Open letter to residents

Dear resident

Re: The Big Beach Weekender, Ryde Harbour Beach, Thursday July 11th to Saturday July 13th

As you may already be aware, our event is due to take place on Ryde Harbour Beach on the evening of the dates above and in the interests of being a good neighbour to you for the time we are on site, we would like to take this opportunity to provide you with more information.

Firstly the directors of New Space Productions ltd, our fledgling Island based business, and several key role holders in the event are born and bred Islanders who grew up in an era when events like this rarely took place over here.

Therefore we are delighted that we can put on 3 shows that will hopefully bring enjoyment to many, will grow from the relatively small base we are starting from, and become an asset to Ryde, enhancing its burgeoning reputation as a "creative hub”.

But as Islanders we also understand and take very seriously our responsibility to you all, and to the environment we are working in (particularly to the beach). We believe that only with high standards and diligence will we receive your support and only with your support will we achieve the above goals.

To give you some background. The event is designed to bring exceptional talent, from a variety of genres, to Ryde, that will appeal to a variety of age groups. We previously ran under the guise of The Woodland Sessions in 2021 and 2022 at Robin Hill and ours shows  included classical tenor Russell Watson, an acoustic evening with singer songwriter Katie Melua, comedians Tom Allen, Rich Hall, Marcus Brigstocke, Russell Kane and Angela Barnes, the world’s most successful Beatles tribute act The Bootleg Beatles, and dance music DJs Sigma and Dimension. Unfortunately, with the closure of Robin Hill, we were forced to look for a new home.

Ryde Town Council expressed interest in bringing the event to Ryde, and we have since been blown away by their continued support, and that of Ryde’s residents, Visit Isle of Wight, the business community and the ferry companies. All recognising the potential benefit to the Island’s summer event programme and the wider economy, if we can make the event an ongoing success.

In return for that support, we are striving to be the very best neighbours to you all that we can. Rest assured it is not in our nature to be otherwise, and hopefully that will be evident in our actions.

With this in mind we have been working closely with the licensing and environmental authorities for many months now, as well as the emergency services and other agencies, to ensure a smooth and safe running of activities during our site build and show days, the dates of which are…..

Site build : Tuesday 9th, Wednesday 10th and the morning of Thursday 11th July.

Show days / times : 

Thursday 11th July : Stand up comedy evening 18:00 to 22:45

Friday 12th July : 90’s party evening 18:00 to 23.00

Saturday 13th July : Dance music evening  18:00 to 24:00

Some disruption should be expected in Eastern Gardens and on Ryde Harbour beach during our build days and that particular area of the beach will be closed off for day to day use whilst both our event and Isle of Wight Pride, the following weekend are in situ. A pedestrian pathway through Eastern Gardens will be maintained throughout, albeit with a small diversion out onto the main pavement.

We have contracted a Ryde based private security company to be on site outside of our build and show hours, and to maintain order before, during and after our shows. Not only will they patrol within our beach arena, but also outside of it, both on the beach and after the shows, along the Esplanade. A fire safety manager, a welfare officer and a private medical team will also be present each night and all of these will be resourced to nationally recognised event guidelines. A litter picking team will also be cleaning the beach after each show. 

We recognise that you may have noise concerns and with this in mind we have engaged a noise management consultant who will work with our sound engineers and the IOW Council’s Environmental Health department to ensure that we do not exceed agreed decibel levels. There will be a reduction in our decibel levels between 11pm & midnight on Saturday 13th July, which we were happy to agree to, and levels throughout each show will be measured, monitored and logged by our consultant from a couple of pre-agreed points on The Strand. In addition to this our stage will be positioned facing out to sea, sound deadening back of stage curtains will be used and we will be installing a PA system which allows us to direct the sound specifically to the audience and reduce “bleed” to the surrounding residential area.

Whilst our shows take place after 6pm, some noise should be expected during the daytimes for short periods whilst we conduct soundchecks, during our build days (Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th July) and during the afternoon of each show day, but we will endeavour to keep these to a minimum where we can. This is likely to take slightly longer on the Friday afternoon than on other days due to needing to soundcheck a 7 piece live band. 

Our premises licence does include the option to open on the evening of Sunday 14th July in order to operate as a fan park for the final of the Euro 2024 football tournament but we have decided not to pursue this. 

As well as Harbour Beach, our event footprint will incorporate Eastern Gardens, which will be the stage and “backstage” area. We are working collaboratively with Isle of Wight Pride, which takes place the following weekend, to minimise disruption in the area across both of our events and therefore we are using the same suppliers and a very similar site plan, so that there will only be one build and one breakdown of the main event infrastructure for both events, with 24 hour security on site between the two.

Pedestrian access through Eastern Gardens will be maintained during the day and also during showtimes, albeit with the aid of a small diversion around our backstage area. (see red dotted line in the map below) This follows consultations with the businesses alongside the Harbour/ Eastern Gardens and should ensure no loss of trade during our tenure in the area. However we do reserve the right to completely close off Eastern Gardens during showtimes should any difficulties arise from leaving a route through.

Due to the nature of live comedy and music, strong language, and adult content is possible and we suggest that anyone who may be offended by this, avoid walking or relaxing in the immediate area during our show times.
 

Event information is being posted in the info section on our website www.bigbeach.org and on our social media pages, and our public facing information document, which contains a lot of this detail, has been posted below. 
 

All of the measures above come at significant cost and increase the financial risk to us, but hopefully this commitment and our engagement with you, demonstrates just how seriously we are taking our responsibilities to you all.

Thank you for reading. We do of course hope you embrace our events and may even choose to join us for one of our evenings, but should you have any concerns during the show days then please email keith@withadifference.co.uk, message us via our facebook page, or if it is a matter of urgency, please call our event line on 07480 458703. In an emergency, please dial 999.

 

Yours faithfully,

Keith Penny
Event Producer
Director of New Space Productions ltd