Over £1,000 was raised towards securing the future of Burnham-On-Sea’s annual seafront fireworks display on Thursday (June 12th) when dozens of local business people attended a special fundraising business breakfast.
Sedgemoor Tourism Association and Burnham Chamber of Trade organised the early morning event at the Oak Tree Arena on the outskirts of Burnham.
It comes after Burnham-On-Sea.com reported earlier this year how cash-strapped Sedgemoor District Council, which has run the seafront fireworks for several years, had withdrawn its funding of the event due to its £1.8m funding shortfall.
Thursday’s business breakfast aimed to raise the profile of the problem and start a fundraising push to generate the funds needed to hold the display this autumn.
Organiser Tom Ashton told Burnham-On-Sea.com the event had been a “great success,” having been well attended. The key note speaker, Andy Saunders, regional manager of Lloyds Bank, gave an upbeat talk about economic partnerships.
Tom said: “Businesses were invited to partipate in a raffle in which 100 tickets are being sold at £50 each where all the proceeds will go towards funding the fireworks. Fourteen tickets have been bought so far and the business breakfast event itself made another £350-£400 towards the fireworks.”
Pledges and raffle tickets are still available via Colin Morris at GW Hurleys on the High Street or Tom Ashton at the Warren Guesthouse on Berrow Road.
The annual fireworks – which were cancelled in 2007 due to strong winds – often attract crowds of up to 5,000 people along The Esplanade on the evening before November’s Burnham carnival.
Our main photo shows Cllr Arthur Thorogood, Rupert Cox (Somerset Chamber of Trade), Bob Nicholson, Ann Fraser, Cllr Neville Jones, Andy Saunders (Lloyds Bank TSB), Mayor Peter Clayton and Cllr Dennis Davey at Thursday’s event
