Council Folk-Up

A cock-up on the part of Cambridge City Council resulted in the loss of £645,000 of online ticket sales for the Cambridge Folk Festival.

The Festival, which took place in July and August 2009 featured bands such as The Zutons and The Blazin’ Fiddles in its three day line up.

SecureTicketUK were hired to take care of internet ticket vending, but have failed to hand over the cash, and have since fallen into administration.

Festival organisers were afraid of the bad press that would have been generated, should punters have had to wait for hours in queues for tickets.  For this reason, it seems that the council was willing to overlook initial problems with the ticketing company.

A recently released report says that the Arts and Entertainment department is clearly ‘dysfunctional’, and that there was a breakdown in communication and relationships in the months leading up to the festival weekend.

The news has sparked fears that the Council is not able to manage this year’s May Week, and the many Balls, Garden Parties and Brunches that come with it.

Last year, the council shocked ball committees by issuing a hefty 83 page handbook outlining new rules for May Balls.

This followed a May Week in which both Magdelene and Jesus Balls were were shut or quietened down by local authorities, following complaints from the public.

Rumours amongst students suggest that it took only two calls of complaint to have Jesus’s ‘Oz’ shut down, whilst many more calls were received about the Strawberry Fair at the end of exam term, with no official action taken.

The Ball was shut down a full two hours ahead of schedule, with the survivors photo being taken at 4, instead of 6am.

Outrageous new rules included in the guidebook included allowing a 6-8 foot space for every attendee to dance in; as well as the need to pay heavy charges for entertainers such as hypnotists.

The Folk Festival news begs the question whether a council who cannot take care of its own events, is capable of monitoring the high concentration of events in May Week.