Godiva Festival cancelled after torrential rain...

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An annual free festival in Coventry has been cancelled after Thursday's flash flooding, the city council has said.


Godiva Festival site [Coventry Telegraph]

More than 100,000 people were expected at the Godiva Festival held from Friday to Sunday ahead of the Olympic torch relay's arrival.

A statement from Coventry City Council said parts of the War Memorial Park, where the event is held, is "dangerously boggy".

It also confirmed the Olympic Torch celebration will not be affected.

The statement said: "It's in a different part of the park, where new football pitches have been created so the ground is well drained and it is far less boggy than other areas of the park."

The festival is the UK's biggest free three-day event, organisers said.

'Devastated' by decision

Echo and the Bunnymen were due to headline the main stage on the first night, with Cast topping the bill which also features a number of local bands on Saturday.

The council said: "We're devastated that we've had to make this decision, we've been working for months on this year's festival, and have been working so hard over the past couple of weeks to put on the event despite the weather.

"We've left the decision as late as we could to give us the best possible chance to beat the weather but conditions in the park deteriorated badly overnight and the showers this morning and forecast for the weekend means that the ground simply can't take any more rain."

Last year the event attracted more than 120,000 festival goers.

The Godiva Festival would have marked its 15th year in Coventry.

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Godiva Unsigned moves to Kasbah nightclub

Godiva Unsigned which was due to be held in the Rhythm Tent at Godiva Festival tonight has now been moved to the Kasbah nightclub in Primrose Hill Street, Hillfields.

The six unsigned bands will now play in the side room of the club.

Doors open at 6pm and entry is free. It is open to over 14s only.

The venue is also trying to bring in other acts who were due to play on Friday and Saturday but this is yet to be confirmed.

Thanos Staikos, of the Kasbah, said: “Everyone is gutted about the festival because it is such a great event.

"We are now also working really hard to see if we can resurrect one or two of the other acts so that the people of Coventry still get to see at least one of the big name acts that we were so delighted to secure for the city. “We hope to have more information on that very soon.”

Arrangements are also being made by other bands to hold their sets at different venues in the city centre.

Coventry folk band The Fallows who were due to play on the main stage on Saturday afternoon will now play at Inspire tonight at 9pm.

Artists who were due to play on the microacoustic stage over the weekend will play at the Royal Oak pub in Earlsdon Street, Earlsdon tonight from 6pm until midnight.

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Council admits 'lessons must be learned' over cancelled Godiva Festival in Coventry



THE Godiva Festival will go ahead in Coventry next year – but lessons must be learned from this year’s costly eleventh-hour cancellation.

That is the verdict of a report into the country’s largest free music festival, which states the final cost to Coventry taxpayers of the rained-off three-day event was £398,000.

The Coventry City Council report, discussed by officers and council leader John Mutton, states: “Planning for 2013 Godiva Festival will begin early next year but, ahead of that, detailed discussions will take place on how the event set-up is managed.”

Council leaders called off the June event about 12 hours before headliners Echo & The Bunnymen and other acts were due on stage.

Events organisers had advised council deputy leader George Duggins that the War Memorial Park had become “dangerously boggy”.

The report states council officers have considered measures to try to avoid cancellation in future years in the event of bad weather.

They include:

n An additional track for vehicles to prevent them getting stuck in the mud and damaging the park.

n Managing vehicle movements differently in the backstage area.

n Switching the equipment drop-off point to the main car park area – although the report points out: “This would impact on the Park and Ride service and also the fun fair, which currently provides an income of £10,000 towards the cost of the festival.”

n Introducing a reinforced grass footpath along the outside of the footpath from the car park to Coat of Arms Bridge Road, to allow segregation of festival set-up plant and vehicles from park users.

n Bringing in a land drainage system across the back stage and stage area.

Coun Mutton added that “higher ground away from the brook” should be explored for the stage area.

He said: “It was the first time in 15 years the festival was cancelled and hopefully we won’t get strange weather for another 15 years, but we have to be prepared. We want it to be even bigger and better, and attract even higher visitor numbers.”

The report states the cost is usually offset by an income of £131,000 to give a net cost of £315,000. All fees for equipment, staff and artists had already been committed, although some savings had been made on security and noise monitoring.

Insuring the event in future years from the costs of cancellation has been considered, but the report states one insurance company quoted the premium would by £96,000, which council leaders have considered too high.

Last year, the council took over management of the Godiva Festival – which attracts 120,000 people – from city centre management company CVOne.

The “wettest summer on record” had seen much rain in the 11 days of preparing the site. The report adds overnight rain ahead of the festival’s first day on June 29 co-incided with moving heavy plant onto the park, and the Rhythm tent and main stage areas were becoming “heavily waterlogged”.

Attempts to use bark to soak up water in the tents failed. Traders were finding it difficult to get onto the event fields without causing damage and getting vehicles stuck.

The report gives four main reasons for cancellation: Worsening backstage areas preventing completion of the site; worsening front of stage public areas; to prevent further damage to the park from traders arriving; concerns about backstage traffic from bands’ equipment arriving.