Organisers
If you wish to contact them please send an email to info@lapebbles.co.uk
There is a certain group of people that meet every two weeks (on a Monday) in the Crown Public House Littlehampton, who are trying to make a difference to a small(ish) town on the South Coast.
• The idea: to stage a free music festival, and to only use local bands and businesses to stage the event.
• The reason: in just about every town there are lots of talented musicians, artists, performers - and in those same places there are not many local showcases of just local talent. It just so happens that in Littlehampton we seem to have quite a lot of talented musicians, and we are proud of our town.
• The plan: for the musicians of Littlehampton to put on a professional show on the seafront that will promote the town. To do it in a safe and enjoyable environment and and to get local businesses to help us with anything they can spare for some free advertising, see if the local council will help us, to get press, local radio and TV involved and try to get a major Charity and Sponsor, and for all the bands to play for nothing and donate any profit from the event to charity.
• The commitee: made up of a not inconsequential number of local musicians and friends, all of whom have friends and acquaintances, all of whom have skills and talents that we use, but none of whom had ever tried to stage an event like this before - but how hard could it be to arrange a one day music event?
• The reality: initially there are lots of hoops to jump through and barriers to overcome, legal implications and planning consent, health and safety and medical facilities, police, fire and ambulance services, and all before we can even talk to anyone about sponsorship.
• The task: to overcome all the barriers, jump through all the hoops, be amenable and get through all the "red tape", put all consents in place and organise a not inconsequential number of musicians (and friends)
• The achievements: new records have been set in the sport of hoop jumping and barrier scaling, consents are in place, planning has been passed, police, fire and ambulance services are on board.
A number of local businesses have been fantastic offering to supply equipment for nothing, and we are hoping to engage the help of a few more along the way.
Local press and radio are promoting the event for us, and the local council have been helpful in getting us through the red tape and providing whatever they can.
The committee are still friends after all the hurdles we met, which is no small feat.
• What actually happened: the event took place at the specified time, in the specified place, with all that had been specified by all those that specify things.
• What actually happened: the various authorities (council and services) came and gave the event their blessing - and were already talking about next year before the event started.
• What actually happened: the sun shone, the day was fine, everyone was well behaved, well fed, well watered and happy to be there
• What actually happened: the bands played all on time, every musician playing out of their skin, the sound was great, the lights were fantastic, the stage management was brilliant and all the muso's enjoyed themselves immensely
• What actually happened: the people of Littlehampton came to their local green and discovered a new event, and the people from far and wide discovered Littlehampton is a great place to be
• What actually happened: just about every single person involved enjoyed themselves by being involved in the organisation and running of what is already Littlehamptons Premier Music Event
• What actually happened: It is now over and the organisers can be justifiably proud of their achievements, and have set themselves a hard task to improve on all aspects of the festival
• And finally... Everyone who said they would ... did ... and everyone who did became a better person for the experience. Hopefully we can all now look forward to working together next year - Well done to all.
