Weather Forecast for PIP23

Posted on July 13, 2023 by PIP Admin

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We are keeping a keen eye on the weather, and as of Thursday 13th July, the forecast is for a windy showery day.

It looks like most of the rain will be during the day – so our lovely volunteers will get soaked, but our partygoers will hopefully stay dry during the evening.

We want everyone to stay safe so please follow our guidance below.

Gazebos

You are welcome to bring gazebos with you for shelter in the evening.

Gazebos must not be left unattended, and you bring them entirely at your own risk.
Please site your gazebo at the back and right side of the field (see image).
Due to the windy forecast, gazebos MUST be anchored securely.
Gazebos CAN NOT be left on the field overnight. Due to the strong wind forecast, we can not risk unattended gazebos blowing away.
Please do not block any other party goers view of the stage with your gazebo
Please do not position yourself too far forward – as you will end up on the dance floor!

The show will go on

Creech Party in the Park will go on whatever the weather! We are hoping for sun, but preparing for rain and wind!

Please come prepared for the good old British weather and enjoy the live music, food and bar.

PIP23 – Everything You Need to Know

Posted on July 5, 2023 by PIP Admin

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We are excited that 2023’s Creech Party in the Park is nearly here. Everything you need to know can be found in this article, but if you have any questions at all please contact us on info@creechpartyinthepark.com or message us via Facebook.

Timings

1600 – Park closed to the public
1700 – Gates open
1700 – Bar opens
1800 – The Jamestown Brothers live on stage
2000 – The Jukeboxers live on stage
2100 – Latest admission
2200 – Voodoo Seven live on stage
2330 – Last orders at the bar
2345 – Event closes

Tickets and Entry

Please have your tickets, ID and bags ready before you reach the front of the queue so that we can get everyone in ASAP.

Have your tickets ready on your phone or printed out ready to be scanned at the gate.
Once scanned the tickets are void and can not be reused.
If you look under 25 have your ID ready at the gate
Have bags open for security searches
Alcohol or drugs will be confiscated
Family ticket holders must arrive together
Unaccompanied under 18s will NOT be admitted
Wristbands must be worn at all times
Tickets can be purchased online until 2030 on the 15th July (subject to availability)
Tickets can be purchased, with cash only, at the gate (subject to availability)
Lastest admission – 2100

Children

Under 18s are the responsibility of their parent or guardian at all times. Please ensure their wristbands have your contact phone number written clearly on them.

Food & Drink

Party in the Park costs over £20,000 to put on. We rely on ticket sales, bar sales and food vendors for funding. Without this the event would not happen. This is why we ask everyone to only buy their drinks from the bar and use the food vendors, and not bring their own.

Please do not bring alcohol. It is a condition of our licence that only alcohol purchased from the bar may be consumed on-site and our professional security team will enforce this.

Our reasonably priced bar will stock a range of canned and draft lagers, beers, ciders and spirits, in addition to soft drinks and non-alcohol options. There is something for everyone. We always keep our bar prices reasonable and will publish the bar list on social media before the event.

Challenge 25. Have your ID ready at the bar if you look under 25.

Cash Only Bar. We will only take cash at the bar. It would really help us if you bring small notes and change!

Please do not bring food. There will be numerous food options on-site including burgers, nachos, fries, noodles, pasties, crisps, ice creams, and doughnuts.

Food is supplied by external caterers. It will be at the vendors’ discretion if they cater for restricted diets such as gluten-free or vegan.

Parking

No public parking is available onsite. Please leave your car at home. We have limited parking spaces for blue badge holders only on a first come first served basis. We encourage everyone to come on foot, but if you do drive, please park respectfully on public roads in the village. Please remember that Creech St Michael village is a 20mph zone.

Seating

No seating is provided. Bring your own picnic chairs. Gazebos are also permitted, but please site these around the edge of the stage area so you don’t block anyone’s view or inadvertently end up in the dance area in front of the stage!

Gazebos

You are welcome to bring gazebos with you for shelter in the evening.

Gazebos must not be left unattended, and you bring them entirely at your own risk.
Please site your gazebo at the back and right side of the field (see image).
Due to the windy forecast, gazebos MUST be anchored securely.
Gazebos CAN NOT be left on the field overnight. Due to the strong wind forecast, we can not risk unattended gazebos blowing away.
Please do not block any other party goers view of the stage with your gazebo
Please do not position yourself too far forward – as you will end up on the dance floor!

