Barry Island Pleasure Park cancels firework displays after Vale council raises concerns
TWO privately planned firework displays on the Barry Island Pleasure Park site have been cancelled after the Vale council raised health and safety concerns.
Pleasure Park owner Henry Danter had scheduled a display on Hallowe’en, 31st October, to celebrate his young son’s birthday and another on 7th November to mark Bonfire Night and raise funds for Cardiff & Vale Age Connects, in Holton Road, Barry.
But the Vale council met Mr Danter to say that roads would need to be closed and thousands of people would visit the popular seaside resort.
The annual Barry Firework Fiesta, organized by Rotary Club Barry in conjunction with Barry Round Table, and supported primarily by Barry Town Council with assistance from the Vale council has been called off in 2020 and this again this year due to lockdown and Covid-19 uncertainties.
But privately organised displays are proceeding in other Vale locations to mark Bonfire Night on 5th November.
Mr Danter said: “They are going to go ahead. Sadly, we’ve been delayed due to the situation with the volume of people the council, the police and authority think we are going to create here. They think it’s going to make a big impact. We could have as many as a 100,000 people on the Island. I can’t quite see it myself, but that’s what they think could happen. So, we have had to cancel it for the 31st and the 7th which is a great disappointment to me and my family and friends and the people of Barry who benefit from this firework display because 95 per cent of people enjoy firework displays. I enjoy them myself.”
He said the team loved Barry and was here to stay and there was a great following UK-wide.
“We are the talk of the industry about our success in Barry,” he said. “We are very fortunate that the council has done a lot to help us and a lot of the other traders have changed. We are all sailing together and we see a wonderful future for Barry. Safety comes first. They said you are going to have such a crowd here, you are going to have to close the roads, and you need stewards and I said that’s all taken care of with Age Connects the charity we are working for.
”He said a lot of senior citizens hadn’t been able to meet their families for three years and hadn’t had the pleasure. He said he had expected 10k to 20k would visit the funfair which will still open that evening minus a display.
“I thought if we could raise a lot of money for those pensioners who had suffered for three years could have a Christmas to remember with a little bit of money in their pocket. It all helps,” he said.
“We were going to say thank you. I think we are quite capable of putting on a show.
“The council has been more than helpful. We can cope, but if anything went wrong. I can’t guarantee how many people would be here. We have asked for another date. My success is my failure. We want to work with them.
“It was a very sad moment to have to cancel. It was going to be a 15-minute display and people with animals they could put them in the bedroom. I think they had a lot of complaints from people with pets, but it’s nothing new.”
He added: “I feel sad because I think the people of Barry deserve it. They’d like it and the senior citizens would benefit from it and have a little bit of extra money for Christmas. This is now going to be impossible. I shall fight on and work with the council to see when we can have it.”
A Vale council spokesman said: “We all want great events at Barry Island, but the huge crowds these bring need to be managed carefully. Safety is always top priority so we’ve agreed to put this month’s planned displays back to Spring so we can work together on a first-class event.”
