Bray Summerfest Cancelled

B0jangles

I've come across Steven Matthews a few times and he's always seemed to be a very decent and reasonable person and I think the post quoted above make some very valid points.

zoobizoo

Yep, I know him and he is.

In relation this this though the Summerfest aren't a limited company so audited accounts aren't needed (that's the law). If the council put that in as part of their conditions for funding, then why not do that instead. Asking for something to be done rather than insinuate financial shenanigans after the decision had been made might have been a better way to deal with it.

According to the town's finance guy who also sits on the Summerfest Committee, the Councillors never requested any accounts at any time- they have now received them after the decision was made.

Other councillors wanted to hold off on making the decision until the committee had been allowed to make a presentation but the vote went ahead - that info is all in the minutes of the meeting. Again, why not talk to the stakeholders involved - and according to the Use of Seafront policy, the Summerfest committee are stakeholders

Oldlegs

zoobizoo wrote: »

...

According to the town's finance guy who also sits on the Summerfest Committee, the Councillors never requested any accounts at any time- they have now received them after the decision was made.

...

Not sure this is in line with what Steven Matthews is saying on his blog.

"There were a number of other changes and updates. The changes do not come into effect until 2016 and the festival this year remains untouched.
..
The council did not 'cancel' the summerfest ... The committee has not verified that the festival is cancelled....

....
Since 2004 .. asked for accounts and information .... Until the last meeting (March 23rd 2015) these accounts were never provided. The figures presented have generated many more questions that need to be answered.
...
I spoke with the operators and they can set up and make profit in the 15 days.
"

All looks reasonable to me - but maybe his version of events is different to what others people's views of events were.

zoobizoo

The council never requested accounts directly. Maybe it was mooted that 'the accounts should be looked at.

Which operators were spoken to? Could be the operator who used to run the funfair but then lost out on the tendering process over the last number of years as he didn't reach the criteria. That's not just down to money but sound levels, opening times, the types of rides they wanted to bring etc

Also, the new operator has reduced the number of rides by 60% and has not brought in any of the massive rides or put anything beach side of the seafront railings. They have also brought in rides that had been on the seafront 100 years ago...

If the question asked was "can you make a profit in fifteen days?" was asked then the answer would be yes.

If the question asked was "can you make a profit, including giving over x amount of money to fund the free events, the money that is presently given to the Airshow by the present funfair provider, the free tickets for the seafront residents, and provide a cleaning service?" then the answer would have been no.

Oldlegs

zoobizoo wrote: »

The council never requested accounts directly. Maybe it was mooted that 'the accounts should be looked at.

Which operators were spoken to? ....

If the question asked was "can you make a profit in fifteen days?" was asked then the answer would be yes.

If the question asked was "can you make a profit, .... then the answer would have been no.

How much if this is what you surmise vs. what you know actually took place or was discussed ?

I am just trying to get up to speed on what people know actually happened vs. what politicians are claiming took place or vs. what people think may have happened.

WeleaseWoderick

Zoobizoo, you seem to know a fair bit about the Summerfest processes and planning.

Was there any alternatives looked at to replace the funfair shortfall? e.g. sponsorship of the airshow, increased contributions from local businesses, general fundraisers?

zoobizoo

In terms of were the accounts ever asked for - it is a fact that they never were. The administrative officer on the town council staff and who does the books has said that.

In terms of the operators - that's me having a guess at the conversation.... that other operator can and does make a profit from the St. PAtricks DAy festival that comes in for a week but isn't making a large contribution that would be needed to fund a four weekend festival.

zoobizoo

WeleaseWoderick wrote: »

Zoobizoo, you seem to know a fair bit about the Summerfest processes and planning.

Was there any alternatives looked at to replace the funfair shortfall? e.g. sponsorship of the airshow, increased contributions from local businesses, general fundraisers?

Not too sure about that Welease...

I guess if a bucket collection was done at the Airshow it could some money as a fundraiser but the

Local businesses do contribute but there will always be those who don't.

sallymomo

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

I found some interesting different perspectives on this alright.

The attacks from a mobilised group of one party against the festival committee are frankly disgusting.

I have been alerted to a facebook page(s) that are out there where the shinnerbot keyboard warriors are being quite agressive in their questioning of one of the members of the committee, the same kind that you will find on other threads on here - never answer a question without a question but when on the offensive they go steaming in. As you say Joey, its frankly disgusting.
From what I have heard, the airshow is on, the funfair and 1 night of music, which means the majority of events are off, market, family events etc. I am not surprised given the online abuse as just 1 reason why people wouldn't be bothered giving up their free time to run events for the town.

