Incompetence or worse, Chapter 2
Incompetence or worse? Chapter 2
Craven District Council (CDC) has decided that your money should be spent in promoting a rock concert.
No, really!
It’s like this…
CDC allows a certain amount of money to be spent on charitable bodies. Not necessarily registered charities. But, as an example, suppose you want help in setting-up a worthy cause for the neighbourhood: fixing the leak in the church roof, forming a ‘mothers and toddlers’ group or perhaps an old folks’ outing, then CDC allocate funds for those very purposes.
You might get awarded a few hundred pounds, even as much as five hundred if the cause is deemed good. Generally the seekers of such awards are asked to go to a public meeting where they explain to councillors why they need such monies, what other funding they’re getting, and so on.
There is a limit to this generosity. After all it is public money, and council taxes are at an alltime high. In June 2007 the limits were set as:
Community Chest: £16,500
Sports Development: £6,000
Arts Development: £3,140
Over 2006/7 a total of 62 groups were supported under this scheme.
There is also an Employment Initiative scheme, which is self-explanatory, and officers were allowed under what’s called ‘Delegated Authority’ to allocate grants of up to £1,000 each to worthy causes which might help employment.
However one officer, David Smurthwaite, apparently decided to slightly exceed that authority, by allocating £11,500 to a profit-seeking commercial organisation. That's more than the combined totals granted to sport and arts bodies in Craven.
An organisation in which he, Smurthwaite, seemingly had managerial status, in which capacity he visited parishes adjoining Settle to extol the virtues of that organisation and a major commercial project.
This was, of course, the proposed Settle Festival, and one might well ask why a salaried CDC employee should be giving large grants without prior authority to two inexperienced organisers of a putative rock festival.
That festival has been considered by the parish councils and meetings of the villages concerned, with the following results:
“Giggleswick Parish Council, Ribblebanks Parish Council, Rathmell Parish Meeting, Halton West Parish Meeting and Long Preston Residents Association have all objected.
The Cyclist Touring Club, Yorkshire Dales Soc, CPRE, and Halton
Curiously, Wigglesworth Parish Meeting is chaired by one Michael Dean, who apparently saw no reason to call a meeting to discuss this Festival.
The fact that he is one of the festival’s directors is of course pure coincidence.
As is the fact that he works for Cottages4U (a local company owned by a US multinational) which has a financial stake in the festival.
It’s good to see democracy in action, isn’t it?
Some festival facts:
Leeds Festival has been organised by Mean Fiddler, probably the most experienced festival organisers in Britain, and takes place at around the same time of year. No doubt Settle Festival organisers are hoping that the same people will attend both events.
With professional staff, including up to 700 on security, it might be supposed that trouble of any sort would be noticeably absent from the Leeds Festival. You'd be very, very wrong!.
So you might well feel a sharp stab of concern to learn that the organisers of the Settle Festival are attempting to recruit unpaid volunteers for such highly responsible managerial positions as:
Child Care Manager
Site Structures Manager
First Aid Manager
Fire Risk Manager
Security Manager
Coach Manager
Fencing & Barrier Manager
Site Communications Manager
Traffic Manager
Information & Signs Manager
Ticketing Manager
Car Park Manager
Clean Up and Prep Manager
Services Manager
Environment & WiderEconomic Benefits Manager
Camping Manager
Lighting & Power Manager
and Chief Steward & Marshall.
Settle's organisers are displaying their amateur credentials - in Spades!
Even with the expertise of Mean Fiddler, troubles are rarely absent. For example, the video clip showing actual footage of Leeds Festival happenings at the end of this article.
And if you don’t like your council tax being spent by salaried officers on promoting rock concerts in which they are actively involved, why not let Paakwa or – better still your ward councillor - know?
Or write to the Craven Herald. It now has an editor who, unlike his predecessor, is promoting council transparency and accountability.
To watch the video, click the little arrow at the left.
posted by Paakwa at
12:30 PM
8 Comments:
hello,
all interesting comments.... on this, and other subjects - how can one respond to this if for or against, if it is all anon? - Surely this site owner should at least be up-front and honest, with his details, if he has valid claims... that way it may become more credible... will watch this post for your response, as there doesn't seem to be another way ....
regards
"the public voice?"
