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Posts Tagged ‘WAG’

FOI 5995 – Festival Funding – At Last

17 May

Was it worth waiting for? I’ll await your views!!!!

It’s taken a lot of time and a great deal of effort to get this list and I had to resort to asking for it under Freedom Of Information Act, so I hope that you appreciate the effort involved!!!! I’m not sure that you’ll agree with Wag’s and Visit Wales’ decisions, but sure you will let me know by posting your comments or email me with your views.

My initial concern was that two events that run in early March Saundersfoot and a Swansea festival and will run again 2013 but still count as in this year’s budget have not been shown. So I’m asking if this is an error or if these events are running again next year. My other surprise is that Fish Week now appears in this budget taking out a whacking £31, 671. I thought that this event was funded under RDP for 2007-13 and last year received grant funding of £55,636, plus £30,711 from Pembrokeshire County Council, in 2010 grant funding was £77,157. I have also asked why Fish Week is now being taken from the festival budget.

In case you wish to know, 52 food festivals applied for the Food Festival Grant Funding Support for 2012/13  and to save you totting up, I’ll tell you that only 33 festivals were lucky enough to get funding, with some as always, appearing luckier than others. I’m interested to know if any of the food festivals got the amount of money they applied for. I’d also like to know how those in power wokred out the amounts they were going to offer each festival, but even I can’t be bothered to pursue that one!!!

I do wonder about the wisdom, or lack of wisdom, in that Newport and Neath have each been given £8k – £9k but they are  running on the same weekend, as it Brecon, though Brecon will obviously draw from Powys for producers. But do we really have enough quality producers to put on three good festivals?  Time will tell, but I do hope these three festivals, maybe more than most put some serious energy into their promotion and marketing. Traders you have been warned, please ask before you pay, because unhappy Best Of Welsh & Border producers I do not need!

Wag’s ‘Big 3’: Abergavenny, Cardiff and Conwy have all had budget reductions from last year, but 10/11 was the final year on a 3 year plan, funded under the Total Supply Chain Efficiency Funding. These all had huge increases from 08/09 – 10/11, for example Conwy went from £25k, to £43k to £41k and now this year gets £33,683.61. What continues to puzzle me is that wag has been sounding off for years that festivals must try to get to be self-funding and these three have the best chance for sponsorship, but they are still well funded as wag has now decreed that they have been awarded ‘international’ status which is an easy way of wag saying: “don’t worry we’ll keep funding you guys”…………………………..
Any further updates will of course be posted.

 

