Tears of joy as Nice n Sleazy punk festival awarded £11,500 funding grant

Saturday, 27 May 2023 10:27

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

The Nice n Sleazy festival team celebrating news of their grant. Photo by Phill Hayward.

An organiser of the Nice 'n' Sleazy punk festival said she was in tears of joy when she heard the event had been awarded its biggest ever funding grant.

Samantha Harrison said she was "speechless" after the popular festival received £11,500 from Morecambe Town Council.

The 16th annual punk and ska event - the longest running music festival in Morecambe - is taking place this weekend at the Trimpell Club.

Fans of music, particularly punk, come from far and wide each year to camp out and enjoy live bands.

"We as a Sleazy team are absolutely delighted to have recieved the funding from Morecambe Town Council," said Miss Harrison.

"This will help towards achieving our goals and it will allow us to fully support our music inclusion projects.

"We would like to thank Morecambe Town Council for the acceptance and all their support towards our sub cultural music festival."

Ivan Harrison, Samantha's dad and founder of the festival, and other supporters of the event have been publicly critical of local councils in the past for not funding Nice 'n' Sleazy and a lack of information on why grant decisions were made.

Last year, Nice 'n' Sleazy was turned down by the town council for an £8,000 grant.

Mr Harrison said at the time that he was "angry" at the decision and the 2022 Nice 'n' Sleazy could have been the last.

Morecambe family announces popular punk festival will carry on - Beyond Radio

On Thursday night during a meeting at Morecambe Town Hall, town councillors voted to award the £11,500 grant.

Nice 'n' Sleazy continues at the Trimpell until Sunday, May 28.

Also on Thursday, Morecambe Town Council awarded grants to four other local events as follows:

Lancaster and Morecambe National Services Celebration Weekend (Armed Forces Weekend) - £3,500

Bare Community Association (Barefest, Bare Remembers, Bare Village Music Festival, Christmas on the Crescent) £2,500

Catch the Wind kite festival - £4,000

Creative West End Summer Market VR Experience - £2,000

The decisions were made in private, with the press and public unable to attend, as discussions could have included the disclosure of exempt information under the Local Government Act.

Kris Bishop, chair of the Armed Forces Weekend, said: "The committee of the Armed Forces Weekend are extremely grateful to Morecambe Town Council for accepting our application, providing £3,500 to the event.

"Without their support it would have been extremely difficult to get this back off the ground.

"The funding will be used for hiring of The Platform, training of marshals, equipment and more."

The event takes place on June 24 and 25.

Marisa Seddon, chair of Bare Community Association, said: "The awarding of a £2500 grant from Morecambe Town Council to Bare Community Association is going to enable us to fund and run our events, Barefest on June 10 and Christmas on the Crescent on November 25 this year.

"As a non-profit community association, we rely heavily on local grants. We were also lucky enough to be awarded £500 from Lancashire County Council in the last financial year.

"The Morecambe Town Council grant will help with the spiralling costs of traffic management for our road closure and our events insurance.

"Barefest this year sees the Inauguration of our new Lord Mayor Christopher Mount. This is the first time the event has run since 2019. We have around 40 stalls booked on Princes Crescent and Bare Lane.

"The association's committee is very grateful for the consideration given to our grant application. Especially so soon after the recent elections. Bare is very fortunate to have good representation on Morecambe Town Council, and we at the BCA want to thank the council members who supported us. We very much enjoy being able to provide fun packed events that preserve the community atmosphere and historical background that makes Bare Village unique."

Earlier this year, Morecambe Town Council agreed a budget for local festivals and events of £100,000.

Festival organisers can apply to the council for grants to help pay for their events.

A Morecambe Town Council spokesperson said: "The council permits grant applications to be submitted up to 18 months in advance of events and encourages local organisations to apply for funding as early as possible."

Prior to Thursday's meeting, grants could be awarded by the town council's festivals and events committee, made up of a small group of councillors, with no limits on the amount awarded as long as it was within the budget.

Morecambe Bay Independent councillor Geoff Knight proposed at the meeting that the committee's awarding powers be limited to grants of £1,000, and any amount above should be referred to the full town council to make a decision.

Councillor Knight accepted a suggestion by independent councillor Trish Clarke to raise this limit to £3,000, but not a request by Labour councillor Joanne Ainscough to raise it to £5,000.

A £3,000 limit was then agreed by a majority of councillors.