Photography

Our volunteer photographers will be taking lots of pictures and video during the event to use in future publicity. Please let them know if you don’t wish your photo to be taken. If you want any pics on social media removed after the event, please contact us and we will of course remove them straight away.

Tag Us!

We would love to see your pictures of the event – please tag us on Facebook or Instagram using the hashtags #creechpartyinthepark or #csmpip23

Have Fun!

Party in the Park is run by volunteers as a family friendly event for the benefit of our community. We hope you all enjoy a super night of music, dancing and making memories!

*All timings are approximate

Why no daytime event in 2023?

Posted on March 14, 2023 by PIP Admin

The first Creech Party in the Park happened 10 years ago in 2013 to celebrate the opening of the new play park. It ran every year until 2019 and for 7 years it was both a daytime and evening event.

The event grew bigger and better every single year and we even won a national award from Fields in Trust in 2015.

Obviously, the pandemic put a stop to the event in 2020/2021 and in 2022 we did not feel comfortable or ready to organise the event with covid still hanging over us.

Our Events

However, this year, the team really wanted to get back to organising events – and in addition to Party in the Park we also organise:

This year we will also be introducing new events too (more on that in upcoming posts!).

Simplifying the event

The team is a small group and is therefore really busy. The team members are all volunteers with jobs and families to take into account when committing to organise such a large event.

The logistics of organising both a daytime event and an evening event on the same day are extremely taxing – so we decided to make it easier on ourselves this year.

So with all this in mind, we made the decision to make the Creech Party in the Park an evening-only event in 2023. It is still most definitely a family-friendly event and always will be. The whole idea for the event is that families can socialise together close to home.

We are also supporting the Coronation Picnic in the Park on 6th May – and this will include some of the best things that we all enjoyed during the daytime of PIP – such as The Bake-Off and Family Games (egg toss anyone?!).

Nothing is set in stone, and we will consider all options again next year.

We Need You!

One more thing – we ALWAYS need more volunteers! So please drop us a message via email or Facebook if you would like to get involved.

Coronation Picnic in the Park – 6th May 2023

Posted on March 14, 2023 by PIP Admin

We are delighted to be involved in this very special Coronation Event happening in the village in May. The day will be a family event to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.

Join your fellow parishioners in Creech St Michael Recreation Park where you can enjoy:

The coronation screened live on a big screen
Free cream tea/cakes and hot drinks*
Family-friendly activities
Competitions

Please bring along your own picnic lunches and we will provide the cake and cream teas later in the afternoon. If you don’t fancy bringing your own picnic, there will be a burger van and hot drinks van on site too.

Bring your own picnic blankets, chairs etc and don’t forget your travel mugs for your tea so we can be kind to the environment.

Please make sure you mark yourself as attending on The Coronation Facebook Event page so you don’t miss any important messages about the event.

Timings

The park will be open as usual around these times, but organisers will be setting up/down.

CORONATION TV COVERAGE LIVE ON BIG SCREEN

1020 – The King’s Procession
1100 – Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey
1300 (approx.) National Anthem
1300 – The Coronation Procession
1330 – Ceremonial Flypast/Royals on Balcony

ACTIVITY/COMPETITION TIMETABLE

1000: Event officially starts
1000-1200: Archery
1030: Children’s Crown Parade
1200: Last chance to enter your cake into the Bake-Off
1230: Magic Show
1300: Circus Skills
1300-1500: Cream teas served (to ticket holders only)
1300-1400: Archery
1400: Bake-Off winners announced/prizes given
1400: Magic Show
1430: Tug of War
1500: Circus Skills
1530: Egg Toss
1600: Event finishes

AVAILABLE ALL DAY

Throw the Welly
Coconut Shy
Inflatables (weather permitting)
Face Painting

Food & Drink

FREE Cream Tea for adults*
FREE cake and drink for kids*
Ice Cream Van by Noodles Ices
Sweets Stall run by Creech PTFA
Burger Van by The Food Shack
Hot Drink Van by Really Awesome Coffee

* Although the cream tea is free, tickets must have been reserved before the event and we are now at full capacity

Activities

Face Painting
Inflatables (subject to weather)*
Family Games – eg Egg Toss, Tug of War
Magic Shows
Circus Skills
Coconut Shy
Welly Toss

* Fee applicable

Competitions

We are pleased that both Ruishton and Creech schools are getting involved by making bunting and crowns. We are also very excited that the Creech Bake-Off is making a comeback! Having been a huge success at previous Party in the Park events we are holding a bake-off with a Coronation/Royal theme. The bake-off will be for everyone of any age.

