I can’t believe it!

It is very rare that I get really cross. Yesterday I did get really cross!

Mike and I are organising a charity event two-weeks-on-Saturday, (29th) to raise funds for children with cerebral palsy (STEPS), a rugby player who had his neck broken (Matt Hampson) and our local village hall and church. In the last two years that we have hosted this event in our field and over £50,000 has been raised for these charities. The event is called Music in the Meadow and all the costs are covered by ourselves and our very generous sponsors. Every penny and pound raised goes to the charities. It is a brilliant event and the folk who attend love it – and so do we. It truly is a fun evening out for everyone.

Obviously the event needs to be publicised. We have a website www.musicinthemeadow.co.uk , we produce leaflets and posters and some large roadside posters to publicise the event. Ah! That’s the problem - roadside posters.

Now, we’re not stupid. We’re not going to place the posters in dangerous places to obscure vision of traffic or in fact anywhere that would cause a public nuisance. The day after the event all posters are taken down as we are responsible organisers. This event is not for commercial or personal gain. IT IS ALL FOR CHARITY!

Having obtained all the necessary licenses to run the event, get insurance, and so on, we thought we would inform the local county council of our desire to publicise the event and our wish to place some large roadside posters, just for two weeks, in safe but strategic positions. Last year we hadn’t realised that we had to do that and our beautiful, expensive-but-kindly-donated posters were whipped away, destroyed and discarded two days after they had been put up! After a pleasant and peaceful discussion it was agreed that they would allow us to replace some of them (kindly re-produced by our very generous printer) and there they stayed until the day of the event and then dismounted.

So, yesterday I popped in to the appropriate office to discuss our proposal. Unfortunately, my meeting was with someone who had a degree in Highways Management but who had presumably failed his ‘O’ level in Common Sense and Community Relations! I was informed that whilst we could place some signage in our immediate village location, beyond the Parish of Ashby Folville was not permitted. It was considered to be ‘advertising’. Our village has 80 inhabitants. It isn’t even included on the signpost on the main road a mile away! We have a pub, a cricket field and a church and that’s it! We have virtually no passing traffic.

I have a variety of character traits, (good and bad!), and one of them is persistence. I pleaded for a sign to be placed at the side of a roundabout in a particularly strategic position, where all traffic slowed down and it would not cause a hazard. I was told it could be a distraction to motorists so could be classed as dangerous. I persisted ‘but what about the signage on the roundabout itself, displaying the sponsorship of the roundabout, which the council had sold for financial reward?’ My man didn’t approve of that either! It wasn’t his decision. I was told I could put in an application in writing to the manager detailing my wish-list for consideration, but he was currently on holiday and didn’t return until five days before the event. My man was not for turning and I was getting nowhere!

I left having shaken hands with my Graduate in Highways Management and sat in my car in disbelief. I am so not used to dealing with people who just cannot make common sense judgements. I drove back to our office and looked at all of our employees with a sense of pride, believing that any one of them would be able to make a sensible, responsible decision if called to do so, that would be appropriate.

By this time the big posters were coming off the production line at the printers and I had visions of them only making a wonderful display in our village. For my own sanity I had to call the Highways Dept. again. Thankfully, another, more helpful guy at the council spoke to me and agreed that the posters could be displayed in the two neighbouring villages as well as our own and that another manager would be returning from holiday next Monday – a week earlier than the other guy. Progress! So, it’s fingers crossed for a positive response and let’s hope we get more than a handful of folks coming to our event!