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Carnival is over says frustrated committee
Jul 9, 2010
LACK of help from members of the community and too much red tape are being blamed for the closure of one of Teesdale’s most popular carnivals.
This year’s event at Middleton-in-Teesdale will be the last, according to committee chairman Shaun Andrews who has said ‘enough is enough’.
For the past few years a handful of people from the upper dale village have been organising the event and despite making appeals saying the show could not go on without more help, nobody has come forward to join the committee.
Mr Andrews, who will have to take holidays from work to arrange this year’s carnival, said: “People just won’t come forward and help and we have decided at the last committee meeting that there’s too much work to do. It is very disappointing when we have done all we can to keep it going but there has to come a point when enough is enough. I have threatened this before, hoping it would prompt people into coming forward but no, it’s got to come to an end.”
The culmination of the 36-year-old carnival is the main parade day on August 7, with Middleton thought to be the last Teesdale village to still have fancy dress floats. There are numerous other events leading up to the big day, beginning with the scarecrow trail on July 24 and Mr Andrews said the amount of work that goes in to arranging all the events is too much for the six-man committee.
He said: “It’s sad because all of children really look forward to getting dressed up but we just can’t carry on. We put a stall up the other year on the showfield asking people to help out and we only got two names.
“People still donate money but it’s actual manpower we need. I don’t think people realise how much work goes into it.”
Mr Andrews, who spends hours filling in legal forms, added that bureaucracy had not helped the situation. He said: “It was easier when it was Teesdale District Council but now I’m emailing things over to someone at the county council who never gets back to me and the annoying thing is it could be dealt with by phone calls. And the health and safety is getting ridiculous. I can understand people have to be safe but there’s being safe and being wrapped in cotton wool.”