Falcon Road Festival 2018 Report & Evaluation

BLSW11 Project Summaries and Progress Reports

Project: Falcon Road Festival                  PEC Lead: Robert Musgrave

Summary

Progress Report September 2018

PEC September 2018 – Falcon Road Festival Report

The 3^rd Falcon Road Festival held on a glorious summer’s day on the 30^th June to celebrate ‘our community – our families’, was a fabulously successful day of fun, play, entertainment and learning!

From Providence House, via Este Road, ending at Shillington Park, the Festival involved over 60 local volunteers, 35 organisations and hundreds of local families in a joyous coming together from all parts of our community.

Designed and managed by local people and funded by Big Local SW11, with additional sponsorship by Taylor Wimpey, the festival aimed to provide a public space for all to meet and enjoy the day.

Highlights included: The main stage with fantastic performances by Nu Flower, The King’s Parade, the Baked Bean Theatre Company and many more!

Features included: Garg’s Reptiles, Sky Birds of Prey, Deen City Farm, the Climbing Wall and sports zone; the Skate Park zone; bouncy castles and fairground rides.

The festival was enthusiastically supported by the Mayor Cllr Piers McCausland, Battersea MP Marsha De Cordova and the Borough Commander John Snelgrove.

Behind the fun and activities there is a more serious purpose! Big Local SW11 wants to use its limited resources to support local people and groups to strengthen the local community.

Feedback

This year we received 101 feedback forms (against last year’s 15!) largely because we stayed with people while they completed the form. Particular thanks should go to Gina Betteridge (and her friend) who did most of the work!

There was an overwhelmingly positive response, with no negative comments! Indeed, the most common suggestions were asking for more of the same! (See Appendix 1)

74% of respondents rated the festival as excellent and another 23% as good. Only 3% felt unable to respond.

The highest ranked attributes or features of the festival were:

• Diversity of participants/activities
• Community Spirit
• Great for kids
• Free Activities
• Locally sourced providers

Areas where people wanted to see improvements were:

• More food (particularly traditional British)
• More music in the park

PEC Considerations

BLSW11 has been the main funder and supporter of the Festival Management Team for three consecutive years. Each year has seen a significant growth in awareness of and participation in the festival.

The PEC is asked to consider its ongoing involvement in the Falcon Road Festival, in particular:

• Should BLSW11 continue to fund/support the festival over the next three years?
• Does BLSW11 need to consider an ‘exit strategy’, perhaps a tapered reduction of BLSW11 funds while seeking replacement funding through sponsorship and other means (grants)?
• Are there other steps that BLSW11 could take to secure the long term future of the festival (for example, seek support from local people, local community organisations and local businesses)?

Appendix 1: Festival Feedback

Rating

People were asked to rate the festival on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) with the following results:

There was an overwhelming positive response with no ‘poor’ answers.

When we asked for specific ‘likes’ the spread of responses was as follows. 

We asked people what they liked about the festival

Distribution within Activities

Number of Likes per activity or theme

We asked people what they would like to see if there was a festival next year

Other = Tea and Coffee Stalls, More Animals, More for Kids, Water fun for kids, Food Market, More Seats, More Dancing, More Community Stalls

Numbers per activity

We asked people what they disliked about the Festival

Overall Conclusions

A highly successful event with much on offer and a lot we can learn from!