THE Ludlow Fringe Festival has a chance to boost funds for the coming summer.

It will come as an important boost for the Festival that was unsuccessful in getting all of the money that it asked for when it put in a bid for support from Ludlow Town Council last year.

Ludlow Fringe Festival has been bringing tens of thousands of people into the town for two weeks in the summer for the past four years.

But Ludlow Town Council decided to slash its support for the event.

In a shock move the Town Council cut its annual grant to the Fringe in half and is offering just £1,000 instead of the usual £2,000.

But to make the rebuff even worse, the Fringe Festival had asked for an increase to £7,000 for this year.

Despite the rebuff the Fringe organisers decided to carry on and is planning for this year.

However, Ludlow Fringe has been awarded an opportunity to raise much needed funding for this year’s festival through the Tesco’s Bags for Help scheme, which awards grants from the sale of its carrier bags.

This sponsorship will directly go toward funding public and community events on the square and throughout the town such as the Great Get Together, Ludlow Youth Arts Project and Ludlow Pride as well as contributing toward the Fringe’s programme of events. Voting is open until the end of February.

“This is a really easy way for local people to help this community focused festival to continue to bring a whole host of affordable, exciting events that really make the town come alive in the summer,” said Anita Bigsby, the Festival Director,

As well as the Tesco Bags of Help, Ludlow Fringe is kicking off its fundraising activities with a night of excellent comedy at Ludlow Brewery on Friday, February 16 as part of the brewery’s Valentine’s Day Ale Massacre. Tickets are just £10 and are on sale at the Brewery and on-line through the Ludlow Fringe facebook page or on the festival’s new website at www.ludlowfringe.co.uk.

Registration is now open for acts for Ludlow Fringe 2018 with all information and contact details on the new website.

“We are really keen to continue to embed this festival into the heart of our community and welcome all suggestions for arts events of all genres and for offers of help in all aspects of the festival’s organisation,” added Ms Bigsby. “If you have any contributions to make as a volunteer, an artist or as a performer we really want to hear from you. Get in touch with us at nicola@ludlowfringe.co.uk.”