Extravaganza organiser pledges to pay off debts

11:08am Thursday 28th August 2008

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Event organiser Trevor Knowlden has pledged to repay all his debts from last year's flopped Sutton Benger Extravaganza.

Mr Knowlden told the Gazette he had made a personal loss of £25,000 from the show last July, when atrocious weather forced the cancellation of both an historic aircraft flypast and a firework display.

He also said that owing to personal problems and health issues the repayment is taking longer than he would like.

The Gazette contacted Mr Knowlden after Wessex Concert Orchestra (WCO) revealed it had taken him to the small claims court after not receiving its £1,000 payment for the Sutton Benger gig.

Mr Knowlden said: "Last year's extravaganza was a nightmare because of the weather and I lost a lot of money. As with everything like this there are casualties and I have been personally penalised for trying to get this community concert on for the last five years.

"I am an honourable guy and I will try my hardest to get this money back to the people that are owed it, but I need people to be patient. This has been a very difficult year for me and I am trying to get it sorted.

"I think some of these groups do need to remember that I gave them the centre stage at the concerts and endless publicity and some of them are now acting like prima-donnas.

"As soon as my health is back on track I will work tirelessly to sort all of this out."

The WCO was left in limbo after its claim for the money could not be served because Mr Knowlden had left his Sutton Benger home.

Musical director of the orchestra Andrew Baatz said: "Our main concern was that, as a charity, we had lost contact with this man who owed us a large amount of money.

"We knew he had some difficulties and so we waited patiently for a while.

"He pledged to us that he would get it sorted and then vanished into thin air. At the end of the day a contract is a contract.

"A £1,000 is a lot of money to us but we welcome Mr Knowlden's comments and really did enjoy working with him."