copy of email from Jan:-

Dear All

First of all let me re-iterate that the 2005 Festival is safe and will take place over the 4 days of Easter as usual.

It is towards the 2006 Festival we must now be looking - the local Lancaster and Morcambe Council have decided that the majority of the Festival Programmes will be discontinued - The survivors are the Punk Festival in Morcambe, The Jazz Festival in Lancaster, The Fireworks in Lancaster and The Heritage Festival in Morcambe. Another large festival to have lost out is The Festival of Light and Water in Morcambe together with the popular features of local walks etc.

However now these cuts are begining to generate comment in the local area - it has been suggested that "all good maritime folks come to the aid of the Festival" and that this should begin NOW rather than at or after next years festival.

It is generally felt that at this time all efforts and comments must be positive, supportive and constructive - there is nothing to be gained by criticsm or negative comments.

An avalanche of letters from all over the world - can be a good opening shot - and would suggest that pointing out the money spent in local shops, hotels and hostelries would be of some consideration for local businesses. The majority of those who will be writing do not have local votes - which is what most elected persons are most aware of ! and this should be outweighed by the fact that as a visitor you spend money vital to any local economy and indeed would not visit the area if it were not for the festival - if you also use time before or after visiting other local places of interest perhaps it could be useful to mention this also.

I have frequently said that I prefer Easter to Christmas - Easter in Lancaster heralds the start of the festival season - it is a time to celebrate with good friends a new year and a new begining. For the last 16 years Lancaster Festival has well and truly established itself as the premier event - and I am sure that another town will be very keen to take on the mantle - over the years many others, like us have discovered the significant part that Lancaster played in the Maritime History of England is this now to be allowed to die??

One of the points that has been made is that any future acitivity in the Lancaster Fetival scene must become a public/private business partnership but surely anyone who has looked at a Maritime Festival programme will have seen the names of the various sponsors such as United Utilities, The Environment Agency, Builders of local houses to name but a few surely their interest and contributions must count for something - who knows ?

In our letter we intend to ask if there has been the opportunity to seek more of these partnership opportunities such as the National Lottery of Heritage Funds or if this decision has been taken without consideration of other additional funding.

Being totally honest we think that it will be a very hard battle to win and the opening round of letters should be seen as the opening salvo - then we must follow Nelson's advice to "engage the enemy more closely" - ok enough of the corny puns!

Suggested recipients of your letters are

Cllr Ron Sands (a member of the Council "inner cabinet"
Lancaster Town Hall
Dalton Sq
Lancaster
LA1 1PJ

Cllr Ian Barker Leader of Lancaster City Council
Address as above

Mr John Donnellon Corporate Director of Regeneration
Address as above

The Editor Lancaster Guardian
29 Common Garden St
Lancaster



And of course now comes the big Challenge PLEASE put your thinking caps in a see if we can come up with more ideas on how to ensure this event continues - and if we can have some fun in the process so much the better!

PLEASE PLEASE do all YOU can to take us to 2006 and beyond

As always we are happy to help and if you want to email a copy to this clearing house for onward transmissionyou are welcome to do so if you want to

Jan and Ken

PS have added the local newspaper reports!

The Lancaster guardian
Council could sink Maritime Festival
MORECAMBE'S popular Festival of Light and Water could be scrapped as part of an overhaul of the festivals programme approved by the city council on Tuesday.

