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Posts Tagged ‘Miller Research’

Latest News On Government Support For Welsh Food Festivals

01 Feb

I thought you might be interested to read this Welsh Government Press Release, which was received yesterday and I’ve  copied from welshcountry.co.uk as I’m sure it will be of interest not only to our Best Of  Welsh & Borders producers, but all local food lovers. 

Welsh food festivals are being invited to apply for grant funding from the Welsh Government.

 Each year food festivals in Wales contribute millions of pounds to the economy by attracting visitors from across Wales and beyond and provide an important platform for producers looking to increase sales in an ever more competitive marketplace.

Around 40-50 festivals receive support each year from the Food Festival Grant programme, which is funded by the Welsh Government. In 2010/11 some 49 festivals received grant support.

 Alun Davies, Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries said, “Each year food festivals in Wales contribute millions of pounds to the economy and are a key element in promoting Wales’ burgeoning food culture and giving visitors a ‘sense of place’.

“Large or small, they have their own distinct character, but with one common thread – to bring to the public’s attention the fantastic array of food and drink produced in Wales.”

 The findings of a two-year evaluation of food festivals supported by the Welsh Government, and conducted by Miller Research, show they attracted approximately 650,000 consumers with an average spend per head by festival visitors of £20.

This equates to £7m in direct spend with an estimated additional spend in host communities of £42 million over two years and implies additional sales directly relating to festivals in the region of almost £50million over a two-year period.

Approximately 500 producers – many of them Wales the True Taste Food & Drink Award winners – attended the supported festivals in 2010/11, reporting an average of 32% of their annual sales made as a result of attending festivals.

Applications will be reviewed by a team consisting of representatives from the Welsh Government’s Food and Market Development Division and Visit Wales, with each application considered on individual merit and in light of available funding. Following consultation with the Food and Farming Panel the outcomes will be issued the week commencing March 19th.

This year there have been a number of major changes to the food festivals funding criteria, which has been tightened due to budgetary constraints and an increased number of applicants. Applicants must now submit a business plan and accounts as part of the application process, and all events supported must have food activity as its core. The closing date for applications is February 17th, 2012. The appraisal process will also look a number of other elements, including: the promotion of Welsh food culture, the benefit of the festival to the local community, the local economic benefit, and how the event meets to aims and objectives of the Food Strategy for Wales).

I’m sure that regular readers will not be surprised that I disagree with quite a lot that has been stated in this press release. But at least I’m pleased to have received it! I was just about to send a Freedom Of Information question through to find out when I’m likely to be told which festivals are running and who has taken the lion’s share of yet another reduced food festival budget this year.

I have sent quite a number of questions through to the Welsh Government (Food) Press Office and had notification that my questions have been passed on and will be answered shortly. Bearing in mind that I’m now completing pages for our March/April issue, I’m unsure whether I shall receive a response quickly enough to raise the issues I have with this PR in Welsh Country magazine.

But rest assured I’ll update on welshfoodbites in due course.

 

 
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Bridgend Feastival

03 Oct

Yes that’s what it was called, a feastival rather than a festival.

Made a late decision to attend on Friday afternoon and struggled to get list of stand holders from website but Ian rang Bridgend Council and spoke to a helpful guy called John who efficiently sent through a list so we could plan our Saturday at Bridgend. Bridgend are at the top of my very short ‘helpful council’  list alongside Caerphilly.    

It’s been a long time since I visited Bridgend and after leaving the M4,  travelled along A48, my eyes peeled for signs promoting the event. Well yet again I failed to find signs and it was just as well I knew it was taking place in the town centre, because at least I could find my way there. If you’re a regular reader of welshfoodbites you’ll be as fed-up as I am about my complaining about the same things: lack of signage, lack of press releases and often poor websites. This event received £9,950.00 from Wag and once again as a journalist, I haven’t received a single press release about this event. But why does this happen time and time again and after all that money was spent on a report by Miller Research? Maybe the question that needs an urgent and honest answer is why does Wag allow this situation to continue? If Wag’s answer, should they be bothered to address this matter, is that we are giving food festivals money and they can do whatever they wish with it – then that is simply not acceptable. Unless Wag you are considerate and honest enough to tell our producers that basically they take pot luck as to whether festival organisers can be bothered to promote and market their event. Perhaps Bridgend’s attitude is this food feastival is just to promote the town and we’re not interested in attracting visitors from outside Bridgend. Then that’s fair enough if they make producers aware of this attitude but my concern is why does Wag fund it to the tune of nearly £10k? Shouldn’t the council be prepared to pay for more of it themselves?

