The Parish Council and the Village Fete

The 2023 Village Fete

The seeming dissent, secrecy and conspiracy of our Parish Council leaves one to despair. I hope all will be revealed on Monday at the Parish Council meeting. And faith may be restored. Transparency should be a given. But the Parish Council have chosen to be extremely opaque for a very long time.

The PC makes decisions on behalf of the people in the parish and has an overall responsibility for the well-being of its local community .

Clearly this has not been the case in Audlem for quite some time. And more recently has only served to destroy any confidence village groups have of organizing and promoting events.

The case of the village fete is particularly close to my heart. The Turnpike field was chosen by the fete committee as the ideal place for a village fete. The field was bought for the community. What better way to use this acquisition than a village fete. The first village fete. Now we are told we cannot use the field for any purpose other than parking . Despite asking why, no reason has been given.

After organizing the first, and subsequent, Audlem village fetes, we are now in our third year. The first year was not easy. We were starting from scratch and quite a few people were sceptical that it could be a success. It was! Last year, our second year posed challenges too. They were overcome. Now, our third year, and the problems, hurdles and complications are absurd. All caused by our Parish Council.

It takes an awful lot of hard work and dedication for many months from a very small (seven people) team to put this event together.

We don t want to be defeated. We will not be defeated. But we need the support of our Parish Council. And the village.

A typical village event such as a fete has raised so many problems to leave me in a state of despair.

But despite this I am determined the village will have their fete. Our fete.

All the hard work put in for this over the past several months was decimated in a matter of days. But we re now back on board. And sweating! We are moving to the playing field. And going for it.

So the fete committee have four weeks to replan, reschedule and rearrange. So that Audlem can enjoy a wonderful fund raising event which will help keep our village the beautiful, attractive and interesting place it is. A village that attracts many outsiders and helps to increase our economy. And keep us happy!

We hope to see you there!