Looe raft race was baled out

Looe raft race was baled out

Looe's Great Cornish Raft Race held a few week's ago, and organised by the Chamber of Trade and Commerce, was a huge success as usual, but at a meeting of the Town Council on Monday, councillor and Chamber chairman, Dave Peat, admitted the event had been run at a large loss financially.

The Chamber has always run the event as a free day out for all and has never set out to make a profit, only to cover the costs, which this year amounted to £2,500, but after the loss of the Leader 11 grant of £950, on which they were depending, Mr Peat announced a deficit of around £600.

However, thanks to the goodwill of the town council and West Looe Town Trust, who have donated £250 each, with a further £100 from SECTA who had already helped in sponsorship, the debt has now been covered.

Mr Peat said it came as a shock when Leader 11, a grant agency for the community using European funding, informed him just a week prior to the event that there would be no money available. He said the Chamber had applied for help 11 weeks prior to the raft race, and with assistance on the bid from a member of the Leader 11 board they were given to understand the money would be available. At an emergency discussion between Chamber members it was decided it was too late to cancel the event and that it should carry on.

'The event was very successful' said Mr Peat, 'but unfortunately as it is free not enough money came in to cover the costs. We were lucky to have sponsorship from the Hannafore Point Hotel, Looe Bay Holiday Park and SECTA, but we were relying on Leader 11 for the bulk. Leaving their decision until the week of the event was a bit close to the wire. The Chamber feels let down.

Spokesman for Leader 11, Mr Michael Hinks, said that unfortunately an advertisement 3 weeks before the event on a local radio station was heard by several members within the agency project, which scuppered the application. He said organisations asking for grants are advised there will be no grant if the event is advertised prior to the money being made available from the Government Office South West. 'Grants are only given to projects which could not go ahead without the Leader 11 funding' he said, 'and prior advertising is seen as an admission that the organisation has enough money in hand to take place without our aid. Unfortunately that is what happened in the Raft Race case and I am sorry we were unable to help'. Mr Peat said the first year the event was held the Chamber funded it themselves, and for the last two year's the main sponsor were Hillcrest to whom they were very grateful.