Deeside Round Table on why fireworks display is cancelled

Deeside Round Table (DRT) announced earlier this week that its event at Deeside Leisure Centre in November has been cancelled amid "safety concerns".

The display attracts thousands of people each year and raises vital funds for the charity - which brings men together who put on events for the community and raise money for good causes.

A DRT spokesperson said: "We had an influx of visitors from across the north west last year due to cancellations of numerous fireworks displays in the area. This created a capacity issue - not just for numbers in the venue itself but for things like traffic and parking in the local area around Deeside Leisure Centre.

"We met with local authorities to understand their concerns and had a productive meeting with both local police and Flintshire Council. However, due to the significant work required to effectively manage the new requirements and short timeframe we were given to implement it left us in a position that this year's event wasn’t feasible for a small group of volunteers to organise."

The charity said it had been actively planning the event since March 2023.

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The spokesperson added: "We understand that everyone is disappointed, we are absolutely devastated that we’ve not been able to get it sorted for this year. We enjoy running this event as much as everyone enjoys attending, it’s one of our landmark events of the year.

"Unfortunately at the end of the day we are just a small group of volunteers and to address the challenges to put the event on this year would be a full-time job for our members. We all have lives, jobs and other responsibilities.

"We have simply not got the resource in manpower to be able to get this over the line. We wholeheartedly apologise to the community and please be assured that we have not taken this decision lightly. We look forward to working with both North Wales Police and Flintshire Council to put on an event in 2024 somewhere in the Deeside area."