The future of Lancaster's Maritime Festival is also in doubt.
Next year's event will go ahead, tied in with the national Sea Britain festival, but no money has been allocated for 2006. If it is to continue, private sector funding will have to be found.
Councillors also recommended ending subsidies for the extensive programme of guided walks in the district.
Outlining the proposals at the cabinet meeting, council leader Ian Barker said the costs of festival provision had increased beyond inflation. At the same time, the council wanted the programme to become more responsive to the community. "There are a lot of purposes for the festivals, and we should have a programme that reflects all of them," he said.
But Coun Eileen Blamire said the loss of the Festival of Light and Water would be regrettable.
"It's been one of the events that I did think people came to Morecambe for, and I'll be sorry to see it go," she said.
The revised programme, which has to be approved by full council, would be built around four events: the Punk Festival, the Heritage Gala, the Jazz Festival and Lancaster's Fireworks Spectacular.
Coupled with a £3,800 cut in the festivals marketing budget and the end of subsidies for guided walks, savings of around £70,000 are anticipated.
Some of this money would be channelled into a festivals innovation fund with the aim of jointly funding, with private money, any future festival proposals. A sum of £10,000 targeted specifically at Morecambe would be available for 2005/6, growing to £20,000 for the whole district from 2006/7.
In addition, the community festivals fund - which backed this year's Catch the Wind kite festival in Morecambe - would grow from £6,000 annually to £10,000.
After the meeting, leader of the council's Conservative group Coun James Airey voiced concerns over the proposals.
"Many local businesses rely on the festival programme to bring people and money into the area," he said.
"But it seems to have been identified as a soft target for cuts."
22 October 2004

The Morcambe Visitor
The Light goes out
MORECAMBE'S biggest event of the year - the Festival of Light and Water - is no more.
Lancaster City Council is scrapping the festival due to "financial pressures".
The annual Maritime/Georgian Festival is also being being cast aside, although it will take place next year because the money is already in the budget.
In future the city council has decided to concentrate on just four 'core' festivals.
They are the Punk Festival and Heritage Gala in Morecambe and the Lancaster Jazz Festival and annual fireworks display at Lancaster Castle.
Guided walks funded by the council will also come to an end next year and, when combined with the other two festivals, will save it in the region of £60,000.
Tourism chief Coun Ron Sands said it had been a difficult decision.
"I would be delighted if we could keep the Festival of Light and Water," he said.
"Any tourism officer will tell you that there is nothing like a firework display to draw people in.
"But the harsh reality is that we have to keep the council tax rise at five per cent and so cuts have to be made.
"That has to be the first priority and unfortunately something had to give."
The changes were rubber stamped at a meeting of the council's cabinet yesterday (Tuesday).
As well as a commitment to fund the four 'core' festivals, councillors were set to approve a new 'festivals innovation fund'.
In the first year this will provide £10,000 to help develop private sector festivals in Morecambe.
In 2006/07 this figure will rise to £20,000 but will be available to the whole of the district.
All of which angered Morecambe councillor, Evelyn Archer, who said: "It seems they would rather just see money going up in smoke in Lancaster than having a full festival in Morecambe.
"And all this comes just shortly after we had a meeting at which our arts and events officers were asked to look for funding and sponsorship for the festival.
"All of this is being decided by cabinet without a full debate - once again it's Morecambe's future in the hands of Lancaster councillors."
Council leader Ian Barker added that the days when local authorities could simply put on big festivals were at an end.
The future, he said, is public/private partnerships.
"The bottom line is that the council cannot afford to put on a large amount of festivals and people are fooling themselves if they think it can. For a start we have other calls on our money and people cannot expect the public sector to take all the risks.
"I see the future as a thriving partnership between the council and the private sector.
"In Morecambe the council has done a great deal in terms of infrastructure, with the Tern project, Stone Jetty and remodelling the promenade.
"Investment will continue but there has to be input from the private sector if we are to move forward.
"The Festivals Innovation Fund will help to encourage that partnership."
He added that the festival programme combined 'money-making' events in the punk and jazz festivals with "something for local people to enjoy" in the Lancaster Castle fireworks and the Heritage Gala.
Jim Catterall from the Morecambe Hotel and Tourism Association said he was "not surprised" at the decision.
"More and more, Morecambe is just becoming a suburb of Lancaster," he said.
"Slowly but surely the tourist industry is being closed down by the local authority.
"As an association we are trying to support things and bring people into Morecambe but sometimes I wonder why we bother when we get absolutely no support from the council.
"The feeling I get from Ian Barker is that we should think ourselves lucky that we get anything at all. Bit by bit they are sucking the lifeblood out of Morecambe."

20 October 2004