'We apologise': Council says sorry for long delay in Oswestry firework show

The event at Oswestry's Cae Glas Park on Saturday has come in for a welter of criticism with one attended saying that the organisers “should be ashamed of themselves” after a start time of 7pm came and went.

Delays are understood to be because so many people turned up to the free event which was set to raise money for local charities with volunteers from Borderland Rotary Club heavily involved. 

Helen Bucknall wrote on the official Oswestry Town Council Facebook page: "We got there at 5.45 with only a few people gathered and a band playing in the bandstand. 

"There were only three food tents. The brownie stand sold out by 6.30 and the queue for the other two were over 100m long.

"The band kept playing and by 7pm we had a random update saying the fireworks weren’t happening unless everyone by 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 realise people were questing in the ‘unsafe zone’?

"We watched as the crowd didn’t move and the high vis staff sloppily and extremely inefficiently moved the crowd around. 

"By 7.40 we had no update and officials continued pacing from the firework area to the barriers and no one thought to update the crowd. 

"We’d had enough having two young kids wait for two hours only to become exhausted and upset at the ridiculous wait… we had travelled 45 minutes for this and in the end didn’t see any fireworks.

"There should have been a blockade across the entire section where it was unsafe to stand- this failing comes down to poor management and it’s not the crowds fault.As the old saying goes, ‘You get what you paid for’ and in this case… absolutely nothing."

Another critic said: “We left tonight at 7.45 after being there since 6pm. Four year old granddaughter was beyond fed up! No laser light show as advertised either.”

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

“We gave up just before 8 after being stood for an hour trying to keep the littlies entertained.

“We stood behind fences erected, no one on the grass or telling us otherwise for half an hour – ridiculous.”

A spokesperson for

“Thank you for your support and patience when attending tonight’s firework display.

“We apologise for the delay in firing which was for safety reasons. We are aware that there were a number of issues, we will undertake a review to address these.

“Thank you again.”

'Unfair things'

Oswestry councillor Mike Isherwood said he had seen a lot of “unfair things” being said.

In a social media post Councillor Isherwood said: “I am not speaking on behalf of the Council and it would not be appropriate to comment on certain aspects of an event I was not personally involved in organising, but I have seen a lot of unfair things being said tonight and would like to respond.

“Firstly, some people have compared the fireworks displays in Cae Glas Park with the previous incarnation of the event which used to happen at Brogyntyn and was organised 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 of course untrue.

“The Treble-Niners decided to stop putting on the event a few years ago and OTC stepped in to help to keep it going. The Rotary Club had always supplied most of the volunteers and still do. So, there is no option of going back to the Treble-Niners. They ‘retired’.

“Neither is it possible to take it back to Brogyntyn.

“OTC decided to try and hold an alternative event in the park last year as many people were understandably disappointed that we had lost our free public display. This is why there is no longer a bonfire: it would destroy the grass in the park.

“This year many more people attended and this, in my opinion, is likely to have been a contributing factor in tonight’s difficulties.

“With a free, public event it is impossible to know how many people are coming.”

He added that “Safety is obviously the first priority and major concern of the officers and staff who organised the event and I know how dedicated and hard-working they are.

“Every one of them takes their jobs incredibly seriously and they go above and beyond their job descriptions to make these events happen because we, councillors, on behalf of residents, ask them to.  

“Yes, there was a long delay to the lighting of the fireworks tonight. The reasons need to be understood and learning to take place.  

“But the sort of comments are unfair on the people who not only don’t deserve it but actually should be applauded for what they do for our town.  

“I understand people’s frustration but words have real impacts on people.”