Kid’s ‘Make a Crown’ Competition

We invite all children to get crafty and make a crown to wear on the day. Please wear your crowns on the day to receive a small prize and come to the main arena at 10.30 to take part in a parade.

‘Creech Bake-Off’ Coronation Cake Competition

Open to everyone. We want to be wowed by your creations with a Coronation theme. Deliver your cakes to the Bake-Off tent and fill in an entry slip before the midday cut-off time. There will be a winner and two runner-ups for each of the three categories (Adults/Teens/Children). Winners announced and prize giving will happen in the Bake-Off tent at 1330.

Tug of war

Get your teams together for a fun Tug of War championship! We need eight teams of eight to take part. Sign up on the sheet in the Bake-Off tent. 2.30pm in the main arena.

Tickets

The park, big screen, competitions and family games are all free for our parishioners to enjoy, however, you will need a ticket to redeem for your cream tea or cake. This is so we can cater accordingly and tickets will be limited.

All tickets for the free cream tea have now been allocated.

Parking

The only parking on-site will be for blue badge holders. Please come to the event on foot if possible.

The Organisers

This event is a joint venture to bring the local community together for a memorable coronation and is organised and supported by:

Licencing Pre-Application Meeting – 30th January 2020

Posted on January 10, 2020 by PIP Admin

Please be advised that the PIP committee will be applying for its new premises license in early February.

We had a license granted previously but was limited to 3 years so that the local authority could monitor the events to make sure that we did uphold to all the conditions and safety requirements. We have had nothing but praise from them and they are happy for us to apply again for a permanent license to enable us to run the annual event plus any small events like the community clean and possibly an open air cinema free for residents.

The licensing team at Taunton Deane now make having a pre application mediation meeting a condition which is a sensible thing. When we made the application last time there were a few concerns from some residents which were alleviated at a face to face meeting. Unfortunately there were also quite a few rumours about large scale commercial events and things like firework displays which were not true and only stirred up more concerns and delayed our application.

There will be an open meeting at the village hall on 30th January 2020,18:00 – 19:00 in the upstairs meeting room and two committee members will be available to answer any questions or concerns you might have. If you would prefer you can email us on pip@creechstmichael.net or leave us a message on 01823 445056.

Please note that this event is organised and run completely by volunteers to encourage community spirit and raise funds for other community events and groups in our parish. Some of the events and donations made so far that have benefited the local community are:

Fish & Chip Lunch

In January 2017, 2018 & 2019 with the help of a large team of volunteers we laid on a free fish and chip lunch with bingo (starring our own David Fothergill as bingo caller) for the over 60’s at the village hall. Due to the popularity of this event we be running it again in 2020. This event is attended by over 100 residents and it is a good place for people to meet and socialise.

Creech Clean Up Days

PIP organised and funded a second clean up day this year which was very well attended and again managed to clean up a whole trailer of rubbish and
litter. There was then a BBQ with chips from LayzRicks paid for from the funds and lots of fun and games laid on for the children. We would like to hold
this event twice a year so if you would like to be involved or even help organise, please get in touch.

For the Youths of the Parish

PIP has been able to make donations to Pre School, Primary School and the Baptist Church to be used for various projects over the past couple of years.

Remembering The Fallen in WW1

A donation to sponsor a tree for each of the fallen soldiers from WW1 was made to the Somerset Wood project this year.

Other Donations

Thanks to our volunteer group of “Phone Box Ninjas” we have donated the funds to replace all the glass in the tatty phone box in St Michaels road which has had a lovely coat of paint. This phone box houses the new defibrillator cabinet which we also contributed to, along with the defibrillators in other locations around the parish.

A bench was also purchased and installed at the end of Hyde Lane this year.

Another donation was made towards making the pathway safe to the canal which was recently completed.

We have also be able to purchase a lot of equipment for the recreation ground, some of which was stolen late late year but was insured thankfully.

If you have any ideas for worthwhile projects in the parish let us know.

PIP 2020: No Daytime Event – After Dark Only

Posted on December 9, 2019 by PIP Admin

Sadly, we have taken the decision to NOT run a daytime event in 2020.

The evening After Dark event will go ahead as usual – more details will be announced in due course.

