Welcome to your local community website...
Crunch puts festival of lights 2009 in jeopardy
This year's Festival of Lights - the biggest event in the Beaconsfield calendar - is to be scaled down and possibly even cancelled.
The organisers have been unable to find a sponsor and Beaconsfield Town Council is contributing only a fifth of the amount it put in last year.
The event will go ahead - provided the annual grant from South Bucks District Council is not scaled down too - but it will be on a smaller scale.
Peter Cullimore, leader of the organising team for 15 years, said: "We won't be able to afford reindeer this year, and we may not have pipers in the band. We won't be able to make a major donation to charity. We are still desperately trying to find a sponsor but it's proving difficult this year because of the economic climate."
Last year the event, jointly fun by Beaconsfield Rotary and Jordans and District Rotary, was sponsored by Frost Partnership estate agents who put in £1500, the town council put in £2,500 and South Bucks put in £1,500.
But the budget for the Festival of Lights was slashed in January when the town council re-wrote its budget in order to avoid using up reserves. It also slashed £4,500 off its budget for Christmas lights.
Mayor Henry Wilson said: "We have considerable expenses on the horizon. We are putting in an extra CCTV camera at Holtspur plus we are upgrading all of the town's CCTV to digital at a cost of around £30,000. We certainly don't want to loose the Festival of Lights."
John Frost of the Frost Partnership said: "The Frost Partnership, like most business in the property/financial sector, has seen the affects of the "credit crunch" and therefore has had to rationalise their sponsorship commitments this year."
If your company is interested in sponsoring the festival contact Peter Cullimore on 01494 678811.
We'd like to hear from you. Send your stories, pics and videos
Older/Newer
« County council says BRAINS wrong over incinerator costs | South Bucks crime figures dip »
I bought a bird feeder. I hung
it in my back garden and filled
it with seed. What a beauty of
a bird feeder it was, as I filled it
lovingly with food. Within a
week we had hundreds of birds
taking advantage of the
continuous flow of free and
easily accessible food.
But then the birds started
building nests in the boards
of the patio, above the table,
and next to the barbecue.
Then came the cr@p. It was
everywhere: on the patio tiles,
the chairs, the table ..
everywhere!
Then some of the birds
turned mean. They would
dive bomb me and try to
peck me even though I had
fed them out of my own
pocket.
And others birds were
boisterous and loud. They
sat on the feeder and
squawked and screamed at
all hours of the day and night
and demanded that I fill it
when it got low on food.
After a while, I couldn't even
sit in my own back garden
anymore. So I took down the
bird feeder and in three days
the birds were gone. I cleaned
up their mess and took down
the many nests they had built
all over the patio.
Soon, the back garden was like
it used to be .... quiet, serene....
and no one demanding their
rights to a free meal.
Now let's see.
Our government gives out
free food, subsidized housing,
free medical care and free
education, and allows anyone
born here to be an automatic
citizen.
Then the illegals came by the
tens of thousands. Suddenly
our taxes went up to pay for
free services; small apartments
are housing 5 families; you
have to wait 6 hours to be seen
by an emergency room doctor;
your child's second year class is
behind other schools because
over half the class doesn't speak
English.
Corn Flakes now come in a
bilingual box; I have to
'press one ' to hear my bank
talk to me in English, and
people waving flags other
than our flag are
squawking and screaming
in the streets, demanding
more rights and free liberties.
Just my opinion, but maybe
it's time for the government
to take down the bird feeder.
If you agree, pass it on; if not,
continue cleaning up the cr@p.