Name of
Festival

Date

Amount of
Funding
Gorseinon Food Festival

28 April

£8,460.00
Riverside Food Festival

20 May

£2,249.00
Caerphilly Food Festival

26 May

£9,753.00
Welsh Perry & Cider Festival

1 – 4 June

£5,260.00
Llyn Land & Seafood Festival

2 – 3 June

£8,230.00
Gwyl Fwyd Castell Newydd  Emlyn

16 June

£7,133.80
The Pembrokeshire Fish Week Festival

23 June – 1 July

£31,671.00
Hay Food Festival

30 June

£2,601.00
Llandysul Food Festival

30 June

£5,644.00
Margam Festival - Margam Market Day

01 July

£9,889.20
Cardiff International Food & Drink

6 – 8 July

£25,608.85
Cardigan Bay Seafood Festival, Aberaeron

08 July

£9,500.00
Eating Green / Cider Palooza Festival

12 – 14 July

£5,000.00
Really Wild Food & Countryside Festival

27 – 28 July

£11,963.77
Lampeter Food Festival

28 July

£6,150.00
Carmarthen Food Festival

01 August

£6,500.00
Cardigan River & Food Festival

11 – 12 August

£10,400.00
Welsh Food Festival

1 – 2 September

£6,225.00
Aberystwyth Food & Drink Festival

15 September

£7,418.61
Abergavenny Food Festival      15–16 September

£46,800.00
Narberth Food Festival      21–23 September

£8,161.40
Mold Food and Drink Festival      22- 23 September

£8,025.00
Feastival (Bridgend)      28- 29 September

£9,900.00
Newport Food Festival

5 – 6 October

£8,105.97
Neath Food and Drink Festival

5 – 6 October

£9,999.00
Brecon Beacons Food Festival

06 October

£4,480.00
Anglesey Oyster Festival

13 – 14 October

£3,098.00
Mumbles Oyster Fair

19 – 21 October

£9,500.00
Llangollen Food Festival

20 – 21 October

£4,000.00
Gwledd Conwy Feast

25 – 28 October

£33,683.61
Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival

27 – 28 October

£9,900.00
Hay Winter Food Festival

24 November

£1,771.00
Abergavenny Christmas Food & Drink

11 December

£2,200.00

 

Wag’s list has now gone up on welshcountry.co.uk and of course it has been sent around our Best Of Welsh & Borders producers, so at least some of the rumours which have been frantically doing the rounds, will now be quashed.

 
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‘The People’s Choice Awards’

14 May

In Pembrokeshire on Saturday I saw a leaflet in a coffee shop that on first glance I thought was  advertising Tesco, luckily I did not ignore it because apparently it was published by True Taste. What they are looking for with this is to promote ‘The People’s Choice Awards’.  Wag are hoping that the Welsh public will visit their website, which is one way to help raise their rankings – and vote for their favourite farm shops, fishmongers, butchers, delis, restaurants, tea rooms and wag will take it from there.

Which I presume means they will send their chosen inspectors to those that have been nominated and then wag will again make their final decision.

Hopefully some of our Best Of Welsh & Borders will get their customers organised and get them voting!!!!!

I’ve only ust seen this and thinks it closes end of May, so it hardly gives businesses time to get their customers organised does it?

I’ll reserve judgement on wag’s latest idea ……………………………but their literature certainly gave more prominence to the supermarket logo than True Taste logo, not sure who gave approval for that to go out some Marketing Maestro no doubt.

 
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West Wales Food Festival

14 May

This event was held over the weekend at the National Botanical Gardens and as this is not one of my favourite venues, I still went and hoped some lessons had been learnt from last year. As Ian and I left the entrance, the shuttle train had just arrived and Ian heard the driver shout to a couple that they were waiting in the wrong place, and let me tell you that the lady was in a wheelchair and an elderly gentleman was with her. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I shouldhave walked back and told the driver just what I thought of his attitude and hope that he never has the misfortune to be in charge of a wheelchair, let alone have to be restricted to one!!! As far as I’m aware it’s not clear at all where visitors should wait for a ride, but surely the point here is that this couple were just that – visitors!!!

I carried on with my walk to the summit, well at least to the festival and thought how lucky the event had been with the weather, which although windy, was at least dry. There was no improvement in the layout of tradestands, the main marquee had the
same barrier down the middle, which I didn’t feel helped to create any atmosphere or buzz. The outside, again in my view, was even worse. There was what was supposed to be a hot food area for visitors, which consisted of just 4 separate pagodas. Not too impressive and just one wooden table and bench which apparently one of the traders moved there himself. Oh sorry, I nearly forgot that the NBG had made the most of this opportunity to erect their own BBQ unit and of course their cafes were open too. The only part I thought really worked was a run of market-style stands that were selling a range of coffee, hot food, welsh cakes, brownies, cheese etc. I’d have loved to see the space planned out professionally and all traders with market-style stands, lots of tables and chairs to encourage visitors to buy and eat from the traders. Is that not one of the objectives of a food festival? There was children’s entertainment and there were wandering musicians too, but perhaps because the stands were so spread out, the place didn’t buzz at all.

I was pleased to see so many of our Best Of Welsh & Borders producers there, but I’d have been a lot happier if they’d had even one day out of two with decent trading.

