Portrush Airshow - Cancelled

[casper]

Just got word that the show has been cancelled by the Borough Council.

http://www.niinternationalairshow.co.uk/

[String]

What this is a shock what is the reason.
 
 

[casper]

In a word 'MONEY'

[String]

I thought they had the money available. This does not bode well for fututre airshows. Really sad news just can't believe that after all that was said it has now been cancelled.

[Merlin]

This has to be a mistake (someone screwing around with the website perhaps).

The airshow brings in thousands of pounds for the local economy. What possible reason could CBC give to justify cancelling it?

Regarding cash being a possible motivator, they were doing collections for the airshow at last year's event, where did all that money go?

The only plausible reason I can see as to why they would cancel it would be if no aircraft were coming. Anything else would be rubbish.

T.T.F. will clear this up one way or another so let's hold off on the lynch mob for now 

[Dave]

Devastating news. The Airshow will be missed by many this year.
 
Although I always wondered how they were able to put on a good show each year. When the airshow was held at Eglington or Newtownards, the tickets were £5 to £10 so they always made a good amount from those who attened. At Portrush, the only money made was from the sales of programmes and perhaps from some of the stalls and donations from the public.
 
Maybe they are reverting to a once every two year schedule?

[casper]

T.T.F. will clear this up one way or another so let's hold off on the lynch mob for now

True, but I don't think TTF can say what he really wants to say on a public forum.

[Angry Turnip]

Absolutley terrible news if it turns out to be correct
As mentioned earlier the show brings in thousands of people to the town and surrounding area so it doesn`t make a lot of sense to scrub it.
 
With no sign of a show at Newtownards/Enniskillen this year either we are going to have a very depressing summer
 
Don`t know what others think but the cost of going to shows in the rest of UK is getting rididculous,by the time you add in ferry/flights accomidation etc it becomes very pricey.

[Angry Turnip]

Just rang Coleraine Council and they confirmed show is cancelled;mainly due to lack of sponsorship and problems with the MOD.
 
Feck! Feck! and Double Feck!

[casper]

and problems with the MOD

If that's what they're saying and from what I've heard that's not true.

[String]

It is a very sad situation the M.O.D. have always said they would make cut-backs but to make them so that a show can't be put on in too much. As for sponsership the credit crunch must still be affecting the people who normally add to the money fund it is a great loss of finance to C.B.C. the big question is was 2009 the last ever airshow in portrush?.

[String]

Just off the phone to a freind and i have to agree with casper there must be another issue and not with M.O.D.

[Angry Turnip]

Just to clarify- The Airshow was not cancelled because of a problem with the MOD.
The biggest problem was lack of funding from the normal sponsers,the person I spoke to at the council said there had been some problems with the MOD as well,but didn`t tell me what she meant by that.
She also gave me the impression that the show may well not return,but she did sound genuinely sorry  that the show had been cancelled as she said it was the second biggest draw to the town after the NW 200.
 
I can only assume that the MOD may not have been able to say for sure what would be available.
With the 70th Anniversary of the Battle Of Britain being this year I was really looking forward to the show.
 
It`s very upsetting news and hopefully airshows will make a return to Northern Ireland soon.I know we sometomes grumble a bit about the shows we have had here in the past,but facing the prospect of not having any air displays in NI is gutt wrenching.

[Paultojo]

Listening to the local radio on the way through Coleraine today the Council took the option to pull the money to avoid rates increases, lifeguards are being pulled from the local beaches as well.
 



Paul

[iCardboardRobot]

Very disappointing, though not very suprising, it is a massive expense and i felt last year that going round with buckets to collect money seemed to indicate that not all was well. Without Newtonards making a return, looks grim for avaition enthusasts in n.i !

[Claymore]

OK.. So disappointments all aside..

What are the chances of us setting up a committee double time, getting TTF on board with all his contacts, maybe campaign to the old team at Newtownards and seeing if we could organise something ourselves??

I appreciate funding will still be the biggest issue, but "what if" if all did manage to put our heads together and see if we could come up with someone willing to sponsor the idea..

