Reede Road RTA in Dagenham had planned to hold the celebration in honour of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s special day on April 29 but have scrapped it after learning the council is not financially supporting royal wedding events.Barking and Dagenham is of course a long-time Labour stronghold, so it’s not so surprising that its denizens should feel entitled to help themselves to everyone else’s money, is it?
Pam Barratt, chairwoman of Reede Road RTA, said she and fellow members were “disgusted” at the news. “A royal wedding like this happens very rarely, so we don’t understand why the council can’t support it. Unfortunately we can’t afford to put the street party on ourselves, so we’ve decided to cancel it.
It’s a real shame – everyone was looking forward to it.”You can still hold it. No-one’s stopping you. We just aren’t going to pay for it.
And how much could it possibly cost? A fiver from everyone planning to attend buys a heck of a lot of sausage rolls and prawn rings from Iceland. Or, if you prefer food you can identify without having to look at the box illustration, you could always cook it yourselves?
Unfortunately, we are going to pay for this:
Unfortunately, we are going to pay for this:
The authority is, however, awarding funds of up to £450 to groups planning St George’s Day street parties on April 23.*sigh*
Mrs Barratt says the RTA now hopes to hold a party on St George’s Day instead, if the group can secure funding.Meaning if they don’t have to pay for it themselves…
And I guess it wasn't anything to do with William and Kate's 'special day' after all, was it? It was about having that 'free lunch'.
11 comments:
Well that's great, so instead of using a small amount of the money already given to them by the state (going to go out on a limb and say most of this lot are on benefits), they need more state money in order to have a party in their own street.
Wankers.
Could they not just use the money they would have spent on lunch that day to put towards some party food and then make their own decorations? It doesn't have to be expensive.
I think I remember reading something about a requirement to have around £2m public liability insurance to host a street party. You also need to hire specialized decorators because bunting cannot be placed below 16ft off of the ground and other silly elfin safety rules.
So there are costs that are forced by the local government.
But if you can't meet those costs out of your own pocket, that's just tough. Go without the party. Get together at the local pub.
How much could it possibly cost?
Well quite a lot actually, once you add up the several different licences and permits that are required, the high and ever-increasing cost of public liability insurance, the charge for the St. John's Ambulance people who have to be there by law, the charge for the police who for some reason think this isn't part of their job anyway, and probably a whole lot of other things.
My advice would be for everyone to spontaneously take their own picnic out into the street and act astonished that anyone else had thought of the same thing on the same day.
But no doubt some killjoy council prodnose has already thought of that and found a way to make it illegal.
What a bunch of tight wads. A few paper plates, home baked cakes, finger food from the Supermarket or Co-op and a few home made sandwiches isn't going to cost much.
We had a lovely garden party at my parents' house for the Silver Jubilee in 1977. The whole street came and milled about in the garden. Everyone bought a cake or some sandwiches or one of those horrific Party Fives of beer that tasted like earwax. A good time was had by all and none of us teenies got strangled by bunting. Was St John's Ambulance there? Yeah, right.
Still, Dagenham. They probably want compensating for having to go out in the fresh air instead of sitting on their sofas in their shell suits eating pies and watching Tricia.
This reminds me of what my old Dad used to say - 'A socialist is someone with a knife and fork, looking for someone with a pie'.
Nothing changes, it seems - he died in 1964.
I am a socialist, so feed me, feed me!
"holding out the begging bowl for everyone else's money"
Oh dear oh dear, we can't allow this. How demeaning to these worthy citizens. A more sympathetic and acceptable phrase might have been "permitting the authorities to make their due contribution."
"Could they not just use the money they would have spent on lunch that day to put towards some party food and then make their own decorations?"
They could, but why should they? The state provides them with everything else, and their political representatives no doubt tell them they deserve more...
"So there are costs that are forced by the local government."
True, but that can be avoided by not closing the road or having bunting. There's a small park in Reede Road. Why not have it there?
"My advice would be for everyone to spontaneously take their own picnic out into the street and act astonished that anyone else had thought of the same thing on the same day."
An excellent solution!
"We had a lovely garden party at my parents' house for the Silver Jubilee in 1977. The whole street came and milled about in the garden."
I (just) remember thee same thing at my grandparents house. Happier times.
"This reminds me of what my old Dad used to say - 'A socialist is someone with a knife and fork, looking for someone with a pie'."
Spot on!
" A more sympathetic and acceptable phrase might have been "permitting the authorities to make their due contribution.""
:D
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