‘We apologize’: The council says sorry for the long delay to the fireworks show in Oswestry

The event at Oswestry’s Cae Glass Park criticism arose on Saturday, with one participant saying organizers should “be ashamed of themselves” after a 7pm start time came and went.

It is believed the delays were caused by so many people turning up for the free event, which was designed to raise money for local charities with volunteers from Rotary Club Grensland heavily involved.

Helen Bucknall wrote about the civil servant Oswestry City Council Facebook page: “We arrived at 5:45pm with only a few people gathered and a band playing in the bandstand.

“There were only three food stalls. The brownie stall was sold out at 5.30pm and the queue for the other two was over 100 meters long.

“The band kept playing and around 7pm we got a random update saying the fireworks wouldn’t happen until everyone in the park moved, despite barriers being set up.

“This crowd had gathered long before the 7pm start, so why did it take so long for officials to realize people were searching in the ‘unsafe zone’?

“We watched as the crowd did not move and the high-vis staff moved the crowd sloppily and extremely inefficiently.

“At 7.40am we still had no update and officials kept walking from the fireworks area to the barriers and no one thought to inform the crowd.

“We were fed up with two young children having to wait just two hours only to become exhausted and upset by the ridiculous wait. We had traveled 45 minutes for this and ended up seeing no fireworks.

‘There should have been a blockade along the entire route where it was unsafe to stand. This failure comes down to poor management and it is not the crowd’s fault. As the old saying goes, ‘You get what you paid for’ and in this case…absolutely nothing.”

Another critic said: “We left at 7.45pm tonight after being there since 6pm. The four-year-old granddaughter was more than fed up! Also no laser light show as advertised.”

Another wrote: “With a two and three year old in tow it was ridiculous, letting everyone in and then constantly changing where they wanted you to stand.

“We gave up just before eight o’clock after standing around for an hour trying to entertain the little ones.

“We stood behind raised gates, with no one on the grass for half an hour to tell us otherwise – ridiculous.”

A spokesperson for

“Thank you for your support and patience in attending the fireworks show tonight.

“We apologize for the delay in shooting, which was for safety reasons. We are aware that there are some issues and we will be conducting an investigation to resolve them.

“Thank you again.”

‘Unfair things’

Oswestry councilor Mike Isherwood said he had seen a lot of ‘dishonest things’ being said.

In a post on social media, Councilor Isherwood said: “I do not speak for the Council and it would not be appropriate to comment on aspects of an event in which I was not personally involved, but I have seen many unfair things. tonight is said and would like to respond.

“Firstly, some people have compared the fireworks displays at Cae Glas Park to the previous incarnation of the event which used to take place in Brogyntyn and was organized by the Treble-Niners for many years.

“Some people seem to think that Oswestry Town Council has gone out of its way to ruin this much-loved annual event, but this is obviously not true.

“The Treble-Niners decided to stop organizing the event a few years ago and OTC stepped in to keep it going. The Rotary Club has always provided the most volunteers and continues to do so. So there is no option to go back to the Treble-Niners. They have ‘retired’.

‘It is also not possible to bring it back to Brogyntyn.

“OTC decided to try to organize an alternative event in the park last year as many people were understandably disappointed that we had lost our free public display. That’s why there is no more bonfire: it would destroy the grass in the park.

“This year there were a lot more people in attendance and this in my opinion was probably a contributing factor to tonight’s difficulties.

“At a free, public event, it is impossible to know how many people will come.”

He added: “Safety is obviously the first priority and paramount concern of the officials and staff who organized the event, and I know how dedicated and hardworking they are.

“Each of them takes their jobs incredibly seriously and they go beyond their job descriptions to make these events possible because we, councilors, on behalf of residents, ask them to.

“Yes, there was a lot of delay in setting off the fireworks tonight. The reasons must be understood and learned from.

“But comments like this are unfair to the people who not only don’t deserve it, but should be praised for what they do for our city.

“I understand people’s frustration, but words have a real impact on people.”