My main complaint about this event is that every visitor attending the food festival had to pay £8.50 to go in, yes £8.50, a figure I just cannot believe. Are adults going to be happy to spend £17.00 to watch the food demonstrations, well ok , of course some were, but hardly enough of them to then go around the food stands and spend what money they had left with the traders. One producer said he’d asked one of the committee why people had to pay to come into a food festival, bearing in mind this entrance charge is on a par with Abergavenny Food Festival and he was told it was because this festival is not funded by Wag. Why NBG couldn’t have offered this as a free weekend entry and used it for their own marketing is another puzzle for me and the traders to ponder over.

Over the years I have suggested to many traders before they pay their hard-earned money up front, just ask the organisers what promotion they are doing for their event. Sooner or later this message will hit home to them and then they can make a
more sensible decision as to whether to to attend or not. I not sure what marketing this event did, I know I didn’t get a press releases about it and the first festival sign I saw was when I got there!

But what was even more annoying was that going onto their website it was full of ‘what a busy programme we’ve got’ but nowhere could I find a list of producers attending, now does that make sense? Am I the only person who might have wanted that information? Perhaps the event was advertised in their local paper and I was told that there was an advert in Western Mail, which would make sense, as that paper’s owners publish NBG’s own magazine so possibly helping each other out? I have no idea how many people came through the NBG gate and how it compared to a normal sunny and windy weekend, but what is relevant to me is that the producers I talked to, and I talked to a lot of them in the five hours I was there, had not had a profitable time. So what was the point for them?

I enjoyed catching up with one of my favourite chefs, Gareth Johns, owner and proprietor of The Wynnstay, Machynlleth, he’s such a great ambassador for Wales, but not impressed that he was scheduled on at the same time as a pasta making Masterclass with Angela Gray. If that makes sense to the organisers, it sure doesn’t make sense to me.

I’m confused how the food producers, which were charged around £85.00 to attend for two days, somehow didn’t seem to be the priority at this food festival.

I wish these food festivals would have the commonsense to invite a local trader to come onto the committee and help in the planning, because at least the basics such as layout and marketing could then be sorted out. Surely that’s not too difficult is it?

 
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Food Festival Funding

11 May

The wait continues for sight of wag’s list of food festival that they are funding. This was promised w/c 19th March.

I have heard from various festivals, sadly they are not all happy about how they have been funded and treated by wag, but some seemingly have received more than they asked for. Guess that makes sense to someone, somewhere……………….

I have submitted a Freedom Of Information question on food festival funding and have been promised a reply by 16th May.

I was pleased to receive a press releases this morning from Caerphilly County Borough Council who have been awarded £10,000 from the Welsh Government Food Festival Funding for their festival at the end of this month.

I’m sure many of our Best Of Welsh & Borders producers will be attneding and I hope it’s a busy festival for you all.

 
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RHS Cardiff

01 May

I have had a fair amount of ‘feedback’ on this event, starting with a host of traders, including some of our Best Of Welsh & Borders, who despite supporting this event for years, this year were not allowed a tradestand, although they had been sent application forms. Who said loyalty pays or loyalty will be rewarded? I find that puzzling and understandably many traders were very angry. When you been attending an event for years, then get an application form through as usual, then I too would assume I’d be accepted again this year. But this didn’t happen and it meant that loyal RHS traders were bumped off and of course hadn’t applied for anything else. Can someone please tell them that traders are trying to run businesses……………….

I hate hearing of this happening, especially when by all accounts it’s such a busy, profitable event. One Welsh trader who did get in had a super few days there, but was disappointed that the majority of food traders were fromEngland.

I have no idea why RHS appear to have changed their policy for tradestand acceptance. Does the fact that wag are not supplying any funding have any relevance to lack of Welsh food producers being bumped off?

I know that if I was attending the RHS in Cardiff as a punter, I would certainly expect to see Welsh food producers there, wouldn’t you? So why have it changed with RHS? It is a huge shame that in our capital, the food shop window at the RHS show was basically food from England. What message does that send out?

