Festival children’s rides “very expensive” reports Councillor

Children’s rides at this year’s Bradley Stoke Community Festival were considered “very expensive” by some parents, according to one Councillor speaking at a meeting of the Town Council’s Leisure, Youth & Amenities Committee earlier this week.

Rides at the Community Fair held on Saturday at the Jubilee Centre are provided by commercial operators in return for a fee that benefits the Mayor’s chosen charity.

Accounts circulated at the meeting showed that one operator was charged £800 for six units (food outlets and rides) and another £150 for two units (hook-a-duck and shooting game).

Robert Goodwin of Re-energize, the management company employed by the Council to oversee the Festival, told the Committee he had no control over the prices charged but promised to “encourage operators to keep charges low” at next year’s event.

Mr Goodwin estimated that over 5,000 adults and children attended Saturday’s Community Fair, which he felt was slightly down on previous years “but still good considering the number of [other] events, concerts and Jubilee celebrations taking place all over the Bristol area”.

The Council had budgeted £22,424 for the staging of this year’s Festival and the accounts show spending (so far) of £21,494, with £10,750 of that being the management fee paid to Re-energize.

Mayor Charlotte Walker’s chosen charities, which are the Alzheimer’s Society and the Have a Heart ChildLine Appeal, have so far benefited from £3,291 raised from stallholders and entry fees to the cricket tournament.

With the latter event having to be cancelled for the second year running due to poor weather, Cllr Ben Walker suggested that the Council look into the possibility of replacing it with a football tournament.

A full report on this year’s Community Festival is contained within the draft minutes of the Committee meeting [MS Word, 2.4MB].

Photo: Crowd at the 2012 Bradley Stoke Community Festival.