Yaber-daber-DONE?
Fears for the future of Fabadare and Yaberdaberdare festivals after plug pulled on funding:
PEOPLE in Aberdare are “desperately disappointed” after it was revealed popular town centre summer festivals might be cut this year because funding has run out.
Small businesses in the town have expressed their sadness that the Yaberdaberdare and Fabadare Festivals may not happen after Welsh Government funding “dried up”.
The festivals typically take place in early June and late September, and the Aberdare Business and Tourism Association (Abta), which puts them on, has said it is still working on a way in which the events can go ahead, which could involve support from Rhondda Cynon Taf council.
Ryan Stuckey, from Abta, said: “The small businesses of Aberdare are desperately disappointed that the town centre summer festivals may not go ahead this year.
“Previous grant funding from the Welsh Government has dried up and as of yet, the council haven’t been able to secure any funding to support these events.”
The summer festivals generally included attractions and activities for families including stalls, animal farms, funfairs, outdoor exercises and performance stages, and involve businesses and people from all over the Cynon Valley.
Abta took on the Yaberdaberdare Festival in 2014, after it was run for a number of years before that, and has run the Fabadare Festival for the past two years, with each event staged at a cost of between £4,000 and £5,000 depending on donations and contributions.
The money previously came from the Welsh Government’s Town Centre Partnership scheme, then administered by the council, but that funding has now come to an end. Mr Stuckey said the festivals would be “greatly missed” if they did not go ahead.
He explained: “In recent years, the Yaberdaberdare and Fabadare festivals have been a great opportunity for the town to unite and welcome people new and old to see what our town has to offer.
“If these events don’t take place, it will be a blow to the people working hard to improve Aberdare town centre.”
Despite the recent bad news, the group has been able to fund the flower basket display throughout the town, which Mr Stuckey said would be appearing “over the next few days”.
In terms of the association itself, it is now looking for support from people in the town to give up a few hours of their time for the cause.
“We are short of volunteers and there’s no sort of financial help for any of us, but we could do with a few new pairs of hands.”
The group is now looking to hold regular meetings to put a plan in place to attract sponsorship and funding, as well as recruiting more volunteers.
A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “The Town Centre Partnership scheme was supported under the Vibrant and Viable Places funding programme which has now come to an end. It was designed to be a finite programme which acted as a catalyst for regeneration in the towns it supported rather than an indefinite source of funding. We are currently considering how to support town centres in the future.”
It is understood that the town centre Christmas festival will not be affected.
A council spokesman said: “We recognise the challenges facing town centre businesses, and continue to work with them to provide a range of support which includes regeneration activity, access to grants – which Aberdare town centre has directly benefitted from and town centre and strategic events.
“It was made clear when the funding referred to by the Aberdare Business and Tourism Association for the Yaberdaberdare and Faberdare events was bid for that it was only available for two years and council officers will now continue to engage with traders to explore further opportunities to take the town centres forward.”
For more information about the meetings, including the date of the first one, and for more details on the group, visit the Our Aberdare Facebook page.