Barrio Fiesta Cancelled!!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
3:53 PM?
3 Comment
The 24th Barrio Fiesta sa London 2008 will not go ahead after last minute meetings failed to resolve problems
Organizer failed to attend meetings with the police and fire brigade until it was too late
London, 16 July 2008 (Updated)
The shock news is that this year's Barrio Fiesta in Lampton Park, Hounslow, West London is cancelled.
In what will be seen as a disaster, especially to the stallholders who have paid in advance, for the first time since the fiesta moved from its original venue in Holland Park there will be no July fiesta this Saturday and Sunday 19th & 20th July 2008.
The biggest and longest running of all Filipino fiestas in the UK has been cancelled by Hounslow Council. With what has grown into a two day event with around 60,000 attending, it is a major showcase for Filipino companies and service providers. As well as for some Filipno acts and singers. It is also a day for Filipinos to meet up and renew old friendships. People organize coach trips from all over to come to the UK's biggest Filipino fiesta. All these plans will now be in ruins.
This shock news will especially be damaging to people who have stalls and are not in easy travelling distance of London and who will have booked hotel rooms. Also, there are many companies from the Philippines who send staff and others over to the UK specifically for the fiesta as it is a major point to show off their services and goods to Filipinos. They will be seriously out of pocket, as will the major sponsors, two of whom are SMART phones and UNISON, the UK trade union.
After a series of meetings between the council, the police and London Fire Brigade and the Philippine Centre who organize the fiesta, the council have decided it could not go ahead as no licence for the event could be issued. The police confirmed in the middle of Tuesday afternoon the sad news.
Unofficial sources have already stated that the decision was left until the last minute in order to give the organizers, representatives of the Philippine Center, time to comply with conditions laid down by both the police and fire services in matters relating to health and safety as well as security. Meetings had been requested by the police and fire brigade with the organizers, however the organizers only consented to the first meeting last week. As the organizers appeared unable or unwilling to comply with the requests by the police and fire service, a decision was taken on Tuesday to deny a licence. Serious concerns had been raised because of the past two Barrio Fiestas had left both the police and fire brigade concerned because of systems not being in place.
As those events were already in progress when these faults had been noticed, they had been allowed to continue. However, this year the regulatory authorities insisted on cast iron guarantees being in place. As the organizers failed to satisfy the police and fire brigade by the final meeting, the fiesta was cancelled.
A spokesman for Hounslow police expressed his deep regret at the way events have happened, saying "We really wanted this to go ahead, it is a long running event and the crowds have always been very well behaved".
There is no announcement on the Philippine Centre's website www.philippinecentre.com and phone contact can not be made as calls are going to voice mail.
The Philippine Centre had sub-contracted organization out to a group called Magpie Events.
All Enquiries to Adam Mitchell, E-Mail Adam, Call: 0208 898 2122
or Call Adam on his Mobile 07842 150545
*credit from: balitapinoy.net
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