Not being familiar with Bridgend, I found it difficult to work out where everyone was. There was a stand at one end with literature so I picked up a leaflet but couldn’t take a map with me as it was pinned to the table. Luckily more maps must have arrived later as I did see people studying them. Local gardener and a BBC Radio 2 favourite, Terry Walton was in attendance, giving talks and advice about gardens and allotments. The layout formed a square in the town, so it was quite easy to follow and there were banners along those streets and on lamp posts. There was street entertainment and a cookery demo area with blackboard details of which chef was working and the dish they were cooking. So that was good to see.

The Farmers’ Market area was bustling and it was good to see many of our Best Of Welsh & Borders producers, (BOW) there. Lovely to a Bridgend Farmers Market banner saying 10 years of trading 1999 -2009 hope they keep up the good work for another ten years! The event was blessed with beautiful weather and I’m sure Cowpots ice-cream did good trade with their super range along with some delicious cheese too!          

As often happens at festivals, there was now area with tables and chairs for visitors to seat down and eat their purchases. Far too many people had to resort to eating and walking in the street, or just leaning against a wall to eat. This is hardly satisfactory for the young, let alone the elderly, infirm or those with children.  I’m sorry but that’s really not good enough, it’s important that this is ignored far too often. The reason people are there is to buy produce and we should be encouraging them to eat it some produce there before buying more to take home. The cafes took advantage of this oversight but having lots of tables and chairs out but this doesn’t not help our producers sell more produce does it?  There was a large area outside Nat. West bank; I think that was Adare Street, which would have been perfect for a seating area and other spots which would have also worked.

Chatting to some of our BOW producers they were having a reasonable event, not brilliant, but not too bad – thank goodness the weather was on their side.  

 

I’m just disappointed that Wag allows the same old problems/issues to continue instead of pushing their funded events to improve. I have no idea whether any Wag person visited but I’d love to see their overview of this event – in fact all events that have been funded this year.

 
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Narbeth Food Festival

26 Sep

Gosh, I cannot remember visiting Narbeth food festival when they haven’t been blessed with beautiful sunny weather. Driving over to Pembrokeshire, scowling at the dark skies, I saw two AA signs and then a sign for the Park & Ride as I entered the town. So apart from the weather as the rain came down, it was a good start.

But as I wandered down the High Street, I was puzzled as to the lack of festival flyers or posters. Down one side of the street, I only saw the Wheatsheaf shop and then Andrew Rees the butchers, that had made any effort at all to use their windows to plug the festival. I was very put out about this as I have held Narbeth up for many years as a shining example of how the committee get the town on side to give the festival and the town itself a huge push and buzz over the festival weekend. To be fair in that weather I wasn’t going to trawl the town, but that was my view as I walked down.  Oh Narbeth, how dare you let me down? 

The rain coming so early on Saturday morning must have hit turnout considerably, it certainly doesn’t encourage locals or holiday makers to get out early. Saturday is always a much busier day than the Sunday so my worry as always is how busy the traders would be. I spent 2 -3 hours there and I thought numbers were much lower than usual, which was  backed up by many traders that I spoke to as well. Maybe the Sunday weather this year was better and trade was up.  I had a lot of Best Of Welsh & Borders producers there so it will be interesting to get their feedback later.  

The outside stands were of course struggling with the weather but not only that, they were battling too against the live music which was in the centre of their stands. Now I really don’t have any objections at all with having music to help provide a cheery atmosphere, and live music is certainly a bonus, but I cannot understand why ‘someone’ doesn’t use the volume control and turn it down a touch. I was trying to talk to one of the burger stands and we had to shout to make ourselves heard. How can traders ply their wares if they have to keep shouting at people?             

