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Surbiton street party axed
9:45am Thursday 12th June 2008
Comments (2)It was meant to be the biggest street party to hit Surbiton this summer, complete with two stages, dozens of musicians and the London gospel choir.
But the Maple Road street party has been axed this year after vital grants were refused - because the town is not deemed to be deprived enough.
"The government thinks Surbiton is a well off area so it’s not on the agenda when it comes to hand outs."
Nathan Erasmus
Organisers asked for £12,000 from the Community Development Fund but were told a flat no. A similar party in a poor part of Roehampton was granted funds immediately.
Another £28,000 grant from the Arts Council was also denied due to the "sheer volume of worthy causes", but organisers cynically believe it was because the African-themed party is not high-brow enough.
Surbiton resident Nathan Erasmus, 26, put in 200 hours of unpaid work to set the ball rolling and had already provisionally booked bands, organised roles for volunteers and arranged a stage to be built.
He said: "The government thinks Surbiton is a well off area so it's not on the agenda when it comes to hand outs. There is a need for something like this in this area but unfortunately it's not to be.
"People hardly know their neighbours in Surbiton when they are commuting up to town everyday. There's not really a sense of community and I just wanted to do something that's non-exclusive that different people can attend."
The free Let the music speak' party attracted more than 2,000 visitors when it ran for the first time last July. The total cost came to £15,000, from various grants, local donations, and selling advertising in the programme.
This year it was moved back from June 21 to July 26 to allow more time to raise funds but organisers have now lost all hope.
Two Kingston university students also used £900 of their own money to build the stage for the event, which will sadly no longer be used in Surbiton.
Landscape Architecture student Adam Harris, 26, said: "We were going to get grants and claim it back but that's not able to happen anymore so we are coming out of uni with no money in our pockets."
Your Say YourWimbledon Guardian
Pete, Surbiton says...
3:36pm Sat 14 Jun 08
Surbiton and Roehampton are not in the same local authority area. Last time I checked, Surbiton was in Kingston, and Roehampton was in Wandsworth. Therefore, they must be covered by two separate Community Development Funds, and I can't see any way in which Surbiton and Roehampton would have to compete with each other.
I can't pretend I'm not disappointed that the street party won't be going ahead. But let's not pass the buck for that onto central government departments that have got absolutely no say in the matter.
Revellers at last year's party
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Pete, Surbiton says...
3:14pm Sat 14 Jun 08
So - who are we to say what they can and can't do with their money?
The Arts Council is a different matter, though. But there's no suggestion that Surbiton's non-deprivation was the reason for their refusal.
I think we have to be careful about getting the facts right, before speculating about the reasons why private charities make the decisions they do. I certainly don't want to see a them-and-us situation developing between Surbiton and Roehampton.