HAVE YOUR SAY: Can cheese rolling be saved?
Organisers of Gloucestershire's famous cheese rolling have cancelled this year's event amid fears over crowd safety, traffic and a trebling of people coming to watch the event.
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But campaigners believe it could still be saved.
Do you believe we should do all we can to help the organisers of the cheese rolling to overcome their difficulties to stage this year’s event?
Here The Citizen's editor Ian Mean speaks about how he believes Gloucestershire folk should work together to get the event back on track.
"Gloucestershire Media, The Citizen and Gloucestershire Echo, The Forester, Stroud Life and thisisgloucestershire.co.uk believe that the organising committee of the cheese rolling have done a brilliant job over the year with really very little outside help.
"As a result, the group feel very much under pressure with increased demands for increased public liability insurance costs for the event and the need for more policing and a structured parking plan to not cause chaos on surrounding roads and annoyance to landowners.
"I think we as a county need to do all we can to help get the cheese rolling event for May 30 at Cooper's Hill back on track and the committee seem to agree. We now all need to pull together to try and make it happen.
"On Friday evening, I met with county council cabinet member, Councillor Mark Hawthorne and he is now urgently calling county council people together on the issue of security, parking and the event management. He is also hoping to see the Chief Constable, Tony Melvill,e on Monday. I will also be contacting him to see if his team can develop a parking and security plan.
"Mark Hawthorne has also contacted Mark Owen, chairman of Marketing Gloucester, for input into the possibilility of helping the event management taken, of course, that the organising committee is agreeable.
"At the heart of all this is the need to persevere for an amazing, fun event that puts our county on the map all over the world.
"Like the county council, Gloucestershire Media is determined not to give it up this year without a fight.
"This is not just about health and safety, although the increase in public liability insurance costs is, of course, a major issue for the committee who rely on parking costs to meet it.
"It is about an event that needs extra policing with crowds of up to 15 000 there last year and a major parking plan to cope.
"It could be, of course, that there should be an admission charge in the future to ensure its sustainability. What a major opprtunityy for a commercial sponsor—like Red Bull, for instance which promotes extreme sports, or a cheese company.
"If the event were to be back on, the committee would probably also need to recruit several hundred volunteers quickly and I would have thought that there would be no problem in getting enough enthusiastic people to fit the bill.
"Do you agree with Mark Hawthorne and myself or not?
"Is it best to give it a miss thuis year or get as much help as we can for the organising committee to ensure they are comfortable with running it on May 30?
"The organising committee have done a great job — let’s all try to give them the help and reassurance they need to ensure that an event which takes the county’s name around the world should not be lost this year."











35 Comments
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by Don't edit comments, Brockworth
Monday, March 15 2010, 10:47AM
“Suprise,Suprise! The one comment which criticised Mr Ian Mean jumping on the band waggon has been edited out, There's freedom of the press for you.....we get more like a totalitarian state everyday!”
by Hyden Sique, Glaws
Sunday, March 14 2010, 6:36PM
“Will you daft lot get it into your thick skulls that the organisers have not cancelled it because of the competitors, they have done it because they cannot control the numbers of visitors and their associated cars and that the insurance has become too great to bear. You have to remember that in every crowd there is always someone who will try to make a killing by suing anyone for anything and with over 15,000 spectators it has got out of hand. Gone are the days when a few hundred members of the Gloucestershire public would turn up to watch, now with all the publicity on the internet, TV and newspapers (yes you, Mr Ian Mean) thousands more each year turn up and the hill and the surrounding roads just cannot cope with the increase.”
by John Mullins, gloucester
Sunday, March 14 2010, 6:15PM
“If they want the 'Cheese Rolling' event to go ahead, let the competitors dress like 'Michellin Men' with only their faces showing, so if they win their snouts can be seen in the paper. Basically they are all just a bunch of posers hoping to get some sort of publicity, be it broken bones or coming in the first three.”
by Bill Evans, Gloucester
Sunday, March 14 2010, 5:53PM
“If this purile rubbish is all the people of Gloucesterhire have to worry about then God help them.”
by jonny, brockworth
Sunday, March 14 2010, 5:36PM
“how can they stop it,its common land.im going up with my babybel they wont stop me.Let it roll,free the cheese.”