Pancake race idea tossed out by town council

AN idea for a community pancake race in King George V park, to be held in March this year, fell flat at a town council meeting last month. 

Town councillors raised concerns about how they would fund the event, the short timescale given to organise it, and the impact it could have on the workloads of town council staff. 

Instead, it was suggested that more research be carried out about the work involved in organising a pancake race, alongside the formation of a new ‘informal group’ that will also explore other events that could be held in King George V park.

The pancake race idea was proposed by cllr Sue Mortimer who was inspired by Bradford on Avon’s own annual race. 

She said, “Bradford on Avon hold a successful pancake day race each year and [I] feel it would be a great community event for Melksham to hold involving businesses, the community and schools.” 

At last month’s town council community development committee meeting, cllr Jack Oatley said, “I like the sound of it, it’s a great idea – my only concerns are funding, officer time and that it [pancake day] is coming up pretty close.” 

Cllr Jon Hubbard, who described the pancake race as a ‘lovely idea’, warned that the council has already committed its community development officer to working on four projects in 2022 – three new art projects and the Cloth Road Arts Trail – and urged councillors to consider “manageable workloads” for its staff.

“We should be careful about over committing ourselves,” said cllr Hubbard.  “If we are going to do this [the pancake race], what are we not going to do in order to have the time to do this?” 

Cllr Hubbard then suggested that the council take a more ‘holistic approach’ to planning events in the park. He said, “It would be exciting to have more events in the park – we shouldn’t be looking at them individually – why not form an informal working group to think of events for across the year for King George V park?”