For those that haven't seen this yet, a petition has been started to close St Mary's Churchyard during Whitby Goth Weekends to stop the graves being used as props for cheap photo opportunities.
We fully support the petition.
Whitby Goth Weekend (WGW) is a music festival that takes place at the Spa Pavilion in Whitby. We're confused as to why people began to visit the town to promenade and be photographed in fancy dress outfits during our event, as this isn't something that we've ever encouraged or advertised.
We think that the behaviour displayed in the churchyard is disrespectful and offensive, and despite the fact that this is not something we have anything to do with or any control over, we have made several announcements over the past few years through our website and social media requesting that people respect the churchyard.
An example from our website can be found here from as far back as October 2011: http://www.whitbygothweekend.co.uk/news.php?item=25
Unfortunately, the attitude of many of the amateur photographers causing the problem seems to be that they just don't care, and the vicar of St Mary's even received hate mail after the signs mentioned in the news item linked above were erected.
It has been commented to us that the behaviour at the churchyard is spoiling WGW, but the reality is that WGW continues as a music festival as it has done for the past 21 years. What is actually happening is that the reputation of the Whitby Goth Weekend music festival is being dragged down by being wrongly associated with activities that it has no association with.
Closing the churchyard during Whitby Goth Weekend as the petition suggests would seem a sensible move to stop the amateur photographers and models from using the area in such a disrespectful manner in the future, as asking them politely and pointing out why it upsets so many people has had little effect in the past.
WGW
