The IWA Events Committee needs your help ahead of the 2023 Festival of Water. The three-day event takes place every August Bank Holiday, and is organised and staffed entirely by volunteers. It is an opportunity each year to remind the public of everything IWA does and everything that only IWA can do for the waterways. The event is free to the public and there are live performers in the Entertainments Marquee all weekend, as well as plenty of activities for both adults and children. We attract about a hundred boats and nearly as many campers.
We also have to attract a good selection of caterers, traders and exhibitors, and this is one area where we need your help – it’s a major income stream for the Festival.
Jane Elwell, the Chair of Events, has taken on the job of recruiting caterers and traders as well as all her other responsibilities. We really need someone to take on this role, initially of course with Jane’s help. We have a core group of traders and caterers who attend every year, and we would like to reach out and add to this group, looking especially for local businesses and charities to engage with the local community.
It’s not just recruiting and selling space – someone has to record and manage traders’ application forms and their requirements for space, power and water, as well as liaising with the site team on the allocation of spaces. We can tailor the role to suit the volunteer, and in the past caterers and traders have been managed by two different volunteers.
We also need a volunteer to identify sources of grant funding and sponsorship. Finding grants that are available could become a valuable source of extra income, and so could local businesses prepared to sponsor us. We would have to make sure that we comply with any terms attached to grants, and also that any grants and sponsorships are properly acknowledged and publicised, in our programme or on banners, for instance.
For more information about volunteering as a committee member for the 2023 Festival of Water, please get in touch with IWA National Treasurer, John Butler: [email protected]
