A VILLAGE May Queen festival dating back more than 130 years looks set to be cancelled because of a row over a gas pipe.
Lymm Parish Council has called an emergency meeting to discuss the future of the festival at the village hall next 
Tuesday (April 20).
But the chairman of the May Queen committee says the festival has already been called off.
Sean Kerfoot blamed bureaucracy imposed by Warrington Borough Council for the crisis.
He said: “The festival dates from 1879 and apart from during the two World Wars it has taken place every year. But perhaps it needs a cancellation to make the council see sense.”
The row centres on the only vehicle access to the May Queen field – a designated village green.
According to Mr Kerfoot, the borough council has, for the last two years, insisted that the May Queen committee accept responsibility for a gas pipe under the access road.
He said: “The cost of repairing damage to the pipe could be as much as £250,000 and it would fall on individual members of the committee. We used to have 12 members but only four are left because the others would not accept the liability.
“I accepted it myself, personally, last year, but I said it would be the last time. Since then I have been trying, without success, to get assurances that we would not be held liable.
“We normally select a May Queen, Rose Queen and their attendants in February but we have not done so because it 
would not be fair to build up a child’s dreams and then dash them by not having a festival.
“We have not booked the funfair or done anything else because the council will not give us assurances.”
Parish council chairman Joe Griffiths said: “We normally give a grant to the festival but we have had no contact from the committee for some time. We have not had sight of their annual accounts so, legally, we cannot give a grant.
“But we have established that there is no risk to members of the May Queen committee. The utility company has assured us they will take responsibility for the pipe.”
Borough councillor Sheila Woodyatt said: “The May Queen has been told they will not be held liable.
“If they will not organise the festival we will have to try and get someone else to do it. But time is running out.”
Lymm May Queen Festival is unusual in that it is actually held in June, to avoid clashing with other events. It involves a procession through the village, Morris Dancing, a crowning ceremony, fun fair and stalls and attracts thousands of people.
Pictures: Last year’s May Queen, Natasha Royle and Town Crier Peter Powell leading the May Day procession through the village
Historic festival may be cancelled
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
13 Comments
Much Ado about Nothing?
Much ado about nothing!! This event generates thousands of pounds for local charities and the local business community – money which they can ill afford to lose in the current economic climate!
These are exactly the same issues of access to the field by heavy vehicles over an unsuitable road surface which caused problems last year. Have the organisers done nothing to find a solution in the 10 months since then?
They are not Inky Pete.
The existing committee are still waiting for written confirmation from WBC that they will not be held liable as individuals for any potential repair costs to the driveway should there be any damage. Councillor Woodyatt should know that VERBAL guarantees are not worth the paper they are written on !
The May Queen committee requested yesterday that the liability clause be removed from the legally binding agreement they have to sign.
Hi Vis – you need to live in the real world – this useless council will not do anything to help the local community if there is one inkling of it costing them a single penny.
They have done their best to kill off the duck race with red tape and costs.
All they are interested in is selling off the local youth club to make as much money as possible.
You can’t trust these Lib dems as far as you can throw them – yet after one Tv debate the whole nation thinks Nick Clegg, whose main claim to fame is the number of gulible women he has bedded, is the best thing since slice bread!
Told they will not be held liable verbally, but the bourgh council will not take the clause out of the site licence and will not put it in writing! would anyone sign it if theres a possibility of being held liable? As for no contact with the committe l was at the parish council meeting when we brought all of this up and the Parish council said it was wrong for us to be expected to take liability for a public event and they wouldn’t do it, so why should we be expected to?
We are fully organised as ever and are prepared to hold the event if we have it in writing we won’t be held liable….surely thats not oo much to ask for?
A couple of answers to the posts……..
Inky Pete we have been trying for 4 years for an alternate access and the parish and bourough council knew all of this and it has been an ongoing struggle each and every year for access and plans have been drawn up for an alternate access and are ready and waiting to be done.
Hi Viz we asked the parish council 6 weeks ago to help us remove the liability clause of the site licence, we were told we wouldn’t hold us responsible verbally but refuse to put it in writing or remove the clause and as we all know verbally wouldn’t stand up in court if we were to be sued.
I love the may queen and have been involved in it for 30 years now and would hate for it not to go ahead, but l can’t take the cance of the possibility of loosing my home if anything happened to the drive way, pipes either gas or water and l was expecetd to cover the cost of repairs.
I wonder if people are aware that part of the site licence, the clause states that they would hold the May Queen festival committee liable for a period of 3 months after the event? So effectivly WBC could drive one of their big mowers or tracters up there within this period and if it damaged anything on the driveway then the May queen would be responsible for those repairs, seems hardly fair to me
Lets see what happens at the “emergency meeting on tuesday 7pm at tthe council chambers”, maybe when people realise what is being expected of us to agree to sign and all the facts are made public opinions amy change.
Diane. Your body of representatives at the last Parish Council meeting were assured verbally that it was unacceptable for you to bear any associated risk in staging the event and as such a meeting was arranged to resolve this. Surely you must accept that the verbal pledge from one of the countries top performing councils who have bought new buses at the expense of child and social care should be trusted, in a court of law they would stand up and state,” yes, we assured them verballyy they would not be at risk”. I am convinced that this should alter your opinion and you should gamble your home and trust our beloved Borough council. You are fortunate to have a Parish council concerned for the benefit of your community and if you are still not convinced you should take note of the support given to the committee of the Youth Club.
Firstly I agree with the may queen committe that they should have it in writing that they will not be held responsible for any damage to the road etc however I do think that if the chairman has known about this since last year then he should have made the parish council and indeed the whole village know what was going on and this problem could have been rectified months ago. Also I would like to say that we as residents should back this and indeed all local events fully because each year I have heard so many people criticise the may queen so instead of moaning about how rubbish you think it is GET INVOLVED and stop taking for granted the people who are willing to give up their spare time to pull this off each year. I love the may queen and will be at the meeting on Tuesday offering to help out wherever possible.
Jo. Lymm Parish and Warrington Borough council have been aware of this for 3 years and the Chair of the May Queen has been trying to resolve the liability issue with the above since November last year in order to stage the event this year. It appears to me that both Councils are now shifting the blame onto the May Queen committee instead of addresssing their own failings in resolving this matter.
As far as I’ve heard, the major problem isn’t the pipe at all, but the fact the committee haven’t actually shown their accounts to the Parish Council from last year. There are questions about where some of the money has gone.
I do think it will be a shame if it doesn’t go ahead though. Someone needs to take control and the liability thing does need to be in writing to remove any doubt.
Thats rubbish. There was under £500 in the funds under the last chairwoman and now there is over £6500, the council said there was no problem.
I am the current Chair of the May Queen and I assure you that the Parish Council have NO issues with our accounts and I personally guarantee that there are NO irregularities whatsoever. We lost the most trustworthy, efficient and thorough treasurer this society had over a personal liability issue forced upon us by Warrington Borough Council, the person who replaces her will have a lot to live up to.