wiggy]

Doesn't look at all Australian though does it - trees all wrong and end of house doesn't look Aussie.
Far more likely to be in UK.

Wiggy   

[Geoff-E]

The upsidedownness of the flag depends on which side you are viewing from.  With two poles, how do you know which is the "staff" side?

[macintosh]

I was suggesting it was Empire Day celebrations in England.

James

[Wiggy]

Thought you were - just answering MAJM who seemed to be saying Aussie.   

Maybe I misunderstood her!   

[majm]

Thought you were - just answering MAJM who seemed to be saying Aussie.   

Maybe I misunderstood her!   

I wasn't exactly clear in my words.    I am not saying Aussie, but I am not ruling it out either.  It could depend on the actual 'season' 

  There are many instances in NSW rural districts where the schoolyards were full of "English" trees right up until far more recent times.   

   If it were Empire Day, and in Australia, it would be late autumn.  So the leaves should be falling off the deciduous  trees, and the girls costumes are in need of a cardigan or so to keep them a bit warmer.

  I mentioned the clothing rations and the hand me downs etc in case that type of situation also applied in Britain.   

  I mentioned the flag issue, as the use of the Union Jack does not restrict the children's parade to just Britain.  In the 1950s the British Commonwealth of Nations still covered much of the globe, and the "Sun never sets of the Union Jack" was still a valid construct.

This link takes you to a search engine for some of the many photos at the NSW State Records Office.  Only some of the photos have been fully catalogued/indexed etc.   But a keyword search using  "Empire Day" there, or perhaps at Google Images may advance the quest 

http://investigator.records.nsw.gov.au/asp/photosearch/

Cheers,  JM

[majm]

Keyword "empire" at NSW SRO photo thingy 1941

http://investigator.records.nsw.gov.au/asp/photosearch/photo.asp?15051_a047_000027



Cheers,  JM

[Gadget]

The original poster thinks it was probably in Yorkshire 

Also, chances are that it was a village fete/carnival/gala which were held in July/August each year in the 'olden days'. They didn't commemorate anything apart from summer and school holidays - I remember them from the early 1950s. Mum made me a fairy costume for one such even - all stiff white organdie

I don't remember us having any special Empire Day celebrations.