Coventry Festival of Motoring cancelled after 30 years

[dutchman]

A motoring festival which has been running for 30 years is to be cancelled, organisers have said.



The Coventry Festival of Motoring, which attracted 40,000 visitors in 2014, has had £20,000 of funding withdrawn by the city council.

However, organisers Culture Coventry said the funding withdrawal was "not the only reason" they had made the decision to cancel the event.

It said events planned for 2015 and 2016 have been axed.

Organisers said they had not ruled out reviving the festival, but it would remain on hold indefinitely.

The free heritage event, which features classic cars, was due to take place in August at Stoneleigh Park.

It is organised by Culture Coventry, a trust set up to manage four of the city's visitor attractions.

Chief executive Gary Hall said he had just found out about the council's funding withdrawal.

"I have to look at the ongoing viability of the show and with cuts coming from the city council and other sponsors, we would not be able to grow it as we have in recent years," he said.

"It is a lot of money and, as a charity running four attractions in the city, we have to look at what benefits we are getting."

He said the charity was reopening Coventry's Transport Museum in June following a £9m redevelopment.

"Unfortunately, we have to put all of our resources into promoting the museum," he said.

Mr Hall said the charity would run "a number of events" throughout 2015 to bring classic car owners into Coventry.

Coventry MotoFest, a more recent addition to the city's festival calendar, which features car races and displays, will go ahead in May, as planned.

[rebbonk]

Terrible shame as motoring is our heritage: but if they can't afford it...

[dutchman]

Coventry Festival of Motoring could roar back into life



The scrapped Coventry Festival of Motoring looks set for a reprieve after car enthusiasts teamed up to secure its future.

The decision to scrap the popular festival this year for the first time in 30 years due to a lack of funding was announced last month by bosses at Culture Coventry.

Tens of thousands of car enthusiasts descend on Stoneleigh Park every summer for the two-day festival, which usually runs over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

But now some of the faces who have made the festival such as success over the last few years have teamed up in an effort to stage it this year – and long in to the future.

It would be the third massive car related event on the calendar for the city, after Coventry Motofest and a world record attempt by the Transport Museum which will see over 2,000 classic cars take part in a cavalcade.

Heading the group to save the Festival of Motoring is Phill Walters, who founded the Made In Coventry Motoring Association and was part of the committee that organised the festival previously.

He says he believes it is the city’s “duty” to keep the festival – and Coventry’s motoring heritage – well and truly alive.

Phill, who also runs a body repair firm in the city, said: “The run has been going for 30 years and, without wanting to knock anybody, it was easy for them to pull the show with the economic climate the way it is.

“There are lots and lots of disappointed people and myself and others from various clubs wanted to know what we could do.

“So we are looking to get it back on and we also don’t want people to forget about Coventry’s motoring heritage.

“We had 103 car factories in the city at one point and made the first cars in the world, and we want to keep that alive. And this festival is part of what we are talking about.

“There aren’t a lot of funds around at the moment so we are working on that and anyone who wants to help in any way is welcome.

“We are enthusiastic Cov Kids who want to get this going again.”

Among the plans, which are still in the early stages, is a desire to take the annual run around the whole of the city and possibly in to Warwickshire, as well as renaming the event Coventry Motoring Festival.

Last month’s decision to axe the festival came as Culture Coventry, which runs four of the city’s visitor attractions including Coventry Transport Museum, revealed their “major funder is no longer able to support the festival”.

Joining Phill on the crusade is John Nollett, who has worked all his life in engineering, who said: “We can’t forget the heritage of the city and also with the recent announcement from Jaguar Land Rover saying that it’s all about being in Coventry, it shows that the message can still be strong.

“We want to keep Coventry on the map and also make the run go around all of Coventry. As well as taking in the obvious car sites such as Alvis, Browns Lane and Humber Road, we want the route to take in all of Coventry and let people know the route beforehand.

“That way people can just come out of their front doors or just walk up the road to see 500 cars go past and also make a festival day of it.

“Not everyone can afford to get out to Stoneleigh so this helps open it up to the whole of the community. And this way it comes to them, rather than them having to come to the festival.”

For more information visit http://www.coventrymotoringfestival.co.uk

*Coventry Motofest takes place in the city centre from May 29 to 31, while the Transport Museum world record bid for the Largest Parade of Classic Cars and the Largest Parade of Jaguar cars will set off from the Ricoh Arena on Sunday June 14.