'Save Fleet Carnival' Group Ignites Debate Online

By Fact0tem | Wednesday, August 04, 2010, 13:21

A popular Facebook group is campaigning for an overhaul of Fleet Carnival, following a spate of negative reviews this year.

A scene from 2010's Fleet carnival

The ‘Save Fleet Carnival’ group has so far attracted 265 members, many of whom are residents of the town who regularly attend the annual event.

In the group’s ‘Info’ section, founder Chris Alden states the motivation behind the campaign as follows:

“Anyone who attended the carnival on Sat would have seen a very sorry state of affairs.

“I’m sure I’m not the only one out there that wants to see it restored to its former glory as ‘The Biggest Carnival In The South’.”

Since its creation nearly a month ago, the page has acted as a platform for a fiery debate over the future of the carnival, now in its 54th year. A significant number of users have expressed their disappointment with 2010’s procession, and are calling for a new approach.

However, the grass roots movement has come under fire from this year’s carnival organisers, including vice chairman Alan Gibson, who branded the campaign “nonsense” in a pointed response.

“Where were all you lot when we needed you [?]” he posted.

“Carnival loses many committee members every year because of this annual outburst of complaints. People just lose heart over all their efforts…I hope all the folk who now say they will join the committee will come along to the AGM”.

Members of the group replied to Mr. Gibson’s post by insisting that they had been unable to join the carnival committee in the first place.

“I have asked to join the committee, but no response yet,” wrote Russell Wilkinson.

“All that was missing from the procession was Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders. The message of carnival has been totally lost…a major disappointment for my family and friends.”

With the Carnival AGM scheduled for 11th October, many of the group’s contributors have pledged their attendance in the hope of reinvigorating a local institution.

The meeting is open to all interested members of the public, and is the first step towards outlining the following year’s event.

The ‘Save Fleet Carnival’ group represents the latest example of social networking being used as a vehicle for local change.

While an appetite for popular movements on sites like Facebook has clearly been established, there is still disagreement over the medium’s ability to achieve actual, concrete change within social and political arenas.

Noteable recent campaigns epitomise this potential flippancy. While a much-publicised ‘Rage Against The Machine for Christmas No 1’ group harnessed the support of 908,463 people to scupper Simon Cowell’s X-Factor monopoly and raise £100,000 for homeless charity Shelter, the slightly less sincere petition to ‘find more people who like sausage rolls than Cheryl Cole’ has been ‘liked’ by over 1,120,000 users.

To view the ‘Save Fleet Carnival’ Facebook group, click here.

Fleet- People would welcome the opinions of those that are part of the group, as well as those who attended this year. Please post below.

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Comments

Thanks- here's hoping for lots of new faces and some new committee members

By russellwilkinson at 17:30 on 30/09/10
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Russell, your wish is Fleet-People's command. AGM details are on the site homepage now.

By Fact0tem at 12:29 on 25/09/10
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A quick question to Kevin Whibley,you were fairly critical of the carnival just afterwards,what was the final result of the survey you emailed out,if you could publish it on here that would be great.

I also know the AGM is on October 11th,it would be great to communicate this to everyone as to the venue and time.Can anyone publish this information? Also get this info onto the Save Fleet Carnival Facebook website.

I will be attending,lets hope many more interested parties will be!

By russellwilkinson at 06:56 on 25/09/10
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If the complainers want to be serious about voicing their opinions about the carnival, then they should go to the AGM. Otherwise, this is coming across a bit silly and ridiculous from both sides. A Facebook campaign is unlikely to cause drastic action but at the same time the tone of Mr. Gibson's response is really ill-advised.

By RaAnMa at 00:01 on 21/09/10
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When events do not live up to people's expectations it is easy to cast judgement on the organising group. But the fact is that the group organising is such a small part of a community event. Fleet Carnival for example has been running for over 50 years. It is not rocket science to work out what to do to get involved, the groups are there to cordinate what people want to offer. So often we hear people complain they were not asked, but how often can we ask, and where is the line drawn. If information is in the local paper does that count? Websites? Posters and Banners? Every event I have run has received complaints that people did not know what was happening and yet 10 to 15 thousand people came along, if more attended we would be in trouble.
Yes committee members do not always get back to people, it is a complex task. Yes organisers do not often give all the guidance people need, but if we held every hand we would not have time to arrange the overall structure.
If you feel an event needs more, do not ask yourself how you were let down, but how you could have done more to make it better. Community events are not like concerts where we pay huge amounts and can dmeand entertainment, they are about a community working together to entertain each other.
One, ten or a hundered strong Carnival task force an not make Carnival work only you can. My strap line in 2009 was JOIN UP, JOIN IN, ENJOY. Until that happens again we may as well stay home and watch TV. And what a shame that would be.

By KevinWhibley at 10:14 on 16/09/10
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