Bad weather sees Party in the Park cancelled

ONE of Leek’s main events had to be cancelled due to the weather conditions on Sunday, writes LES JACKSON.

Party in the Park was planned to go ahead in Brough Park.

Chairman of Leek Town Council’s events committee, Councillor Matt Swindlehurst, said: “On Sunday morning, Councillor Brian Johnson and I held a 7am site meeting in Brough Park.

“Very reluctantly, we made the difficult decision to cancel the Party in the Park event.

“We were particularly concerned about the treacherous surface of the grassed bank that would have hosted the water slide, with the requirement for participants to walk back up on the steep slope.

“Ongoing discussions earlier in the week with the sound engineers and Moorlands Radio had also highlighted the difficulties in ensuring the safe use of electrical equipment in and around the bandstand area, particularly given that the Met office had issued a yellow warning for thunderstorms.

“Naturally, we were all extremely disappointed that we had to make this decision, but we have to put public safety first in managing large scale public events such as Party in the Park.

“We have a whole summer of Sunday concerts in the park.

“The first two both attracted a crowd of over a hundred. We look forward to meeting up under sunnier skies!

“We applaud the hard work put in by the Blues/americana festival organisers in setting up The Maude Institute at such short notice, allowing some of the bands an opportunity to perform.

“The hard work put in by so many of Leek’s communities did the town proud over the four days of celebration.”