On the inside stands I was delighted to see butcher Andrew Rees doing good trade with a special 2011 Narbeth festival sausage made from Dexter beef with tomato, leek and ginger – they were delicious! Andrew was busy sampling the lovely sausages and that paid off with good sales resulting. I was given a programme when I entered, but the rain did not encourage you to browse it as you went around, so I think a white board or a sign board by the kitchen demo area would have been a huge help to let people know which chef was cooking and at what time.

I was told that a lady who wished to attend the festival was furious at being charged £3.00 toenter and wanted to know why. She couldn’t find an organiser, but was quite incensed at such a high charge when all she wanted to do was buy food. I must say I can see her point. You’re not charged to go into a shop and that was how she was viewing the event as one large food shop. She didn’t want to listen to music in the rain, watch children’s entertainment, or watch a cookery demo, her mission was to buy food, but the result was she didn’t go in. So how much trade was lost from her? I’ve talked to a few organisers who say an entrance fee is vital for them to balance their books and many do put on lots of entertainment. The Really Wild were a classic example of this, with plenty to do there, especially for the younger ones.  I’m sure this debate will continue, but I’d love to have more feedback on entrance fees.

Let me finish off this post by saying, yet again, that this is yet another funded festival that I didn’t have a single press release about. In past years Narbeth’s PR was done by Sarah Hoss who I thought did a great job. I got lots of information from her about what was going on, but she’s no longer there and I, as part of the Welsh media with a huge interest in food, wasn’t even sent a press release! Why was this?

Last year, Miller Research was tasked by Wag to do a food festival survey and a follow-up report and I know that all festivals received the Miller feedback. So I’d be furious if many festival reports were not highlighted and taken to task for a lack of signage and a lack of basic PR & Marketing, which includes press releases. So if I’m correct on this, why am I still reporting very few improvements at festivals that are still being funded? What was the point of spending all that money with Miller if ‘we’ can coast along this year without any real improvements being made at far too many festivals? It seems to me that something is still seriously wrong here.

It is the festival’s responsibility to get punters into the event of that there is no question or discussion. Then when the punters are there it’s the up to the traders to tempt visitors with their produce, not sit down looking bored! But if the organisers can’t get punters in, then you can rest assured that some traders will not be back next year, please do not forget that they are running businesses, not charities.  I understand that stands were being charged £150 for the two days with a £30.00 electric charge – not sure if my info. is correct or not, but with these charges, the traders really do have to see some decent trade.                  

 

 
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Promotion & Marketing Of Food Festivals

17 Aug

Since I sent around our Best Of Welsh & Borders producers the Welsh Government list of funding to food festivals, there have been a lot more questions being asked as to what many of them do with their money. Well I have to say there’s no point asking me, if they want to know they must ask the organisers themselves. As you would expect they all work very differently, have vastly varying priorities and obviously varying amounts of experience of putting on festivals.

I have no idea at all what guidance or maybe restrictions that the government sets on how ‘their’ money is spent, or if that happens. But I do think it is more than time that some priorities were laid down for funded festivals. I think we can all agree that food festivals must have food as their core activity which must therefore mean that food is the priority, which means that producers are paramount. Sadly we know that at many events this is simply not the case. But unless producers vote with their feet and don’t attend, or Wag makes an effort to improve all festivals, producers are in a difficult situation.

One suggestion that I have been thinking about is that a well established, professional producer is invited onto their local festival committee. Their role will be to inform the committee the basics that traders must have and I’m looking at electric that doesn’t fail within the first hour – that’s even if it gets connected in the first place, and traders are not paying through the nose for the ‘honour’  of having that vital power supply. A couple of portable toilets placed near the traders – just for them, so that those having to work solo don’t have to waste precious selling time going on a country hike to take a natural break! They could help on layout of stands as they have a must better idea of traffic flow than anyone, noise levels for music, parking vans, loading and off-loading, number of similar stands – these are all issues that can make a traders life easier or make them feel that this is the last time they waste their hard earned cash at this event. I’m sure they’ll also have lots of additional ideas that would make their event special, not just for them, but for the public too. The trader representative could be the official spokesperson for the event and maybe this would will take pressure away from the organisers and help the event run more smoothly.

