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PIP Equipment Stolen from Recreation Ground

We are saddened to report that thousands of pounds worth of our Party in the Park community equipment has been stolen from the rec ground.

The thieves broke through security gates and drove vehicles into the Recreation Ground where eight gazebos, lighting, tables, chairs, soft drinks and garden games were stolen from a storage building in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The equipment was newly purchased in the summer by Creech Party in the Park for community events.

Contractors who are currently installing new play equipment at the park,  and contractors working on the road in Hyde Lane also reported that their huts were broken into and equipment damaged.

PIP has donated thousands of pounds to local charities, schools and groups over the past 7 years, along with funding tree planting, benches, OAP lunches and community clean-up days, and unfortunately this incident will have a direct effect on our future donations to local groups.

The organising committee said:

“We are heartbroken. Our event is run by local volunteers and our equipment is paid for by the generosity of all our local supporters who spend their hard-earned cash at our event. In previous years we have borrowed small gazebos, and tables and chairs, so were really pleased this year to be able to purchase new ones that could be used for years to come.

Sadly, this will likely have a real effect on the event, and we’ll have to discuss what we may have to cut back on – this could mean cancelling our annual OAP lunch or increasing prices at the next event. It’s a very sad day for us”.

The organising committee urge locals to please check their external CCTV for any suspicious activity and anyone with information to please contact the police or the committee or email clerk@creechstmichael.net.

January Planning Meeting

The organising committee met on 15th January with Adrian, Charlie, Colin, Steve, Dee, Nigel and Jo in attendance. Lots of items were discussed, including:

Site Safety. The fencing and lighting is all in hand, and will be improved this year to ensure continued safety. We have once again booked a professional security firm for the After Dark event, and First Aid cover has been arranged for both day and night.

Equipment purchases. We agreed to buy a selection of gazebos, tables and chairs to use for this and future events.

Food Vendors. We will once again have a wide variety of hot food both day and night. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for full details being announced in due course. We can confirm the following types of stall will be in attendance: Fish & Chips, Ice Cream, Pancakes, Burgers, Sausages, Sweets, Mexican, Pizza and Noodles.

Stalls. Applications from a range of stallholders are coming in thick and fast and we will have a selection of community, commercial and charity stalls. If you would like an application form for your group please email: info@creechpartyinthepark.com

After Dark Tickets. Adult and teen tickets will go up slightly this year, but child tickets will remain the same price. Tickets will go on sale in the Spring and will be advertised around the village first, and then on Facebook and the website. Prices as follows and no child/teen tickets will be issued without appropriate number of accompanying adult tickets.

  • Adult (18+) – £6
  • Teen (13-17) – £4
  • Child (5-12) – £1
  • Under 5’s – FREE

Bar and Gin Bar. Licence is secured for the event thanks to committee members Steve and Claire holding personal licences for the event. Exciting news is that we plan to have a special Gin Bar at the event this year. Look out for posts on Facebook soon asking for your favourite gin recommendations.

Recycling & Rubbish. Viridor is booked to take away our waste on the Sunday. We will once again use fully compostable cups at the bar. We are looking at how we can improve recycling on site as despite signage recycling/rubbish always seem to end up in the same bins – meaning a lot of manual sorting out by volunteers the next day – not a pleasant job! If anyone has any ideas please let us know.

Bands. Thank you for the suggestions on Facebook for bands. We have our headline band booked and are currently checking availability of others and will announce full lineup ASAP.

Fish and Chip lunch. Some of the proceeds from PIP will be used on Friday 18 January to give local over 60s a free lunch at the village hall. This is the 3rd year PIP has funded this. Full write up of this years event will be published after Friday.

Somerset Day. After the success of the clean up day last year we are hoping to do a similar event to coincide with Somerset Day on 11th May. Save the date and we will announce more details in due course.

Somerset Wood Project. We discussed donating funds for this project which plants trees in honor of fallen soldiers from the Parish. Agreed we will help. Full details will be posted in a later article.

Volunteers. As usual we need volunteers for before, during and after the event. We are currently putting together a list of specific jobs that need doing and will publish this ASAP.