 
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Gorseinon Food Festival

30 Apr

This was a good festival last year, so after getting the programme through, I drove across on Saturday to see what 2012 would bring. AA signage was good going into Gorseinon and I was pleased to see that they had again got a shuttle bus service in operation which was much needed and worked very well. But with lots of magazines in the boot I thought I’d  see if I could get parked in
the traders car park – cheeky I know! Well a polite volunteer explained that the heavy rain had turned the trade park into a squelchy mess and she was concerned if I actually got on, would I get off? Fair point, but she directed me to the back entrance where another friendly male volunteer found us a dry spot to park up. So after a fair drive, and feeeling rather chilly, it was another good start to this event. What difference pleasant helpful volunteers make.

First job was to search out my contact Karen. It was lovely to catch up and be able to put a face to a person I’d only spoken to on the phone and by email. Karen, as always, had plenty of information and news to offer and she also introduced me to the Mayor. The weather was cold, windy but it didn’t stop people arriving and a busy marquee was just what the traders needed.  There was a bit of a change around this year with the stands all being incorporated into the main marquee, instead of those selling
hot food being positioned outside. With the weather as it was I think this worked well but at times the marquee did get rather smoky. Anywya there was certainly no hope of sitting outside in the sunshine. I’m sure if the traders wdisagree with me it will come through on their feedback forms and the organisers can get more feedback on whether that was a success or not.

The demo kitchen area was situated just inside the entrance, instead of as last year down at the end of the marquee. But for me
that didn’t work as well.  The organisers had done the area well and I was really pleased to see a large board that clearly showed who was cooking and when – other festival please note!

But with quite a lot going on around the entrance, ladies selling raffle tickets and the superb giant jubilee cake which was sold in aid of the Gorseinon Foodbank and the Cystic Fibrosis Unit at Singleton Hospital, which was a great idea to support two very good causes. So with all that going on I still think the demo area would have worked better down at the bottom of the marquee. It would have dragged people all the way through the marquee and helped the tradestands that had been sited down in that area, which seemed to be a fair bit quieter than those at the entrance. Not sure why this was changed, whether it was electric costs or just trying something different, but with such a popular feature, I’m sure you could have got more chairs in as it was always full when I tried to get a seat.

So from my point of view, Gorseinon was a great success. We did have a lot of Best Of Welsh & Borders producers there and of course many did find time to talk as I was there for five hours……….I did hear from a few traders, who hadn’t done that well, but again they were mostly down at the end of the marquee. If people were walking down that far, the chances were that they’d already bought their cheese, beer, jams etc. Ok it was ever thus, but we do have to remember that wag stipulate that even a small festival, with under 3,000 footfall must have no less than 25 food producers exhibiting to get funding. Larger ones with over 3,000 footfall must have no less than 35 producers exhibiting to be eligible for funding support. Food and drink producers must also form at least 80% of the total exhibitors.  So with the wag’s restrictions, organisers also have problems too, many simply cannot run unless they get funding so bascially organsiers do have to do as they are told! I’m still convinced that if traders have ‘demands,’ than a polite request will often suffice. But if you can’t agree then the choice is yours not to attend isn’t it? I wish we could solve these regualrs grubles that come up each year and just wish someone would tell me how to do it.

Gorseinon got people into the event,  so they did their job well and my congratulations once again for a good event. But once the
people are in, it’s down to producers to sample and sell and I must also say that quite a few were sampling and getting out from behind their stands and talking to people. That was good to see and works as long as you don’t obstruct your neighbours!!!

Well done everyone at Gorseinon ………

 
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‘A Sense Of Place’ For Welsh Food………

17 Apr

Just to keep you updated, follows is an extract from press release received from Wag on 30th January about their support for food festivals.

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 press release ended by saying:
“Any financial support provided by FMDD will be limited to that which is necessary to achieve the overall objective of providing capacity building opportunities for food & drink producers from Wales as well as contributing to a broadened & strengthened rural economy”.

Well this got me thinking, or fuming, because basically I’m not sure what this press release means. Initially I would think building opportunities for food and drink producers from Wales is spot on, until I get complaints from producers saying that some festival organisers, give priority to producers from outside Wales.  But its not just a priority in allowing them tradestand space, but often they get the best sites too! So how does that work? Especially considering that this isn’t just happening at the larger, or let’s say Wag’s ‘Big Three’, Abergavenny, Conwy and Cardiff that allow all comers in from the UK, but those that I’d class as only small to medium size events. When I have raised these issues with Wag, I’ve been told that as this funding is from European money, all
tradestands must be accepted.

