Downpours wash out popular Wirral country show

May 3 2008 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

A COUNTRY show in south Wirral which has attracted thousands of visitors in previous years has been cancelled on the eve of the event.

The 13th South Wirral Garden & Country Fair, which was due to take place this weekend (today, Sunday and Monday) has been washed out due to bad weather.

After a crisis site meeting with insurance loss adjusters, show organiser Kelvin Pye said he was left with no alternative but to accept their recommendation and cancel.

He added: “The ground is completely water-logged and there is no way we would have been able to get all the heavy vehicles on site for our exhibitors and other attractions.

“We have had so much rain over the last three days, there is more forecast for the weekend and it is actually quite still on the showground, so it is not even as if there is any breeze to start drying it out.”

No roadway was available in the UK due to exceptionally high demand caused by the wet season, so officials acting on behalf of Liability Insurers surveyed the showfields and car parks and found it totally unsuitable to continue the construction of the event.

Mr Pye said: “There were also health and safety issues, in terms of being able to get emergency service vehicles on and off site in the event of a major incident that I just simply couldn’t ignore.

“I would just like to apologise to all our regulars – visitors and exhibitors – particularly those who have already bought tickets.

“Naturally anyone who has already made an advance purchase will be entitled to a full refund or can simply transfer the ticket to any of our other events since it is fully transferable.

“I am running seven shows this season and in all the years I have been in the business, I think I have been very lucky because I have never had so much as a single day ‘washed out’ before: much less a whole show.

“It’s a very sad day and I’ve now got an enormous amount of work left to do in terms of trying to contact everyone.”

liammurphy