It has been revealed that the holiday camp company Pontin's has been placed into administration.
37 years
The company has staged their annual brass band championships for the past 37 years, with the 2010 finals held recently at their Prestatyn resort in North Wales.
The event started in 1974 at the Southport campus but soon became one of the most popular contesting fixtures in the brass band calendar – expanding to include regional qualifying events at Bream Sands, Southport and Hemsby.
Peak
At its peak, the intoxicating mix of fun and games, big prize money and cheap on site accommodation saw close to 150 bands compete at the various preliminary contests, whilst the award of the first £1,000 top prize at the finals was also a major draw for many leading bands.
Waned
However, in recent years the popularity of the event has waned, and whilst the finals have still managed to attract a healthy turn out of competitors, the regional events were stopped some time ago.
Prize money hike
The recent finals weekend at Prestatyn saw a major hike in the prize money fund to over £25,000, with additional travel costs to competing bands on top.
Marsden Silver won £3,000 for taking the Harry & Margaret Mortimer Championship title, with £2,500 winning payouts to bands in the lower sections.
However, it was noted that despite the increase in prize money there were disappointing entries in a number of the competing sections.
The accountancy firm KPMG has said that all five centres will continue to trade as normal, and there have been no redundancies in the current 850 workforce4BR
Trade as normal
Despite major investment in the infrastructure of many of the 5 remaining resort centres, in 2009 the company was forced to close the popular Blackpool Park.
The accountancy firm KPMG has said that all five centres will continue to trade as normal, and there have been no redundancies in the current 850 workforce.
KPMG have stated that they are in the process of appointing an experienced leisure operator to the company in order that it can "continue trading and ensure that guests' holiday expectations are met."
2011 contest
4BR understands that prize money cheques for the 2010 event, although postdated 14 days from the weekend of the 23rd/24th October, have all been honoured. No announcement over the 2011 contest has been made.
The administrators have set up a helpline number for customers, which will be open from Monday 15 November. It is 0844 576 8481.
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