Paakwa is offering a fiver for anyone who can decipher the last comment without including the words 'Alcohol' or 'Mind altering substances.'
article seems vaguely unfair and is obviously a result of bias - does 'paakwa' know who actually supports the festival, as opposed to who doesn't? supporters - the police (who have raised concerns with safety etc etc - these will be dealt with over time), various businesses and companies in SETTLE (- which paakwa seems to have forgotten - is the place where the festival is being held - hence the name SETTLE festival), craven disrict council, northern rail, and many more, including individuals from the immediate are and beyond.
It is understandable that people will have concerns - especially after watching that wonderfully biased and - for the majority, over exaggerated - video from Leeds festival. However, I believe that Mark Dale and the other organisers are not intending to recreate the beautiful anarchy which is Leeds festival - a ROCK concert.
Settle Festival will no doubt be more like WOMAD the Cambridge Folk Festival, or Glastonbury (without the huge crowds) - all of which are family orientated festivals, promoting different styles of music, not just rock, as well as arts, activities, fun fairs etc.
Perhaps people should give Mark Dale and the festival a chance to prove to everyone that festivals don't have to result in crime, disorder and chaos. Maybe it's time to think not about the negatives, but about the positives - what could result from the festival, and how it offers much needed entertainment and opportunities to many people in the area, who let's be honest, desperately need to let their hair down once in a while and stop moaning.
I'm sure paakwa will have something derogatory to say about either my grammar or punctuation in order to undermine my argument, but I don't care. Hopefully he - and all the other objectors out there - will get the message all the same.
Paakwa has no need to comment on the grammar of 'anonymous' - it speaks for itself.
More alarmingly, 'anonymous' is exhibiting both a colossal amount of ignorance and an equally colossal amount of hopefulness.
The festival is NOT in Settle, indeed the idea of up to 29,000 a day entering Settle is too ludicrous to be even laughable. It is actually between Rathmell and Giggleswick
To call the police "festival supporters" and to say that concerns over safety will be dealt with over time is giving a bad name to naivete, and to confuse the proposed festival with such as Cambridge folk festival is a joke, surely?
Even Mark Dale, the field centre chef whose brainchild this is, cannot as yet say what acts will be there, so how can you, anonymous, say what sort of festival this will be?
There has been a folk festival for many years now in nearby Ingleton, to much acclaim and to few, if any, complaints. This is not what is planned for the so-called Settle festival, hence the need for 8' high security fences and a large security company, unlike the miniscule amount of security needed for folk festivals.
As for the video being over-exaggerated, the footage was taken by festival goers, presumably fans of Leeds festival, and the crime figures speak for themselves.
Finally, it's hard to feel confidence in a festival organised by a company of two which has deliberately limited its own liability by forming a shell limited company with no assets and no experience.
F/X Colombo mode ON
Er...Just one last little thing.
You wouldn't be Mark Dale would you anonymous?
Just a thought:-)
F/X Colombo mode OFF
No, anonymous is NOT Mark Dale. Oddly enough, there are other people out there who feel strongly enough to make it known.
Although no bands have been confirmed as yet - no manager with enough sense would sign up for a festival which hasn't even got a licence yet - I know enough about music to know that the festival will not attract bands which regularly play at Leeds festival and the like. Mark Dale hopes to book such bands and musicians as Madness, Status Quo, Dennis Rollins and certain local bands. Leeds festival, on the other hands, regularly attracts bands such as Razorlight, Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, possibly this year Rage Against the Machine (if the rumours are true) and many many others. Although I'm not exactly sure of the figures - it is host to around 50-60,000 people every day.
The footage from Leeds is unrepresentative of the rest of the weekend, and of the vast majority of law abiding people who attend for the weekend, or just for a day. Most people there attend for the music and the experience of a festival, not to throw gas cannisters in a fire. And the crime statistics tell only a half of the story.
Can paakwa tell us if he has been to any festival? Not proms in the park - but a proper one, with music and life and colour and excitement. If he hasn't, and I strongly belive that is the case - he should realise that some people do enjoy festivals. People should be willing to at least understand, if not agree with, the fact that many of the young people in Settle and the surrounding area - are starved for entertainment, and are becoming increasingly apathetic due to the fact that nothing is being done to encourage the young to enjoy the local area, let alone want to stay in it or even care about it.
People like paakwa won't truly be happy until all of the young and unconventional people have left Settle, or Giggleswick, or Rathmell, or wherever and stopped becoming a threat to the everyday hum drum of everyday life.
