It is with great regret that the 2009 Middlesbrough Mela   was cancelled last weekend despite the many efforts and hard work of the people involved to stage this successful event. The decision to cancel the Mela at the eleventh hour was not taken lightly. It was made by the Mela Association Management Committee and Middlesbrough Council based on the advice and guidance from other experts along with information at hand on Friday 17^th July just a day before the event was to start.

The primary concerns for all parties involved in the production of the Mela was public safety and given the hazardous weather conditions on that day and the reports from the Met Office which predicted much more of the same poor weather over that weekend, there was little alternative but to cancel. The heavy rainfall prevented the build of the infrastructure for the event so essential components such as the main stage, electrical equipment, stalls and portable toilets could not be safely erected.

Naturally we are all disappointed that we were unable to provide what promised to be the best Mela yet, however we are pleased with the support and understanding from our sponsors, suppliers and the wider community at large. We are currently reviewing our contractual obligations and remain optimistic with early discussions with our funders and main suppliers. Hopefully we will be able to issue a further press release once we have concluded these discussions and explored all avenues available to us.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT – MELA CANCELLED THIS WEEKEND

The torrential weather has meant the cancellation of this year’s Mela on 18 and 19 July in Albert Park, for the first time 19 years.

Unfortunately we as Middlesbrough Council and the Middlesbrough Mela Management Committee have had to make the difficult decision to cancel the event, for health and safety reasons. The rain is set to continue throughout the next 36 hours and this combined with strong winds mean we cannot provide a safe event for the public.

Middlesbrough Mela 2009 is also hosting a Big Lunch (sponsored by Middlesbrough Cohesion Partnership) on Sunday.  This is a wonderfully ambitious national initiative to encourage people to eat with neighbours, friends and even complete strangers!  The Marquee will be open throughout the weekend and with the Mela being a Big Lunch venue on Sunday, this could be the biggest Big Lunch in the UK!

http://www.thebiglunch.com/

Artist of International repute HunterZ will top the bill at Middlesbrough Mela 2009

Due to the cancellation of Slough Mela we have been fortunate enough to pick up H Dhami for Middlesbrough Mela. For the last 7 days or program manager Kash Patel has been frantically working with record companies, managers and agents to clear up contracts and come to this excellent conclusion.

Finally we have put to bed the new deal and can officially announce H Dhami will be headlining Mbro Mela 2009.

So it seems the web poll finally came through and your wish has been granted and we think we now have one of the strongest line ups in the country!

Just a few weeks to go people to 18th/19th July.  Fingers crossed for great weather.  There are openings available for Community Media Volunteers on the Mela as well as Stockton Riverside Festival. If you are interested go to http://tinyurl.com/tvcm-vols

Due to the current interest surrounding Britains Got Talent, Mbro Mela is delighted to announce that Signature, last years runners up in the popular competition, will be just one of the acts performing on the main stage alongside many others.
 
2009 is going to be a fabulous year for Mbro Mela with some massive names performing live on stage both from the national and international music circuit. Be sure to get there early to claim your space in front of the main stage!

We have two events to cover coming up. Middlesbrough Mega Mela 18^th/19^th July and Stockton Riverside Festival (Fringe) 30^th July – August 2^nd.

For both events we’ll be fielding a camera crew to feed the stage side screen(s) We also need someone on the vision mixer for Riverside and possibly for Mela too. There is scope for stills photographers but we’re anxious to have plenty of video camera folks particularly for Riverside as we’re using 4 cameras and we need cover for breaks.

If you’d like to be involved please go here http://tinyurl.com/tvcm-vols and fill in the form

Various social media apps are now linked to this site so you can follow us on MySpace, FaceBook and Twitter. We’re also on Flickr and YouTube.  (See the links over to the right)

bods are joining Middlesbrough Mela social netwrk http://boromela.ning.com/