Barnstaple New Year party was bigger than ever, say organisers

THEY VE had barely a week to recover from their New Year s Eve hangovers; but organisers of Barnstaple s end-of-year charity party are already looking ahead to the 2011 event. The small group of six volunteers said they were amazed at the amount of peop

THEY'VE had barely a week to recover from their New Year's Eve hangovers; but organisers of Barnstaple's end-of-year charity party are already looking ahead to the 2011 event.

The small group of six volunteers said they were "amazed" at the amount of people who turned out on the Square to see in the New Year on Thursday night.

Hundreds of families mingled with thousands of revellers to enjoy a feast of live music and fireworks.

"The event is getting bigger and bigger each year and going by estimates from previous events we've held, we think there were between and 8,000 and 9,000 people in the Square on the stroke of midnight," said event co-organiser James Chapple.

"We've had a lot of good feedback and the committee will be meeting again tomorrow (Thursday) to begin planning for next year's event.

"It takes a lot of planning as we have to organise the music, licences, road closures, barriers and sponsors," added James.

"Including the fireworks, the event costs between �6,000 and �7,000 to put on and it would not be possible to do so without the support and sponsorship from local businesses."

Although the final figure is still to be counted, all the money collected on the night will go to the Samaritans.