By Rebecca Hannant
The organisers of Hornsea Carnival have appealed for more support ahead of this year’s three-day event to ensure it can go ahead.
Chairman Iain Poole asked the public and businesses for donations and sponsorship, saying they were facing a £11,000 funding shortfall.
Iain said: “Carnival is always based on the premise that we will get donations and funding. What we’ve had is a lot of people that have supported us faithfully in the past.
“We’ve had some donations come in which is great – it is what we need. But people just expect these events to happen.
“You don’t need one business just to sponsor the whole thing. What you need is as a group of businesses and people, even just a mass collective within the area where you live. I mean, if you took all the residents of Hornsea that’s around 9,000 people – if they all donated £7, that’s two cups of coffee, we could hit our target.
“Some people think it’s not their responsibility, or they don’t feel that they can make a difference to the problem. We need to start thinking more like a community – we can make a difference if we all work together.”
Hornsea Carnival is the largest free event of its kind in East Yorkshire, and each year the organising team are faced with the mammoth task of raising the funds to run the event while juggling their own full-time jobs.
One of the largest costs is the live music tent – which has been a hit with revellers since it was introduced. Although ticket sales are good the overheads are high, from the cost of the marquee itself to the equipment needed, extra portable toilets and the licenses.
Recently the carnival team started to look at new ways of saving money, so they contacted the team at the Floral Hall. The result is a new collaboration that will see the Saturday night bands move to the hall.
This means that now the carnival is not just limited to Hall Garth Park and, along with the traditional Saturday parade, will encompass the whole town.
Iain added: “The carnival team love working with the community and this new collaboration is a positive step forward to reaffirming the links of old and having a positive effect on the event.
“Hornsea Floral Hall has donated the use of the hall allowing the team to save on costs and have much less of an overhead, having licences already in place.
“We now have two community organisations working to strengthen community bonds and keep revenue generated within the town, which is what keeps communities alive.
“It just makes sense to use the Floral Hall and it is something we should have been doing in the past.
“The result is we can focus our time on other activities and give us options to save money and yet still be a success.”
For more information and to donate, visit hornseacarnival.org.uk.
