The Final Diary of an Event Manager
End of an era for the Brentford Festival as Linda Massey signs off
Linda Massey. Picture: www.4cornersimages.com
June 17, 2025
2025 is the end of an era for the Brentford Festival after 20 years of delivering a great community event; not only will I be hanging up my radio but my colleagues who have supported me throughout the years have also said that their time has also come to an end.
It all started in 2005 when a Brentford resident said it would be good to bring back the Brentford Carnival. I am sure that not many people will remember this, but a group of people joined me and with the request from Hounslow Council contractors CIP to get more people into Boston Manor Park we rose to the challenge. We expected to get maybe a few hundred people, not the 3,000 ish that came to the first event and certainly not the 15,000 at our peak.
As a community event we are totally reliant on unpaid volunteers as are other local events and, whilst I have been extremely lucky to have some very loyal people over the years, like everyone else it is very challenging. For example, I am currently looking for people to assist in manning one of the bars. This is the income that comes in to fund the event, so it is very important. Please reach out to me if you think you can assist with a few a few hours of your time. eventmanager@brentfordfestival.org.uk
The biggest challenge for this year is the requirement to have paid SIA security staff and not to rely totally on our volunteers. This is as a result of Martyn’s Law which recently went through parliament. It is the same reason why other events across the country, including the Hanwell Carnival, cannot go ahead this year as the additional costs are great. We are a free event and unlike the commercial events such as Junction 2, we cannot recoup money from an entry ticket. I might add that in my 19 years of delivering this event we have never had any trouble so it does grate rather, but we are committed to make it happen one last time….”the show must go on”
There is another concern that we are currently addressing. It is connected with TFL, new trains and the Northfield Depot wanting to camp out in Blondin Park! This will affect our layout of the event so we continue to work with the Council on this and will share updates on this as we are informed.
So the date for the diary is Sunday 7 September noon to 6pm. The bands have already been selected, and we will release their information soon. Around 40 stall holders have already applied – we will be closing entries 4th August so there will be no last-minute applications.
Please support this Community event one last time!
Linda Massey
Brentford Festival Event Manager
eventmanager@brentfordfestival.org.uk
www.brentfordestival.org.uk