Hey.. let's be realistic.. There's enough people go along every year and enjoy the day out.
Even if it took us to put a spokesman onto an article on BBC and UTV during the six o'clock evening news pleading for a sponsor.. Could it be done by September??? There's bound to be someone out there with enough of an interest in aviation that actually has enough cash to spare and wants some PR in return..

Maybe somebody could give us a rough idea, what level of money the sponsors have typically been putting into the pot..
I never complained about paying a £5 or £10 entrance fee to any show, neither did plenty of others..

Ideas on a post card to ... HELP US GET AN NI AIRSHOW BACK ON THE CALENDAR ...

If this was actually feasible.. time is of the essence!!
 

[Hammerhead]

Im very dissapointed to hear the show has been cancelled... but in these times of financial cutbacks im afraid im not really supprised.... as for organising a airshow from scratch i believe it would take at least 12 months to get everything in place ... insurance would be a big hassle and also most of the acts for 2010 have already been asked by lots of shows for attendance and if you sent a request now it would end up at the bottom of a very big pile of paper...

[Claymore]

OK Hammerhead..
Don't disagree with what would be involved..

Not wanting to admit defeat completely.. If there was any evidence to suggest that CBC were cancelling for good, I'd love to still take the idea forwards for 2011.. If nothing else, the idea of someone else making a success of the idea, might shock them back into life..

I know a couple of guys with fairly significant cash behind them that have an aviation interest..
Just need somebody to give me an idea of costs involved and what we'd be askign them to contribute directly to..

[Angry Turnip]

Have to admire your pluck Claymore,trying to organise an airshow would be a hugely difficult task-especially in the current economic climate.
 
It would be fantastic if some sort of show could be put together but realistically you would probably have to aim for next year.

[String]

There seems to more to this than was first reported according to the local radio they had no other reasons for pulling the airshow it was because of a rates increase they decided to pull any funds that had not be used as a back-up towards this issue also the milk cup and NW200 will be effected this is due to the council funding issue. I only found out lately that they started to charge £5 for up-lifts like old sofa's and rubbish that can't go in the bins. The NW200 will not have as many cleaners as before (wombles) as for the milk cup council grounds will not be supervised when used no council cleaners will be used untill next day.
Billy Leanord was not impressed with the pulling of the airshow as it will in the result of a loss of £5million in revenue over that period 4&5 sept shops in the towns are also very angry with the decission as sponarship was not an issue.
Very wierd situation who do we listen too for the truth.

[casper]

Save the Portrush Airshow group

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=304396872383

[Tango Tango Fanta]

The decision to cancel the airshow was taken by Coleraine Borough Council alone - not "problems with MoD" or changes in DCAL funding as quoted by some sources. MoD were supplying even more assets than last year and the year 3 drop off in DCAL funding is built in to their funding agreements. CBC is in alot of debt (read the local papers) and axing the airshow is one of many measures to keep the rate increase as low as possible. As for cutting out one of the major tourist events in an area with next to no manufacturing and little else going for it except tourism.......make your own mind up.
 
Heard a rumour that the Reds will be in Newcastle, Co. Down in August. Anybody heard anything?

[Angry Turnip]

Thanks for clearing that up TTF. I hope my earlier post didn`t confuse people;the lady I spoke to at the Council told me that the Council had decided to pull the show purely because of lack of funding.
 
This was decided at a meeting the previous evening.She also told me there had been some other issues raised,lack of sponsorship,Crowd Control,Job Security for council workers and she also mentioned "problems with the MOD",however she did say the MOD had promised a substanital list of display aircraft.
 
I took "problem" to mean something fairly trivial like security around the side or maybe the display line-I remember it being mentioned last year that there was some problems with the display line markers drifting due to the strong winds.
 
Everbody on this site is disappointed as I am sure your team are,and hopefully the Portrush Airshow will make a return very soon.

[casper]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8517556.stm

[Merlin]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8517556.stm

"the decision was likely to affect visitor numbers" - that's an understatement

"I think it will come again and it could be bigger and better than ever" - doesn't that translate as 'more expensive'?

If they couldn't afford this one how will they afford the next one?