This decision was taken for a number of reasons:

Volunteers – the organisation and pre-planning of the event takes a massive amount of man hours and unfortunately, although our volunteers are amazing and do a wonderful job, we do not have enough to share the workload around. We don’t want to overload our volunteers as we want them to enjoy being involved.

Costs – the daytime event costs thousands of pounds to put on. Activities and demos are free and rides are subsidised so the daytime event is run at a loss. It is all paid for from the profits of the After Dark event, and while we definitely want to give back to the community, we are considering if there are better ways to spend funds.

Time – the daytime is always hectic, with the setup starting days before and the turn around to get the site ready for the evening very tight.

Other events – it’s very hard to find a weekend in July that does not clash with other events, although we do try. Next year we inadvertently clash with Ruishton Village Day and the first Taunton Live Pride event, so there is already lots happening in the day.

There is a possibility that we might do something small and low key in the daytime, such as a cleanup day or family games, however the committee need to discuss this in more detail.

We are also discussing whether it would be better to do a summer fayre completely separate to the After Dark event in future years.

Can you help in 2021?

We hope that the daytime event will return in 2021 – but this will only be possible with sufficient volunteers to be part of the following teams. Please contact us on socialmedia@creechpartyinthepark.com if you’d like to be contacted nearer the time about volunteering.

Arena – organising the displays and games that happen in the central arena, including the running order, booking etc
Kids entertainment – arranging stalls, activities, demos etc for our younger audience.
Adult/Teen entertainment – arranging stalls, activities, demos etc for our older audience.
Food Stalls – organising the food pitches
Stalls – organising and liaising with all stall holders
Raffle – contacting local businesses for prizes, arranging raffle prize display, selling tickets etc
Amenities/Site – layout of field, toilets, lights, electrics, safety, marquees etc
Advertising/Social Media/Web/Print – updating website, posting to social media, creating posters, press releases etc

2020 Evening Event

The After Dark live music event WILL take place next year. We will be making some changes including increased security and increased prices to cover the extra security. More details will be announced in due course.

PIP Equipment Stolen from Recreation Ground

Posted on September 21, 2019 by PIP Admin

We are saddened to report that thousands of pounds worth of our Party in the Park community equipment has been stolen from the rec ground.

The thieves broke through security gates and drove vehicles into the Recreation Ground where eight gazebos, lighting, tables, chairs, soft drinks and garden games were stolen from a storage building in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The equipment was newly purchased in the summer by Creech Party in the Park for community events.

Contractors who are currently installing new play equipment at the park, and contractors working on the road in Hyde Lane also reported that their huts were broken into and equipment damaged.

PIP has donated thousands of pounds to local charities, schools and groups over the past 7 years, along with funding tree planting, benches, OAP lunches and community clean-up days, and unfortunately this incident will have a direct effect on our future donations to local groups.

The organising committee said:

“We are heartbroken. Our event is run by local volunteers and our equipment is paid for by the generosity of all our local supporters who spend their hard-earned cash at our event. In previous years we have borrowed small gazebos, and tables and chairs, so were really pleased this year to be able to purchase new ones that could be used for years to come.

Sadly, this will likely have a real effect on the event, and we’ll have to discuss what we may have to cut back on – this could mean cancelling our annual OAP lunch or increasing prices at the next event. It’s a very sad day for us”.

The organising committee urge locals to please check their external CCTV for any suspicious activity and anyone with information to please contact the police or the committee or email clerk@creechstmichael.net.

PIP Review 2019

Posted on July 11, 2019 by PIP Admin

Creech Party in the Park is over for another year – we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Please help us improve the event by giving us your feedback on both the day and night events.

Hundreds of photos of the day and night are available on our Facebook page.

Daytime

The sun was shining, but we luckily had a bit of cloud too at times to keep us all from melting. We estimate we had around 1500-1800 people of all ages enjoying the daytime event.

Skintight Samba started the event off with a great upbeat performance that brought the festival atmosphere alive – and the kids loved joining in playing some of the instruments.

Well done to everyone who joined in the Clubbercise and Bounce & Burn demos in the central arena – it could not have been easy in that heat! The Tae Kwon Do team also put on a fabulous display.

The Creech Bake-Off Competition, this year organised by the Creech Flower & Produce Show, had some fantastic entries, which not only looked amazing, but tasted great too. Huge thanks to Heathfield Hair & Beauty and Woodcraft by JoMo for donating the prizes for the winners.

