Dawlish News

Situated in a large field adjacent to Warren Road, the Minisunburn music festival should have been the biggest event in the area for years with live bands, dance tents and specialised Mini cars on show, but the event ground to a halt on the second day of the three day event. (29 – 31/08/2003).

Such an event requires thousands of ticket sales to become viable, but for the event organiser, Tim Childs, this never happened. The event did not even accumulate enough funds to pay the security staff who left the festival at around 3pm after having an argument with the event organiser who attempted to drive off in the car billed as the main prize for the raffle.

Without security staff public liability insurance and entertainment licences would have been invalidated making the event illegal. This forced the intervention of the Police who turned up at approximately 7pm in vans kitted out with riot gear, filling the gap in security and enabling the Green Peace Stage and a dance tent to continue to entertain the few people still attending.

The next morning - the day before the final day of the event - everyone was packing and going home, most disillusioned by the whole experience.

The event staff and traders were saying they had spent a lot of money to support the festival and had seen nothing in return. One in particular said, “I’ve paid out £200 to trade at this event and feel completely ripped off”. Another trader told me on Sunday morning he had been down to the organiser’s business premises at Dawlish Business Park and noticed his window was open and the computer had been removed.