But if you’re a visitor to Wales and go along to one of our food festivals, where do you expect the food to have come from, the Isle of Wight, Scotland, Oxfordshire, Yorkshire? Of course not. ‘A sense of place’ for our visitors has to mean local food, food sourced here in Wales from our superb artisan producers. Isn’t that what you’d expect too?

So why then does Wag’s press release appear to say that they are backing our food producers all the way? That
is certainly not what I hear day after day so eiother Wag is wrong or our producers are. After talking contstantly to our Best If Welsh & Borders producers, I certainly know which I believe.

 
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What Progress Nearly Four Years On?

04 Apr

In July 2008 Ian and I were asked to attend a meeting in Aberystwyth with a couple of Wag personnel and a representative from the Tourism Partnership Mid Wales, to give them some help about Welsh food. Our time was of course given on a voluntary
basis………………….

Not sure if this will interest, annoy or irritate you further. So when you have time, go through them and let me know what
progress we’ve made. It’s disappointing to say the least, that in my view not a great deal in nearly four years on. I couldn’t even guesstimate the amount of money Wag (Food) has had pumped in from Europe or as where it has gone and supposedly
achieved either.

1. Sourcing – lack of knowledge within the hospitality sector of where to source certain produce.

2. No joined up thinking.

3. Local Food Talks programme has ticked the box but there is more work to be done.

4. Some producers are not very professional in their set up. They  attend ‘Farmers Markets’ etc. but are ‘lifestyle producers’       and do not have any follow on information for the ‘consumer’, i.e. business cards, brochures, websites.

5. Food Festivals – tighter control is needed on the producers that are present – some are not from Wales.

6. WAG staff should be present at food festivals.

7. Those producers that receive training through any public sector programme should be regularly reviewed.

8. Growing – start up food sector companies struggle with the ‘red tape’ with little public sector support.

9.  No joined up thinking between WAG and councils with regards to promotion of food events. There were no signs for Pwllheli, food festival this year as the local council were not supportive of them being erected.

  1. Press releases – publicity for food events can be done through a wide variety of media sources including
    Welsh Country magazine. But we receive very few press releases from food festivals.

11. Builth event – Showcase – to cold and impersonal, not enough networking by the public sector bodies attending.

12. Smaller informal networking opportunities for the hospitality sector – hotels and similar establishments need to work together on sourcing and delivery issues.

13. Grant schemes – tighter controls are needed on where those receiving grants spend the money – more emphasis and tighter controls need to be in place to ensure that they source as much as possible form within Wales.

  1. WAG – sourcing of goods and services should be more within Wales.

15. More use needs to be made of ‘good speakers’ to take forward the message on local food sourcing.

16. More opportunities for networking and sharing of good practice amongst food producers – isolation a large issue for small producers.

17. Ceredigion Chamber of Commerce poor turnout at meetings – there is a need for ‘business’ clubs for food / tourism businesses to facilitate and support networking opportunities.

18. Businesses are de-motivated – apathy within the industry.

19. Messages and feedback on the ‘food issue’ not getting through to the minister.

  1. Pubs – cafes’ a possible grading scheme could work, however advice for businesses on branding and promotion would help.

21. Good customer service is key to the success of the industry.

22. Staff who have good product and area knowledge are key to the success of any establishment.

23. Hospitality businesses should be asked ‘what they expect when on holiday’ to highlight the perceived gaps in the sector within Wales.

24. Knowing your market is key to the success of any business.

25. Visit Wales grading system is not fair – logic does not seem to apply.

26. Producers could market their produce and cafés and restaurants could promote their goods by ‘taste and sell’ events.

27. For good all round feedback, use ‘secret shoppers’ at different times of the day.

28. Food festivals and events do not provide seating for visitors on an informal basis, i.e. there is nowhere to sit and eat the food being sold.

