You may have spotted that 2014's Warwick Rocks Festival of Food and Film has been
However, the fringe events that run alongside the market square screenings will still go ahead!
The details of all of these can be found on this website (please get in contact if I've missed one or you want your event added).
The 2014 Warwick Rocks Film and Food Festival had been scheduled to take place in late August 2014. However last week it was brought to Warwick District Council’s attention that due to sponsorship issues, the 2014 event could be in jeopardy.
Recognising the economic and cultural importance of the event to the town, WDC Councillors unanimously agreed a one-off grant of £3k, to help support the event.
However, this award was conditional upon the organisers being able to provide WDC with the necessary documents by the deadline of 12 noon on Monday 4 August 2014. The documents are those required by all event organisers wishing to run events on sites covered by a Council license and in accordance with guidelines as set out by the Health & Safety Executive. These documents include risk assessments, insurance documents and crucially an event plan which would demonstrate to the Council, Police and highway authority that the event would be run in a safe manner with appropriate traffic management arrangements and other safety considerations in place.
Unfortunately, despite WDC extending the deadline again, and making a further offer to meet with the Warwick Rocks organisers and work through any remaining areas of concern, Warwick Rocks have notified us on 4 August, that they have decided that the financial risk to their organisation of pursuing the event without the necessary agreement from the Council is too great and therefore have reluctantly decided to cancel the event.
The Smith Street Food Festival on Saturday 23 Aug, 2014 has also been cancelled for the same reasons.
Cllr Sue Gallagher, Portfolio Holder for Culture, comments:“We are obviously disappointed that these events are not now taking place, but the Council has a duty to ensure that all events open to members of the public are managed in a safe way and in line with health and safety guidelines. Our events team work with a wide range of community groups throughout the year, supporting over 100 events ranging from small community events to large national events. Therefore it is disappointing to hear that Warwick Rocks have taken this decision after a significant amount of support having been offered for this event.“
For clarification the documents requested by Warwick District Council to cover these events are the same documents requested for previous events run by Warwick Rocks. Previous events have been able to supply site plans, traffic management plans and insurance details which have been suitable. It is disappointing these have not been forthcoming on this occasion within the time required.
For further information, please contact the Media Room, Warwick District Council 01926 456069
Warwick Rocks Statement (5th August 2014):
The Warwick Rocks team is extremely disappointed to announce today that despite huge efforts the free film screenings in Warwick’s Market Place and the street food market as part of the Warwick Rocks Food and Film Festival cannot take place.
The event was due to take place on the August Bank Holiday weekend, but as a result of requests from Warwick District Council that are not possible to meet, the team has made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s event.
However, the team will continue to support Warwick town centre businesses who have already pledged support through the festival fringe event, which includes:
- Dirty Dancing at the Warwick Arms Hotel with Sweet As cakes on Thursday, August 21.
- Twilight being shown at the Thomas Lloyd on Friday, August 22.
- A Cuban night and movie at The Lazy Cow on Sunday, August 24.
- An African event at the Rose and Crown on Sunday, August 24.
- An ale tour of Warwick on Sunday, August 24.
Earlier this year the team was informed by Warwick District Council that because of licensing issues the planned line-up of films could not be shown, restricting films to PG and U ratings.
The team has continued to plan the event with this in mind and would like to thank the many sponsors and supporters working with us to make the event happen, including:
- Hair Management
- Baxi
- Sketts Quality Events
- Hawkesford Estate Agents
- Quality Solicitors Moore and Tibbits
- Phillips 66
- The Usual Studio
- Warwick Arms Hotel
- Sweet As Cakes
- The Rose and Crown
- The Lazy Cow
- The Thomas Lloyd
- Warwick Chamber of Trade
- Warwickshire Police
- Warwick Town Council
- Chris White MP
Following the restrictions from Warwick District Council the team were hoping to offer the following reduced event:
- Raiders of the Lost Ark on Saturday, August 23, at 7.30pm.
- Toy Story on Sunday, August 24, at midday.
- Hairspray on Sunday, August 24, at 4pm.
- The Goonies (PG) on Sunday, August 24, at 7.30pm.
These would have been accompanied at each event by a range of streetfood in the square.
Crowds fill the square to enjoy Top Gun last summer.
There would have been the food street market on Smith Street on the Saturday, an event which last year attracted more than 10,000 people to Warwick.
The Warwick Rocks team today made the following announcement: “Last year we put on the summer and Christmas food and film festival attracting more than 30,000 people to Warwick through the week-long event, and the event passed without incident or a single complaint.
“The team has put in many, many hours of work in trying to make this year’s event happen, at times working through the night in their own time to put on this free festival for Warwick.
“We’re clearly disappointed to have to make this announcement, and despite having submitted event notices, event plans, risk assessments and stewarding plans to the district council, the additional demands we have now been presented with, in the amount of time we now have ahead of the event, has left us with little option but to cancel the event.
“The Warwick Rocks team works for the community, for no financial gain, and we will continue to work to find innovative ways of bringing trade and excitement to the centre of Warwick.
“We’ve already had a great year with the Warwick Rocks Midsummer Night event attracting more than 1,000 people to Warwick’s Market Square for a free music festival, and joining the pupils of Myton School for the Myton Rocks festivities!”
Any creative talented individuals or businesses interested in working with the Warwick Rocks team in the future should contact us at
warwickrocks12@gmail.com
