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Organisers confirm Peterborough’s Firework Fiesta has been cancelled
Fireworks Fiesta at Ferry Meadows in 2009. Picture: Ben Davis/Peterborough ET
Hopes of a rescue package for one of the biggest and most colourful events on Peterborough’s events calendar have gone up in smoke after organisers confirmed there would be no Firework Fiesta this year.
The organising committee for the Fireworks Fiesta, which has wowed families in the city for more than 30 years, confirmed there would be no event taking place in the city this Bonfire Night.
The spectacular annual event had been set to take place on Saturday, November 5 at Ferry Meadows but the Nene Park Trust, which runs the park, said it could not hold it earlier this month.
There had been hopes that it could take place at the East of England Showground, but this was not possible because of the World Seniors Snooker Championship is being held there the same weekend.
But Colin Harrison, chairman of the Rotary Club of Peterborough, which organises the spectacle, said he had been left with no choice but to cancel the event.
He said: “As the Nene Park Trust only gave us their decision to cancel eight weeks away from the event on November 5 it was always going to be difficult to find an alternative venue and put in place all the plans at such short notice.”
Mr Harrison said they had been told the reason for the Nene Park Trust’s cancellation was due to problems with their traffic plan - but they had not been told what the specific problems had been.
He added: “If we had been told there was something we needed to improve - such as the need for more marshals - then we would have done that. But we were told nothing.”
Following the announcement, the Mayor of Peterborough councillor Paula Thacker spoke of her anger at the event’s cancellation.
She said: “I am so disappointed. I am really upset because I feel for the community of Peterborough. There are thousands of people who go to enjoy themselves every year and also it raises thousands of pounds for city charities. It will also mean people will have displays at home, which is dangerous for children.
“I am astonished nothing could have been done to hold the event in Ferry Meadows.”
James McCulloch, chief executive of the Nene Park Trust, said: “It is unfortunate that the Firework Fiesta was not able to meet our requests.
“It was last December that we first raised serious issues about the 2011 event and the trust has been talking to the organisers for about eight to nine months.”
Since the event was first held in 1976 more than 40 Peterborough charities have benefited from the £500,000 raised by the event.
April Flynn, secretary of the Peterborough Multiple Sclerosis Society, said: “It is groups like us that benefit most from these events. All donations are vital and lots of people get enjoyment from it.”
David Bache, from Age UK Peterborough, added: “The event has always been very supportive of Age UK and it will be enormously disappointing for a lot of Peterborough charities to hear this.”
Response from Nene Park Trust Board
PAUL Hutton, chairman of the Nene Park Trust board of directors, backed chief executive James McCulloch’s decision to cancel Fireworks Fiesta.
He said: “The board were advised over the summer that it may not be possible for the Firework Fiesta Committee to meet the requirements for running the 2011 event in Ferry Meadows.
“At a board meeting on September 15, it was reported by the chief executive that despite the trust’s senior management team and Peterborough Safety Advisory Group working supportively with the Firework Fiesta Committee to try and resolve various outstanding issues, the committee had still been unable to satisfy them of their ability to run the 2011 event in Ferry Meadows.
“This was particularly in relation to traffic management in an event which has now grown considerably over recent years. The board were therefore advised that the event application had not been approved by the trust, and that the committee had already been advised to seek alternative locations. Although this is purely an operational matter and does not require board consent, it was noted and supported by all board members.”
Fellow board member, city councillor Sam Dalton also added her support for the cancellation of the event by Mr McCulloch.
She said: “I went to Firework Fiesta last year and it has got too big for Nene Park so I completely understand and support the board’s decision.
“I like to see fireworks but they are a huge issue for the city’s wildlife and carbon footprint.
“I don’t think it has happened in Peterborough, to my knowledge, but in other cities big firework displays see birds and bats fall from the sky dead due to the shock of the explosions from fireworks.
“I cringe watching fireworks go up so close to wildlife’s natural habitat so I am pleased that the wildlife at Nene Park has been saved from Firework Fiesta this year, but I am disappointed for the families in the city.
“With our carbon footprint to consider, I would much rather see a smaller event somewhere in the city away from nature reserves.”
What do you think about the cancellation and responses?
Contact our news team by email news@peterboroughtoday.co.uk, telephone 01733 588719, on Twitter - @peterboroughet or use our Have Your Say - online form
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Wednesday 22 February 2012
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Comments
There are 34 comments to this article
Page 1 of 3
tcronin
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 10:21 PMIf councillor Sam Dalton is so concerned for the carbon footprint for the Park.... why did she and her NPT members obtain a public display licence for events for up to 5000 people last year? How were the 1900 cars in the park on the 7th Aug this year for one of her board's events any endorsement of her concerns for the carbon footprint?
