IN response to the queries raised by “A Mason” and Anne S Johns regarding the “public’s concerns as to what funds, given by the public, are spent on”, Lochgelly Gala are happy to provide the information sought.

The gala takes a huge amount of effort to put on, and the preparation for the gala day starts in January/February each year. We need to obtain quotes from a variety of companies and individuals to ensure that we are getting the best value for money for the services provided on the day.

The cost to put on the gala in August 2018 was over £14,000. Just some of the expenses for the day were public liability insurance, first aid provision, hire of toilets, stage hire, Fife Council licensing fees, hire of inflatables, cost of family petting zoo, baby dinosaurs, Barnie the T-Rex, falconry display, Newfoundland dogs, proportion of gala bag costs, face painting, air soft rifle shooting, magic display and live band.

Donations were also made to all local groups and organisations who provided entertainment on the park on the day including majorettes, Tai Kwan Do, pipe band, brass band, highland dancers, street dancers, and many others. Bunting adorns Main Street and Bank Street the week leading up to the gala and this too needs to be purchased. All our stewards wear hi-vis vests for safety. These need to be purchased.

This year we made an investment of purchasing gazebos to accommodate our gala bags. The cost of these gazebos was met in full by way of a grant from Four Winds Trust and no “public donations” were used in this purchase.

To help pay for the events on the day, many fund-raising events are held including bag packing in Asda, tombola in the Co-op, tin collection days at various local football matches, and stock-car events, race nights, raffles and social events. The public are thanked for their donations at all these events and for their donations to our collection tins placed in local shops, licensed premises, hairdressing salons, etc. Many local businesses also help with fund raising events held in their own premises and donate towards the gala.

Our accounts are checked and audited and are available to anyone who wants to see these.

Lodge 385, where we hold our regular committee meetings and many of our social events, has never at any point charged the committee for using their facilities. The committee made a small monetary donation to the Lodge to go some way towards the use of the premises to cover heating and lighting. We must stress that this was a donation and was not a charge made by the Lodge.

We have made enquiries about holding our meetings in the Lochgelly Centre but the cost of this would be the minimum of £400 per year given the number of meetings we hold, and the average length of our meetings. We did not think this offered value for money. We would still need to hire licensed premises to hold any social events in addition.

As far are “give other premises a chance to hold meetings or take part in fundraising”, we have looked at holding our meetings in other locations but unfortunately, to date, have been unable to source any central premises that have accessibility, and have an area suited to our needs. The 385 Lodge have a large fully equipped kitchen which we are also able to use when providing catering at our funding raising events. Many of the local licensed premises have been asked to participate in fund-raising events and grateful thanks are given to those who have held their own events and donated the funds to the gala. Several of the local businesses sell raffle tickets, calendars and gala bag tickets on behalf of the committee too.

Most of the entertainment provided on gala day is provided to all attending completely free of charge, except for the large mechanical showground rides. We try to be as inclusive as possible, ensuring that people who may not have the finance that some do, can still have a good day out at very little expense if any. What more can we do? We have enquired about issuing wrist bands but, at this present time, it is not financially viable given that we would need to raise the minimum of £6,000 to provide mechanical rides alone, excluding all the other entertainment we currently provide.

A Mason has also asked who are the committee? We are proud of our committee and have no issue in standing up. We are: Raymond Wilson, David Robertson; Lindsay Dobbie, Irene Smith, Rhona Gibbons, David Farrell, Elizabeth Wilson, Janet Duff, Derek Johnstone and Mel Wilson.

All our meetings are open to the public and everyone will be made welcome. Our next meeting will be held on Monday February 25 at 6.30pm in the downstairs lounge of Lodge 385, North Street.

Everyone on the committee is a volunteer and more than half of us have full time jobs. Many hours are spent by us all organising the gala months in advance of the actual day. On the gala day itself we are on the park from 6am until 7pm or so in the evening. We do this because we are committed to doing our very best for the town and want to make the gala a fabulous day for all to enjoy, young and old, and want to bring the community together.

Hopefully the above resolves any queries which A Mason and Anne S Johns have about the gala and the committee can now focus fully on fundraising and organising this year’s event.

LOCHGELLY GALA COMMITTEE