Dear Sir
Recently I attended a meeting of the Recreation Committee of the Town Council on behalf of Neville Community Centre in respect of applications for funding support, submitted by myself, for events during the Aycliffe Festival 2016.
To say I was disappointed in the lack of detail and discussion of this Flagship Event promoting all that is good about the town and the so called Community Spirit I frequently read about in your publication, was an understatement.
Early this year the community, was asked to submit applications for support in providing entertainment during this period. At our community centre the volunteers had a discussion as to what type of function would suit the various age groups and finalised our submission to twelve events. On behalf of the volunteers I completed the application forms and submitted them for consideration by the Festival Working Group.
Acknowledgement was received and I awaited, in trepidation, for a favourable outcome. In your publication dated 11th March 2016 I read an article in respect of the Festival informing readers that ‘Elvis’ was to perform at the Aycliffe Festival, also in the same article it stated that “as well as Elvis, Kinexus and Betcha By Golly Wow are scheduled to perform at Neville Parade Community Centre this year”. Also within the same article it stated “the Festival Working Group has booked a ‘Party in the Park’, “Aycliffe Village Hall Association’s Music Night will run again in 2016, buy your tickets early as it was a sell out in 2015!”, Another immensely successful event in 2015 was the Music Night at the Workingmen’s Club and this too will run again this year’.
At the committee meeting Councillor Ken Robson asked why of the 12 event applications submitted by the Community Centre only seven were approved with reduced funding and five of the events, three of which were mentioned in the Newton News, were promoted as being scheduled to perform at the community centre.
Councillor Bob Fleming explained the reasoning behind this decision was that there were too many similar events being held! I then spoke to the committee on the application process by the community centre and asked why the seven approved events had their funding applications reduced when four of the five approved events by other organisations were granted full funding; especially as the Workingmen’s Club had a drinks licence and will make money on drinks sales. Our Community Centre has no such licence and relies purely on volunteer support. I did not receive an answer to this question and the only reply was one I found insulting in that we should not have booked artistes until approval was received.
After further deliberation on this matter I would like answers to the following questions:
* In respect of “Similar Events” are the two approved music nights different from the ones not approved in our submission?
* Did the council give pre-approval for the Festival Working Group to book the two parties in the park?
* Why did the Festival Working Group tell the public that the events in the Working Men’s Club and Aycliffe Village Hall Association were going ahead before approval by the Council?
* Why did the Festival Working Group give full funding to themselves and the other two organisations and not ourselves?
* How many members of the public are on the Festival Working Group to provide some form of ‘checks and balances’ to the process?
* Were the decisions made down to one organisation taking the bull by the horns and doing something positive?
* Was the final decisions as to full or partial funding and which events are suitable or not suitable just typical machinations of the decision processes of the Council in general?
Stanley T Wise
Neville Community Centre.