Protest outside Melford Hall planned against National Trust block on popular public events after Big Night Out cancelled

Villagers outraged by the decision to block popular public events from being held on National Trust parkland will make their feelings known at a protest planned for this month.

A public demonstration is set to take place outside the gates of Melford Hall on Thursday, August 25, after the National Trust announced that large-scale events could no longer proceed at the site in their current format.

The Big Night Out – Long Melford’s long-running charity fireworks night – was the first major casualty, with this November’s event cancelled and its long-term future uncertain.

It has now been confirmed that the popular annual LeeStock music festival and the Melford village fete, which only returned this summer after a hiatus, are also affected.

Representatives from Project Seven, the organisation behind the Big Night Out, and LeeStock will be in attendance at the protest, while members of the public are also invited to attend.

National Trust said the decision was made following recent events that reportedly had 'a significant impact on ground conditions and the sensitive archaeological features' at the grade II listed park.

However, residents and parish councillors have questioned why this problem would only have arisen now, as events had taken place on the site for decades without issue.

Tim West, a resident of Little St Mary’s, said: “The village are rightly up in arms about this.

“There is a long history of quite major use of the land on that site, including by the Army in the war, causing massively more disturbance than people just walking over it.

“Melford Hall has been at the centre of Melford life for generations, both physically and spiritually.

“The new management at the National Trust seem determined to pitch it into complete conflict with the community that surrounds it.

“The only context is that they seem to be doing this in many places across the country.

“The big issue is evidence. Where is the evidence of the damage and the risk that is so great that the National Trust have a ‘legal and moral obligation’ to prohibit these events?”

Melford Hall general manager Leigh Freeman stated that the venue is “open to exploring alternative locations and options within less sensitive areas of the parkland”, in the hope of reaching a solution.

But, parish councillor John Nunn, who is organising the demonstration outside the Melford Hall gates, said the alternative options presented so far were not viable for the affected events.

Mr Nunn emphasised that the demonstration was not a parish council event, but rather a way for residents to have their voices heard.

He also confirmed that the parish council has written a letter to upper management at the National Trust, to express the level of discontent within the village at the decision.

“I’m absolutely amazed,” Mr Nunn told Suffolk News. “The Big Night Out has gone on for the last 50 years, raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for local charities and, for the last 48 years, it has taken place at Melford Hall.

“To feel that it might not be able to happen again is just terrible.

“One of the reasons that the National Trust gave is they are concerned about underground archaeological features that are possibly there.

“This begs the question – why has the Big Night Out been able to take place on that field for 48 years, and all of a sudden, it’s now a problem?

“Only recently, we had the village fete revived at Melford Hall, which was a tremendous success, and now, after one fete, we might not be able to hold it again.

“As far as we know, the licences for all of the events there have been cancelled, so we need to get to some sort of amicable resolution for this.”