Free Fringe targets board

THE Free Fringe could win a major presence on the Fringe board in elections this weekend with a radical agenda of cutting registration fees for the smallest groups and championing free shows, it was reported today.

Four Free Fringe candidates are contesting Saturday’s elections, backed by a voting bloc of around a third of those eligible to cast their ballots, after encouraging hundreds of supporters to take out the £10 Fringe society membership.

Rival candidates say the Free Fringe is welcome at the festival, but warn its minority agenda clashes with an organisation that relies on ticket sales and registration fees to exist. The Fringe establishment appears to be concerned about the prospect of the election of members who do not believe in charging for seats.

Free Fringe leader Peter Buckley-Hill, elected to the board earlier this year, plans to cut “unjust and counter- productive” registration fees for the Fringe programme.