Town venue is found at the last minute for touring circus
THE circus is literally coming to Town – after St Peter Port parish officials agreed Cambridge Park could be used as a last-minute replacement venue.
Gandeys was on the brink of having to cancel this week’s circus after an exhausting search of 40 potential sites failed to find one suitable.
But it concluded a deal with St Peter Port constables over the weekend which means the show will go on, as planned, from Thursday.
The circus left Manchester last night and is now on its way to Guernsey.
A 50-strong team and 11 articulated lorries carrying 100 miles of cable are due to arrive in the island tomorrow afternoon and will head straight to Cambridge Park under police escort.
‘We can’t wait to get back to the island,’ said tour director Binky Beaumont.
‘For the whole team, the thought of not coming to Guernsey was incredibly upsetting. The work put in by so many people in the island to support us to find a venue has been incredible. It makes me quite emotional. In 40 years I’ve never experienced anything like it. It certainly proves the island wants us to come over.’
St Peter Port senior constable Zoe Lihou offered to help after the original site off Victoria Avenue flooded and Mr Beaumont toured the island looking for alternatives.
‘I walked around with him, looking at various options. I told him we’d make Cambridge Park available.
'It was a sort of unilateral decision, but sometimes you have to make decisions there and then. The circus happens once a year. Some families don’t have money to go on holiday and the circus brings great family fun to Guernsey. I’m delighted the parish stepped in quickly. It’s so exciting. It just shows you what can be done in 24 hours if the will is there to do it. Yes, a few people will be upset, but this is a good news story. I think it will be beautiful.’
Mr Beaumont flew to Guernsey on Thursday when the Jamouneau family, who own the site off Victoria Avenue, informed him it was waterlogged and may remain too wet to be used by the circus this week.
‘I have viewed 40 other sites. I was out until 9.30pm and started again at 5am,’ he said.
‘I think I’ve done more miles in a little hire car over 32 hours than that car had done in a year. I’ve looked at farmers’ fields, riding schools, church fields, scouts’ fields... you name it.’
Mr Beaumont said Mrs Lihou and her parish colleagues had saved the show, not only for Guernsey but also for its next venue, Jersey.
‘At 10pm on Friday it looked like we were going to have to postpone. Without their support, it would not have been possible to do this,’ he said.
‘We always come to Guernsey first. This time, if we had not secured a venue in Guernsey, we would have had to cancel in Jersey too. But Guernsey has done it. Everyone in Jersey should send Christmas cards to Guernsey.’