As for the accounts situation, it has been highlighted and agreed that the accounts were never asked for before; any spin around this is exactly that, political spin.

I think I won't even follow these threads from afar anymore because its just not worth it.

ps Vote Yes, #MarRef, I will be

zoobizoo

sallymomo wrote: »

I have been alerted to a facebook page(s) that are out there where the shinnerbot keyboard warriors are being quite agressive in their questioning of one of the members of the committee, the same kind that you will find on other threads on here - never answer a question without a question but when on the offensive they go steaming in. As you say Joey, its frankly disgusting.

That's what it's looking like. A piece of information are fed to supporters and then that gets thrown at the committee. That gets rejected so another angle is attacked.

Then they started getting personal - active SF members demanded to see photos of the committee and get the names of all the volunteers.

Now, if you were volunteering and people were demanding to know who you were, making claims about you etc and wanted to know what you looked like, would you bother yer arse volunteering......

zoobizoo

The Summerfest line up is as follows:

Airshow on Sun July 19 - the food market will be there that weekend.
SMASH HITS on Sunday August 2nd - the bank holiday Monday
Fireworks Monday August 3rd.

The Funfair opens on July 12th and runs to Monday Aug 3rd. For anyone looking for a cheaper way to enjoy the funfair, the Summerfest Committee have organised discounted tickets - info available on their Facebook page.

NobodyImportant

Passed the carnival yesterday, the music is practically non existent, i bet the locals are happy with this.

From somebody who lives a road back with kids, it was a TINY bit missed, as in perhaps a little bit of background music (not thumping belgian hard house) to be heard in amongst the rides would be nice. Kinda seemed a little dead without it! (we are never happy eh?).

B0jangles

I live just across the road from it and the lower music volume has really made difference; we can now open the windows without being blasted with endless loops of the same three or four tracks for most of the day

zoobizoo

B0jangles wrote: »

I live just across the road from it and the lower music volume has really made difference; we can now open the windows without being blasted with endless loops of the same three or four tracks for most of the day

So would the locals be happy with 23 days of a Fun Fair next year if the music levels were the same?

B0jangles

zoobizoo wrote: »

So would the locals be happy with 23 days of a Fun Fair next year if the music levels were the same?

I can only speak for myself, but no, I wouldn't. Reducing the volume of the music has reduced the noise level from "unbearably loud" to "still pretty damn loud", since we still have the constant screaming to put up with.

Aside from my personal situation with regards to the noise problem, having the fair there for nearly a full month also destroys the grass every year, the fair operators are supposed to be responsible for restoring any damage done, but this never happens.

This is what it was like after last year:



Also having the fair there makes a good half of the green space unavailable to people to use as a place to sit out, have picnics, play with the kids etc., I personally know a good few people who normally walk on the prom who avoid the place when the fair is there, either because it's noisy to walk beside or because they have to deal with kids wanting to go on rides all the time.

Two weeks seems to me to be a reasonable compromise; any funding shortfall should be made up by the seafront businesses who profit from Summerfest.

WeleaseWoderick

B0jangles wrote: »

Two weeks seems to me to be a reasonable compromise; any funding shortfall should be made up by the seafront businesses who profit from Summerfest.

I'd definitely agree with this. Two weeks is more than fair in my eyes and don't see any reason why the seafront businesses wouldn't make up the difference.

Hopefully with a full year's notice, enough funds can be raised to bring back a bigger Summerfest next year.

hdowney

B0jangles wrote:

I live just across the road from it and the lower music volume has really made difference; we can now open the windows without being blasted with endless loops of the same three or four tracks for most of the day

Yup. I understand this. We had a couple weeks ago a visit from one of the Irish funfairs (not sure if the same one who does the Summerfest or not) and all the associated 'stuff' it brings with

garra

B0jangles wrote: »

I live just across the road from it and the lower music volume has really made difference; we can now open the windows without being blasted with endless loops of the same three or four tracks for most of the day

Likewise I live on sea-front and the reduced decibels from the fun-fair rides and the bands this year are a blessing.

One year I had to suffer the "mighty mouse" from my living-room window.. this was the smallest roller-caster ever made but they used music speakers worthy of the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, belting out a techno beat with someone shouting "Mighty Mouse" in a Dutch accent, on a loop every few minutes. Along side that you had people gawking in to the livingroom when the ride reached its max height. That literally drove me to despair and I had to move out of the house, thankfully a friend in town was going on holiday and I spent 2 blissfully peaceful weeks in Dublin city centre!!