Don’t blame the circus for damage to the park

May 10 2008 by Andrew Flynn, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Don’t blame the circus for damage to the park

I WAS among the sell-out crowd for the 2pm performance of the Chinese State Circus at Greenhead Park on Bank Holiday Monday.

It was a really fantastic show. Approaching the front of the show it was apparent the ground was really boggy. Not good on a ‘pull down’ day. The circus equipment was not removed in two hours as stated; moving the bunk wagons and transport started at 9am and continued late into the night. The circus was leaving by a shorter, drier route but were prevented from continuing this way by an intransigent Kirklees Council jobsworth who made the show move through the muddiest, longest route possible, resulting in the picture on the front page of your paper.

Being forced to use this exit route added time to the move and put people’s homes (caravans and trailers) at risk of serious damage. This was not a “disappearing act”; the large bright yellow painted vehicles took hours to leave. There was no “sheer vandalism” on the part of the circus and, as Mr Chisholm rightly pointed out, the Chinese State Circus is a very professional outfit and not the second-class citizens they were treated as.

Clr Khan’s soundbite rhetoric does nothing constructive to help the situation. Knowing the difficulties encountered by the previous circus two weeks earlier, why didn’t Kirklees Leisure – or even Clr Khan – not contact the Chinese State Circus on, say the Friday, to see if any help was needed or could have been given. There was no contact until the last day. People only complain after the event.

Circuses have paid thousands of pounds in rent over the years and given much enjoyment and entertainment into the bargain. Greenhead Park is a well-known and well- situated circus ground, but it has a reputation for being boggy.

Put some new drainage in and the ground will repair itself. Huddersfield and surrounding towns will be the poorer if circuses and events are stopped from coming to Greenhead Park because the ground is boggy. Let’s put the rental income to good use and have some decent drainage and not leave the park to be taken over of an evening by the strong cider brigade and other anti-social groups.

I look forward to enjoying Greenhead Park and circuses there for many years to come.

Philip Roylance

Halifax