Unfortunately, there will be no St. Patrick’s Day parade in Cobh this year. That was the message in the statement issued by the organisers last month. They thanked everyone for helping out in previous years but regrettably they said, mainly due to financial considerations, they had no alternative but to cancel this year’s event.
They cited several reasons for coming to this decision and I suspect that their issues are being experienced by organisers of similar events across the length and breath of the country. Mostly, it came down to lack of funding, but a lack of volunteers and a drop in the number of floats taking part were also factors.
The statement went on to explain that financial projections were showing a potential loss of €5000 this year. Very little fundraising has been done for the event and there was an increase of €1200 in the cost of crowd control barriers to be added to the €2200 that was lost in 2018.
The organisers have rightly pointed out that the effort and expense that goes into preparing an event like this is the same, regardless of the number of participants. Providing safe assembly areas, a fully barriered route, a reviewing stand, a PA system and MC, entertainment, bunting, official road closures, fundraising, extended public liability insurance, entry forms etc are all essential requirements whether it’s 10 floats or 100.
And why bother, when a lack of volunteers to assist with organising and stewarding, and the decline in the list of entries from previous years would seem to indicate a general lack of interest in either taking part in the parade or helping to arrange it?
Anybody who has ever been involved in a club or a charity will understand the position that the organisers of the St. Patricks Day Parade found themselves in. My first involvement in committee work came about in the early seventies when, as a young teenager, I found myself on the committee of a tennis club. When I tried, after the first year to get out of it, I suddenly discovered that I was the new secretary.
It proved a lot more difficult to get out of that position than it was getting into it. While there were plenty of people only too willing to point out what was going wrong with the club and quick to apportion blame, they abandoned ship whenever there was a call for new committee members. These were the same people who always had all the answers by the way.
Following the statement concerning the cancellation of the parade, there were many who voiced their opinion on social media. Some said it was a disgrace and blamed the Cork County Council for not providing funding. Some blamed the local business community for their lack of support and some even blamed the organising committee for not highlighting the issue earlier so the community could have had more time to come to their aid.
As far as I can recall, there were regular appeals for help over the years but it’s very convenient to forget that. Pointing the finger of blame somewhere else is something we have become very good at. It makes life easier when we can find a scapegoat and absolve ourselves of all responsibility. Show some indignance and then return to the paper and the cup of coffee. Job done.
But the reality is that if more of us got involved, the parade would be going ahead on March 17th. OK, so there are other obstacles to be overcome too but while they can be tiresome and expensive, they are not insurmountable.
Our old friend, health and safety, throws up many obstacles and it is more complicated to arrange a public event now than it ever was. Yes, I know, health and safety regulations exist for our protection, but we’ve become slaves to it and the demands imposed by it are often enough to put some people off.
I understand the need for health and safety, but it seems to me that the demands imposed on the village fete are the same as those required for a major national event and when you include the cost of safety barriers, road closures, safety statements, public liability insurance and other associated costs, it can often become prohibitive for a small, local group.
Rural life is taking a battering and we’ve already seen the closure of many rural garda stations, post offices and pubs and when communities try to help themselves, they are met with a barrage of rules and regulations that make life more complicated.
A shortage of volunteers is another serious issue, and we have seen it become increasingly difficult to motivate people to give up some of their spare time. It’s the same old warriors who turn out for every occasion and that’s not sustainable.
For a few years, I was on a committee for ‘The Great Island 10 Mile Road Race’ that was held in Cobh annually. We required many stewards for this event, but we never had enough, so many of them would leap-frog to different locations once the race began. As soon as the runners passed them by, they moved to another area.
Every year it was the same people who turned up to lend a hand and when other events are organised in the town, it’s the same faces that can be seen wearing the hi viz vests. It’s probably a similar story everywhere, but these characters will eventually need to be replaced.
We shouldn’t expect the same people to put themselves forward for every cock fight when there are other able-bodied candidates available. Everyone has something to offer and each of us has a part to play.
Community spirit doesn’t just develop magically, it takes a bit of effort.