Herald Express (Torbay, Brixham & South Hams Edition)
BMAD: ‘Back us or we go’
>> Key Torbay events issue urgent funding appeal to public to keep them going
TWO OF Torbay’s biggest events today issued a plea for help to keep them going. The BMAD Festival and the Torbay Airshow, scheduled on Paignton Green in May and June next year, need tens of thousands of pounds in backing.
BMAD organisers had already announced the cancellation of next year’s event, but changed their minds after a deluge of support.
Now crowdfunding is under way, and the organisers are calling on the businesses that benefit from the festival to step up and back it with cash.
Meanwhile, Torbay Council says the Torbay Airshow will go ahead next year after fears that it would be a victim of the Town Hall cash squeeze.
But it says the money must come from sponsorship, donations and income, and local businesses must do their bit to meet the costs.
ORGANISERS of the 2019 BMAD Festival in Paignton have launched a last-ditch attempt to save the event.
A crowd-funding website has been set up in an effort to raise the £30,000 needed to make next year’s festival happen.
The Bikers Make A Difference charity took to social media last week to announce that their 2019 motorbikes and music event on Paignton Green had been cancelled.
The announcement followed months of speculation that the event may not go ahead amid escalating costs and a lack of support from local businesses.
Founder Kelvin Halloran also hit out at ‘poisonous individuals’ who, he said, had cost the festival thousands of pounds by spreading ‘vile lies’ to potential sponsors and traders.
He said: “No doubt they will be very happy with themselves.”
Mr Halloran said: “This is not just an average event - it’s the biggest of its kind in the country. Local big businesses need to understand that and get behind it. They need to invest in the community.
“The onus shouldn’t be on individual people putting in £5 or £10 here and there - although we are very grateful for it. It should be on big business.
“They say the airshow brings in £7m, but BMAD must do the same, if not more.
“I don’t understand how local big businesses who are making vast amounts of money out of our local community aren’t backing us. We do this to support our local community, and once you lose it, it’s gone.
“If Torbay doesn’t want it, then we have lost an international event”
More stringent health and safety regulations and increasing stewarding costs have hit the festival, which attracts tens of thousands of people to Paignton for the May Day Bank Holiday each year.
Over the past 15 years BMAD have raised half a million pounds for local charities, and the 2018 BMAD Festival was estimated to have raised £40,000.
National motorbike magazines compared it favourably to the world-famous Daytona Bike Week in Florida, but Mr Halloran said he faced an uphill battle to get backing for the Paignton festival despite its success.
The announcement prompted a wave of support on social media, and by Monday morning the crowd-funding campaign to save the festival was under way.
Mr Halloran said: “We have had such an overwhelming response with the news of the cancellation of the BMAD festival and it has touched our hearts.
“We thought we would give it one last go.
“If you want it please fund it.” The appeal at gofundme.com/bmadfestival had raised just over £2,700 towards its £30,000 target by Tuesday.