ORGANISERS of the Westbury Festival, the town’s fortnight-long music and arts festival, have said they may not be able to hold a festival this year due to a lack of volunteers.
Organisers say that following key members stepping down at the Festival’s AGM in November they may not have enough members to hold a festival on the scale to which Westbury has become accustomed.
Chair of the Westbury Festival Ian Cunningham says, “Sadly, the AGM produced no new committee members. We also lost long term stalwart, Mike Pearce who has been with the festival since it began and was a former chair – Mike had announced his intention to stand down last year. We are immensely grateful to Mike for a huge amount of work over the years.
“Also leaving us is our secretary, Brenda Pyne, without whom there would certainly have been no festivals in the last few years. Again, Brenda had made it clear that she hoped to step down and had already stayed on for a year longer than she intended. We extend our huge thanks to Brenda for doing so much of the work needed to make recent festivals happen.
“Stephen Pyne, worked closely with Brenda as our treasurer and although a “backroom boy” made a vital contribution to keeping our books in order – he will be stepping down with Brenda and also receives our gratitude.
“So, we find ourselves in a position where we still have a very small committee and plenty of people who will help us out during the festival but we need to consider carefully whether the resources we have can put together a festival on the scale to which Westbury has become accustomed: most of the remaining members have full time jobs so cannot give the hours that are needed for the administration and planning that goes on throughout the year.
“But we have some ideas, some offers of support, and we intend to carefully consider what we can do and what we can change to continue with reduced capacity for planning. Will there be a Westbury Festival this year? Watch this space.”
If you would like to help out, please contact info@ WestburyFestival.org.uk
