Lions Summer Fete

The Lions Club of Frome have reluctantly taken the decision to cancel this year’s annual summer fete that had provisionally been arranged to be held on Saturday 14th June at Victoria Park, Frome.

The fete is well-established in the Frome calendar and is one of the clubs longest running events having been held continuously for over Fifty years. It was started as a way of thanking the people of Frome for their support shown to the Lions during the year, by offering  an afternoon of fun for children and adults alike as well as giving  the numerous charities and organisations the opportunity to promote their profile and raise much-needed funds.

The reason for cancelling this year’s event is that Frome Town council informed us that they have decided to make Victoria park a car/vehicle free zone for all such events. This means that participants will be allowed to drive into the park to unload their vehicles and then will have to remove them from the site and attempt to park somewhere in the surrounding streets. They will then be allowed to bring them back again at the end of the fete to collect their possessions/equipment. Only emergency vehicles and vehicles integral to the operation of the fete will be allowed to remain.

The Lions consider that this requirement by the council makes an already labour-intensive day for us even more burdensome and means our ability to continue holding the event at the park is untenable. We have not taken this decision lightly and have consulted with many of our regular stallholders to gauge their feelings about their participation under these restrictions and whilst some have said they would still be prepared to attend a lot have stated that it would not be possible to continue their support. Also, one of our main ring events involving animals has stated that this would make it exceedingly difficult for their club members. They would not have anywhere secure and safe to leave their dogs and the likelihood of having to park randomly, and potentially far away would mean that it would be impractical to coordinate a suitable presentation and therefore it is unlikely that they would attend.

As stated previously the Lions have been running the fete continuously for over 50 years and during that time have never had any problems with damage to the park or accidents involving vehicles. We believe that the council’s stance on vehicles not remaining in the park during the event does not make participants any safer but has the opposite effect in that it endangers our exemplary record. Our estimate is that by the time stallholders and Lions vehicles are considered we are looking at 30-40 vehicles which will not only now double the traffic movements into and out of the park and the risk of damage to the park, but which will also then add to the already congested parking in the surrounding area for the day. On fete day those vehicles do not tend to move anywhere while the fete is open to the public so we do not see how they can be perceived as a risk to the public. There is also the issue of traffic management both outside and entering the park. We would have no legal authority to direct traffic on the highway. These extra traffic movements will also inhibit the safe running of one of the fetes main attractions, the Lions Train which uses the footpath around the edge of the park  and is a big favourite with our supporters.