DISCOVER THE WATERLOO SPIRIT
The Waterloo Festival is now in its 10th year and is organised by Waterloo Sunrise CIC; a not for profit company limited by guarantee founded by Steve McGriskin.
The success of the Festival could not have been achieved without the support given by lots of people and organisations. Special thanks need to go to the Logic Estates, National Lottery Fund, Sefton Council, Waterloo Town Team, and the Councillors representing Church, Victoria and Blundellsands wards of Sefton Borough Council. The ongoing help and support of Sefton’s Event Safety Advisory Group is also appreciated.
A special thanks to Phil Petrou, Tom Hilton, Meghan McIntosh, Lee Benson, Nick Thompson, Nathan Marsh, Gordon Rimmer, Neil McKeown, Alex Poland and the one and only Dave Ashton!
Thanks to several "Wombles" from Waterloo, Crosby, Crosby Beach and Rimrose Valley for litter picking during the Festival. Much appreciated!
The Company has set the following objectives and seeks to achieve these through creating a viable and self-financing community festival in Waterloo:
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To promote a positive image of Waterloo as a great place to live, work, visit and invest
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To showcase local talent
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To support local business and community based initiatives
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To support Sefton Council’s policy of phasing out single use plastics
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To be inclusive and bring people together to promote community pride and spirit
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To challenge social isolation and help promote mental health awareness
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To continue to support local good causes ( previous activity is outlined below)
We have drafted a Sustainability Policy (available on request) to help us move towards a net zero carbon event. However implementing this policy is not currently viable as, for example mobile compostable toilets are not available in our area requiring further transport so hiring them would add to our carbon footprint. Local Authority waste disposal facilities are also not currently capable of providing a comprehensive recycling service for an event like ours. We need to keep informed of changes that may arise that would help us implement the terms of our Sustainability Policy although we will continue and strive to introduce gradual improvements to our performance.
SECURE YOUR EARLY BIRD
We aim to make the Festival accessible by keeping admission prices affordable to as many people as is viable to our business operation. For a limited time only we will be making available online “early bird” adult only tickets at the discounted cost of £5 per day plus booking fee of 42p.
STANDARD ON-SITE TICKET PRICES
IMMERSE IN THE FESTIVAL VIBES
THE WATERLOO FESTIVAL
The Festival provides an opportunity for the local community to come together and enjoy a weekend full of family entertainment. By doing this it provides an opportunity for all sectors of our community to take part and promote their services and activities to the wider community.
The Festival has supported the following projects:
In 2016 Waterloo Sunrise CIC allocated £1650 between four local groups - Lifeline (a drug and substance misuse project) Y Kids Bootle, JETS Centre Waterloo and Sefton Care Leavers Centre. Each of these groups were actively involved in the Festival through delivering different projects. Also in 2016 a “Come Together” marquee was provided at the Festival and 25 local community and voluntary sector organisations were given free space and facilities to promote their activities and services. A “Health & Wellbeing” campaign, including the Sefton Para Triathlon, was run in 2017 in support of MIND’S ‘Time to Change’ mental health awareness campaign in association with Living Well Sefton and Sefton Care Leavers Centre.
Waterloo Sunrise CIC helped draft successful Lottery funding bids worth nearly £20,000 on behalf of two local charities - ‘In Another Place’ and ‘Rimrose Valley Friends’ with support subsequently being given to help deliver the ensuing projects. These projects were a ‘Living Advent Calendar’ produced by In Another Place and a ‘Celebrate! Rimrose Country Park’ event on behalf of Rimrose Valley Friends.
The company also submitted a successful bid for £4000 for Rimrose Valley Friends via the TESCO bags of help grant scheme.
The company donated £50 to sponsor a static bike challenge to support Sefton Care Leavers Centre.
The company paid £150 to provide stewards at the Waterloo Christmas Lights switch-on in 2017.
Waterloo Sunrise CIC has donated £2750 to TEAM Sefton.
In 2019 £1,000 was donated by the company to Friends of Crosby Beach.
In 2020 we supported Friends of Crosby Beach, Sefton Community Pantry, Migrant Workers Sefton Community and the Liverpool Homeless Football Club and promoted their activities during the Virtual Waterloo Festival. This year we are seeking to help raise funds for Friends of Crosby Beach and Rimrose Valley Friends.
Waterloo Sunrise CIC supports Sefton Council’s policy to reduce the use of single-use plastic in Sefton. The CIC is developing a strategy to phase out the use of single-use plastic at the Waterloo Festival. Towards this end all caterers have agreed not to use plastic trays, plates, cutlery and stirrers. The CIC will use the Festival to promote the Council’s policy and the reasons for phasing out SUP and to encourage Sefton residents to switch to alternatives. To help achieve this, local beach cleaning groups and other like-minded organisations will be invited to attend the Festival to promote their activities, aid recruitment and help generate more support for environmentally aware lifestyles and practices.
