Forum Topic

Why are Ealing and Hounslow Councils sponsoring the London Mela but NOT the local Brentford Festival

I would very much like to know how much money Ealing Council is putting into "producing" the London Mela in Gunnersbury Park this Sunday and how much Hounslow Council is putting into this event as one of the sponsors, while a much more local and relavant event to both Ealing and Hounslow the Brentford Festival on the same day has no sponsorship from either Ealing Council or Hounslow Council?For that matter why is Ealing Council "producing" the London Mela when it has closed so many day and support centres for the disabled and ill? Surely the money could be better spent to provide facilities for the ill and disabled in Ealing Borough?

Kieren A Wroblewski ● 4597d23 Comments

Phil,Fair enough. Good answer.K.

Kieren A Wroblewski ● 4591d

Kieran,I did pop in at the end of Brentford Festival and the couple of people I spoke to said it had gone well.  I was pleased about that - the Northfield councillors were happy to welcome the festival to Blondin Park - as were pretty much all the residents I have talked to about this.  Brentford's loss is our gain.  As well as being a councillor I do have a normal social life and some friends invited us to meet them at the Mela.  It wasn't a judgement on the events, just the way it turned out.

Phil Taylor ● 4592d

Hi Phil,Mela aside, and bearing in mind that some of your ward voters were involved in the Brentford Festival, not to mention the ones that attended, what did you think of the efforts of the Brentford Festival?K.

Kieren A Wroblewski ● 4592d

In 2014 and 2015 the festival to celebrate Lord Krishna's birthday falls in mid-August and early September respectively, so expect the Mela to be busy again on the last weekend in August.In 2016 it clashes again, so peace shall reign.

Nigel Brooks ● 4593d

That sounds like the most likely explanation, Nigel. Very poor planning, in that case. Not that I object to a quiet Mela given the effect it has on local roads.

Susan Kelly ● 4593d

It also coincided with the weekend-long celebration of Lord Krishna's birthday.My Hindu neighbours were all either at temple or at Bhakdivedanta (sp.?) Manor.

Nigel Brooks ● 4593d

My recall of the Ealing events finances are sketchy but essentially the events pay for themselves with very little input from the council.  We get a lot of event for very little money.  The London Mayor has progressively withdrawn funding from the Mela demanding that it pays its way - which is why everything is a bit expensive.  There is no such thing as free!  If you go to the classical stage at the Mela you will hear the most amazing music (and dance).  I can leave the rest to be honest but the classical stage is a real education.  If the Mela could morph into a classical South Asian festival it would be quite something.  On Saturday I was knocked out by Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan.  It was truly sublime.

Phil Taylor ● 4593d

The Mela did seem very quiet this year. It's usually held in August but I don't see how that would have made such a difference.

Susan Kelly ● 4593d

Having just tried the Mela this year was very disappointed with the experience, compared to my last visit to the Mela about 4 years ago.  My memory from the last visit was that it was a great mix of community participation, loads of interesting stalls and activities and a very buzzing and busy vibe to it.  This year the place seemed empty - both of stalls/events and of visitors.  Was predominantly a small splattering of stalls selling food at exhorbitant prices, a fair ground and a couple of music piches - the circus tent just being a DJ playing music and screaming out over it (maybe this it what the youngesters class as entertainment these days!?!?).  As I said the numbers of visitors was significantly lower than 4 years ago, yet the police numbers were huge - on each entrance, wandering around and vans lined up in multiple places.  No doubt a sign of anticipated trouble - which hopefully did not materialise!

Steve Charls ● 4593d

Couldn't have put it better.Lovely local stalls and businesses at Blondin Park.Good to be able to support LOCAL groups and businesses (and to learn from the stallholders about their passions) rather than the 'businesses' that get drawn to the larger events.Linda Massey et al - take a bow.

Nigel Brooks ● 4594d

I think it is excellent that they were both held on the same day. At the Mela the fairground rides, tourists and drug dealers had their day among the commercialised fair-ground rides and local shysters fleecing the visitors with over-priced pseudo-ethnic foods packed with trans-fatty acids at huge costs to the mayor of London, Ealing Council and Hounslow Council, while in Blondin Park an uncommercialised success of local interaction.

Kieren A Wroblewski ● 4594d

Thank you viv, and may they stay that way forever!

Paul James ● 4595d

to answer Kieren's point, Brentford Festival and Hanwell Carnival are organised entirely by volunteers from the community.

Viv Ellis ● 4596d

"The estimated National debt as at 31 July 2013 was /IS£1,205,000,000.00  ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND FIVE BILLION POUNDS"Nigel, I think you have left some noughts off!Shouldn't it be..£1,205,000,000,000.00 ?That's 40 piles of new £50 notes reaching to the top of Mount Everest!!

Jim Lawes ● 4596d

Not too hard to get to both so long as the roads aren't so clogged up that the buses can't get through.

Susan Kelly ● 4596d

I smell a rat...

Keith Iddon ● 4596d

I think the real question is why are they both being held on the same day this year? Poor scheduling. Many of us would have liked to go to both. I hope there are not racial undertones in the question. I live in South Ealing between the two (Brentford one has just moved nearer me) and will try to make both, usually no problem. I do wish they were on different days as will eat into each other's audiences. Also the Mela branding is "Mayor of London" so maybe the person who raised this question should address Boris.

Aileen Dover ● 4596d

I bet I live a lot closer to the Mela than you do, Keiren and have never encountered any crime associated with it. The only problem it causes is traffic congestion and that's improved a lot in recent years since the Council's got the hang of it better.

Susan Kelly ● 4597d

With a national deficit of $900 million pounds that we can never replay as a country we should be spending more wisely.Too true.If only though it were dollars or as little as £900 MILLION.It's WELL OVER a thousand times worse than that.The estimated National debt as at 31 July 2013 was /IS£1,205,000,000.00  ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND FIVE BILLION POUNDS

Nigel Brooks ● 4597d

The Mela is seen as a place on the annual UK fairground cycle where you can park your caravan and your ride for a few days on either side of the one-day event without charge between larger fairs; many, if not most, of the attractions there are purely commercial fairground rides. As a local resident I dread the Mela which closes of large parts of South Ealing and brings with it a minor crime wave of trivial incidents. Then there is the cost incurred by Ealing Council in cleaning up after the event and restoring the park to a proper state, not to mention the cost of "producing" the event by Ealing Council's events team. Costs that are non-trivial bearing in mind that one of the many facilities for the ill and the disabled that Ealing Council has closed down in the past couple of years to reduce costs could probably be kept open and operational for the hidden (and overt) costs of running the Mela.Basically, there are better ways that the money could be spent than a piss-up! (e.g. relocate staff from Ealing Council Events to care facilities and social services). With a national deficit of $900 million pounds that we can never replay as a country we should be spending more wisely.

Kieren A Wroblewski ● 4597d

They are "hosting" it.  I seem to remember it being introduced by the Mayor of London (Ken Livingstone).

Philippa Bond ● 4597d

I'm not sure why you imply that the Mela is, in some way, not 'local' or 'relevant'. Gunnersbury Park is administered by Ealing Council (jointly with Hounslow) and an awful lot of the visitors to the festival will be coming from other parts of the borough.On the other hand, Ealing would have no reason to sponsor the Brentford festival, although Hounslow should. I understand that Ealing are, however, allowing the Brentford Festival to take place in Blondin Park, so perhaps that's their 'sponsorship'?

Susan Kelly ● 4597d

Take a wild guess.

Keith Iddon ● 4597d