Stormy forecasts have led to the cancellation of free fireworks at Preston Park for the second year running.
Coles Amusements say a combination of boggy ground and the imminent arrival of Storm Ciaran mean it would be unsafe to run the event on Wednesday.
Last year, a forecast of high winds led to the event being cancelled just hours before it was due to start.
With yet more stormy weather due to hit the UK in the coming weeks, Coles says it is not looking to reschedule the event.
A statement posted on Facebook said: “Coles Amusements, in consultation with their safety advisor, has been monitoring the ground conditions at Preston Park following the recent days of heavy rainfall and the Met Office rain warnings for today (Monday) and Tuesday as well as the forecasted arrival of Storm Ciaran on Wednesday night and into Thursday.
“It is with great disappointment, and deep regret, that they have taken the decision to cancel the event in the interests of public safety. The current saturated ground conditions in the park together with the forecasted high speed wind gusts on Wednesday evening risk taking both the fun fair, and the high intensity firework display, out of their safe operating limits.
“Cole’s Amusements will always make public safety their first priority. Consideration has been given to rescheduling the event but with the current weather forecasts showing little let up in this wet and windy weather for many days, and mindful that firework events can cause inconvenience to some people and their animals, the organisers feel that it would be too late in the month to reschedule this particular event.”
There’s a huge danger to the public of “getting a bit muddy”, and the met office is actually saying that it won’t be raining on Wednesday evening anyway. The other displays seem to be running regardless so why not just advise the public of the dangers and let them decide whether or not to go? Honestly who makes these decisions and disappoints 10,000 people because of a bit of mud…
We typically reference “The Purple Guide” to determine the necessary level of medical coverage and address specific safety aspects when planning events. A considerable amount of planning goes into these events, and if they can’t proceed as intended, it poses a significant financial burden on the organiser. Furthermore, it’s true that many animals experience severe stress during fireworks evenings, so I find this decision to be quite reasonable. Moreover, in cases of high winds, fireworks can veer off in unpredictable directions, posing an additional fire risk. All things considered, I believe this was a thoughtful course of action, albeit disappointing.
It’s a fireworks display… You know, the explosive things the ancient Chinese used as missiles?
They’re not cancelling because of some mud, they’re cancelling so that one of those explosive fireworks doesn’t veer off and hit you or your daughter in the face . But sure, go run the risk, idgaf
Lol, there’s an element of risk with everything in life but maybe we should just all stay indoors wrapped in cotton wool and not live life at all because of all the dangers? I just googled if other displays had been cancelled in the UK but the only others cancelled this year were to save money aside from one in Waldegrave this Saturday. I can remember as a kid braving all sorts of atrocious conditions for our schools annual fireworks display and it was more of a “the show must go on” whatever attitude even if the weather was dire. Yes fireworks can be dangerous, everybody knows that, so occasionally accidents can happen and if you go to a display you run that risk but we shouldn’t be letting a few damp squib over the top health & safety plebs dictate everything for us- come on, live a little!
I’m afraid it is obvious you didn’t look very hard. Nottingham Council has recently cancelled their display, alongside Norwich Council, Manchester City Council, Swansea, Glasgow, Gravesend, Flintshire, Gravesham, Perth and Kinross to name a few non-exhaustively.
Disregarding the precautionary principle is highly non-cognisant, and makes me glad to know that your voice will likely never be part of safety considerations.
Most of those are cancelled due to BUDGET CUTS not the weather! https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24575757/bonfire-nights-cancelled-budget-cuts-fireworks/. I already stated that others had been cancelled because of this reason and now you’re making up “facts” to support your view lol. Maybe you need to get out a bit more Benjamin, fancy coming to Lewes for their fireworks night? I can’t see them cancelling because of a bit of mud… We should just be informed of the risks and allowed to make our own decisions rather than having some pencil neck official make decisions for us based on their own inability to live life, otherwise we’ll eventually sanitise the life out of life and it’ll be extremely safe but also extremely boring
Thank you for agreeing with me inadvertently, I’m not convinced you meant to. I’d probably question your source material too, using The Sun of all newspapers is really quite a poor showing, devoid of compelling reasoning. You should have known I’m going to pick you up on crappy secondary sourcing, particularly when it’s not accurate.
Unfortunately, allowing Darwinism is quite a costly endeavour, particularly when you end up with a ton of lawsuits, which have a high level of winning, which boils down to:
“How could you let me do something dangerous?”
Really? Youve clearly never worked a shift in casualty during November.
You’ve reminded me of a few jobs a couple of years back, Carol. Certainly changes one’s view on safety.