If you would like to get involved in this event please let us know on info@creechpartyinthepark.com

Sponsorship needed!

Sponsorship is urgently needed by local businesses.  Can you help support our event with cash, raffle prizes or services?

Creech Party in the Park won a national award last year from Fields in Trust for the “Best Have a Field Day” event, which raised our profile so we are expecting another very successful event in 2016.

Our not-for-profit event costs over £4500 to put on, and is only possible with the generous involvement of the local community. There are several ways to get involved with our event and we would of course offer you great publicity in return.

 

Cash sponsorship

We always need more cash! You could donate any amount, or directly sponsor an amenity/activity, by paying for its total cost.  Examples below cost between £100-£1350:

  • Evening band
  • Toilet block
  • Marquee
  • Petting farm
  • Daytime band
  • Segways
  • Playbus
  • PA System
  • Gladiator jousting
  • Kid’s disco
  • Punch & Judy
  • Magician

Many of the above include VAT which may be able to be claimed back by companies.

In return we could offer your company publicity via all our channels:  banners (you supply) on fence and around sponsored activity, stall at event, leaflets on tables, thankyou posters at event, your company logo on poster, Facebook, Twitter, Website, Blog and complimentary tickets to AfterDark event.

Raffle prizes

We would welcome all donations for our raffle.  In return we could offer you publicity on our website and social media channels.

Free services

If your business can assist us in any other way – such as offering free or reduced services, then we would love to talk to you and give you suitable publicity in return.

Please contact us if you can help support our award winning event.

Volunteers needed

The planning for this year’s Party in the Park is coming along nicely, but we still need to find some willing volunteers to help us out with jobs both before, during and after the event.

PIP Volunteers 2015

PIP Volunteers 2015

PIP Volunteers 2015

PIP Volunteers 2015

PIP Volunteers 2015

PIP Volunteers 2013

PIP Volunteers 2014

PIP Volunteers 2013

Creech Party in the Park 2014

Creech Party in the Park 2014

Creech Family Fun Day 2013

Volunteers working hard

Volunteers working hard

Volunteers working hard

Volunteers working hard

Creech Party in the Park 2014

Creech Party in the Park 2014

Creech St Michael Family Fun Day 2013

Without much needed volunteers we will struggle to run a successful event – so can you help give up an hour or so of your time to help out with any of the following jobs?

Before the event

  • Selling tickets to Afterdark event
  • Sourcing cash sponsorship
  • Sourcing raffle prizes
  • Put goodie bags together for kids disco
  • Display posters/banners
  • Collect tables and chairs from church
  • Collect Defib from Bell Inn
  • Collect raffle prizes and deliver to rec ground
  • Help set up stage in marquee
  • Help put up gazebos

The day/evening of the event – 11th July

  • Selling raffle tickets during the day and evening
  • Collect straw bales from Kingston St Mary
  • Print and put up advisory posters on roads around park
  • Put up bunting and posters/signs
  • Organise and run a Stocks stall
  • Organise and run Egg Toss game in the central arena
  • Organise and run Tug of War tournament in the central arena
  • Greet stallholders at gate/marshall parking/siting stalls
  • Organise and run Wheel Barrow Race in the central arena
  • Clean toilets in break before evening event
  • Empty bins around field in break before evening event
  • Take straw bales off lorry and arrange in arena shape
  • Put straw bales back on lorry at end of the evening
  • Organise kids dances and games during kids disco (7-8pm)
  • Put out table and chairs in marquee
  • Draw raffle, keep list of winners, give out prizes

Day after the event

  • Return table and chairs
  • Tidy rubbish from field
  • Take down gazebos
  • Restocking lorry with intact straw bales
  • Return defib to Bell

If anyone has any expertise with PA systems and can recommend a supplier then we’d love to hear from you.  Are you a electrician who could be on hand to help and advise?  Are you a trained first aider who could be on standby in case you are needed?

If you are part of a local group who would like to put on a display in the arena during the day then we would love you to be part of the day.  We also have a few commercial stall spaces left, so let us know if you want to come along.

We would really appreciate any help so please contact us at volunteer@creechpartyinthepark.com to get involved.