East Finchley Community Festival
25th June 2017
New ideas, new volunteers
Introduction
East Finchley Community Festival has been running for nearly 40 years (we haven’t
definitively sorted out the date of the first festival properly) in Cherry Tree Wood, off
Summerlee Avenue, N2. It has always been free to enter, run entirely by local volunteers
and takes place at the end of June – the nearest Sunday to summer solstice.
It hasn’t always been on a Sunday. In the past it has run on a Saturday and for a short period
it took place over two days, with part of it running at the Green Man Community Centre on
Strawberry Vale, N2. but in the past ten years or so it has always run on a Sunday between
12 noon to 6pm.
Setting up starts on a Saturday with the ‘marking up’ of the field with stall and
entertainment positions. Some equipment arrives on the Saturday but mostly it starts to
come on Sunday morning at 6am. By 9pm on the Sunday evening Cherry Tree Wood is
cleared and clean – apart from the bins and skips which get picked up on the Monday
morning – usually.
The Festival Committee is always reviewing the community that we operate in and trying to
reflect it through the stalls and entertainment that we put on. In recent years with the
growth of young families living in the area this has been reflected in the increased emphasis
on entertainment for children from storytelling, to Punch and Judy and increasing slides and
bouncy castles.
However to hold the festival for that six hour period on a Sunday enormous effort, time and
energy is spent by local people freely giving their time to organise and hold the event. Below
are the roles that volunteers undertake along with a bit of information about the formal
organisation behind the Festival.
Who runs the festival?
The festival is run by numerous volunteers meeting over a six month period running up to
the event. However there is a Charity and Limited Company that has the ultimate
responsibility for running the Festival and that is the East Finchley Community Trust.
The Trust was established in 2011. It has seven Trustees/Directors who are all local East
Finchley residents and have been associated with the Festival for many years. All the money
goes through the Trust accounts which are submitted to the Charities Commission and
Companies House and are publically available.
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Festival Organisation and Management
To ensure a successful festival each year we break the Festival organisation into very many
smaller and manageable roles with a defined job to do. Often more than one person takes
on a role and groups work together as a team. Each role has wide autonomy to get the job
done how they see fit and in a timely manner. Roles are reviewed in November/December
and people take on the responsibility from January – or often before.
Monthly meetings are held to check that each job is on track, to offer support where
needed and to develop policy if required. At the end of May and into June meetings become
more frequent – and hopefully not too frenetic. Much work is undertaken informally
through email, telephone, chats and coffee at favourite East Finchley coffee houses.
Finance is handled through the Trust and to date has been undertaken by the Trust
Treasurer.
Roles
Festival Coordinator: Overall coordinator of the Festival; ensures all jobs are being done and
on track.
Entertainment
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Main Stage- engages acts for main stage, programmes them and ensures smooth
running on the day
Community Stage- engages acts of community stage, programmes them and ensures
smooth running on the day
Beer tent and Pimms table- engages brewer to provide beer and Pimms for the day
and liaises with them.
Fun Corner- organises team to collect money and distribute tickets for users on the
day.
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Stalls – Currently split between food and non-food stalls. Sends out forms for stall holders,
collates stall information, collects money and agrees location of stalls for the day. Sends out
information letters and seeks food hygiene certificates etc.
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food
Non food
Equipment – Identifies and take on board equipment needs and hires it as required and
after finance agreed using a range of suppliers.
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Marquees for range of activities
Stall tables and chairs
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Stages
Portaloo toilets
Barriers
Bins
Punch and Judy
Owls
Generators
Signs and miscellaneous
Marketing, publicity and promotion – advertising, marketing, social media, website, etc.
Programme – seek advertising from local traders and put together with designer, arrange
printing and delivery of 7-8000 programmes across East Finchley
Raffle – prepare raffle tickets, arrange people to sell them on the day, get hold of prizes,
arrange distribution of prizes.
Stewarding – organise and attract stewards for the day to assist in the smooth running of
the Festival. Brief stewards
Security co-ordination – appoint security company to provide security on the day.
Coordinate stewards and security
Health and Safety – before event review health and Safety policy; on day ensure that good
health and safety principles are followed. Has power to stop festival in event of
danger/flooding etc.
First Aid – Appoint St. John Ambulance or similar to provide First aid on the day and ensure
that they are supported on the day.
Fundraising – work with local traders, funding bodies etc. to raise funds for the festival
Marking out team – Marks out stalls, marquee positions, stage positions etc. on Saturday of
Festival weekend.
Setting up team – help set up tables, barriers, signage, stages etc. on Festival day
Cleaning team – post Festival help to clean up the festival field.
Finance and budgeting – pays bills and prepares festival budget.
Liaison with Police, Barnet Council and other statutory authorities as necessary – sorts out
licences,
Liaison with local residents – keep local residents aware of what is happening and when.
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Parade – Police were not in a position to supervise the festival parade in 2016 and have
indicated that they will not do so in future. Decision needed on what we do in future. Can
we steward ourselves or organise something different? Does someone want to take on this
role?
Contact details
Keep in touch with the Festival:
[email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myEastFinchley/
Website: http://iloven2.co.uk/
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