Beeston Festival held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 11 January, reflecting on another successful event in 2023 and looking ahead to 2024.

The Annual Report, which is now available to read and download on the festival website at beestonfestival.org.uk, details how the organising committee plan their work and reflected on the various attractions at the event including live animals, children’s activities, dance and music performances, stalls, food, sport and the fun fair.

The 50 volunteers (not including the committee) who put in 240 hours work on the day were thanked. The festival couldn’t happen without them.

The accounts show that the committee spent over £34,000 staging the festival, and raised almost £23,000 in the year from grants, sponsorship, stall bookings and the fun fair. The deficit was planned for and was in part due to a two year lottery grant received the previous year. The festival’s finances are secure with reserves to ensure that the festival will still go on.

Councillors on the Inner South Community Committe, White Rose Park, DePuy Synthes and Building Blocks nursery were all thanked for their generous support.

A new committee was elected with Sophie Wright joining replacing Andrew Hewitt who was thanked for his hard work. Angela Gabriel, Mark Day, Hannah Marshall and Jeremy Morton we re-elected as Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and Event Manager respectively.

The theme of the 2024 festival is sports to reflect the Olympics taking place in Paris this summer. Expect plenty of opportunities to get involved and try new sports and activities.

Festival Chair Angela Gabriel commented:

“2023 was a great success, but we can’t rest on our laurels and there is a lot of hard work to do to make sure this year’s festival is as good if not better. We are always looking for new volunteers to step forward and get involved, both organising in advance and working on the day. If you would like get involved, please email beestonfestival@gmail.com.”

Beeston Festival will take place on Saturday 22 June 2024, 12-5pm in Cross Flatts Park.

The 2023 Annual Report was approved unanimously, as were the accounts. You can find a summary of the accounts at the end of the Annual Report.

Officers were re-elected and the organising committee appointed as follows:

• Angela Gabriel, Chair
• Mark Day, Secretary
• Hannah Marshall, Treasurer
• Jeremy Morton, Event Manager
• Sharafat Ali
• Darryl Barker
• Brenda Barlow
• Cllr Ed Carlisle
• Becky Howcroft
• Cllr Annie Maloney
• Emily Swingler
• Christine Thornton
• Cllr Paul Wray
• Sophie Wright