Bullish Highland Show organisers vow to return
Following the cancellation of this year’s Royal Highland Show, the organisers yesterday declared that they are “hell-bent” on staging the 2021 event – but acknowledged that it might not be in the same format as has proved so successful over the past decades due to the legacy of the Covid pandemic.
With close to 200,000 visitors going through the gates during the course of the show’s normal four-day run, Alan Laidlaw, chief executive of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS), said that it had been made clear even before wider lockdown was introduced that to prevent spread of coronavirus, mass gatherings would not be allowed in 2020.
“So in effect we were one of the first businesses to be hit by lockdown – and sadly we could be amongst the last to have all restrictions lifted,” he said
Chairman Bill Gray said that while a question mark still hung over next year’s event, it looked unlikely that the traditional format would be allowable: “But with the board of directors hell-bent on delivering a 2021 show, we are looking at a range of ways in which we could do this, based on the latest announcements from both Scottish and UK governments.”
Gray said that one approach could be to separate out the various elements of the event to reduce the numbers present on the showground at any one time.
However, commenting on the statement by auditors, Ernst & Young, in the organisation’s newly released accounts that the Covid crisis meant that there was a “material uncertainty” that could cast “significant doubt” on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, the pair moved to reassure that steps had been taken to ensure continued viability.
And they argued that while it was unusual for auditors to raise such concerns, this had been due to the uncertainties of Covid rather than any reflection of the organisation’s underlying performance.
However, admitting that any extended controls on mass gatherings would put the RHASS’S finances under strain, Laidlaw said the society could not shy away from the ongoing uncertainties caused by the global Coronavirus pandemic – with the loss of income from the cancellation of the 2020 show and other major events set to take place at Ingliston amounting to over £6.5 million from the charity’s annual budget of £9m.
And while a £2.5m had been secured through the government-backed loan scheme, he said it would be “naïve” to think that, along with many other organisations, the charity would not come out unscathed as a result of the pandemic.
With 60 per cent of Ingliston’s 50-strong workforce currently on furlough he said that the future of this scheme would influence its future structure, while additional funding was being sought through government schemes and the use of the site as a “Drivein” entertainment centre was being investigated.
“And we’ve been hugely humbled by the support of our membership,” added Gray.
“And they can rest assured that no stone is being left unturned to make sure the society’s work continues.”