Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Organisers pull plug on long-running gala day
Charleston Gala Day has run every summer for 15 years.
However, the event will not be held this year with organisers blaming local government red tape and public apathy.
Stella Carrington, chairwoman of the Charleston Tenants and Residents Association, which organises the event today revealed that it may never return.
She added: “We are not having one this year. Our committee is down to three people now but it isn’t just because of that. It is because of the bureaucracy of the council.
“The carry on that we have to go through sending in forms and we don’t get the events licence until five minutes before the day.
“I can just do without the stress. The council doesn’t really help — there is too much bureaucracy. You do get help with things like grants but then you have all these different forms to fill out and all these hoops to jump through — it is like you are getting money in one hand and handing it back with the other.”
Ms Carrington said that she believes the area will miss the event, saying it has been well attended over the years.
She added: “The gala will be missed. We had run it for 15 years annually but we need to have a rest. I don’t know whether it will come back, maybe Charleston will just end up being like one of these other places in the city that doesn’t have anything like that going on. It is incredibly sad.”
A Dundee City Council spokeswoman said that support is offered to groups to allow them to put on events such as galas.
She said: “When applying for a public entertainment licence, it is the duty of the licence holder to comply with the conditions in the interest of the health, safety and welfare of the people attending the event.
“We provide proactive support to those seeking a licence to ensure the event is safe and comprehensive support is given to community groups for community activities, including tenant participation.
“Tenant participation is primarily focused on what the council does as a landlord and the support we give to individual tenants and tenants organisations to help them shape housing services.
“We support galas and many other community events through our communities officers and community regeneration and participation teams, which cover the whole of the city.”
ORGANISERS have pulled the plug on a long-running gala day and cited city council “bureaucracy” as the reason.