There always seem to be complaints from traders about festivals but after running them for years shouldn’t the bulk of the troubles have now been sorted? I know that festivals are run basically by volunteers, but the fact no-one can run away from is that festivals are much-needed income for traders. They are not attending to pay for an exotic holiday, they’re attending to pay their mortgages, pay their council tax and feed their kids. I’m positive that life for organisers would be much easier if communication was better between them and the traders. I am still wondering why traders pay their money but quite often have no idea where they will be sited. Would it be too difficult for organisers to issue a site plan with the tradestands shown and traders can book where they wish. Of course that means that there would be some flexibility in stand prices as those with better traffic flow would be charged at a premium, whilst those on the out edges would be slightly cheaper. Would this work? I know I have had lots of moans about Abergavenny again this year not only from those that couldn’t get accepted but those who have been placed in an area they’d rather not be in. Some organisers have told me that a few traders could be difficult and although you do occasionally get unprofessional guys on the circuit, I just explain, quite patiently, that this is their livelihood and the majority just want to earn some decent money.   

At an event this year with very low attendance, I was asked what this festival has done about advertising and marketing. Well that was another question I couldn’t answer apart from the fact they weren’t advertising with Welsh Country, which meant that wouldn’t have sent details around our Best Of Welsh & Borders producers, put up on Welsh Country website or done any editorial in a relevant issue. So I would assume it was local advertising, if any. I’m sure I’m right on my guess that traders, when they book their space, ask what Promotion & Marketing the organisers are going to do, they simply hope and trust that the organisers will have a plan on how to get people into the event – fingers crossed!!!

I’m not 100% sure, but I understand that organisers are allowed to use their own judgement on Promotion & Marketing as they are not directed by Wag, but I must finish off by sharing this story with you. As we finish off our September/October issue, we contacted Conwy Food Festival to see if they wished to work with us, but were told: no we get lots of local editorial and the Welsh Government look after us very well with funding.” Well there’s lots of truth in that with Wag giving them £41k this year, the same amount as they received last year – so lucky Conwy, no budget cuts there, wonder if tradestand prices have come down as they are so financially well looked by Wag.

Abergavenny,Cardiffand Conwy were festivals I have highlighted as being fortunate in not having their funding cut this year and querying why. It was only when we downloaded the Miller Research report that to get around high funding for these three festivals, that they are now classed as ‘Flagship National Events’ and so I guess they can continue to feel confident that Wag will continue to look at this trio very well.  Think to summarise it’s down to the producers to speak up if they are not happy and make suggestions for improvements, but I know a few are reluctant to do this as they feel they wont get a stand the following year of be stuck out on the edge. I don’t wish to say they can’t win, I simply think we must just find ways to improve.

 
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Festival Criteria Is Very Shaky

28 Jun

The situation on festivals is shaky and that’s being polite. I have never had so much criticism about the way Wag have set out their criteria and then allowed some festivals to ignore it. As expected this year, festival funding has been slashed to £368,521.36 and only 31 festivals are being supported. Last year 57 festivals were supported with a budget of £529,125,70. With such budget slash, I think most people would have expected Wag to have applied just a little commonsense as to how they could give the taxpayer best-value–for-money by making best use of the funding they’ve been allocated. First Minister Carwyn Jones said: “Indeed, it is estimated that the overall economic impact of Welsh food festivals on their host communities is annually as much as £20.3m. There is a positive knock-on effect on employment in rural areas too with around 1,125 jobs linked to food festivals”.

I’m unsure whether Mr Jones is saying these figures are from last year when he funded 57 events with nearly £530k and the economic impact of £20.3m. Well £20.3m is no mean figure, so why then with such a strong economic impact, has our festival budget been slashed so harshly that Wag is now only funding 31 festivals instead of 57. Isn’t that surely going to reduce the effect of the economic impact, not to mention the impact of 1,125 jobs? I wish my limited brain power could get to grips with political thinking.    

I’ve heard so many times from Wag’s higher management that they want food festivals to be self-supporting, so if that’s the case, why are the three largest festivals: Abergavenny, (£52k) Cardiff (£37,550) and Conwy (£41k), being given nearly £131k out of this year’s budget? All these three festivals applied for the same amount of money they received last year and got it – no budget cuts there – but why not? In 08/09, Abergavenny got £37,360, Cardiff £30k and Conwy £24,665, so Wag’s self-supporting theory, is obviously that, theory. Whilst in practice these three festivals have had increasing money thrown into their rather large pots. Any chance Wag that you can clarify your self-supporting theory? 

