The digital edition of the Official 2019 Brixham Pirate Festival Map has been added!
Only a month to go Me’ Hearties!
Thanks to Richard & Jackie for the video!
The 2019 Brixham Pirate Festival begins on May 4th to 6th
Please Vote for The Brixham Pirate Festival!
The Brixham Pirate Festival has made the shortlist for this years HE Tourism Awards and for the first time, the awards are open to the public to vote!
Please cast your vote for The Brixham Pirate Festival and be sure to let your friends and family know to do likewise if they love and support the festival!
Be sure to use your real name and email, otherwise your vote may not be counted. Voting Ends November 9th, 2018
Archive:
“Hello! from the Brixham Pirate Festival Committee”
We want to let you know what’s happening about next year’s festival.
We hope you were here this year! The weather was fantastic, the bands and El Galeon were awesome, and Security, Harbour Master and most business estimated that we broke all visitor records over the festival weekend.
We are now working on next year’s festival but without financial support it will not happen.
We need to know if we can make it, earlier than this year!
The Festival happened this year because Security Management SW & TeamSS Medical Services gave their services free of charge: they will NOT be doing it for free in 2019. They may give us reduced rates, but security and medical services and other mandatory cost still need to be funded. Also, Brixham Town Council gave us our largest donation, which along with other donations saved the festival as did the good response on the go fund me page.
You can donate on line on one of the links below or contact us to discuss other ways of donating, or sponsorship packages.
If you are interested in helping the festival in 2019 to be as successful as this year’s, please support us!
We have given a cut-off date of November 26th 2018 for the final decision for the 2019 Festival to go ahead
Donate via:
https://uk.gofundme.com/brixhampirates
https://www.paypal.me/brixham
∞ You can also ∞
email: Pete Berresford: captainbrixhampirates@gmail.com
Contact : info@brixhampirates.com
Web Page: www.brixhampirates.com
Help raise funds for the 2019 Brixham Pirate Festival and let’s make it happen
“What a Shippy Concert!”
The 2018 Evening Concert (Sold Out)
We’re extremely excited to announce in cooperation with Fundacion Nao Victoria, the first Brixham Pirate Festival Shippy Concert!
In the evening of Saturday May 5th, we will be holding a get together onboard the El Galeon! A tour of the ship will begin at 7pm and afterwards The Dolmen will be playing the night away on board the ship!
Space is extremely limited, so don’t wait, get in early! Tickets are only £12
TICKETS NOW SOLD OUT
There may be an opportunity to purchase a reserve ticket over the coming weeks, watch this space!
Upon your purchase, a place will be reserved for you and a ticket available for pickup on the morning of the Festival. You will require a copy of your Paypal receipt and some ID to claim your ticket.
Captain’s Note: This was a special evening music concert which required tickets to be purchased. As always, the Brixham Pirate Festival itself is free and requires no tickets. Ye’arg!
Letter from the Chairman
Brixham Pirate Festival Committee
Further to our announcement 2 weeks ago that the Brixham Pirate Festival was in danger of being cancelled due to lack of funds and support, it is with GREAT pleasure that we can announce that we ARE now having a 2018 Brixham Pirate Festival!!! Remember – it’s 5th May to the 7th inclusive
This has been achieved with fantastic help from companies, organisations and supporters who have rallied round to save Your Festival. We have confirmed financial support from the following:
Security Management South West Ltd – Providing all security and manning road closures free of charge
TEAMSS Medical Services Ltd Torquay – Providing all medical cover free of charge
NSL Solutions Brixham – Providing stage and sound systems at a reduced cost
The Nao Victoria Foundation – Providing the ship El Galeon free of charge
MDL Marinas Brixham Offering a free berth to El Galeon
Add4Less Torquay – Working behind the scenes to get others on board
TDA For supporting us financially
Bastins Brixham Donating £1,000 to help with costs
Bloor Homes Donating £2,000 to sponsor the wristbands
Gary & Sue Massey Donated £1,500 towards band costs
Rockfish Donated £500 towards running costs
Jewsons Donating £1,000 to place adverts on Main Stage
SPECIAL MENTION MUST BE MADE OF Brixham Town Council. They consistently support us, helping to keep Brixham on the map and this year they have awarded us £5,000. They were the last piece of the jigsaw to make the festival happen. We are so grateful to them.
Many thanks also to local businesses which have supported us by taking collection tins and given donations.
And a big thank you to all our loyal supporters who have donated on the Facebook Go Fund Me page and bought our pirate clothing.
HOT OFF THE PRESS
At last year’s festival we had a free visit from the Nao Victoria, a replica galleon. It was such a success that this year the Nao Victoria Foundation has decided to send their massive 17th century replica flagship EL GALEON totally free of charge to help support the Festival! She has a massive FIVE decks, and we are planning skirmishes, attacks and boardings for both her and the Golden Hind – keep a weather eye on our Facebook page for updates.
THANK YOU ALL – AND PLEASE KEEP DONATING!
Letter from the Chairman
Brixham Pirate Festival Committee, on the 17th of January 2018
It is with a heavy heart and great regret that we announce that the 2018 Festival cannot go ahead because of a severe lack of funding.
As you will have read on our Facebook page and seen in the press, we have been trying very hard to raise funds to put on the 2018 Brixham Pirate Festival, through:
donations via our Go Fund Me page and PayPal account;
sales of BPF T-shirts and sweatshirts;
bag packing in supermarkets;
being Father Christmas on the 3 weekends leading up to Christmas;
selling advertising space in the brochure and online;
collecting at other festivals and in town shops, businesses and accommodation providers;
applying for grants, sponsorship and to local councils.
When we won Silver, then Bronze for the Best Tourism Event of the Year in 2016 and 2017 we anticipated more local organisations would want to be associated with such a fantastic, award-winning, community event. We hoped more financial aid would be offered locally by those wanting to show support for Brixham and the festival.
Although the Brixham Pirate Festival has brought a lot of money into the local area over what used to be the quietest Bank Holiday of the year, it has become harder and harder to secure enough financial support to run the festival. It was difficult to fund the 2017 festival. This year it is impossible.
To put the festival on safely we need to raise £30,000. As context, this is nearly the same amount as the Grinagog festival shortfall, underwritten by Torbay Council. Because our festival is on public access land we cannot sell tickets, and because it is so successful we must comply with a lot of legislation. That brings big costs such as road closures and diversions, ambulances and extra public toilets, before we begin to pay for entertainment. The Committee can only generate a small proportion of what is needed so funding the festival has always depended on donations, sponsorship and grants. Sadly over the last 9 months local businesses have been finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. Firms that formerly supported us can do so no longer, or have cut their support drastically. The final blow for us was when Brixham Chamber of Commerce told us they were not in a position to donate anything in 2018 due to poor market revenue.
But festival costs do not go down, and in January and February we must have enough money to cover nearly all expenditure. We have a deficit of £24,000. We have been trying to reach this target since June 2017. It is extremely unlikely that we can achieve it now unless somebody comes forward guaranteeing to fund this festival fully by February 4th, 2018.
Please direct any correspondence regarding this matter to info@brixhampirates.com
My heartfelt apologies go to all our loyal supporters, who have booked to attend the festival and were looking forward to another wonderful weekend in 2018.
Pete Berresford,
Chairman
Brixham Pirate Festival Committee