Town council backs plan for new Whitby Chocolate Festival to raise money for defibrillators
An ‘exciting’ new Whitby Chocolate Festival has received backing from Whitby Town Council – and will be held for the first time later this year.
The Whitby Defibrillator Project’s (WDP) wants to organise the festival to help raise money for its batteries fund.
At a town council meeting on Tuesday, March 4, councillors backed the “non-commercial, non-profit idea” which is set to be held in December.
Organisers said that each defibrillator battery requires replacement every four years at a cost of approximately £165 and “sooner if a unit is used on a casualty”.
Funds raised from the festival through the participation of Whitby area businesses as well as from donations from the public would support the maintenance of 40 defibrillators in the town and the surrounding area.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Mayor of Whitby, Coun Bob Dalrymple, said the proposal was “well received by the council”.
He said that “several councillors spoke at the meeting to voice their support for the proposal and subsequently a motion for Whitby Town Council to support the idea of a Whitby Chocolate Festival 2025 was carried.”
The mayor added: “Pamela Boland, who I believe came up with the idea of a Chocolate Festival, was asked to keep the council updated as to progress and we wished her and her colleagues every success in this exciting new proposal”.
No direct financial support has been requested from the town council “at this time”.
The plan will see venues interested in taking part donating to the defibrillator fund and would then be promoted as part of the festival’s marketing campaign.
“Each registered venue would have a film window sticker informing potential customers that they are taking part in the festival,” according to organisers.
A proposal states: “There would be a printed route map of all participating venues, these would be available in all venues as well as the Tourist Information Centre, The Library, social media etc and we would also provide some venues with loose change collection boxes to further boost the WDP batteries funds.”
Several businesses have already expressed an interest in participating and the festival would conclude with customers voting to decide ‘the best hot chocolate in Whitby’.
It comes as North Yorkshire Council is trying to boost tourism in the county with tourism organisation Visit North Yorkshire and the development of the authority’s local visitor economy partnership.