The weather always shines on the gambo race and with no exception to the rule, it was a glorious day for this years event yet again. Setting out on my journey to capture this years event I caught sight of The Red Baron & The RAF at The Cornelly Arms, time for some pics here, then I caught sight of Mrs Joan Sergent setting up her stall at The New House, again some more pics (These are in the New House & Arms Section), the rest of the story can be viewed throughout this part of the Kenfig.org website.

Amazing crowds throughout the entire day enroute - some began sitting on the grassed area opposite Cornelly Arms / New House at midday (about 3-4 hrs before the gambo's get to this destination).

Carnival atmosphere was the order of the day... A special thank you to local Pc Neville Evans and the rest of South Wales Police for marshalling the event, this made our work in documenting the day a little easier without some of the traffic problems normally encountered.

Thanks to the Mayor of Bridgend County Borough Council, Councillor Mari Jones and her consort, Mrs Violet Codi, together with local County Borough Councillor Jeff Tildesley for the incredibly difficult task of judging the gambo's and their teams.

The 2007 event winners were Aliens & Space Craft representing The Royal British Legion, Pyle - Well done, a first for the Legion and for a an amazing craft and costumes. The Alien heads were ontop of the shoulders of each team member, their proper faces hidden by a veiled headpiece. For the onlooker, the eyes were automatically drawn towards the alien heads making for a very realistic and somewhat frightening experience - ingenious costumes and idea.

I believe there were a few little outbursts of misbehaviour enroute throughout the day, yet these were dealt with swiftly. In general, the day and event went about with ease and a pleasant and happy day was had by all.

There were a few exceptions to this however, I did feel for a few people who travelled to the area for lunch in a few pubs enroute and found themselves stranded there until they were able to leave after the gambo race procession had left that establishment. The event however, was well advertised beforehand in the local press and on the local radio station Bridge FM, togther with here on the Kenfig.org website.

A huge load of litter was left discarded around the gambo race route, especially on the grassed area opposite the Cornelly Arms / New House Inn, this I believe was cleaned up by bar staff from both establishments and Councillor Tildesley, well done folks.

The introduction of The Gambo Rock Festival at Pyle RFC this year was in my own judgement a great success and I certainly wish this event to be a permanent part of the Gambo Race day in the future. I was hoping to capture the entire event with photos of all bands and artists, I sadly only captured local rock band Lemon at the ground. Not singling out this band in preference over others who were playing here, I did enjoy their music and took a number of photos of this band whilst I was at Pyle RFC.

Members of the community who were at Pyle RFC during the rock festival were partying, signing and dancing to the music in the field alongside the portible music stage.

On leaving Pyle RFC heading back to The Cornelly Arms / New House Inn, people were in their gardens partying to the music from the Gambo Rock Festival which could heard in some parts of North Cornelly enroute in the direction in which I was travelling. The evening was still, warm and in party mode.

There was only one piece of sad and unwanted news regarding the rock festival in that I received an email from Eifion, a band member of Lemon who advised that he had his guitar stolen at this venue at the end of the night. This is a terrible piece of news for an otherwise fantastic day of community cooperation and spirit, spoiled by an act of theft of someone else's property. The Gambo Race attracts people from all over the country and indeed the world, it would be wrong and indeed immoral to place blame on the local community for this act of wrong doing, unless that it emerges the local communuity were involved with this dispicable act.

I have deliberately included the above in this years so called speech as Eifion's guitar was not only precious to him but also a part of his music equipment and livelyhood - If my camera were stolen in a similar manner then there would be no Gambo Pics to view... I hope the culprit(s) are caught and justice is served.

I am attempting to document the annual gambo race in a fair, unbiased manner and entrust that the above details will not deter the relevant organisations from continuing the Gambo Rock Festival in the future. It was a great experience and will encourage others in the community to follow suit.

Well done everyone associated with the running of the gambo race and all those who were working in the pubs enroute - you did a fantastic job.

Rob Bowen - Chairperson / Webmaster Kenfig.org Local Community Group