LIKE many of the best parties the Durham Miners’ Gala has always had an element of turn up, have a drink, and enjoy the ride.

Full guide to this year's Miners' Gala

Strict organisation has never been high on the agenda. Indeed, the freewheeling, carefree attitude on display at the annual union gathering is at the heart of its appeal. If you are looking for a prim and proper day out in July then best head to Wimbledon. The Big Meeting is an altogether more rambunctious affair where drinks are taken, passions stirred, and crowds squeezed over bridges and through narrow winding streets. It is exhausting just to think about it.

This year a bumper attendance is expected with some predicting more than 200,000 will turn up to watch the parade of banners, hear colliery bands and head to the racecourse for speeches by left-wingers and Labour luminaries who seem to regard last month’s general election defeat as a victory - deluded or defiant depending on your point of view.

Tradition may be its watchword but even the Gala is being forced to change. Recent terror attacks, and the ongoing fear that any large gathering of people represents a potential target, mean that Saturday’s event will be more streamlined than normal.

The presence of armed police along the parade route may sadden some traditionalists who are used to the Gala being an event which largely polices itself. The size of crowds expected also means a long-established tradition in which every brass band pauses outside the County Hotel to play for speakers gathered on the balcony will be scaled back.

The traditions of the Gala are what brings people back each year, but easing some conventions in the name of safety is a price worth paying.

*This week's Durham Times is a Miners' Gala Special with exclusive interviews, pictures from Big Meetings of yesteryear, features on new banners being unfurled on Saturday and Jeremy Corbyn on why he's looking forward to the UK's biggest annual celebration of working class history. On sale from Friday for only 60p.