History
Filham Funday was first organised by the Lions Club of Ivybridge in 2003 as a platform for the different groups within the town to promote themselves and raise funds for local charities. The event was always intended to be fun and family orientated, with entertainment for the widest possible spectrum of the town's residents. We wanted to be able to promote the corporate sector, social groups, clubs and charities operating within PL21. It was felt that many people didn't know what options where available within the town or in some cases even where Filham Park was!
The Lions decided that they could host such an enormous undertaking and allied with Ivybridge Town Council and Ivybridge Community Spirit, set about raising the funds needed to stage the show. The Town and District Councils awarded us grants for the initial funding needed to hire equipment and pay licences etc. With very limited funds we set about begging and borrowing stages, vans, PA systems, porta loos and the 1001 other things we needed. This was coupled with an urgent need to find stalls, entertainers and the local business's needed to fill the site. Months of work culminated in an enormous spectrum of displays and entertainments, with 1,000's of people visiting the Funday in its inaugural year.
Lions always try to make sure that the money goes straight to the recipients, with little or no element disappearing in expenses. This makes everything so much harder, as we beg and borrow almost everything we need from the local community, hardly paying for anything!
Facts
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Filham runs for 10 hours, but takes over 30 hours to setup and 8 to clear up!
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Organisational meetings start 14 months before the event takes place!
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Stall holders come from all over the South West
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Ice cream vans and candy floss stalls have sold out, been re supplied and sold out again!
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Over 2000 burgers will be eaten over the course of the weekend
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All of the grass has to be cut 2 weeks before the start
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Lions have £10m of liability cover, but still require extra insurance to stage Filham
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Our pick up trucks will cover over 100 miles just around the park during the set up
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It takes 2 days just to build and cable the main stage
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Over 1000 square metres of grass will be cut short with lawn mowers
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Filham generates nearly 3000 cubic metres of waste, which has to be collected and recycled where possible.