Wag’s criteria for this year, insists that festivals have ‘food as the core activity.’

An easy example of this was that the Smallholder was shown the red card by Wag, even though Steve Shearman had been asked years ago to run this event for them. But panic not, there will be a Food Hall at the RWAS or the Winter Fair, as Wag runs both these events and funds them out of a different budget. Please don’t ask me how much those two events cost as the only way I’d get a partial answer will be to send through a Freedom Of Information question again, but a partial answer doesn’t solve the problem. 

Crymch Food & Craft festival, which has run for years, has decided not to run this year because of the, ‘food as the core activity’. Even though their food and craft were held in two separate areas, they guessed wouldn’t fund it. However Llandysul, which as far as I’m aware has had a similar split of food and craft stalls, ran again this year and were funded by Wag £9k, a reduction of £500.00 on last year. Now how can this anomaly have occurred? Wag gave Abergavenny based Miller Research, the task of visiting all their funded festivals and reporting back to them. I’ve asked for a copy of this report as I know a producer has too, but despite the fact that the organisers had their copies months ago, I’m still waiting for mine. Does that mean my copy might be edited before I get it? So how did Wag make their decisions this year? As food was not the core activity in Llandysul in previous years, why were they funded again this year? What did the Miller Research report say about Llandysul and who made the final decision for it to be funded again?

I had a press release yesterday from Hay on Wye festival, which is excellent, because despite 31 festivals being funded I shall be lucky to get 10 press releases in total from them. If festivals don’t send out press releases, they cannot possibly get any publicity and if they don’t get publicity where do the visitors come from. Festival organisers have a duty to the producers to ensure that they do their utmost to generate publicity and get people through their gates. I’m fed-up of hearing from organisers that ‘they don’t have an advertising budget’ what is core accurate is that they haven’t allocated money to advertise their event, but instead spending money on expensive chefs and aren’t bothering to tell their traders what they are doing. Traders pay their money up front and in good faith and organisers should communicate with them their plans for their event. Anyway back to Hay press releases, in the first paragraph it said busy event and estimated 4,000 people there and in the second paragraph at least 5,000 people. Well guess you can take your choice but it does raise two issues, who counted all those people as I understand it’s a free event and where on earth in Hay did all those people manage to park their cars?            

You only have to read welshfoodbites to see what massive interest and concern there is about food festivals. Regular readers will know that Wag Food Press Office have since March, refused to answer any questions from me, in case I blog it and upset as they say they have no right of reply! Well I’ve had had to remind them that when Wag food were working with us in 2008 and 2009 there was no negative food news at all published in Welsh Country magazine. Yet behind the scenes, that was a different matter. No-one should under-estimate the amount of hard work that was going behind the scenes whilst my team tried to get some communication going between the food producers and Wag. The Press Office then told me not to talk to Wag officials directly, but to talk to them. When that system didn’t work too well, I decided to create welshfoodbites in July 2010. Initially the idea was to use it for questions I wasn’t getting answers to, but in effect it has provided a forum for all foodies to air their views and ask their questions.

As far as Welsh Country is concerned, Wag sadly has now had negative coverage. We were waiting and waiting for the list of food festivals which was promised, but again did not arrive so that was published. I have no intention at all of apologizing for doing this, in fact Wag should be very grateful I haven’t devoted pages of welshfoodbites in every issue of Welsh Country. My reason for not doing so is not to save their blushes, because in the world of Wag, nothing is ever wrong. Wag appear to work under the B.S.E. rule, Blame Someone Else. The only reason, so far that I’m holding back is that I feel I should try and paint a picture of positivity in our Welsh food world. The only worry for Wag now is my pot of paint is running very, very low ……………………..……..

 
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Has Newport Found A Loophole To Get Festival Funding?

21 Jun

This year Newport are running a food festival for what I understand is the first time and are receiving financial support of £15,171k  from Wag. As Newport have asked for more than £10k, that means they’ve had to supply Wag with a business plan for the event, but with the Council’s financial department to hand, this is not proved a deterrent to Newport as it has to other festivals. Newport takes place on 28/29th October, partly clashing with Cowbridge, with Newport having the advantage of free entry on both days apart from having some ticketed activity.     

