Northcote summer fete in doubt Post Reply

[Jonny Dyson Property Consultants]

Good morning everyone,

Our principal sponsor has gone silent on us and so it looks like we will be unable to run the fete this year. As I have mentioned before, the event costs around £50,000 to run and this is mainly raised through sponsorship and a generous donation from Wandsworth Council. I realise that £50k seems a lot, but by the time you’ve provided 15 stewards, 20 odd security people, closed the road, suspended all the parking spaces at £25 a pop, not to mention having the trees along Bolingbroke Grove pruned to allow double decker busses past, it all mounts up. In the wake of the Stockholm, Manchester and now London attacks this weekend, we have also have to include various additional counter-terrorism measures.

In short, unless we can find significant additional sponsorship by this coming Friday I’m afraid we will have to cancel the event. So if anyone out there has a rich/generous uncle, lottery winner or successful hedge fund manager who fancies putting their hand in their pocket for the good of the community please do ask them to drop me a line at jdyson@johndwood.co.uk

Many thanks for reading and fingers crossed…

Jonathan

Chairman
Northcote Business Network

[letsactdrama1]

This is awful! We love the Northcote Road fete!

Any further news? Xx

[LoveShoes]

Has anybody heard any more news? It's such a lovely event enjoyed by so many families. I was thinking about inviting some friends over with their little ones and making a day of it. Any update?

[Jonny Dyson Property Consultants]

Good afternoon everyone,

Following my post on Monday I’m gutted to have to announce that the summer fete will not be going ahead this year. Whilst we have tried to shave off costs, the reality is that we are just too far away from the necessary funding to make it viable. We will still try to run the Christmas market and will use the time between now and then to see if it is viable to close the road for that event and make it a proper day out. We will still need sponsors however so please, if any of you know anyone who would be interested in backing the event please do get in touch.

On a further note, I would like to mention that the principal sponsor was NOT Estbury Basements. Our two principal sponsors this year were a local business which has sadly had to close down, and a high street name who apparently had their funding for such events cut a few weeks ago.

Estbury have been massively supportive of the business network in the past, including doing the lion’s share of the concreting of the Christmas trees. Danny and Richard took the decision earlier in the year to commit to an alternative event for 2017 and were never in the mix for this year. Hopefully we can tempt them back for 2018…!!!

Once again, I’m so sorry that the event will not be going ahead this year but hopefully we will be able to come back bigger and better for both the Christmas market and the summer fete next year. We can only run these events with substantial sponsorship however, so could any interested sponsors please contact me at jdyson@johndwood.co.uk

Many thanks for reading,

Jonathan

Chairman
Northcote Business Network

[parsleysong]

Oh noooo, just seen this. That's such a pity especially since we could all do with a bit of old fashioned fun and cheering up right now!

[ronich]

I heard the main sponsor was <REMOVED BY MODERATOR>

Either way, it is such a shame and if it is worry about terrorism then how cowardly. Isn't this exactly what they want.

It also sounds like the sponsor has pulled out recently, not giving enough time to find someone else.

What a let down to those of us who look forward to this event and support the businesses on Northcote Rd.

[ronich]

also you said you 'have to' account for additional anti-terrorism measures?

Can you please explain what this is exactly. Is this a new requirement by Wandsworth based on tips/information about a possible attack? or something you/sponsors are just personally worried about? Would you be able to explain what extra security measures there would have to be? e.g. more police?

I went to the ritherden fete and didn't seem to notice extra security measures. Also wonder if Abbeville Rd Fete, which is also very big, are concerned in the same way about extra security measures. This sounds more like an excuse to me.

[mumbelievable]

sad news.

It does annoy me that Wandsworth council have to take their massive cut from closing the road (re: parking spaces at £25 each and I am sure there are other charges they make for the event). Shame on them.

These events benefit many and its costs like these that are sometimes the final straw.

[Annabel (admin)]

Hi Everyone
I hope people don't mind too much but I've removed the references to potential sponsors - it didn't seem fair for us to speculate on who it might be when we don't know. I may be being overly sensitive but our site has actually fallen over twice today due to very high traffic and I think this story may be the reason why so I wanted to get it right!

Thanks all!

[Gullsands]

NB Lillypad - in Jonathan's post on 3rd June he said that the fete could only ever go ahead thanks to sponsorship and a "GENEROUS DONATION from Wandsworth Council". I'm not sure what the logic is for giving generously with one hand (donation) and then taking with the other (parking space suspension fees etc), but overall their role seems far from shameful. What really is a shame is that no corporate sponsor could be found despite best efforts - hopefully the winter event will be better than ever though. Good luck to the organisers.

[janburt]

Hi - just dipping into the thread with my Abbeville Fete hat on (I co-chair the event) to say that the Abbeville Fete IS going ahead on Saturday 24th June from 12 noon - 4pm. We too have faced financial challenges this year so we know how our Northcote Road Fete friends feel...please try to come along and support us...the theme is Wild West so cowboy hats and bandanas welcome!

[Talkman]

Shame there's no local multi millionaire who could dip into their pocket to ease the finacial burden.

[parsleysong]

I doubt any local multi-millionaires want to put their hand in their pocket and be attacked as "tory scum". It needs to be a business that is making big money in the local area (wasn't it Hamptons who sponsored it in previous years, surely they are still making a packet?) or we pay to get in, like at any school local summer fair. It's no doubt too late this year but might be worth thinking about for future years.

[mlm]

Ah, very sad. We have gone to the summer fete every year and always had so much fun with friends and family. Many thanks to the organisers for trying.
Fingers crossed for next year.

In case there's ever a choice, the summer fete is hands down better than the christmas one.

[papinian]

The absence of a sponsor is a sign of the post-Brexit London property market downturn.