The possibility of providing a reusable plastic “glass” to people as they entered the site to reduce waste when buying drinks was explored but this idea proved impossible to implement as caterers must provide customers with a clean “glass” every time to avoid any cross-contamination taking place affecting their dispense equipment.
We explored the possibility of providing water standpipes across the site to enable free provision of fresh drinking water to reduce the use of plastic bottles. Unfortunately for technical reasons and cost this was not possible. This type of facility was suggested as part of the consultations for the production of the “Coastal Park Masterplan”. We have refused requests from some stallholders to use glitter in face painting, helium-filled balloons and spray squirty string.
In 2022 we drafted a bid of nearly £10,000 for Lottery funding on behalf of Rimrose Valley Friends to deliver another Celebrate Community event in the Country Park around the running track. We organised this successful event which took place
on July 30th 2022.
The following films were made as part of the Virtual Waterloo Festival 2020 produced when outdoor events could not be held (unless you were friendly with the ex-prime minister).
The Festival was maturing and becoming commercially viable until Covid struck that cancelled the 2020 outdoor event. Instead we produced a well received Virtual Festival providing much needed gigs for the bands that we had booked to play our 2020 event . We filmed them live in a safe studio setting and transmitted the output on the internet. The subsequent events held in 2021, 22&;23 struggled to return to the attendances achieved in our formative years. Bad weather and nervousness in attending events affected the 2021 event and in 2022 and 2023 the weather was still not good and another problem hit home! A sewage pipe that runs under the Festival site began to spring leaks forcing us to revise the site layout as we were opening up for business, not conducive to relaxed event planning!
In 2024 the leak had not been resolved but had become far worse requiring United Utilities to install new pipework through the middle of the site. We had no option but to postpone the 2024 Festival and by February 2025 we were informed by Sefton Council that the site could not be used for our event this year. Fortunately Sefton Council have agreed for us to use an adjacent site although being much smaller we can not accommodate a fun fair this year however we have retained all our other elements to ensure a successful 10th year anniversary event.
FREQUENT QUESTIONS
Q. What time does the Festival start and finish?
A. Sat 7th June & Sun 8th June the gates open at 11.30am and the last band will finish at 9pm
Q. How much is admission to the event?
A. Please see the link on our website for admission prices
Q. Are there age restrictions for admittance to the event?
A. No. It is a family friendly event but children aged 15 yrs and under must be accompanied by a responsible adult
Q. Can I bring alcohol to the Festival?
A. No.
Q. Can I bring glass bottles or cans onto the site?
A. No. The Festival is strictly glass and can free. All drinks sold onsite will be served in plastic containers
Q. Are BBQs allowed?
A. Strictly Not
Q. What is the ‘leave and re-entry’ policy?
A. Hands will be stamped on entry to the site so can be checked on re-entry if you choose to leave the site. Please note re-entry is not guaranteed and is subject to the site capacity crowd levels at the time. If you choose to leave and choose to re-enter the event you may have to join a queue and be liable for a further security check
Q. Will there be a cash machine onsite?
A. No
Q. Can Bank Cards be used onsite?
A. Bank Cards can be used to pay admission fees. Some stalls have bank card facilities others don’t so best bring cash aswell.
Q. Will there be any First Aid facilities available?
A. Yes, if you require assistance please contact a Steward or Medical personnel.
Q. Are there toilet facilities onsite?
A. Yes including an accessible toilet for wheelchair users . All toilets will be regularly cleaned throughout the event
Q. Is the festival wheelchair/pushchair accessible?
A. Yes but be aware that the Festival site is a grass field which might prove difficult for some people.
Q. Is there a facility where I can feed my baby and change a nappy?
A. Yes. There is a specially allocated marquee
Q. Is car parking available?
A. No. Car parking in the area is extremely limited so people are strongly advised to arrive at the festival on foot and/or by public transport
Q. Can bikes be brought onsite?
A. Yes but they must be left and made secure in the designated area close to the entrance gate. They are left at the owner’s own risk
Q. Can I bring my dog to the festival?
A. Well behaved dogs are welcome but must be kept on leads at all times
Q. Is food and drink available for purchase onsite?
A. Yes. There is a wide range of food and drink available including vegan options
Q. Is there anything going on locally after the Festival finishes?
A. Waterloo and Crosby has a vast range of bars, pubs and restaurants – some with live music. It is going to be busy so you would be advised to make a reservation for a table in your preferred restaurant.
Q. What happens to the money raised at the festival?
A. The Festival is organised by Waterloo Sunrise CIC a ‘not for profit’ limited company. After all costs have been met and an allocation made to begin funding the event for the following year any surplus money will be shared equally between two local charities Friends of Crosby Beach and Rimrose Valley Friends