Due to the lack of majority support from Great Dawley Parish Council the Christmas Lantern event is cancelled this year.

Great Dawley Parish were approached for help with funding and response from Chair of Policy & Finance was a definite no, pointing out that the Parish Council offers opportunity for groups to apply for funding up to £250, Parish Clerk advised; quotes have to be tendered by three interested bodies before a more substantial amount is considered.

If councillors decided to organise the event themselves would such procedure be necessary?
Is it time for elected Parish Councillors to cease handing over public money to commercial enterprise and take on the role of organising community events themselves?

The lantern festival has proved to be a popular looked forward to community led celebration ‘bringing Christmas to Dawley’.  Schools, community groups, retailers and pastoral centres throughout Telford all participated.

Volunteer organisers of the past lantern events expressed disappointment that Dawley will not be illuminated by paper and willow lanterns carried by hundreds of happy smiling faces this year.

This event has been part funded for the last two years by money from the ‘TAWPA Dawley Councillors’ bank account (allowances from parish council) a total of £1107.45 for 2008 was donated to the Dawley lantern event from this bank account. This does not include the time that people gave to the project. The imput from TAWPA Councillors and volunteers was vital in helping DBHS (Dawley Bank Horticlutural Society) to achieve the ultimate aim of bringing the community together and Christmas to Dawley, without working together none of this would have been possible.

Fund raising is an increasingly difficult task; recession has affected a tradition of Public events and had a quelling impact on communities.