The Kintyre Forum

With no Burnside Bash at the weekend there was a lot of talk around the town about the need for this event. Held in years gone by the Bash was re-introduced in 2010 when Scotia Events (Craig Dickson), The Commercial Inn and the Burnside Bar all got together and applied for a licence for the square on the Saturday (5-9pm) and Sunday (1pm to 6pm). The costs of the licence and the live music was split by the three and was hailed a great success with groups of all ages enjoying music in this great outdoor arena. (photo from Sunday's 2010 Burnside Bash below)



To hold the event again this year involved three road closures (following the Police's request from 2010) which would have cost £1,500. Road Closures, by statute HAVE to be advertised in the local press and each one costs £500. The decision was made, somewhat regrettably, some months back to not go ahead with the Burnside Bash due to the costs.

Feedback from the 2011 MOKFEST has been superb and the Music Festival, who work tirelessly to host this event should be hugely congratulated - from the Young Folks night on Thursday, to the fantastic Ceilidh on the Friday night featuring the wonderful Jamie Smith's Mabon Band. To Saturday's absolutely brilliant parade, then on the Doon the Green in glorious sunshine. Open Mic sessions in the White Hart and pubs full with LIVE music. The stunning Karen Mathieson then performed a superb set at the new venue in the Heritage Centre followed by the headline act, The Bootleg Beatles, who played an amazing trip down memory lane in what many believe is the best LIVe act to ever play in the Victoria Hall. And more to come on Sunday with the legendary Survivors night, sold out as usual, and a fitting and wonderful end to the festival.

However, the point of this thread is to highlight how important the Burnside Bash is to the festival. To highlight that it isn't the Music Festival Committee responsibility to host another event that can be successfully (as shown in 2010) hosted by the publicans of the Burnside Square. To highlight that this is needed to support the families who wish to enjoy the festival (and those who simply don't want to enter a public house). Most of all to highlight that the Police and Council should show common sense and for 2 periods of set time, licence permitting, ignore the need for road closures and let this event go ahead. Burnside Square is afterall a square built to host events and surely from time to time it should be used for this? To showcase the town and the wonderful musically talented community we live in.

Thoughts?

Interesting to note the Council support for the Helensburgh fireworks on the pier on Bonfire Night which was announced today.

http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/news/2011 ... fire-night

£500 EACH road!!!!!, thats to put out a sign or 3 and a scatter of cones? and an advert in the courier..... someone is makin a b ig lot of money!!!!!!

D10jimmy wrote:£500 EACH road!!!!!, thats to put out a sign or 3 and a scatter of cones? and an advert in the courier..... someone is makin a b ig lot of money!!!!!!

We believe the Council was willing to waive their part of the fee for a road closure. The £500 covers the cost of the advert which, by STATUTE, HAS to be published in the local newspaper. An actual road closure costs more than £500 to enforce. Find it hard to believe each advert costs £500 but perhaps someone can confirm this?

Kintyre Forum News wrote:The £500 covers the cost of the advert which, by STATUTE, HAS to be published in the local newspaper. An actual road closure costs more than £500 to enforce.

Maybe that needs looked in to a bit more - what if there is no local newspaper ( I know there is here but you get the point). Would publication of road closures in an alternative form of local communication be acceptable i.e. the KF?

Had a walk around Campbeltown on Sunday afternoon, and it looked like any other Sunday in the year. Most certainly
did not resemble a Music Festival weekend! It's really sad, considering open air events are always well attended and
enjoyed by so many. The "Burnside Bash" was always a favourite venue, because the whole family could go along and
enjoy the carefree festival atmosphere it created. On Sunday, this event was truly missed by the town.

Have to agree. For those of us with families it was great to attend last year on the Sunday. Kept the momentum of the festival going and our friends from away thought it was brilliant. Like others Sunday was just a normal Sunday for us.

The Mull of Kintyre is a special event - quite different from any other music festival in Scotland. It tries to be all things to all people, something which is very difficult considering the number of volunteers that are involved. Someone has beaten me to the punch with this post, as all we need is for people to stand up and be counted. This doesn't need to be simply about Burnside Square alone, it can also apply to other related weekend events. Needless to say the committee are stretched to breaking point with tuition, six concerts, a parade, Doon the Green and music sessions. We have added two Heritage walks, the same undertaken by the new Heritage Group. The wonderful effort of everyone who turned out for Vicky's parade is a point in case, an event newly assisted by the Youth Cafe Project, the Mini Clan, the motor bikes, as well as our brilliant voluntary groups who have been with us from day one. Anything can be done with a little commitment - after all the community belongs to us all. Please make a big effort to plug-into the event next year with your own ideas, but remember to take them forward within the structure and scheduling of the over-all event.

It was great this year - only you can make it even better.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Re publication of road closures.

A couple of years back, the Scottish Government held a consulation on the idea of removing the legal requirement to place public notices in the local press. The idea was that councils should be free to decide for themselves whether to use the local press or, say, the web.

The idea was dropped - effectively after the opposition parties won a vote in parliament condemning the idea. The newspaper industry also lobbied hard against it, claiming the loss of council advertising would be a big blow to some local papers and, possibly, even resulting in the demise of some. There were also arguments that by moving notices online, some people would be excluded.

Since then, a website has been created which carries the public notices of some councils which is called TellMeScotland - will need to check url. However this is ADDITIONAL to press advertising.

More councils are gradually joining this website and I would not be surprised if the issue resurfaces in the next year or two.