I’ve been onto Newport Food Festival website today, which is actually Newport City Council website.  Then I got rather confused as to whether this festival is a stand alone event or not. It appears to be running through the tail end of Newport Festival which is launched on 24th July. Our office has rung Newport Council and been told it’s part of the Newport Festival, but under Wag’s 2011 criteria, ‘food activity must be the core’. Well as we;ve been  told it’s part of the Newport Festival, how can food be the core activity?  Another interesting fact to throw into this mix is that the Newport Food Festival website url is owned by Miller Research. Regular readers will be aware that Miller Research from Abergavenny were asked by Wag to do an analysis of all the food festivals they funded last year……………..   

Regular readers will also know how angry I am that Smallholder was thrust into turmoil when Wag refused to fund them this year. Bearing in mind that the Smallholder was originally run by Wag themselves. No funding caused huge problems for everyone, plus gave no alternative but to have increased tradestand prices, just because Wag stuck to their criteria – well in this instance they did. The Royal Welsh and the Winter Fair will not have this problem as both these events are conveniently funded by Wag out of a different Wag budget!!

I have never had so many calls and emails about matters festival related as I have this year. Plus I have no idea at all why Wag needs to make life in the food sector more complicated that it is. When Wag have their usual Food Festival Organisers meeting in February, why couldn’t all these issues have been sorted out there and then? Why am I now in a situation where I’m being asked questions that I have no answers for? If I give people what should be the ‘easy’ solution of ringing Wag and talking to Jon Parker, who I think is still responsible for food festivals, for some reason that never appears to be a favourable option, I wonder why…………………………….

If you have any more news or insights into this situation, then please help me out and let me know. I just don’t understand how this can have happened.

 
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Food Festivals Get Into Full Swing

15 Jun

We’re now in the midst of the busiest time in the WAG food festival supported calendar. But sadly the discord behind the scenes continues. I’ve already posted on the demise of Llanwrtyd Wells, Smallholder and Aberystwyth. Llanwrtyd couldn’t have it’s funding confirmed and as it’s an April festival, they decided not to run this year. Smallholder lost it’s funding because being at the Royal Welsh Showground, food was not the core activity.  Aberystwyth has lost funding for its Xmas Fair, although they are appealing Wag’s decision. News has also come through to me that Frenni in Crymch has fallen foul of the Wag’s ‘no craft stall rule’ so they are not running this year, whilst other festivals have been told, no craft or no funding.

Wag state that all food events they support ‘must have food as the core.’ Festivals with less than 20 producers exhibiting are not eligible for support. If the festival fails to attract 20 producers, funding may be reduced or withdrawn. Even if there are twenty food producers the number of other exhibitors e.g. craft, community will be taken into account when assessing an application’.

A review team considers each application but I have no idea who the review team consists of. Then a panel drawn from the Food Drink Advisory Partnership will make the final decision. 

Apparently the ‘no craft – no funding’ has come from the review of all the festivals Wag funded last year that was undertaken by Miller Research from Abergavenny. I have noted the comments made by some on welshfoodbites relating to the fact that Abergavenny’s funding remains the same as last year, so no cuts or reduction there, despite the fact that Wag’s objective was that food festivals should aim to be self-funding. Wag will consider ‘size of financial contribution from other (non-WAG) partners and direct contributions from festival resources’. Your guess will be as good as mine as to what this means in the world of Wag! I asked for a copy of Miller Research report in March, but have yet to receive it, I’m told it will arrive soon.  Which is rather strange as I’ve spoken to quite a few organisers who had their individual reports months ago. I’m sure it will make interesting reading, whether I’ll agree with the content remains to be seen………………………………..  

It’s very disappointing that this year Wag are only able to support 31 festivals instead of 56 festivals, as last year. Of course we are all aware that budgets have been slashed, but the question is now, has Wag made best use of the funding they have received? Is it better to keep supporting to the same level our 3 biggest festivals, namely, Abergavenny, Cardiff and Conwy, to the tune of £130,900, at the expense of many of our smaller events?    