Isn’t it amazing how belief can transcend fact?
Mr. (how do I know it’s a Mr?) Anonymous believes that Paakwa has never been to a festival, at least a ‘proper’ one, with music and life and colour and excitement.
Wrong again Anonymous, I’ve been to more festivals than you could shake a stick at, and as for them having music, life, colour and excitement, well what the “£$%^ do you think they have?
Or do you know of any black and white festivals for the dead?
As for music, then as a musician of many years, Paakwa is a true fan of real music, jazz, (the sort of stuff played by Dennis Rollins!) blues, classical and folk.
And Paakwa plays all those genres, unlike Mr. Anonymous.
Indeed when I owned a local hostelry not a million miles from Settle, I had live bands every Friday and Saturday, with music of almost all types.
But I never needed security, unlike Mark Dale's festival, where has 8 feet fences and a professional security team. Funnily enough I've never been to a jazz, blues, classical or folk festival, where security seemed to be much needed, either.
Youngsters starved for entertainment?
There is more now to amuse and entertain than there ever has been, and if there weren’t, then a few days of a rock festival organised by festival organiser newbies is not going to do much for them is it?
Neither would Paakwa oppose a festival with the likes of Dennis Rollins, any more than I would oppose one with the likes of Clair Teale, Walter Trout, or Courtney Pine
Rollins is a jazz musician, and proved it – if proof were needed – when he won the Ronnie Scott award for trombone in 2007.
Here’s some of Rollins’ words, there’s a lot, and they’re well worth reading:
As a youngster growing up in a house of eight children, reggae was played all the time, early funk with Earth Wind & Fire, James Brown, a lot of ska, all that influenced me as well as the traditional brass bands that I played in from an early age. I try to approach the trombone from a vocalist's perspective and hopefully broaden its appeal.
I get a big satisfaction from being part of the Youth Music Programme Endangered Species, which looks at certain genres and instruments in music that are becoming marginalised. Kids today get a lot of instant gratification from PlayStations and Xboxes and other new technologies and so they are not picking up instruments from a young age and seeing it through and it is my job to absolutely encourage that. There is also a youth organisation which I am involved in called On The Slide in the Gloucester area and we have recruited young trombone players and coached them up to perform at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and it is great to see there are some budding trombone players.
It is wonderful to feel you can inspire some young people to take up the instrument because we have to keep the trombone alive. From my point of view I also get a lot of inspiration from working with these young musicians as it makes me shake myself up and look and see if there is anything that I can do better in terms of my performance. And so it is great when it bounces back like that.
I feel that I am very lucky to be doing what I do and be able to use my energy in such a creative way. There is such a rush of adrenalin and excitement when you play and that never seems to leave me. There are moments when you play and you surprise yourself and everyone around you when you bounce off something that has happened musically and before you know it you are caught in this whirlwind almost an out of body experience. It's like entering another world. Everything around you is swirling with you and it is quite something when it happens to feel that emotion and interconnectivity. For me those are the moments to live for. It affects you in an almost meditative state. And when moments like that arrive it is does not matter what you are playing - I could be playing a piece of brass pipe - because it is about the message and the emotion and the love within the music as opposed to just playing a series of notes. What is important is how you express those notes from a deeper well of creativity.”
Now here’s a few from Madness, some words written for their song “Mummy’s Boy.”
"Once went out with a London girl
dirty weekend in a hotel
broke it off when she got shirty
she was twelve and he was thirty
right after that he was dead sore
he wouldn’t go out with girls no more
from that day since he never has
he wants to do something dirty
KnickersknackersKnockers."
One last quote, Anonymous, the words of a truly great musician.
"There are only two kinds of music: good music and bad music.”
Louis Armstrong
Having become arse-achingly familiar with Mark Dale's prose style on sites such as eFestivals, I'd say 'Anonymous' is definitely he. Paakwa's responses are a joy to read. Good on yer Frog! Show such boringly banal 39-year-old prats trying to recapture their youth by surrounding themeselves with teenage groupies, that even those of Paakwaa's advanced age have forgotten more about the broad spectrum of music than he'll ever know.
i dont no waht atilla is goeing on about, he is speacking outof his arswhole...i am proud to be one of mark dales teenage groupys and me and my mates want sum fun at last in a ded dump like settle and any way whts rong wiht madness... only that thay are OLD
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