29. WAG – PR needs to be wider – True Taste is not a recognised brand, better / clearer marketing is needed.

30. Getting producers to work closer with the hospitality sector and ensuring that the producers recognise how key these markets are to them even if they are True Taste winners.

31. No joined up approach from within WAG – food and tourism need to work closer.

 

 

 

 

 
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Festival Listing Is ‘Imminent’

03 Apr

But let’s not hold our breath!

I’m being told that to answer concerned food festivals organisers  questions as to  when this list will be sent out they’ve been told it’s imminent – well literally  bully for you wag.  I’m going to ask this question of wag, but realise how pointless it is, have you any idea how worried many of the organisers are? Or do you care? Of course you don’t, otherwise you wouldn’t be so unhelpful to these
people who are running YOUR food festivals and help you keep your jobs.

You keep sending the organisers emails saying your listing is imminent, and all they can do is still and stress whilst they wait and wait…………………

If your list is imminent, then it’s supposed to be about to happen, so why on earth can’t you just be courteous and tell those who are ringing Aber just what ‘imminent’ actually means.  I really hope you are getting as many, if not more calls than I am on this topic, so that I’m not the only one who’s totally fed-up of it. The only difference between us on this one, is that this is your delay, this is your doing – because actually you’re the one in control!

W/c 19th March you said this list would be available, but here we are rapidly approaching Easter and still no news. Hopefully you are not going to try and copy a UK Government tactic and try to bury bad news in this holiday period. This is something welshfoodbites has a particular interest in as you lot well know.

As has already been commented on by others, thank goodness wag’s not trying to run a business, or as one producer said to me this morning on the phone, if they’d a business to run, it would have been run into the ground years ago.

Oh dear wag, another own goal even when it’s your football.

I have to ask myself why many of these organisers bother helping you put on these festivals when you treat them with such contempt and rudeness.

 

 
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The Shed, Fish & Chip Bistro, Porthgain, Pembrokeshire

03 Apr

I’m more than overdue to put another cheery post up and one that doesn’t focus on that three letter word, Wag.

Instead let me share my lovely lunch last Saturday, just in case like me you are fish fans, enjoy being close to the sea and also love Pembrokeshire.

Regular welshfoodbite fans will know that this is a particular favourite haunt of mine and so dear readers, you will be delighted to hear that this season it is still as good as ever!

It’s called The Shed, and the shed is a great description and sums up beautifully its rustic feel. It is situated on the quayside with views over the harbour and of course fish is what this place – sorry for yet another poor pun. They usually do though have a meat alternative and can cater for vegetarians if you let them know beforehand. We Ian and I visited they had their blackboard outside advertising fresh scones just out of the oven and try one of those with their delicious coffee or maybe be tempted with one of the delicious homemade cakes.

I polished off haddock, which was coated in a tasty local beer batter, handcut Pembrokeshire potato chips and mushy peas, whilst Ian couldn’t rest the temptation of beer battered ling and a beautiful apple and fennel salad. We ate so much even I couldn’t be
tempted with a pudding. But goodness me it was good. The Shed serves much local fish and shellfish that they’ve caught themselves; it’s landed daily and then served within hours. You can’t get fresher or local than that can you?

As the weather warms up there’s seating outside and a grassy area to the side which both children, parents and grandparents will enjoy as they run off some steam.

Loyal readers will know I’m a stickler for service, but it must be friendly and again The Shed was, as always, totally spot on. Simple and satisfying meals it what they aim to provide and they’ve certainly never let me down. I’ll be back as soon as possible to sample their delicious crab sandwiches and some more of their handcut Pembrokeshire chips – another of my weaknesses.

If you are in the area, please do pay them a visit, but it’s a good idea to ring beforehand at busy times. You find more details about The Shed and lots of other super eateries in ‘Where To Eat’ pages in Welsh Country magazine. For more info about The Shed visit: www.theshedporthgain.co.uk

 
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