Campaign to save ancient Scots fire festival amid safety concerns
IT may have only a few thousand residents but its Hogmanay celebrations are among the best-known in the country and recognised internationally.
The practice of lighting a bonfire on New Year’s Eve in the town of Biggar, South Lanarkshire, goes back to pagan times, when the fire was believed to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.
Every Hogmanay a torchlit procession marches up the High Street to a bonfire at the top of the town.
There, a torch is passed to the town’s oldest resident, who lights the bonfire to “burn out the old and burn in the new”.
It is a tradition that has continued with barely an interruption for hundreds of years – even during much of the Second World War, when locals burned a candle inside a tin at the bonfire site, so as not to attract enemy bombers.
It was cancelled in 2020 as result of the Covid public health emergency, but this hiatus was one of only three occasions this has happened in well over a century.
Now the community has raised concerns that it could become the first of Scotland’s famous fire festivals to be banned.
South Lanarkshire Council has confirmed that concerns have been raised about the location of the bonfire by a Health and Safety Executive-supported multi-agency Events Safety Advisory Group, which has emergency services’ representation. The group that provides the council with advice on public safety at events says the primary issue is the location of a gas main.
Serious concerns have been raised that the council will not grant the event a licence.
Organisers say that in the 1990s the predecessor to Scottish Gas Networks moved a gas mains pipeline so it ran directly under the position of the bonfire, in full knowledge of its existence and having provided reassurance this did not cause a safety problem.
The bonfire has taken place on that site over the 30 years since.
Mitigation has been in place for years – a substantial “sub-base” of aggregate has been placed under the fire and the day before it is lit, Scottish Gas Networks carry out a gas leak test.
Organisers say liability for moving the gas pipe has been placed on the community rather than either South Lanarkshire Council or Scottish Gas Networks.
Robin Mcalpine of a newly-launched Save Biggar’s Bonfire campaign said: “Increasingly throughout negotiations, it has become clear there is a serious threat of an end to this historical tradition.
“The community organisers of the fire have done everything they possibly could over months of negotiation to try and resolve these issues amicably and in private. It has proved impossible.
“The community of Biggar is left with no remaining option but to demonstrate to South Lanarkshire Council before the date of that meeting the anger that will result if centuries of the town’s historical tradition is brought to an end.”
It is believed a final decision will not be made by the council until mid-december.
Lesley Craise, chairman of the Biggar Bonfire Committee, said: “After the incredibly difficult 18 months faced by this town, like so many in Scotland and beyond, it is more important than ever that the historical traditions which make this community what it is are supported and facilitated.
“What this community needs this festive season is the chance to be together, to heal and to remind ourselves why the sacrifice of the last year has been worth it. What we do not need is to be obstructed.”
A council spokesman said: “Any decision will be taken when the application for a temporary public entertainment licence is considered.
“We understand the desire among many local people for the bonfire to return after being cancelled last year.
“That is why council officers have been working with the organisers for many weeks to ensure public safety is protected, and those extensive efforts will continue in advance of the licensing committee meeting.”
It has become clear there is a serious threat of an end to this historical tradition