Taken from a Wag Press Release:

The 31 festivals – large and small – feature a wide range of products and are an important showcase for producers and Welsh produce among who are many Wales the True Taste Food and Drink Awards winners. Said Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales, “I am delighted the Welsh Assembly Government has been able to continue to support food and drink festivals across Wales. During 2011/12 the festivals will collectively receive £368,521.36 in assistance, signifying their importance to the economy and Wales’ reputation as a producer of high quality and diverse food and drink.

Another concern is that I don’t know which Wag person/s are visiting all their supported festivals this year - does anyone know? But I’m not impressed seeing Wag officials scurrying around an event 30 mins after it’s opened and hardly talking to anyone. I just can’t see the point. How can you get a true impression of an event with that time-scale and attitude? Visits must be made later in the day, or on the 2nd day of a two-day festival, they must talk to stall holders, organisers, vistors and volunteers too. That’s how to get feedback, but maybe producers wouldn’t be honest with Wag. That could be a problem. But it’s so important that each festival is still visited by someone and feedback given, if not how are these events going to improve and grow? The most important and relevant point is how do we know that value for money is being achieved?

 
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WAG Axe Falls On Aberystwyth Christmas Fair

02 Jun

I had a phone call yesterday from a producer asking why Aber Fair had been axed. He wasn’t one of our Best Of Welsh & Borders members, so wasn’t aware of the furore that’s been going on and the difficulties we’ve had even obtaining this year’s dates from the Welsh Assembly Government, Wag. Apparently he’d read a piece in his local paper and was very upset that this fair was not now going ahead.

Ceredigion Council have said that as Wag are now not going to fund the £4,200 that the event got last year, it could not go ahead in it’s current form.  Wag has funded this event for eleven years. In 08/09 Aber received £3,840 and in 09/10 £4.000. However this year Aber has fallen foul of Wag’s new ruling that states: ‘all events supported will have food activity as the core’. Culture, tourism, arts, crafts and Christmas markets now do not qualify for Wag support. The Council state that last year’s poor weather badly affected the Christmas Fair, but in 2009 the event attracted over 4,000 people. I really do disagree with the Council on numbers for 09, how, if the event is free, do they get even a rough number count? Am I’m sure I’m not alone in wondering where Aber managed to find parking for such a number of cars, it’s difficult enough on an ordinary Saturday!! However I’m told that of 46 stalls, only eight were non-food. So I’ll continue to stick to what I have been saying for some time which is that that craft stalls do add interest to a food event. The longer people stay at an event the better. Of course I can understand that Wag feel that are then supporting craft, but maybe a compromise is that crafters pay more for their stands. But to drop support for this event because of 8 craft stalls is childish and short sighted and is certainly not supporting food and producers.

Whilst this dispute was raging Ceredigion AM Elin Jones slammed Wag’s decision saying that the festival gave important support to local producers. She then went on the political bandwagon, trying to shame Labour on cutting back support for local food festivals. Well I’m not in total agreement there but do accpet that I haven’t all the facts but it’s not for the lack of trying, is it? I’ve been asking for a list of the festivals Wag were supporting in January and was told I couldn’t have the list until the end of March. Then, at end of March I was told I couldn’t have the list now as we were in ‘a pre-election period’. So my thinking is that this list was already done and agreed, and who was the Minister responsible for signing this off? Step forward Elin Jones…………

We then had our elections on 5th May and I received Wag’s funded festival list on 13th May. I’m not sure if you think in just over a week; Wag started from scratch with the new Labour team, made their decisions, informed the organisers and then told the media. I don’t think so as the organsiers were told I believe on the 6th May. I think all decisions were made whilst Elin was still in ministerial power and were rubber-stamped by Labour, but we’ll see what else we can find out about this………………………

Of course budgets have to be slashed, there isn’t a choice because as a nation we are broke|. But who agrees to Conwy and Abergavenny getting the same amounts as last year, no cuts for them let alone even a reduction for two huge festivals who can get sponsors in, whilst Aber gets axed for £4k? Has Wag changed it’s mind about getting festivals to be self-supporting? It must have, because otherwise wouldn’t these two have had their funding requests reduced at least?   

