The brain child of Chair of Independent Hemsworth Town Council, Mr James (Jim) Kenyon, a music festival at Hemsworth Water Park with a headline act of “The Vengaboys”
For those of you wondering who they are, you are not alone, Ferret had never heard of them either.
Apparently, they are a “Euro pop group” who had some hits in the late ‘90s. Postponed twice already, the festival is now scheduled for 3rd June 2022.
Councillor Jim Kenyon has confirmed a deposit of £7,000 has already been paid and forecasts the event will cost around £80,000 in total.
Tickets for the event are priced at £30 (+ an admin fee), with concessions cheaper. These have been on sale now for nearly two years.
With around 100 (Thanks for the information ex Councillor Bugge) tickets sold so far …. Will this be the massive success that Independent Councillor Mr James (Jim) Kenyon states?
A quick calculation from Ferret £3000 (ticket sales) – £80,000 (costs) = – £77000, which YOU the precept payer will have to cover.
From an article in the Wakefield Express dated: Thursday, 24th October 2019
“Hemsworth Town Council chairman, Councillor Jim Kenyon is confident the event will be a sell-out. He said: “We said we wanted to do something special next year, this is a deprived area, so we asked our agent to put costs together for a concert. “He told us about The Vengaboys and said we had to move quickly on it. “They have a big following so I think we will make money on this. “The tickets will go on sale in November and by February I think we will have sold them all. “If you look at their tour from a few years ago, it was a total sell out, and they were charging a lot more than us to get in. We have had so many people say they are really looking forward to it. “We had 16,000 hits on our website within hours of putting it on. I would imagine it’s probably the biggest thing we have ever put on.” But while Councillor Kenyon is confident of filling the park, there have been concerns raised by some over the cost of putting on the event, which comes to £80,000 in total. There have also been queries over the whether the park can accommodate that many festival goers. Councillor Kenyon says less than £7,000 deposit will be paid before the event, with the rest due once it is finished. He also says an expert has looked at the area of the park which will be used, suggesting it will be the size of a football field that could easily hold more than 7,500 people. Councillor Kenyon added: “You are always going to get people that are concerned and it’s good that they are, but we have discussed this in-depth for months. “We have been through everything in fine detail. We’ve even been in touch with farmers about using their land as a car park for 4,000 vehicles.”
