Talks underway to create new festival
Bathgate could see its very own music festival in the future with support from local councillor Harry Cartmill and up-and-coming local band Mark Sharp and the Bicycle Thieves.
The outdoor event could be staged at several different spaces in Bathgate - current ideas for an outside venue include Balbardie Park, Meadow Park, and the ShowGround.
Labour councillor for Bathgate Harry Cartmill met up with Mark Sharp and Conor Ward from West Lothian band Mark Sharp and the Bicycle thieves to discuss the possibility of such an event in the town.
In terms of scope the festival could be comparable to the first ever T in the Park at Strathclyde Park in Motherwell.
Harry Cartmill spoke about the possibility of a music festival in Bathgate, he said: “We’re very much in the embryonic stages of planning - but it’s a very exciting concept that I think has a lot of scope to actually happen.
“It’s easy to dismiss it as a pipedream but there is so much real potential - not only in local bands like the bicycle thieves - but in Bathgate itself.
“I think it could be comparable to Falkirk’s Callendar Park, they use that space to stage outdoor concerts, events, and festivals, and of course the first T in the Park was held at Strathclyde Park.
“The show ground lies empty most of the year when the procession isn’t in town, then of course Balbardie Park which has so much potential for use - from the old coal mine when I was a boy to the nine hole golf course and football parks we see today.
“With all that being said a lot of planning needs to go into it, between licensing and parking and permission, but it’s my hope that we could host a festival as early as next year.
“It would be a great thing for the town and something I really do believe we could deliver on.”
The festival could give the town an economic boost post-lockdown - coupled with the procession in June and the restaging of Party in Kirkton Park in September.