Wag have apparently responded by saying that with a reduced budget and the evaluation of food festivals taken over last two years, then to make the best use of resources it was decided that events where food was not the core activity would not receive funding. For those of you not up to speed, last year Miller Research from Abergavenny, were asked to visit all Wag supported festivals and evaluate what they were doing. Most organisers I have spoken to have received their copy of the Miller report, but I’m still waiting for Wag to send through my copy. I have been told that Crymych Food & Craft Fair also fell foul of the new no -craft rule so that event is also not running this year. Lampeter was also told by Miller that they had too many craft stands, even though the craft stands are set in a different part on the Lampeter University grounds, plus a new festival in Newcastle Emlyn was told ‘no craft or no funding’.

I also wonder if this ‘no craft or no funding’ was made clear at the organisers meeting in February, otherwise surely this issue could have been clarified and sorted then and not left until now. I’m sure Jan Fenner who organises the Aber fairs and markets would have been there, but why that didn’t happen is rather puzzling.

Ceredigion County Council are appealing Wag’s decision and I look forward not only to hearing the outcome, but an explanation too!!!

Food Festival funding has been a hot topic on welshfoodbites so  please check out posts around March this year for more background.

 
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Well Done Narbeth

27 Sep

Narbeth Food Festival 25th – 26th September

Size doesn’t always matter – well not when it’s related to food festivals! I attended Narbeth on Saturday and although Narbeth cannot compare to Abergavenny in size, the friendly atmosphere that generated around this festival, really does make it a must-visit festival. Narbeth is a regular festival for us and yet again this year, they managed to tick my must-have boxes: plenty of signage going in, shops in the town supporting with window displays, a tented outside space area for sitting, eating & chatting, entertainment for children and a wonderful selection of Welsh producers. I managed to have a chat with chefs Dudley Newbery and Angela Gray who were there to do cookery demos to capacity audiences, which was so good to see.

I was pleased to see one of my favourite coffee companies there – Preseli Coffee and they were a regular stop as Ian and I got through our workload, their mocha coffee is  a particular favourite. Mind you we were there so long that lunch became a must , which meant we had to visit Samosaco, who have the only samosa factory in Wales. They have authentic and homemade flavours that are combined with their secret family recipe and they are so good. Eventually we decided on a veggie biriani and chicken biriani and they were delicious!!!! It’s silly really that I’m always amazed by the high quality of products this company produces, I have always loved the variety they produce and as for the quality, well you need to try for yourself, they never disappoint. We even took some home too!!   

But whether I am at a food event, craft fair, equestrian event, well any event really, I hate to see tradestanders sitting down, especially when there are plenty of customers about, and this is only enhanced when they sit behind their tables reading!!!!!!!  Hmm ……..reading…….  well I noted only one culprit at Narbeth, so stand up, yes stand up Miller Research. One of their guys was so bored or exhausted with the Narbeth festival by 12.00, that he sat  behind his table reading his newspaper. I’m sorry, but in my book, or on my payroll, this behaviour is unacceptable. He should have been engaging with the visitors and explaining why Miller Research were there. He wasn’t a food producer having to sell his wares to make a living, as the Welsh Assembly Government Food Division, (which is us the tax payer), are paying for their services, but that is still not a valid excuse to sit and read the paper. If you are meant to be taking a break, and your ‘break’ was a long one  – then take it off the stand, especially when Narbeth have thoughtfully provided a seating area. I bet he wasn’t even aware that a photographer took a picture of him reading …………………………

 
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Miller Research – WAG Food Festivals

26 Jul

WAG Food have asked Miller Research from Abergavenny to visit all the food festivals they are supporting this year, 52 in total I think. They are then reporting back to, Welsh Assembly Government,  WAG  on their findings. I saw Miller Research at Llanwrytd Wells in April, the Welsh Beer & Cider in Cardiff and then at Cardigan Bay Sea Festival earlier this month. However on Saturday, they weren’t at Lampeter.  Anyone know why? I’ve had an email in directly to me suggesting a puncture in one of their bicycle tyres might have been the reason!!! But having asked the question through WAG, I have been told that Miller Research did eventually make it to Lampeter festival just before lunch-time after their car broke down. …………..

 
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