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downsmail.co.uk Fears for Music on the Green
THE contract for running Bearsted’s popular Music on the Green event is to go out to tender. A special meeting of the parish council’s community committee was called after members ex- pressed concern that timewas run- ning out to organise the event, which is usually held on the late May bank holiday. Music on the Green began about
15 years ago as a one-day event for local families, but by 2012 it had blossomed into a two-day festival, which needed to comply with health and safety requirements, members heard. Cllr Denis Spooner said: “Music
on the Green has become a victim of its own success. We now get
thousands of people and it has to be run professionally by people who know what they are doing.” After a break in 2011, the last two
years’ events had been run by the council using the expertise of for- mer Cllr Barbara Dunford, who re- signed at the end of last year. Mrs Dunford, who now runs an
event organising company for char- ities and parish groups, had offered to help with organising the event this year free of charge, but her offerwas not taken up. Community committee chairman
Cllr Geoff Licence, who took over the role from Mrs Dunford, said he believed the event should remain “in house” and said: “I want to carry this forward as a community
event.” His son and fellow Cllr, Tim Licence, told the committee: “We have an event plan from pre- vious years, we can work with that.” Cllr Graham Farrow, who helped organise Music on the Green before joining the council, said: “I do not thinkwe [as a council] can do it.We had expertise in the past and now we do not.” Members agreed it was unlikely
the event would take place in May, as there was insufficient time to prepare and issue a tender docu- ment, butCllr Alan Rowe proposed the event be put out to tender with a view to it taking place at some point “this year”. Cllr Pat Marshall said she would
have preferred to see the event run in-house if possible but felt time constraints might push it back to September. Cllr Farrow said he had found
four event companies in Kent who had previous experience of organ- ising similar events who could be approached, once a tender docu- ment had been agreed. Exasperated parish council chair-
man Richard Ash said: “Here we are in February, talking about Music on the Green butwe have no music! We cannot advertise it. No one will pay for a ticket for nothing. “I had expected to see a pro- gramme by January.We cannot just keep discussing it – we actually have to do something.”
Charities boosted by carnival funds
A WHOPPING total of £8,000, raised by last year’s Bearsted and Thurnham Carnival and Fayre, has been presented to charities. The 33rd annual event resulted in £3,500 being handed to Macmil-
lan Cancer Support and a similar donation for Slide Away, which of- fers bereavement support for children and young people inWest Kent. A further £1,000 was given to local good causes who applied for funds. Carnival compere Malcolm Withnall said it was “a stunning
achievement” from the fayre, which attracted thousands of people and included the usual colourful parade fromMadginford to Bearsted Green.
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