Strawberry Fair axed by police

It might be unfair to suggest that Cambridgeshire Police deliberately decided to appeal against a licence granted to the Strawberry Fair in order to leave organisers no choice but to abandon this year's event, but they do seem to have been insanely fixated on stopping it happening.

There's a statement from the organisers:

We have been grateful for the many messages of support for the Fair - it is very heart-warming to realise how many people appreciate and enjoy the hard work that goes into the Fair year after year.

We would like to give a little more detail about our decision, and in particular why we felt it was impossible to fight the appeal and continue to organise an event for this June.

At the licence hearing that the police spent a great deal of time and money attempting to get the fair closed down, employing a London-based law firm and barrister to present the evidence they had gathered at significant cost to the tax payer.

Strawberry Fair is almost entirely reliant on income from traders. With no event there is no income and the battle through the magistrates court is going to cost us dearly so we are appealing to the people of Cambridge to come along to our fund raising events, for example the Band Competition final on Thursday 15 April at the Junction (more to be announced soon) and possibly to donate a few pounds via our website.

As a voluntary group we don't have access to the kinds of legal resource or the public finance used by Cambridgeshire Police in their objections to the license. It is going to be an very tough task for us to prepare for the appeal hearing both in time and money, we hope that the people of Cambridge will support us in our mission to secure the fair for 2011 and onwards and give generously whilst not doing anything to exasperate the situation unnecessarily and damage the future of the fair. We would also welcome people to come up with their own fund raising ideas, please contact us if you want to get involved. community@strawberry-fair.org.uk

At last years fair, Cambridgeshire Police invested a significant amount of time and money into information gathering activity at the Fair. Despite several written and verbal requests from the Committee, they declined to share important information they had gathered other than the overall assessment they published in the press. It appears to the committee, therefore, that the purpose of that information gathering activity was not to help improve the event, or assist our planning processes, but specifically to object to a license for the Fair.

In spite of this lack of information the committee had implemented a raft of changes that were widely accepted to be moving the fair in a good direction. We have regular meetings with the council, residents groups and police and we have made massive changes to the event in recent years in response to the concerns raised. We feel it would be more productive for the police to raise any specific concerns they have with us about the event at these meetings rather than pursuing it through the courts.

It would have been an impossible task to fight the appeal whilst also being able to maintain the high standards of event planning and management necessary for a successful and safe Strawberry Fair. We are surprised that the Police had not realised what the effect of their decision to appeal would be. The timetable for the appeal process is well known, and will take us to within weeks of the Fair. They are also fully aware that the Fair is a community rather than a commercial event, with all the work carried out by volunteers.

The committee would like to stress that much of the work the police have done with the fair in previous years has been very constructive and helpful and we would very much like to build on this but it is hard to see the constructive input from this year?s objection to our licence and the appeal against a decision by publicly elected officials.

It's only fair that anyone should have the right to appeal against a decision they disagree with, but it seems unfair that Strawberry Fair should win a licence, only to not be able to use the event because an outstanding appeal made further investment unsafe.

209 in dire straits

It's not a good time to be involved in community radio - the longest-running community station in the UK, Forest of Dean Radio, is closing down at the end of next month because of financial problems, and now comes news that 209Radio in Cmabridge could be vanishing if it doesn't find some money soon:

The station has only recently announced big plans to offer more to the citizens of Cambridge in 2010, which include renaming the station to reposition itself more strongly within the Cambridge community, but it can now only survive if someone comes forward able to offer it a lifeline. Chairman of 209radio Clive Woodman is calling for people to support the station today or lose it for good.

"We have reached a point now whereby we need stable regular financial support to help with our core costs and continue to provide this incredible and unique service to the residents and community groups of Cambridge. We are calling for anyone who can help financially to come forward now!"

James P - who alerted us to 209's plight - explains what Cambridge would be losing:

The station provides great opportunities for local people. There are programmes made for and by the many sections of the community who aren't served elsewhere - The homeless, refugees, the elderly, those with mental health problems and many more. They've also got some brilliant music shows covering numerous genres (the indie show, Stagger, is fantastic). The station broadcasts on FM to Cambridge, and also online. All shows are podcasted too, so there are loads of opportunities for anyone who could benefit from the programmes to hear them.

Certainly give them a listen - but if you're able to help them in a more practical, cash-related way, they'd appreciate it. Membership, perhaps?

Winehouse fans write the answers on their arms

Despite the observation by a spokesperson that Cambridge including a lyric by Amy Winehouse as part of a comparison question for English Literature students was "interesting, but not news", it's still made the BBC News.

Student newspaper The Cambridge Student said undergraduates were "surprised" to find Winehouse's words on the practical criticism paper.

Isn't the whole point of exam questions that they're meant to be a surprise for the students taking the paper - after all, if they'd gone "oh, yeah, that's the Amy Winehouse question", they might not be being tested very much on their ability to think on their feet.

Travis pain

Travis are accident-prone, aren't they? At a gig in Cambridge last week, Andy Dunlop fell off the stage and crocked his ankle. A trip to hospital showed no break, allowing shows to go on as planned. So nobody comes out of it well.