Formby Festival Committee issued the following statement regarding the mix up with L37 Fest

Formby Festival Committee issued the following statement today, 8th March, regarding the mix up with L37 Fest. Formby Festival statement as follows: Confusion has been created by the directors of L37 Events Ltd who are organising the L37 Fest about their relationship with the Formby Festival. L37Fest is not associated with Formby Festival. We, the committee of Formby Festival, are a not-for-profit organisation run entirely by volunteers who offer their services freely and without payment. We have run the Formby Festival on Duke Street Park each year since 2013. It has always been the case that Formby Festival is intended to be for the benefit of the community of Formby, with any proceeds donated to charity once suppliers of goods and services have been paid for. We are of the understanding that L37Events Ltd is a company created in order to promote L37 Fest, a separate profit-making event at Orrell Hill Woods. That event appears to be intended as a 3-day music festival featuring Bongos Bingo on the Friday and professional bands on the Saturday and Sunday. During 2018 there was a difference of opinion in the Formby Festival committee: some wanted Formby Festival to remain a not-for-profit community, family event; others appeared to see an opportunity to take a different path. These differing views were irreconcilable and so some people left the committee, eventually to form the company which is promoting L37Fest. The committee of Formby Festival greatly regrets confusion caused by the promotion of an event on the weekend before the Formby Festival. This confusion has been compounded by the fact that L37Fest has not had a local authority license granted yet and so has not been able to specify where that event is: there is an implicit inference in their marketing that the event could be in Duke Street Park. We find the confusion created unfortunate but also the fact that they say it is “a coincidence” that L37 Fest is the week before a little disingenuous as the directors of L37 Events Ltd and who are putting on the L37 Fest clearly knew when Formby Festival was held, the same dates as always, the 3rd weekend in July as they were all involved for many years with the Formby Festival sitting on the committee. The committee is working hard to avoid any confusion caused by L37Fest. Formby Festival remains a family friendly event working for the benefit of the community of Formby, not for personal profit. For any more information regarding this statement, please contact Maria Bennett at: formbyfestival@gmail.com