If public notices do go online though, it would be a move to save councils' cash - it would not be about paying to advertise on commercial websites but about putting them on a dedicated council website.

why can't the council just pay whatever it costs?? Surely they see the amount of interest that the MOK festival creates to the town? It is not only families with small children who benefit - I know that if the bash was on, I would've taken my mum who is in a wheelchair along to it without having to worry how she could fit in and be accommodated to enjoy the music. I'm not one for 'playing the .... cards', but if it makes the power's at be provide for the WHOLE community, batter on!!

Showing my age here but hey ho LOL !!

I remember when the Music festival had bands in every pub , we were allowed to take our drinks out and drink them in the Burnside Square till the pubs closed their doors .
This meant we could all get to the bar and get served easily and could wander from bar to bar hearing the various bands that were playing in each one .
There was , as far as I can remember LOL !!! never any trouble and you didnt get stuck in just one place for fear of moving on and not getting in to another pub as the doors closed at 11.30pm. You met lots of people who had come down for the festival( quite a few campers as well) that you hadnt seen for years and were able to chat without shouting (Too much anyway)or getting a dring sloshed all over you .Also you could still hear the music from out side and could dance your wee feet off
There were a few organised events such as the argyll and I think the survivors night in the vic which you had to pay for but apart from that all you had to pay for was drink .

It was the highlight of the year but now to enjoy hearing most of the bands it costs £25 per ticket for the survivors night and I think the same if there is a band on in the vic on the Saturday. Personally I just cant afford to spend £50 each for me and my OH with added expense for drinks . Now I know that the bands that do come for the festival cost quite a bit to get here and money has to be made somehow to pay for them but for me anyway its not the same.
Years ago it was mainly local bands and they were great and now there are still a lot of local bands so why not make better use of them and let them play in the bars and get the festival back to what it used to be like

I also understand that the Law restricts drinking in the street etc but why cant they just let that happen for 1 weekend in the year ?
Is it not so that Tarberts Music Festival , drinking is alowed out with the bars ?? during their festival weekend ? I may be wrong but that is what I have heard.

I understand that there is a lot of organising involved with the Festival and I admire those who do it every year but for me its just not the same and as somone on her mentioned it looked like just another weekend in the town on saturday night no sign of a festival mood on the streets what so ever .

Is it too much to get it going like it used to be ?? or am I just a moaning old Git ???

You're quite right Lilacbabe- you're a moaning old git
Somedays I leave home with my rose coloured specs on too, and think about how we could do this or that X amount of years ago.
Strange how we can push all the good things to the front of our thinking without taking into account all the dross that ran side by side with the good stuff.
I suppose I'm a moaning old git most days.

When I was a community councillor I was totally against creating a by-law to ban the drinking of alcohol on the streets of Campbeltown. It was a topic which raised its head on a regular basis, but common sense prevailed and the proposal was rejected year in year out. My argument was simple - the town projects itself as a holiday destination, so why bring in Dickensian legislation to deny people the pleasure and expression of an outdoor refreshment. It wasn't as if the crime rate in the Wee Toon was high, in fact, at the time it was the lowest in Argyll & Bute. If you travel abroad you can sit at an outside cafe and sip a beer - so why not here. A lot of towns - including Tarbert - resisted the legislation. Unfortunately, in recent years we blundered into a piece of legal nonsense which restricts the full potential of community Gala Days, Festivals and events of a similar nature. Obtaining a special licence is easy enough, but it has to be consumed within a special designated area. In the case of Burnside Square, to include all public houses this would mean a number of road closures and, that is where the expense comes in. Reversing a by-law would take years and the request would more than likely end in failure. So what is the way forward? We have an amnesty in place for New Year - so why not for the most important event on the local community calendar?
Its simply a request, but would need the approval of the establishment - police etc. Raise the subject of road closures and a drinks amnesty at community events with our local councillors - it is the only option available.

If it causes so much of a problem to have it in Burnside square, would there not be another venue that could be used?? I know it is in the centre of town, but if the cost of road closures is going to be such a problem, could somewhere such as Castlehill school playground or the call centre car park be possible venues?? portable bars could be set up and no roads would need to be closed.

As I see it, it is hardly going to cause great disruption to the traffic flow in the Town by Burnside square being closed. I cannot imagine that the dispution caused by closing Cross Street, or (is it?) the top part of Union streetwould have any impact on any person in the town. I understand there are laws in place, but there are always ways round them(legally )

Mack wrote:The Mull of Kintyre is a special event - quite different from any other music festival in Scotland. It tries to be all things to all people, something which is very difficult considering the number of volunteers that are involved. Someone has beaten me to the punch with this post, as all we need is for people to stand up and be counted. This doesn't need to be simply about Burnside Square alone, it can also apply to other related weekend events. Needless to say the committee are stretched to breaking point with tuition, six concerts, a parade, Doon the Green and music sessions. We have added two Heritage walks, the same undertaken by the new Heritage Group. The wonderful effort of everyone who turned out for Vicky's parade is a point in case, an event newly assisted by the Youth Cafe Project, the Mini Clan, the motor bikes, as well as our brilliant voluntary groups who have been with us from day one. Anything can be done with a little commitment - after all the community belongs to us all. Please make a big effort to plug-into the event next year with your own ideas, but remember to take them forward within the structure and scheduling of the over-all event.

It was great this year - only you can make it even better.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Absolutely Mack and the very reason we wrote this article was to highlight the wonderful job the MOKFEST committee does and to highlight that other events can form part of the festival that don't need to be run by the festival committee (but as you say in line with the over-all event) Feedback from this year's festival has been great and very positive so well done all!

For many however, the festival finished on Saturday down the green at 5pm on Saturday. For those with families there were limited options afterwards and the Burnside Bash last year was a welcome extension to Saturday and more so on Sunday.

Someone did mention that the fee of £500 per road closure appeared to be extremely high - does anyone know exactly how much it does cost?