Forum topic: Festival 2019

With several months of detailed work behind us preparing for Festival 2019 on Sunday 1st September, you will now start to see the odd communication. The Event Management Plan has been totally revamped and is ready to be presented to the Boroughs Security Advisory Group; the Palmers Greenery community café will hopefully be funding some of the additional public safety features required for 2019, items that will be available for other Friends of Broomfield Park events; and we’re seeing strong interest from many stallholders well before registration is open.

On the downside, we’re hitting a wall with a Premises License which, despite all the voluntary work to pull it all together, is still going to cost Festival almost £700 in unavoidable fees if there is to be alcohol available again. If we go ahead with that you will see an estimated 39 blue A4 sized notices all around the park for at least a month giving detail (it’s the law). What would really help us would be to have a volunteer on the core team who holds a personal license. So if that’s you, please get in touch via the festival web site or social media.
We had a brilliant response in November to a targeted call for volunteers but still need at least another ten to help at times during the day itself. It’s a community festival that needs the community to support, so if you can commit some time on the day, get in touch – the sooner the better so we can put that aspect to bed.
And , as always, cash it very tight. We have a five figure cost base to cover so if you want to donate or better still offer to sponsor some aspect, then again, get in touch.
We’re doing huge amounts but really need to know there’s an out-there tangibly behind us. We don’t want this one to go the way of the Town Show – do we?

37 Premises Licence notices now surround the park. In an extraordinary example of sheer luck, or the unbelievable accuracy of Google when used to measure distance, Festival’s estimate for the number of notices, required at 50m intervals, was pretty much spot on.

Yet another factor from the success of Festival, this year is the first when it’s been necessary to apply for a Premises License. Pale blue notices, no smaller than A4, with black font no smaller than size 16 are required at intervals of no more than 50m as part of the necessary processes to bring this to the general public’s attention. They’ll be there for at least a month.

Tangentially it’s good PR awareness for Festival but also another new cost, in this case about £700 (mostly required press advertising fees, laminating and leg work come free). Add that to many other similar scale fees for eg WC’s, insurances, litter collection, marketing and many more and this really is very tight budget community event.

We’re putting the 10 months or so of background effort in to make it a success on the day. We’ll keep it free, for now, but there is a donation button on the web site if you feel inclined. It really does make a difference.

If anyone should notice a vandalised or missing notice, please make Festival aware by mail, posting on here or other means. it's important notices are in place for a full 28 days to avoid any potential problems which in the extreme could threaten Festival 2019.

You can contact the organisers at and you can donate at www.palmersgreenfestival.org.uk/support-us.

The exhibition of human monstrosities is STRICTLY PROHIBITED, so says part of requirement clause 44 in one of Festival’s many approval letters. But as always, everyone will be welcome, so even if you don’t like what you see in the mirror on Sunday 1st September, come along anyway - just don’t make an exhibition of yourself.
Our Premises License saga ticks along and all official Notices are now down from the park boundary (only 2 of 40 part vandalised in 28 days); the near £500 for our Occasional Sales License is paid and the Council are assessing the associated stall layout plan; £400 for insurance goes out next week; we’ve paid the DTI air wave license fee, and so on. Not a great cash flow situation so muchus thanks to the volunteer team at The Palmers Greenery Cafe who are diverting some profits to supply safety kit we need for Festival 2019. There’ll be more on that another time.
We’re experiencing a high level of requests to take part on the pop-up stage which proved a big success in its trial last year. If we have a budding entertainment manager out there, or someone who simply wants to do a little bit of coordinating to bring it all together, then there’s a new role waiting just for you. Contact us via the festival web site. The sooner the better. Do it now.