Clipping from page 11 of the South Wales Echo titled 'Church prayer against carnival', reporting on a petition against Charles Street Carnival, Cardiff , 3 July 1995

Disgrifiad

An article from the South Wales Echo reporting on attempts by church leaders at St David’s Roman Catholic Cathedral to stop the Charles Street Carnival in 1995.

In June 1977, Cardiff Community Concern started the Charles Street Carnival as a community groups' alternative celebration of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. This became an annual event and grew into a separate organisation, Charles Street Arts. Cardiff Community Concern was an alternative advice and information centre for young people. It was founded by Ian Horsburgh and was based in 58 Charles Street, Cardiff.

The article reads:

Church prayer against carnival - By Sarah Roberts

A CAMPAIGN to scrap a city centre carnival has been stepped up - by the Archbishop of Cardiff.

Church leaders at St David’s Cathedral, in Charles Street, say that the day-long event, planned to take place this year on July 29, is too noisy and disrupt their Saturday services.

Archbishop John Ward has launched a petition against the carnival and has collected hundreds of signatures. He wants it to be moved to another part of the city or scrapped altogether.

“I am not anti-carnivals. But it is a display of great ignorance about the function of a cathedral to suggest that it is appropriate for a carnival to be staged outside,” he told the Echo.

“No one would dream of staging a noisy event like a carnival outside a hospital or mosque.

“We've had promises in the past that the organisers would keep the noise down at certain times and would finish on time, but it never happens that way.

“We don't want to see it closed. But we do want it to be moved to a more appropriate area of the city.”

Carnival organisers Charles Street Arts say they are prepared to make concessions to the demands of the cathedral.

In a statement issued after a meeting between the carnival committee and representatives of St David’s, Brenda Davis, of Charles Street Arts, said: “We have offered to provide escorts to church for the frail, elderly and disabled, and members of the congregation who feel threatened or intimidated by the activities of the carnival.

“And we are prepared to use the services of an environmental noise pollution officer in conjunction with a representative of the cathedral to set an agreeable level for amplified sound.”

South Glamorgan county council will now examine the petition before deciding whether [to] close the road to allow the carnival to be held.”