THE FLOAT FOR THE BELFAST LORD MAYOR'S SHOW (5th May 1980) - Page one
Let's start with some facts:- At one time there were 43 volunteers building this Float. They were from the Ulster Hospital Radio; Ards Hospital Radio; Mater Hospital Radio and the Royal Hospital Radio, aka. Radio Royal. (Full names given for the search engines)
The float was decorated with 6,000 paper flowers made by over 100 occupational therapy patients from four hospitals. (Ards; Downshire; RVH and Purdysburn)
Companies who supported us with donations of materials included:-
Northern Ireland Paper Mill (Larne) | Tissue paper for the flowers |
George Bates and sons | Wire for the paper flowers |
Dennison Trailers | Lorry |
Fisher Crawford Material Handling | Made the "beds" |
Kee Engineering | Made the "beds" |
Wilfred Green Photography | Took (and donated) coloured photos of the float for the patients who made the flowers. |
Perspective Display | Supplied dummy limbs for the "beds" |
Emergency Equipment Co. | Coats, masks and hospital drip feeds. |
Phil Flannery (Plant Hire) | Lent us the huge shed in which to build the float |
Crepe Weavers | Material |
Primark | Costumes for the girls |
Total length of float, including the 'beds' which followed the lorry, was approximately 90 feet.
"Percy" was at the front of the lorry. That's the same "Percy" which won the Dundonald float award three weeks earlier on the 19th April
Below is a Black and White photo which shows Percy and the girls on the lorry clearer.
There now follows several pages showing the fun we had with this project.