The Belper Games Strike Back

The Sixth Annual Belper Games lands on July 14^th at Belper Rugby Club, and once again the team have pulled out all the stops.

Belper’s biggest community and charity event returns this July, and unbelievably it’s grown again.

Now in its 6th year and after the huge success of last year’s weekend event the organisers are doing it all over again from 14th of July until the 16th, with a vast array of things to keep everyone entertained.

Organiser Jim Bull said: “We would like to thank all our sponsors this year who all get to advertise at the event, in particular Wheeldon Brothers Ltd who are our main sponsor this year. The help of local businesses is of paramount importance to ensure the setup costs for the event are kept as low as possible which ultimately means we can give much more to the charities.”

After taking about 3 weeks off to recover from the phenomenal success of 2016 where the team raised over £31,000 for 4 charities, they began planning again with the same drive, passion and humour that has seen the Games grow year-on-year to become a stalwart of the Belper (possibly Derbyshire!) summer time.

To date the Games have raised over £80,000 for charity and it attracted around 10,000 visitors over the weekend last year.

Friday

Movie night returns after huge success last year with two classic films in the form of ‘The Jungle Book’ and ‘The Goonies’ from 6pm also kicking off the weekend long real ale and cider festival, perfect for a picnic on a summer evening and “Free Entry”.

Advanced entry wristbands for the Saturday’s event are already on sale via the Belper Games Facebook page but will also be available on the Friday night so you can beat the queues for the big day.

Saturday

The main attraction, hundreds of people will dress up as teletubbies, get covered in foam, mud and bodily fluids, sustain many mean looking bruises and make complete fools of themselves all in the name of charity. It’s going to be completely bonkers this year as we have some new games and a record 32 teams which were booked up by the end of January.

Those who don’t want to take part in the wrestling, running and general mayhem in the main arena can take advantage of everything else that’ll be laid on, the hot food quarter, outdoor real ale and cider bar (all proceeds from this bar go straight to the charities) , kids rides, market stalls, the Showground, Gillies Leap Fun Dog Shows, the live music that will be happening all day across 2 stages and THEN as if that’s not enough you can go straight through to the Aftershow Party where there will be a smorgasbord of excellent bands to keep festivalgoers dancing until late featuring R:ED, The Barnie Rubblz, The Sarah Knight Band and headlining are the mighty Wheatabix.

Sunday

Music at the Games is fast becoming as big a feature as the Games themselves. The all-day music festival returns across two stages, featuring some incredible live acts who cover many genres – including two absolute legends:

Chris Helme (The Seahorses) is back by popular demand
Mark Morriss (The Bluetones) will also be playing a set.
Also to close the show will be the amazing Jasper in the Company of Others

Plus all the usual food, bar, kids rides and more.

Total Wipeout is also back with some new games including ‘The Big Red Balls’  and a rodeo rugby ball of all things, for kids and big kids alike.

Organiser, Nick Wheeler, said: “We never could have predicted the way this event would grab the love and attention of the people of Belper, let’s keep it going.”

Another organiser, Kerry, said: “You would be absolutely bonkers to miss this year, there is so much going on.”

The whole event kicks off on Friday 14th July and takes place at Belper Rugby Club, Derby Road, Belper DE56 1UU.

Find tickets, information and much more at facebook.com/thebelpergames or look for us on Twitter/Instagram @thebelpergames

Photographs courtesy of Front Row Films