Directors confident over show plans

The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) board is “100 per cent behind “the society’s direction of travel and has absolute confidence in its ability to deliver next year’s Royal Highland Show.

Admitting that there had been a ”full and frank” discussion of concerns over staffing and expenditure at the RHASS, the society’s chairman, Jimmy Warnock, said the board was fully behind the proposed roadmap for future change and investments such as that announced for the new pavilion – which he said reflected the far-reaching vision of the organisation’s founders.

Commenting on fears expressed over staff absences and resignations, chief executive Alan Laidlaw said that despite the fact that the society was going through a period of considerable change, the turnover of employees was only four per cent ahead of what would be expected in an average organisation:

“And while we hope that clarification of our plans to the board of directors will help quell some of the concerns which have been aired in social media and in the press, it has to be said that these show just how highly regarded the show and the society are – it would be far worse if we had radio silence which indicated people didn’t care,” he said.

He added that, despite the fact that the show manager had parted company with the society, the wheels of keeping the country’s largest outdoor event were oiled by a considerable team – including the brigade of around a thousand people, made up of staff, volunteers and stewards who gave their all to the show.

“If someone asked me how robust our delivery of the show is likely to be I’d answer that we have the absolute confidence of our directors – and make no mistake they can be our harshest critics,” said Laidlaw.

He added that for the first time there was now a formalised written plan laying out the duties and roles to be taken up by individuals at the show which he said would help staff and directors tackle the job as a team.