Response to HMSTC and FOSL’s decision from and on behalf of the Flamstead Scarecrow Committee
The Flamstead Scarecrow Festival Committee are regretful that the two charities, FOSL and HSMSTC have not been able to find a way forward in agreeing a split of the proceeds from the festival.
However, our primary interest as a committee is in creating a festival which provides a fun day out for families and which brings business into and raises the profile of Flamstead in the local community, as well as raising money for charity.
Due to the changes which have taken place, some of our very experienced committee members who have put their hearts and souls into the festival for over more than a decade felt that this signalled an appropriate time for them to hang up their hats and retire from the committee. We want to thank them all for their time, expertise and dedication to past festivals as without these key players, the Scarecrow Festival would not have become such an annual success.
Special thanks goes to Paul McMahon and Sally Wagon for all of their hard work. Paul and Sally have decided to step down from the committee and as i’m sure many of you know, Paul and Sally were instrumental in the running of the festival in recent years and they will be hugely missed.
Moving forward, I have agreed to take on the role of chairing the Festival Committee and we have a dedicated team of experienced and new volunteers who are committed to making the festival a success once again in 2018.
FOSL have asked us to raise as much money as possible to contribute to the roof repairs. However, as with any event, the ability to raise funds is limited to the amount of support we have from volunteers and from the village as a whole.
To make the event a success, we need more volunteers, both on the day, but as a priority, in the months to come to assist with the planning of the festival. We welcome any new members who feel that they would like to help in the organisation of the festival by joining the festival committee. We are particularly looking for help in a couple of specific areas:
Catering
Traffic Management and Parking
Festival Volunteering
Additionally, of course during the event many of you have previously volunteered your time and efforts to help make the event a success and we hope we can count on your continued support. If you haven’t volunteered before but would be willing to spend a couple of hours in the Café selling food and drink, or selling voting forms, or helping the festival to run smoothly and you don’t think we have you on our list to approach then please feel free to send me an email Clare@elviamarketing.com
Scarecrow Builders…
We also hope that we can count on the continued support of you wonderful villagers to producing the amazing, innovative scarecrows you have in the past. We love seeing them all but of course we would always love to see more, so get your imaginations going and start planning your scarecrow creations for the summer!
If you have any questions about the Scarecrow Festival or would like to be involved, then please feel free to sign up online or email contact@flamsteadscarecrowfestival.co.uk
We look forward to making the event a success in 2018!
Clare Rudd