East Finchley Festival is an inclusive FREE one-day community festival in London N2, produced for the benefit of the local community. The festival has existed in its current form since 1974.
Since 2019 it has been run by East Finchley Festival CIC, a non-profit Community Interest Company, registered in England & Wales, company no. 12271366.
Funding
We are a completely independent social enterprise and receive no funding from Barnet Council or any other external body. We rely heavily on sponsorship from local businesses and kind donations from the public.
DONATIONS
You can support your community festival with either a one-off or regular donation.
Meet the team
East Finchley Festival CIC
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| Andrew Myers-Nobbs: Chair | Alison Roberts: Technical Director | Mike Hughes: Creative Director | Charles O’Toole: Secretary |
Festival Team
Event Managers: Alison Roberts & Mike Hughes
Health & Safety: Andrew Myers-Nobbs
Advertising & Sponsorship: Andy Winterburgh & Matthew Bond
Accounts & Administration: Justyna Zalewska
Consulting on Sustainability: Josh King
Food Stalls: Miché Pears
General Stalls Alys Wainwright
Main Stage: Kate Galston & Pat Leacock
Community Stage: Gail Coles
Storytelling Tent/Kids’ Zone: Fiona Doyle
Wellbeing Zone: Sunnah Rose
Basketball: Kevin Lukau
Chief Steward: Andrew Myers-Nobbs
Operational Support/Traffic: Derek Chambers
Site Manager: Owen Rowlands
Field Co-ordinators: Charles O’Toole, Josh King & Andy Winterburgh
Steward Team Leaders: Alison Moore & Arjun Mittra
Volunteer Co-ordinator: tbc
We are supported by a huge army of volunteers, both in the build up to the festival and on the day. If you’d like to get involved, we’d love to hear from you.
Festival Principles
East Finchley Festival CIC is committed to ensure that:
– East Finchley Festival is inclusive, with a welcome given to all within our community
– The festival is free at the point of entry
– Stage performances and entertainment are free of charge
– Stage acts perform on a voluntary basis and do not receive payment
– Preference is given to local (to N2) food vendors, stallholders and entertainment acts
– Quality local independent trade and craft stalls are preferred
– Vendors should consider the environmental impact* of any products they sell. Balloons, foil, glitter and disposable plastics are not permitted.
– Food vendors should aim to minimise their use of single-use disposable items. Disposable containers and packaging should be degradeable/compostable via domestic facilities
– Vehicular access to Cherry Tree Wood is limited to essential suppliers. Festival attendees are encouraged to arrive on foot or by public transport.
– Motorised entertainments such as funfair rides are not permitted.
– Generators are kept to a minimum and only provided for the running of festival activities and infrastructure.
– We aim to leave Cherry Tree Wood in as good a state, if not a better, than it was before the festival.
– Consideration is shown to residents living in the immediate vicinity of Cherry Tree Wood to minimise any adverse impact the event might have upon the local area.
*Sustainability statement
East Finchley Festival CIC is committed to ensuring that the festival is as environmentally sustainable as possible. Our goal is to reduce the festival’s carbon footprint and environmental impact incrementally each year. In this endeavour we seek to engage the local community and prioritise stallholders and vendors at the event who are committed to assisting us in making the festival as sustainable as possible. Since taking over the management of East Finchley Festival in 2019 we have taken the following steps:
2020: We banned foil and plastic balloons, helium, and single-use plastics of any sort at the festival.
2021: All our cups are now vegware, which is compostable in regular rubbish.
2022: Barnet Council installed a bottle refill station in Cherry Tree Wood.
2023: We are exploring greener alternatives to our diesel generators: This year the main stage generator will be running on HVO, and the community stage will be powered by a solar array/battery combo.