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Notes from Planning Meeting – 6th June 2019

With less than a month to go til this year’s Party in the Park, the committee had lots to discuss at their recent meeting.

Present:  Adrian, Steve, Simon, Jo, Colin, Charlie, Dee, Nigel, Clare

Site preparation: we are arranging for the grass to be cut prior to the event and improved fencing to make the site more secure. Charlie is building us steps to access the stage.

Site layout:  much discussion took place on where to put the toilets! We have more loos this year for both men and women and as such may have to re-think where they are located.  We also have bigger inflatables which need careful consideration due to the logistics of power cables.  The team decided to meet up at the field later in the month to discuss further. We discussed lighting and confirmed it will be improved for the end of the evening to help people navigate the field when they leave.

Site security:  sadly, we had some trouble last year with teens.  Our professional security team will be patrolling the gate and site to ensure no under-age drinking takes place.  Under age drinkers will be escorted off site along with their appropriate adult. Alcohol not purchased on site will be confiscated. The team are volunteers organising an event for the whole community and should not have to put up with abuse from anyone of any age.  We will have a zero-tolerance policy on drunken or abusive behaviour towards both our volunteers and security team and offenders will be removed from site.

Posters:  posters have been printed and distributed throughout the team to put up around the village and local areas. (see below if you can help with posters)

Rubbish and recycling: we are improving the ability to sort out rubbish on the day. Our clean up volunteers had quite the job last year on the Sunday attempting to separate the landfill waste form the recycling.  It was a hard messy job that required strong marigolds! We’re hoping to improve the sorting this year with better signage on the bins and lids on some which will only be for certain recycling eg cans/bottles.

Weather:  we spent far too much time discussing the weather!  The event WILL take place whatever the weather, but obviously contingency plans need to be in place if the worst happens.  We will be monitoring the weather forecast closely and if heavy rain looks likely then we will put plans in place to protect the stage and other electrics fully.

Raffle:  we have some absolutely amazing prizes for the raffle this year which we will be advertising soon.  We will be selling tickets throughout the day and nighttime event and the raffle will be drawn the following day.  All proceeds from the raffle will be split between the stroke ward at Musgrove Hospital and another charity of Mandy Knight’s choosing to honour her late husband David Knight, who was a key member of the PIP team.

Tickets:  Teen tickets are very nearly sold out, and child tickets are running low.  Plenty of adult tickets are still available.  Tickets can be purchased at Creech School Fair of Friday 14th June 3.45-5.30pm or see the tickets page.

How can YOU help?

We always need volunteers for jobs big and small in the run up to the event, on the day, and following the event.  If you can help – for as much or as little as you are able – we would love to hear from you.  Email us, message us on Facebook or speak to one of the team about how you can get involved.  We currently need help with:

  1. Poster distribution – are you able to put up a poster at your work or a notice board near you?  Posters available to download and print or you can contact us to request a paper copy.
  2. Friday  – we need strong bodies on the day before the event for lots of manual jobs at the field.  Please let us know if you can help.
  3. Saturday clean-up – bins need to be emptied, toilets need to checked/cleaned, field needs to be setup for evening, rubbish cleared from field.
  4. Sunday clean-up – many hands make light work!  If you can help clear the site the next morning please just turn up and dig in.

January Planning Meeting

The organising committee met on 15th January with Adrian, Charlie, Colin, Steve, Dee, Nigel and Jo in attendance. Lots of items were discussed, including:

Site Safety. The fencing and lighting is all in hand, and will be improved this year to ensure continued safety. We have once again booked a professional security firm for the After Dark event, and First Aid cover has been arranged for both day and night.

Equipment purchases. We agreed to buy a selection of gazebos, tables and chairs to use for this and future events.

Food Vendors. We will once again have a wide variety of hot food both day and night. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for full details being announced in due course. We can confirm the following types of stall will be in attendance: Fish & Chips, Ice Cream, Pancakes, Burgers, Sausages, Sweets, Mexican, Pizza and Noodles.

Stalls. Applications from a range of stallholders are coming in thick and fast and we will have a selection of community, commercial and charity stalls. If you would like an application form for your group please email: info@creechpartyinthepark.com

After Dark Tickets. Adult and teen tickets will go up slightly this year, but child tickets will remain the same price. Tickets will go on sale in the Spring and will be advertised around the village first, and then on Facebook and the website. Prices as follows and no child/teen tickets will be issued without appropriate number of accompanying adult tickets.

  • Adult (18+) – £6
  • Teen (13-17) – £4
  • Child (5-12) – £1
  • Under 5’s – FREE

Bar and Gin Bar. Licence is secured for the event thanks to committee members Steve and Claire holding personal licences for the event. Exciting news is that we plan to have a special Gin Bar at the event this year. Look out for posts on Facebook soon asking for your favourite gin recommendations.

Recycling & Rubbish. Viridor is booked to take away our waste on the Sunday. We will once again use fully compostable cups at the bar. We are looking at how we can improve recycling on site as despite signage recycling/rubbish always seem to end up in the same bins – meaning a lot of manual sorting out by volunteers the next day – not a pleasant job! If anyone has any ideas please let us know.

Bands. Thank you for the suggestions on Facebook for bands. We have our headline band booked and are currently checking availability of others and will announce full lineup ASAP.

Fish and Chip lunch. Some of the proceeds from PIP will be used on Friday 18 January to give local over 60s a free lunch at the village hall. This is the 3rd year PIP has funded this. Full write up of this years event will be published after Friday.

Somerset Day. After the success of the clean up day last year we are hoping to do a similar event to coincide with Somerset Day on 11th May. Save the date and we will announce more details in due course.

Somerset Wood Project. We discussed donating funds for this project which plants trees in honor of fallen soldiers from the Parish. Agreed we will help. Full details will be posted in a later article.

Volunteers. As usual we need volunteers for before, during and after the event. We are currently putting together a list of specific jobs that need doing and will publish this ASAP.

If you would like to get involved in this event please let us know on info@creechpartyinthepark.com