Medieval event needs more help (From Cotswold Journal)

Medieval event needs more help

TEWKESBURY'S medieval festival needs help. People are needed to help with the organising and running of the event, if it is to grow and thrive.

Steve Goodchild one of the organisers, gave a presentation about the future of the event to Tewkesbury Town Council on Monday night.

He said that once the fair closed at 6pm there was little people to do. He outlined various ideas, including processions, drama and music, and showed slides of the way similar events were organised in other countries, where the whole town joined in.

He pointed out that the event, which takes a week to set up and three days to clear away, is run by a small group of thinly stretched volunteers who cannot do any more.

"If it's going to get bigger and better the town has got to get involved," he said.

He also told councillors the event was now a registered company; mainly to protect those involved in the organisation but also to make it easier to apply for grants.

He added that costs were rising but it was difficult to increase income from the fair, which comes mainly from tithes paid by traders, and that for the last two years the event had actually lost money.

Last year 25,000 people were estimated to have gone to the event, either as participants or visitors.

There will be a meeting for anyone interested in becoming involved on Friday, January 28.

It will take place in the back dining room of the Berkeley Arms in Barton Street at 8pm.