Festival decision due this week
Thursday, 10 July 2008
The men behind ‘Stendhal Festival’ Tim Ferris, Ross Parkhill and John Cartwright are hoping that Thursday night’s Special meeting of Council can finally see them granted an entertainment licence so they can press ahead with the Northwest’s first ‘Boutique
LIMAVADY Borough Council is expected to make a decision this Thursday on the proposed Stendhal Festival after organisers of the event met with council representatives last week to pitch the idea of Limavady's first boutique music festival.
Confusion as to the nature of last week's meeting brought proceedings to a halt after nearly two hours of deliberation, as councillors believed that they were called in to vote, while Director of Environmental Services Noel Crawford assured them that the meeting was simply to hear a proposal from the organisers and objections from local residents who live around the area of the proposed site.
The outcome of that meeting has not deterred festival organiser Ross Parkhill, who is still optimistic that a licence will be granted this week at Thursday night's meeting.
Ross told The Chronicle: "Whilst the outcome of last week's meeting was not an ideal result, we are still going to keep fighting to bring Limavady an event that we can call our own and be proud of. While this does hinder us time wise, it's paramount that we, and of course the council, cross every t and dot every i."
He added: "We appreciate our neighbours taking time out of their schedules to tell us their thoughts and hope that we can work with them towards solutions to any problems that they may foresee."
The proposed Stendhal Festival is pencilled in for August 15 to 17 at Ballymully Cottage on the outskirts of the town, and if it goes ahead, will be the North Coasts first boutique music festival, focusing on many aspects of the arts, not simply music.
So far the young event team have a wide ranging selection of entertainment planned which includes well known and upcoming musical talent from all over the U.K. and Ireland, along with musicians from as afar afield as New Zealand.
Drama performances, Circus performers, yoga classes, masseurs, a garden area featuring an Art Gallery, a life coaching seminar, potters and other craft and children's Entertainment, are also planned.
