Buford: Could you send me an application form? cikalis italia But despite this being the biggest union gathering of the calendar, gala day is not really about the speeches or the politicians. It's mostly about the banners, the bands and the beer. Like military colours, the banners carry the soul of an organisation. Church and Sunday school banners do the same. I know it sounds obvious, but banners exist in organisations that like to march about a lot. And such organisations go in for this sort of public pageantry, because, in their different ways, they want to get out and change the world. Union banners have evangelistic intent. They want colourfully to proclaim the nobility of union membership and the virtues of social solidarity.