New Bill is a sickener for area's entertainers

The implications of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's (DCMS) new Licensing Bill could sound the death knell for many amateur entertainment groups throughout the area.

The Bill, which is designed to streamline and modernise archaic public entertainment and alcohol laws, carries grave implications for traditional music-making societies and clubs.

If passed, the bill would make it potentially illegal for any group of singers, dancers and musicians to perform in any venue without an entertainment licence.

Spontaneous performances such as carol singing or back garden music parties could see those taking part facing six months in jail or a maximum fine of £20,000.

According to a spokesman for the DCMS: "All public entertainment will require a licence but it will cost nothing to add this to the list of activities undertaken, for example, where a licence for sale of alcohol is being obtained - resulting in a big increase in opportunities for musicians to perform and a corresponding increase in choice and variety for the consumer."

But performers in Wharfedale see it very differently as it would mean all performances of two or more musicians would need to be licensed.

John Pickles, of Otley Choral Society, said the organisation would also be hard hit financially if the Bill become law.

Mr Pickles said: "Most of our concerts are at Otley Parish Church and when we do a carol concert we move around the churches to give everybody a fair share of our music.

"Our last concert included Otley Brass Band. It is a lot of performers and we are not making a lot of money. At the last concert we raised funds for a cancer charity.

"It is a charitable business and it is quite wrong they should seek to impose extra costs on us. I would urge them to change the Bill for groups such as ourselves.

"Every concert we give, apart from the carol concert, loses money by the time we have paid the soloists and the orchestra. It is a £1,000 loss to start with so we don't need any more expense on top of that - we are losing so much money already."

Liz Bowen, of Ilkley, who helped set up Yorkshire Dales Workshops, an organisation which promotes traditional music, dance and other folk activities, said she was gravely concerned about the implications of the bill.

Mrs Bowen said: "It means that anything we do we would need a licence for. For informal music sessions and annual festivals like our Scandinavian Festival.

"You would even need a licence for a performance in your own home and for performances of singing and dancing in your own garden.

"There is a lot of amateur music making going on. We have a young persons instrumental group and they play anywhere, but they too would need a licence.

"We feel it is diabolical and a cock-up. It would even affect people carol singing. I do hope it gets amended. But people feel it is too late. We would be very, very sorry to see this bill passed - it is draconian."

Bev Boyd, secretary of the Burley Millennium Theatre Group, said: "It is dreadful. We already have to pay for performing rights and things like that. It is just another financial burden.

"We would have to be careful what kind of plays we put on. But we have singing in our pantomime which is our biggest crowd-puller.

"It seems to be phasing all the small people out. We just do it to put something back into the community. It would affect out junior group and there are 12 to 15 of them. They like to put on singing and dancing."

She said that the theatre group staged performances in local churches to pay them back for letting them use the buildings for rehearsals. If the bill was passed the church in question would need a temporary licence for a one-off performance or a permanent entertainment licence costing between £100 and £500-a-year.

The fear is that the cost, together with the reluctance for churches and other halls to get involved with complicated form filling, would mean the end of such activities.

Ilkley Baptist Church is presently used as one of the venues for the Wharfedale Music Festival and is the scene of other musical events. If the Bill becomes law, it would need a licence to carry on the same activities.

Desmond Longfellow, secretary of Ilkley Baptist Church said: "We would not be able to hold our Christmas parties if there is any singing. I would have thought that such a law is inoperable.

"It would be ridiculous. No law is worth passing if you can't make it work and no way could you make that kind of legislation work.

"It would stop a lot of small things happening and affect the lifestyle of small communities. It would be very sad if the Wharfedale Music Festival was prevented from using our premises. We are shortly to have our Christmas party like most churches, but we would not be able to do it - it is silly."

Jennie Hooper, Squire of the Otley Wayzgoose Morris Dancing troupe also viewed the new Bill with trepidation.

Mrs Hooper said: "We are going to be hit very hard. When two or more musicians get together in a pub they are going to need an entertainment licence.

"We go round all the pubs in winter and unless they have an entertainment licence - it is just a disaster.

"It cuts down on traditional things which have gone on for hundreds of years. All that is going down the pan.

"Publicans won't bother getting licences for one-off events they already have enough work to do and enough red-tape. There has been an awful lot of outcry about it. It is an attack on our individuality."

Liz Whitehead, of the British and International Federation of Festivals, the umbrella group for events such as the Wharfedale Music Festival said: "The Federation is currently making representations to the Government about premises used charities such as our festivals and how they will be affected by the new Bill.

"We understand that strong representations from other similar associations and societies have been made, or are in the process of being made and that many individuals have written to their MPs along the same lines."

Mrs Bowen, of the Yorkshire Dales Workshops, said there was a petition making the rounds of various organisation in an attempt to show the strength of feeling against the Bill's implications.

It will not only affect licensed premises but village halls, churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and other places of worship, schools colleges, community centres, private homes and gardens where wedding and other parties are held and even music shops.

And a spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said that the Government was having a re-think about the Bill because of its possible implications on smaller music making groups and amateurs.

She said: "Lots of smaller groups and churches have been very concerned about the possible implications of the Bill on them. At the moment it is at the Lords stage and should reach the commons by February. It is still being looked at and there could be some changes."

Ilkley Labour MP Anne Cryer said that she was concerned about the implications of the Bill and she was going to contact Prime Minister Tony Blair and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell in a bid to make them look at it again.

Mrs Cryer said there was a need for flexibility in the Bill to balance the community needs and the safety of the public in places where entertainment was taking place.