I WAS saddened when I read the attack on myself and The Benarty Events Group by Community Manager Kevin Sayer.

It is so disappointing for a person in his position, who in my mind is supposed to nurture, embrace, support and encourage communities, not slaughter them. Unlike Mr Sayer The Benarty Events Group expect nothing in return for the hours they put in each week sometimes up 20 each week.

In March this year we were given the new pricing tariff. Immediately we asked three questions.

1.Who was the author of The Tariff ?

2.Who has received The Tariff ? I.E. Councillors and other groups.

3.When would The Tariff come into force? It became obvious from the beginning there would be no answers. Nobody would take responsibility for the document. We eventually found out the authors at the last area committee, a certain councillor repeatedly denied writing the document then finally admitted to being involved.

When asked who had received the document we were told groups and councillors had been notified. This was another lie when our Vice Chairman and myself gave a presentation to The Friends of The Meadows Country Park Group about our BEG and we mentioned the Tariff it became obvious that most of the group knew nothing about the document. On consulting other groups that use the park regularly they were also in the dark. Effectively BEG were the only recipients of the document.

Regarding when the document would come into force we were told probably immediately. We have had varied answers to this question.

Our group works to strict budget, when we received the Tariff we did our calculations as per the document. E.G. to rent the field for a day it was £600.00 and £400.00 overnight basically £1,000.00 per day. At Rockore we need the field for 6 days normally, the cost per Tariff for the field would be £6,000.00. We are still trying to work out what we are getting for the field rent. Another part of the Tariff states if we are charging food vendors they want to charge as well. This document can be viewed on our Facebook page.

People from all over the world will come to our events this year. We had Pipe bands from The U.S.A and Australia. At Rockore people come from the length and breadth of the country. Our gala is one of the best small galas in Scotland. In our opinion this counts for nothing as far as the powers at be.

Mr Sayer states no thanks were given to the staff of The LMCP. The editor answered that.

Regarding the fire damage to the car park the park manager has already agreed to the repairs being done by a national company Morrison’s Construction. Another fantastic gesture implemented by another supportive member of our community. Maybe Mr Sayer should look at the general condition of the car park.

He mentions the damage done to the grass, first and foremost we have complained about the state of the grass before and we were told that grass seeding would be done, we are still waiting.

Mr Sayer states groups that sells tickets for events will be charged, he is obviously targeting The BEG as I am struggling to think of any other event that sells tickets. To my knowledge there is only The Benarty Gala and Rockore that sell tickets I’d be interested to know if there any others. Incidentally from a freedom of information document we received it shows that on the days of The Gala, Pipe Band Competition and Rockore the cafeteria takings go up ten fold compared to other weeks. We recognise that other events have the same effect but very few.

Mr Sayer mentions the grants from the area committee, surely no group should be discriminated for working tirelessly to better their community. We appreciate that fundraising is hard for different communities it would fairer if the grants were worked out regarding population. Mr Sayer says the councillors turned the grant application down, certain councillors knew nothing about it.

Now we get to the nitty/gritty the finances, never before have I seen a person of his standing expose a group’s finances like this. As I have said on numerous occasions The BEG are totally transparent with nothing to hide, anyone is welcome to come and scrutinise our accounts at anytime. Mr Sayer only mentions the bank balance and Rockore profits, nothing is mentioned of the cost of the events. Does he think that somebody pays for everything, the bands at Rockore do it for free. The gala boxes, funfare, inflatables, drinks all come at a cost.

What happens if the weather makes Rockore impossible bands, arena, fencing still have to be paid for.

Mr Sayer finally comes on to social media attacks at no time has the Benarty Events Group Facebook page vilified Mr Laing or his staff. We can not control other community sites. We have a fantastic relationship with the staff at The Meedies and Mr Sayer will never change that. Mr Laing attended all our meetings before and his input was good, sadly this relationship deteriorated with building of the new centre and the public unhappiness about the lack of public consultation. He has never attended another BEG meeting, indeed, he was conspicuous by his absence at this year's multi agency meeting for Rockore .

In another article Mr Sayer mentions The Friends of Lochore Meadows Group and the turnover of members what he fails to mention that the group have no decision making powers, basically it is a dictatorship. A bitter pill to swallow for community stalwarts Wullie Clarke, Brian Menzies, Wullie Clarke jr, Tom Kinnaird and James Fotheringham.

To conclude The Benarty Community can rest assured that The Benarty Events Group will work tirelessly to keep our events going at our fabulous country park with or without help.

EDDIE EASSON,

Chairman, Benarty Events Group.