Victory for volunteers as Thanet council agree to new Cliftonville Games date

Olive Innes wins the Bake Off

The Cliftonville Games is set to be rescheduled after the family event was cancelled last weekend due to bad weather.

Organised by the non-profit community group, Gordon Road Area Street Scheme (GRASS), volunteers spent months fundraising and preparing for the day which was to include kids races, a bucking bronco, dog show and the family rave, Fluffy Little Clouds.

Saturday (July 27) saw high winds and heavy rain displace gazebos across the Oval on Eastern Esplanade forcing organisers to make the  decision to cancel the Games owing to health and safety concerns.

Devastated committee members lost thousands on food, which was then donated for free to the CT9 Cafe and Summer Kitchen projects. A crowdfunding scheme was also set up to help recoup costs.

Some events still took place as Tom Thumb Theatre stepped in to host the Great Cliftonville Bake Off competition and musicians who were scheduled to play the bandstand. Despite the rain the bake-off, also organised by Margate WI,  proved popular with cook and food writer, Annie Nicholsamong those judging the entries.

Entries to the cake competition

Olive Innes, nine, won star baker with her fish and chips-inspired sponge. Tacos were served outside and there were performances by local artists including Lunatraktors and Dan Lyons.

After the success of the event GRASS members and volunteers were keen to reschedule the Games to another date this summer but, soon after enquiring to Thanet council, GRASS were told they would have to wait another 14 weeks to process the application and would need to pay costs to hire the ground and other services for a second time.

After an appeal from organisers and local councillors the authority confirmed the original date of August 31 would be acceptable.

A TDC spokesman also confirmed they had waived costs and will try and scrap the land hire fee.

The event will be a scaled down version  and GRASS members are hopeful it will be a success.

Chairman Simon Bell said: “After several days worrying that a new date would not be given for the Cliftonville Games we at GRASS are thrilled that TDC have changed their minds and allowed it to proceed. Many thanks to Cllrs Alan Currie and Lesley Game for stepping in and helping to make this happen for us! Roll on the Games for August 31, and hopefully we will see everyone there in the sunshine.”

4 Comments

  1. Well done to all , should be great event , hope to be around to teach some lightsaber fighting

  2. Why oh why don’t they do something 2 the land instead of keeping it open 2 those filthy traveler scum. I have known many true gypsies who clean up there own mess and leave it more or less as they found it. So it is possible.

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