News Rockers head
for Mote Park SOME of the world’s rock legends will be on their way to Maidstone to play at the first-ever Ramblin’ Man Fair next summer. Fans from across America and Europe are expected to flock to the county town to hear sets from the likes of Marillion, Camel, The Scor- pions and Gregg Allman. Created by The Rock Collective
and sponsored by TeamRock, the gig should appeal to middle-aged rockers and heavy metal fans, al- though it will also include plat- forms for country music and blues. The two-day event, on July 25
and 26, will offer camping facilities as well as luxury accommodation and hospitality packages. Bill Moss, town centre manager
said:“We are expecting huge inter- est from all over the world.” Marillion is the most successful
band to emerge from the UK’s 1980s neo-progressive rock scene and has sold more than 15 million albums. It was band of the year at the Progressive Music Awards in 2013.
Band member Steve Hogarth
said: “Mote Park is just a hop across the Channel, so the Ramblin’ Man Fair is recommended to our Euro- pean fans aswell as the Brits.”
downsmail.co.uk
River festival ‘will go ahead without backing’
MAIDSTONE’S popular river fes- tival will return in summer 2015 – but without formal borough coun- cil backing. Medway River Boaters organised
theirowninformal “boat gathering” last summer after the town’s official river festival folded through lack of funding. More than 100 boats sailed into town on the last weekend of July in 2014, with some staying up to 10 days. Mark Smurthwaite has enthusias-
tic support from councillors Dave Naghi and Gordon Newton, who are going to help him organise the event on theweekend of July 25-26. Mr Smurthwaite says a small or- ganising committee has been formed and more details will be announced in the spring but said: “The river fes- tival will go on, but it will be run to- tally independently without any involvement of MBC.” At its peak, the festival pulled in
up to 10,000 visitors but the eco- nomic climate, together with health and safety issues, mean costs have been rising and administration has become more complex.
Despite a plea from the organiser
for pre-event publicity, Maidstone Council, which aims to save £1m in 2015-16, says it cannot lend its sup- port in 2015. The 2015 event clashes with the Ramblin’ManFair at MotePark and council leader Annabelle Blackmore says there are insufficient resources – both within the council and the po- lice – to cope with two major events on the same date. Cllr Blackmore said: “The organ-
isers failed to come up with a busi- ness plan – and you cannot organise this type of event without a plan. “We do not have the resources, in
terms of clean-up costs alone, to cover both these events. Ramblin’ Man will be part of next year’s UK festival calendar. It is expected to at- tract 30,000 festival-goers over the weekend and hotel and guest ac- commodation is booking fast. “Maidstone Council's events and environment enforcement teams will be fully engaged with the or- ganisers to ensure it runs smoothly and withminimumdisruption to the residents of Maidstone.
“The river festival proposers have
not supplied information on how they would steward their event, deal with traffic or safeguard the public on thisweekend or on any other.” Mr Smurthwaite, from Boughton Monchelsea, one of the three main drivers behind the 2014 “gathering” said plans were already well ad- vanced, with a local company keen to organise a raft race. The council asked the boaters if
they would change the date and hold the festival on the previous weekend. But Mark said: “It has been held on that weekend for the past 35 years. “As far as I am concerned, this is
just another excuse. “I’ve no idea why the council doesn’t support this event – it brought lots of people into town, who spent lots of money. There are plenty of businesses along the river which benefit and, with sponsor- ship, it could be even better.” Maidstone Council says it is look-
ing at ways of promoting events in the town centre and making greater use of the river as an amenity.
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