Presteigne St Andrews FC will not be holding their bonfire and fireworks display this year due to problems with using the portion of land on which the bonfire is normally staged.
A number of people have recently asked why this is, so this is being posted as an explanatory piece and should certainly not be seen as aimed at ‘knocking’ anyone.
The plot of land behind the clubhouse is owned by Welsh Water and is rented to the club on an annual basis so we essentially have to go along with what Welsh Water – as the landlords – say we can or can’t do with it.
In the past, this has never been a problem but this year the committee has been informed by Welsh Water that, due to the close proximity of the site to their sewage treatment plant and chemical storage area, the club would not be able to hold its bonfire or firework display on their land.
It appears as though there has been a tightening of the regulations throughout the company or industry – apparently we are one of a number of groups across the country that has been affected in this way.
The committee is indebted to Les Pitt who has been working tirelessly on this on our behalf – letters have been sent to Welsh Water as well as to senior figures within the company personally but while they sympathised with our position they would not reverse their decision.
The local MP Roger Williams and Presteigne Town Council have also lobbied Welsh Water on our behalf but sadly they too were unsuccessful although we are very grateful to them for their efforts.
The Town Council offered the club the use of Wentes Meadow to stage the event but it was felt that there would be little point in our undertaking to do this as we would not really be able to successfully charge an entry fee – there are too many entrances to Wentes Meadow to steward.
Also, one of the few spin-offs for the club in holding the event at Llanandras Park is that we do get the bar takings – clearly at Wentes Meadow we wouldn’t.
The committee may well look at suitable alternatives for the coming years as we are well aware that the bonfire and firework night was a popular event within the town, and especially with families with younger children who enjoyed the torchlit procession.