Finchley Carnival 2011 - The figures

It seems a long time since the summer but it took Mr Mustard a little while to get the figures that you wanted to see and there was also some trouble with the Council talking about whether they, or some other body, organised the Finchley Carnival which took a while. Mr Mustard had to make a complaint and ask for a review and contact the Information Commissioner before he received this tiny amount of information.

It seems that there are only 2 items of income or expenditure.

An income of £1,700 from Coggers Nationwide Amusements and  an expenditure of £1,500 on fireworks.

Mr Mustard couldn't make it but doubts that £1,500 worth of fireworks amounted to much of a show and the amusements were on for 5 days so really this wasn't a carnival at all, unlike in previous years. It was just the council renting the park out to an amusement company and burning 88% of the income on fireworks. The cost of cleaning up, security and insurance, although allegedly nil, must have been something.

Going back to the story in the local Times Mr Mustard notes that the fair was to run from 6-10 July which is 5 days. According to the published prices of the Council:

2011/12 Prices:-

- Fun Fairs (up to 12 rides) and Private Functions £560.00

so Coggers should have paid 5 days at £560 = £2,800

A discount may be applied to the daily rate for Charitable/Community events at the discretion of the Director for Environment and Operations ( that doesn't seem to be the case here except that it does!) 

Let us hope that next year the council get out of the way and let the community run event proceed for the benefit of the community and local charities.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Reverse spin #1 - The Finchley Carnival (cont)

Mr Mustard has just noticed a Letter to the Editor in the Finchley Arrow. Please pop back once you have read the letter on the following website:

http://www.finchleyarrow.co.uk/

The letter is from the Chairman of the Finchley Carnival, a Mr William "Bill" Lethorn, who has a Civic Award which you can read about on the Barnet Council website ( of all places ! )

http://www.barnet.gov.uk/civic-awards-2008

and about whom the then Mayor said:

The Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Maureen Braun, said: "All our nominees have truly inspirational stories to tell and make a difference to the lives of so many by their hard work and dedication."

Surely that cannot be the same Bill Lethorn about whom Cllr Coleman has recently said "We saved it ( the carnival) from a bunch of amateurs ( Bill et al ) who failed to deliver."

Evidently they had a NotVeryMerryGoRound at the Finchley Carnival.

Anyway the point Mr Mustard actually wanted to make was that his figure of £3,500 for funfair income, in his earlier blog, is evidently way off the mark as Mr Leghorn suggests it should be nearer to £10,000 which would buy a lot more fireworks or a lollipop patrol or books or carers or.... 

Mr Mustard is trying to get the exact figures for you and will post them as soon as they are available.

Hopefully his mole at the Town Hall will be able to ferret them out quite soon.

And when nominations are due at the end of the year for Civic Awards for 2012 Mr Mustard will be nominating Mrs Angry, a shoe-in surely after being praised by Mr Eric Pickles MP ?

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Reverse spin #1 - The Finchley Carnival

Mr Mustard is rather bored with the spin press releases that come out of Barnet Council so he will apply some reverse spin which balances things out nicely. Sadly, balancing the books is something that Barnet Council really haven't got the hang of yet. So here is their latest press release in the Barnet corporate colour of seasick blue with the reverse spin entries in red.

Finchley carnival goes with a bang

The past tense to describe a future event - how novel.

 
Barnet Council is all set to help Finchley Carnival go with a bang this weekend.

For the other side of the story see the website below.

Finchley Carnival

The popular carnival, which has been running for more than 100 years, will feature a funfair and run from Thursday 7th July to Sunday 10th July at Victoria Park, Finchley.
A funfair and fireworks do not a Carnival make.

The Carnival’s highlight will come on Saturday night with a spectacular free firework display for residents paid for by the Council with proceeds from the funfair.
If that's the highlight Mr Mustard does not want to see the lowlights. The fireworks are not free; Mr Mustard thinks that the proceeds from the funfair are about £3,500 so that will be the likely cost of fireworks and Mr Mustard doesn't think that will amount to a long display. It is not paid for by the Council; it is paid for by all of the Council tax Payers most of whom are not in Finchley.

The Worshipful the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Lisa Rutter, will set off the first firework for the display from 9.30pm.

Mr Mustard hopes that Cllr Rutter has been on a health and safety course.

Councillor Brian Coleman, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “I am delighted that Barnet Council has been able to keep the traditions of the Carnival going and include a firework display which so many people have enjoyed over the years.
The Carnival Committee have been held over a barrel with a last minute rent increase from £140 to £3,500. So, the traditional features of a carnival are not there as the next sentence says.

“I hope that next year we can restore many of the other traditional features of the Carnival which our residents have looked forward to so much in the past.”

And that is all they can do this year - look forward. The Carnival has been replaced with a pantomime.

So there we are with Barnet Council needing to save £50million+ over 3 years and so what do Barnet Council do; they explode £3,500 which they could have put into the bank ( not an Icelandic one obviously - don't be silly now  ). They should just have had the funfair and not spent the proceeds on fireworks. Balancing the books is easy if you are sensible and apply some commonsense. If you look after the £thousands the £millions will look after themselves.

You need a rocket Barnet Council.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard