Festival counts £30K losses - Stroud News & Journal
The full cost of cancelling this year's eagerly anticipated Saul Canal Festival and Folk on the Water Weekend has been put at £30,000.
... The substantial loss comes as a blow to the major £24 million project to restore the abandoned canal between Saul and Brimscombe Port.
"The expected shortfall is roughly equivalent to the annual sum we normally raise to pass on to Cotswold Canals Trust ..." said festival director Clive Field.
... Despite the cancellation, organisers have decided to send out the 96-page programme [anyway] as it contains a wealth of up-to-date information about the restoration, the performing artists and to honour the advertisers' expectations.
Over the next six days almost 1,000 letters will be sent out regarding refunds for camping pitches, boat moorings and music tickets.
The letters will offer a full refund but also propose the opportunity of making a donation to the trust to mitigate the loss.
Granny's previous post about the Festival is here. I really feel for Clive and Jilly, who headed the team putting so much work into it. I saw the boxes of undistributed festival guides in the saloon of NB Witcombe, and the stoical face of the volunteers at the Trust's HQ. Glad to hear the showguides won't be pulped; they'll be collectors' items instead.
Oh well, everyone's thinking about next year now, led determinedly by Clive (seen below, on the upper deck of the Oliver Cromwell, on what would have been the first evening of the festival).
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