ORGANISERS of a community festival have axed all but two events ahead of this week’s annual fair which has been running for more than 100 years.

Volunteers of Finchley Festival’s organising committee said they had no choice but to cancel after Barnet Council wanted to step in and use a bigger funfair.

Festival chairman Vicky Churchill said the council hiked up the park charges from £140 to £3,500 in March, but then offered the original lower cost if the committee shared fees from a larger-than-planned funfair.

Mrs Churchill said: “The council never specified how much they would give us – we didn’t know where we stood. They obviously were putting money over the community and just wanted to bring in another massive funfair.”

As a result the committee cancelled 11 events including a blues and soul evening, local drama and dance groups and plans for 30 rides and side shows.

However, Councillor Brian Coleman, who is in charge of parks, argued the committee had failed to plan anything and called last year’s event a let-down to the community.

The council is running the carnival this year, with a funfair which will be running from Thursday to Sunday and a free firework display on Saturday night.

Cllr Coleman said: “The council has rescued the event and saved it for the benefit of the people of Finchley. We saved it from a bunch of amateurs who failed to deliver.

“Last year it was sad and pathetic. This year it’s going to be fun in Finchley.”

Mrs Churchill admitted last year’s attendance had been hampered because of problems with advertising, adding they stopped using a large Showman’s Guild approved funfair because of damage done to the site and complaints from neighbours.

But she said they had spent months preparing to make sure this year was a success.

She added: “What the council has done is unforgiveable – we are the Big Society working from ground level and we shouldn’t have been pushed out for a big funfair.”

This Friday the committee will host its regular entertainment day for senior citizens and people with disabilities, as well as a presentation for the winners of a children’s art competition which it has managed to relocate.

The events will be held at Finchley Methodist Church in Ballards Lane, from 2.30pm to 5pm.