Amanda J Porter
Monday, October 3, 2011 at 04:56 PMYeah! Let's ban everything!
Peterborian
Sunday, October 2, 2011 at 08:50 PMBest thing Ive heard all year! about time the whole country followed suit and the government passed a law banning the selling of fireworks full stop!!!
redacted
Friday, September 30, 2011 at 12:30 AM29 Ken Tucky: I understand they control lots of land.
bigposhfan
Friday, September 30, 2011 at 12:22 AMThis is really bad news for the city. The Firework Fiesta was always a well run, genuinely impressive event that brought people together. To cancel it weeks before it happens is nothing less than pathetic. We have lost something very special and I fear it will be repaced with ad hoc, unsafe firework events across the city. I can't believe that this couldn't have been sorted out a long time before this and worry it is yet another sign that Nene Park is becoming increasingly concerned about maximising profit while minimising effort. Does anyone else think that without them offering events like Firework Fiesta back to the city, then they're unlikely to pay the extortionate parking prices that Ferry Meadows charges in the summer months?
Ken Tucky
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 10:23 PMI think the Trust made the right decision and find it objectionable the way the ET has rounded on Trust board members as if they are somehow criminals in a 'name and shame' exercise. We haven't been to the Firework Fiesta for a few years. Last time we went the parking and congestion was hell, it was muddy and we were walking along paths which were barely lit. The event had clearly become too big for the access points and by modern standards it was unsafe. The Embankment is clearly a more suitable space.
owen
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 09:44 PMA lot of people are saying Ferry Meadows isn't a good place to host the firework fiesta yet you haven't been complaining every other year it's been hosted there? I'm sure the organisers do their best to minimise disruption to the wildlife. How many other towns and cities can host a firework show in such a beautiful location? Especially when the fireworks are going off above the lake, just makes that one night a year slightly more special. So instead of just moaning, how about actually doing something about it?
The Inquisitor
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 09:30 PMI've got to be honest I don't think Nene Park is the best place for a Fireworks display even though it's been there for years. It isn't good for the wildfowl and other animals in the parkland as any pet owner will appreciate. But they should have thought about and indicated their intentions a lot sooner and found a suitable alternative location. It will however mean a bumper year for the smaller displays locally such as the Yaxley Scouts annual display.
redacted
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 08:44 PMI would say they've lost their nerve. Homeless vagrants, gang fights, muggings, thousands of drunks, as Charlie Swift is fond of saying, "standing there, holding a can, having a slash.". That's what they fear.
J J Carter
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 07:42 PMI hope this DOESN'T mean 1000s will now descend on Bretton Park! I don't want everyone and their dog trying to park in Pyhill and Langley when the Bretton Centre is full. The Police should close the roads except to residents.
mummy53
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 06:31 PMdont like the ferry meadows display , i will be attending the display at BRETTON RUGBY CLUB where they do the display to music , the company that do do are brill and my kids love it .
TheKorat
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 05:41 PMBoo chuffing Hoo.. who FRIGGING cares?, as long as the Beer Festival doesn't leave us I support this descision.. It's been past it's sell by date for years..
Lazy Daisy
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 05:30 PMWhy don't the firework lovers stop whinging and go to one of the other smaller charity displays in the area?
Rofrof
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 05:17 PMNene Park Trust sound like a right load of killjoy jobsworths. Who elected these people anyway?
butterfly
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 05:04 PMIt is an enormous pity all this was not dealt with much earlier in the year to enable to organisers to find an alternative venue. There will now be thousands of people setting off enormous fireworks in small gardens unsafely, scaring the very young, the elderly and pets as well as the wildlife that lives everywhere in the city not just at Ferry Mradows. How many fires and accidents are going to happen because there is no-where for people to take children to see a safe display? Some of the fireworks on sale to the public these days are far to big to be set off in gardens. The days of Dad setting off small catherine wheels attatched to the fence, and pretty little popping sparkly things with the odd banger are things of the past. Now fireworks are almost display items and pretty dangerous in the wrong hands. And before the usual suspects start their insults, I love fireworks when they are part of an organised display or somewhere where they don't upset people who are unhappy about them, they lift the spirits in an otherwise miserable month. Shame the powers that be at Ferry Meadows could not have allowed one last display and then an alternative could have been sorted for future years.
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