Winter Festival’s future

David Dawson, the Secretary of the Baslow Festival Group, has written an open letter to the people of Baslow explaining the group’s proposals for the Winter Festival. David would also like to hear the views from anyone in the village about the future of this event.

Dear Resident

The Winter Festival was set up in 2015 to raise funds for a Christmas tree and to improve the environment around the village green. Both these objectives have been successfully achieved thanks to the hard work of many individuals and community groups, sponsorship from local businesses and the tremendous generosity of our local community. We have raised over £6000 over the years, which has been used for purchasing and lighting the tree, for the new village sign and for other minor improvements.

At our latest committee meeting, the first since the Covd-19 pandemic began, we debated whether there was any need to continue with a ‘festival’, as such. We have enough reserves to fund an annual tree for a few years and also to contribute to a suitable fence alongside the main road if that remains a priority for the Parish Council.

Many of the activities that we used to put on as fundraisers, such as the quiz night, a heritage walk and a Santa’s Grotto, are already part of the programmes of other organisations and there seems no need to compete in a crowded season, just for the sake of it.

So we decided that we would simply continue to fund the tree (with occasional fundraising events in future years as the need arises) but without the rest of the activities. We are also exploring the feasibility of planting a living Christmas tree that might be expected to grow large enough to eventually replace the need for annual trees.

We thought that the village should know of these decisions and have the opportunity to comment over the next few months. We hope to be able to explain our decisions at the next Parish Meeting whenever that is (probably in May) but are happy to hear views at any time, either to me at the number or email below or to any member of our committee.

Thank you for all your support over the years.

David Dawson
Secretary
Baslow Festival Group

T: 01246 582998
E: dj_dawson@hotmail.co.uk