We had a great selection of stalls selling a range of goods, raising money for charities, promoting their groups and of course selling delicious food and drink. A special thank you to the Rage Against Rubbish crew who very kindly picked up litter around the field – much appreciated.

The Egg Toss was a messy but entertaining event as usual and the Tug of War was a huge success – despite the rope breaking when the organisers were being challenged!

Big thank you to Cllr David Fothergill for once again being our brilliant compere.

Interval

The volunteer team, including our “minion” offspring helpers, had a very short window to get the field ready for the evening but did a fantastic job. They emptied bins, cleared up rubbish, cleaned toilets, put away hay bales, cleared away table and chairs, set-up the stage and set-up bar ready for the eager crowd at the gates.

AfterDark

The sun was still shining when the fabulous Dusk Brothers took to the stage to warm the crowd up for the evening with some great original music.

The bar was well stocked with chilled drinks and new this year was a gin bar with lots of speciality brands and we even had the goldfish bowl plastic glasses for the gin to go in!

Next up on stage came the Pygmy Chimps playing some classic covers to the crowd who were beginning to venture on to the dance floor.

The Haus Band were the final act on stage and played to a packed dance floor for their whole set. The crowd loved them and we were particularly touched when they dedicated a song to our dear David Knight while the crowd waved their phones in the air.

A light shower towards the end of the night didn’t dampen the atmosphere and we’re sure the 2200 strong crowd all had a blast.

The Raffle

We had some amazing prizes this year, and the raffle tickets were on sale both night and day. All proceeds will be donated to the Stroke Association in honour of David Knight. We raised an amazing £1160 – so thank you to everyone who donated prizes and everyone who bought a ticket.

Thank you

This event is truly a group effort and would not go ahead without the commitment of a small number of community minded people. So thank you to EVERYONE that helps out in any way at all.

Our committee and volunteers

Adrian Birch, Corinne Giles, Simon & Karen Hutchings, Steve & Tina Greenhalgh, Clare Sampson, Jo Morrison, Mina Guest, Charlie Cudlip, Dee Finch, Colin, Bev Janes, Nigel Cridge, Ben Giles, Neil Davidson, our minions and their parents, Sara Tucker, Jane Birch, our clean-up crew and all our friends and family who support us.

Our Photographers

Thank you to Andrew Finch, Phoenix Photographers and Tara Davey for the fabulous pictures from both the day and evening events.

Our Sponsors, supporterss and helpers

A special thanks to Keith Bennett at Otter Brewery for all the help this year.

Schedule 2019

Posted on July 2, 2019 by PIP Admin

Make sure you don’t miss a thing at this year’s event – check out our schedule:

12:00 – Daytime event starts

12:00 – Welcome to the event – intro in the main arena

12:00-13:00 – Bring your Bake-Off entries to the main tent before 13:00

12:15 – Skintight Samba will get the event started with an upbeat demonstration and audience participation in the central arena.

12:45 – Bounce and Burn demo in the central arena

13:00-14:00 – Bake Off judging in the main tent

13:15 – Clubbercise demo in the central arena

13:45 – Skintight Samba are back for a second demonstration

14:15 – Tug of War (sign your team up on the flip charts) and Egg Toss in the central arena

15:00 – Prize winners presentation – Bake-Off, Tug of War, Egg Toss

15:15 – Tae Kwon Do demo in the central arena

16:00 – Day event finishes

16:30-18:30 – MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC NEED TO LEAVE SITE. FIELD NEEDS TO BE CLEARED AND SET-UP FOR EVENING TICKETED EVENT

18:30 – AfterDark gates open

19:15 – Dusk Brothers

20:25 – Pygmy Chimps

22:15 – Haus Band

23:30 – Bar shuts

23:45 – AfterDark event finishes

Raffle 2019

Posted on June 30, 2019 by PIP Admin

We are very lucky to have some fabulous prizes for the raffle this year. You’ll be able to buy your tickets in the daytime and evening on Saturday.

Drawing the raffle – we will draw the raffle in a live video on Facebook on the Sunday after the event. The tickets have a space for you to put your name/number, so as long as we can read your writing we’ll be able to contact you!

Charity – this year ALL the proceeds from the raffle will be going to the Stroke Association. This charity has been chosen by Mandy Knight, the widow of one of our key team members, David Knight, who we sadly lost earlier this year.