The future of Market Drayton Carnival is in doubt after organisers threatened to resign over a row with the town’s council.Every member of the seven-strong committee is now planning to stand down at the group’s forthcoming annual general meeting, because they say that without some financial support from Market Drayton Town Council they cannot afford to organise the annual event.
The move comes after the group stumped up the entire £13,000 needed for this year’s event, because it did not receive a grant from the council.
Committee vice-chairman Roy Blase said the group usually had a £3,000 grant from the town council.
But this year it received nothing because councillors said that they did not receive the grant application in time.
He said all the committee members would resign, because they could not afford to be personally liable for the carnival’s costs.
And he warned if no-one came forward to take over at the AGM on September 1, the carnival would not go ahead next year.
Mr Blase said: “As a committee, if you organise an event you are liable for any costs and because this year we had no money left in the kitty to start, we are not willing to put ourselves in financial difficulty to put a carnival on.
“We’ve spent four hours every Monday night and most Tuesday nights for 12 months giving up our time for free and we ask the council for £3,000 and they say they have not received the grant application.”
Town mayor Rob Bentley said he was “vastly disappointed” with the committee’s decision.
“This actually comes as a shock,” he said.
“There has got to be rules and regulations. If they didn’t put their grant in early enough you can hardly blame that on the council.
He added: “My understanding was the chairman and certain officials were resigning because they thought they had done enough towards it and wanted someone else to take over.”
The carnival has been running for more than 10 years and normally attracts crowds of about 5,000.
The AGM will be held at Jeffro’s Bar in High Street, Market Drayton, at 7.30pm.
By Abigail Bates and Deborah Collins
One Comment
I’ve got an idea. Why dont the Market Drayton folk drop their objection to the proposed wind-farm and perhaps Nuon Renewables (The wind-farm people) would sponsor the carnival?
Love thy neighbour and all that!
Lets face it the Council are far too busy to bend the rules for an honest mistake. You can’t expect them to stop their paper clip audit just for the sake of Drayton’s highlight of the year.