It started with a tweet….
The decision to move Richmond’s traditional fireworks display away from the castle was actually taken in January, it’s now been disclosed.
News of the change caused a furore across social media platforms last week following the tweet from town and district councillor Russell Lord shown above.
Many commenters over at the RichmondOnline facebook page feared the decision had been prompted by a rise in the charges from English Heritage or that some health and safety rules had become too difficult or expensive to comply with.
But it turns out the decision was made by the local town councillors many months ago in order to cater for more visitors as town clerk Heather Lawler explained in response to our query.
She said: “For the last two years, Nov 2011 and Nov 2012 our numbers have been reduced by English Heritage. Last year the numbers were reduced to 1200 including babes in arms. The previous year it was 2000 plus babes in arms. As you can see the trend has been for a reduction in numbers.
“Last year an awful lot of families turned up on the evening and had to be turned away and that was jolly difficult to watch – I was there marshalling. Therefore at the point that we set our annual precept (January) the decision was made that we would make this a full community event ie.., no tickets, and no charge. Therefore, where ever the venue was going to be, we didn’t need to ‘police’ entrances, styles, walls etc., as entry was free. The venue decision was not made at this point, this was purely financial.”
The event will now be held at Richmond School – timings etc. on the noticeboard here.
Just one detail remains undisclosed – the cost. We did request this but it has not yet been released. In a comment on this blog, councillor Stuart Parsons estimated it to be about £6K. We have submitted a Freedom of Information request to establish this.
According to our poll, the majority of people would still prefer to be at the castle. What do you think? Cast a vote or have your say below.
richmondnoticeboard 