Beer and brass event cancelled due to change of wording, says organiser

An event originally labelled as a ‘contest’ was changed to a ‘concert’ and as a result prompted Pennine Township to cut the agreed funding.

Funding of £3,963 was originally agreed by the Township in September 2013 for the ‘Beer and Brass' event . This was to cover room hire and catering.

Now the chairman of the Township, Councillor Aftab Hussain and the Vice Chairwoman, Councillor Janet Emsley have decided to cut the funding to £200 to only cover the cost of room hire.

Andy Kelly, who helped organise the event and plan the event when he was a councillor and on Pennine Township, said: “I just don’t see why this has happened. This event could have seen around 300 people support the township and it has been dropped. Compared to what has been spent on the Tour de France this is just a drop in the ocean.”

The event was due to take place at the Bella Vista restaurant in Milnrow on Sunday 29 June and would have seen businesses and community groups promote themselves, their products and activities for members of the public from an inside table top display. The event would have been free for people to attend with costs being covered by the Township.

“Somewhere down the line the recording of the word “competition” rather than “concert” seems to have been worth £3,700,” said Andy.

Chairman of Pennine Township, Councillor Aftab Hussain said: “This money was ring fenced for events in the Pennines. The committee largely agreed that we have a brass band competition and try to link it with Tour de France. However, when ex councillor Kelly asked to change the funding from contest to concert, township officers followed the protocol and asked for the costing of the event and asked myself and councillor Janet Emsley to approve the change of use.

“The new costing showed £200 for room hire and £10 per head for food for 200 people. Myself and the vice chair discussed this and didn’t feel it right to pay £10 per head for food from public money especially at a time when we are cutting vital front line services. We believe public funds are to provide the necessity not luxury.”

Now Andy hopes to hold the event in November in line with Lancashire Day.

He said: “Hopefully we can do it in November but we will have to see what we can do. It is a real shame that it has been cancelled because it would have been a great opportunity to promote the area in line with the Tour de France.”