Saltaire 1940s Weekend 2024: Anger at Bradford Council as last minute cancellation of Yorkshire vintage event causes mass disruption for traders, visitors and organiser

The organiser of a new festival in Yorkshire has expressed her anger after it was cancelled by the council with less than 24 hours notice.

Marie McCahery had spent months setting up the Saltaire 1940s Weekend event and worked alongside Bradford Council’s heritage park officer to get all plans approved.

Set to take place across Roberts Park and Victoria Hall from Saturday, June 29 to Sunday, June 30, Marie was left astounded when she received a call from a council worker on Friday (June 28) to say they were cancelling the event.

“I had no chance to say anything and he just left me in limbo; psychological torture pretty much, what was I supposed to do?” Ms McCahery said.

“[It was] less than 24 hours before the event was supposed to start and zero hours before preparations started because the marquee and security were already arriving in the park.

“The traders, portaloos, and medical cover were all practically at the park at this time.”

Thousands of visitors were expected to show up and many still did so as they weren’t aware of the cancellation.

“People came from far and wide to this event, coming up from London, Oxford, North Wales.

“People booked hotels and were already on their way and they couldn’t cancel their hotel bookings.

“So many people let down and out of pocket and of course they were furious, which was very upsetting.”

Despite being cancelled by the council’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG), Marie said that a food trading officer from the team still came to inspect the food traders.

“She hadn’t been informed of the cancellation,” Ms McCahery said.

“Not only that, she hadn’t been informed of this meeting on Friday morning and she’s a member of the SAG team.

“So Bradford Council were paying for somebody to go to the event having just previously cancelled the event. They had no time to inform her.”

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She added: “The way it was done was farcical”.

The event at Victoria Hall went ahead and was well received despite the cancellation.

“I had to go forward with the Victoria Hall [event] which actually went well,” she said.

“Of course I was going around in shock, not being able to function properly as the organiser of the event.

“It’s totally unacceptable especially with Bradford 2025 coming up, it does so much damage to the reputation of Bradford that an event can be cancelled at such an incredibly short notice.”

A volunteer of the event, Stevie Cruz, said he has been affected by the last minute cancellation too.

“I’m absolutely burnt out,” he said. “My duties started at 9am on Saturday and [continued] to Sunday. I crawled into a coma to get two hours sleep knowing we had to get back on Sunday afternoon.

“There were a few hundred people walking around the village in 1940s vintage costumes and it looked like the beginning of something big. But they had nothing to do, nowhere to go, apart from in Victoria Hall.

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“We tried to do what we could with Victoria Hall. That worked but it was only a small part of what it could have been.

“The Bradford Council have missed a golden opportunity, not only to take part in it but to make it part of Bradford because that’s what it was for.”

Now Ms McCahery has said she will “never” work with Bradford Council again.

“This has stopped a new annual event from happening because I’m not dealing with Bradford Council again,” she said.

“What was I supposed to do in that one and a half hours? I couldn’t do anything. That really affected my health.

“It would have brought a lot of business to Saltaire.”

A Bradford Council spokesperson told The Yorkshire Post: “The Safety Advisory Group (SAG) is made up of the Council, Police, Fire and Ambulance services. SAG had been engaging with the event organiser for some time.

“After having received the latest advice from SAG, Bradford Council Parks team had to make the decision not to give permission for the event to go ahead on land in one of its parks.

“Such action is very rare and the decision is therefore not taken lightly. All event organisers must ensure that full and comprehensive plans are in place well in advance of their event, so that these can be assessed by the Safety Advisory Group (SAG).

“We realise how disappointed the organiser and people who were planning on visiting the event must feel however these plans are there for everyone’s safety and include full risk assessments, evidence of adequate Public Liability Insurance, Medical Assessment Forms from Yorkshire Ambulance Service, Detailed Site Plans, Command Structures, Event Management Plans including crowd management and Event Security Plans.”