New “Homecoming” clan gathering to cost taxpayer £700,000

A NEW international clan gathering to be staged during the next “Homecoming” celebrations is set to need another £700,000 of public money, The Scotsman can disclose.

Stirling Council has revealed the expected bill for the centrepiece of the city’s celebrations to mark the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn.

Council leaders say it will be modelled on the controversial Edinburgh event, which left a huge trail of debts despite being given £500,000 in grants and an emergency bail-out of £180,000 from the Scottish Government. More than 100 private sector creditors are still a combined £400,000 out of pocket.

Stirling Council has revealed it has been pledged £150,000 from government agency EventScotland for the new event, which will be staged in the run-up to the SNP’s independence referendum, if the party wins the battle for its preferred date.

And VisitScotland, which is in charge of the £5.5 million budget for the next Homecoming, yesterday praised the previous clan event as “a great success”, even though it triggered inquiries by the Scottish Parliament and Edinburgh City Council.

Stirling Council, which bought the intellectual property rights of the failed company behind the 2009 Clan Gathering, believes the 2014 event could attract 30,000 people and be worth £3.5m to the local economy.

It would be staged in July 2014, weeks after huge crowds are expected to flock to Bannockburn for the 700th anniversary of the celebrated battle.

A report for the council states that “Clans 2014” would cost around £500,000 to stage, with a further £200,000 required to cover PR and marketing costs.

The council, which has earmarked £300,000 to help pay for its 2014 programme, revealed that an outside agency or company will be brought in to run the three-day event, which will include a parade, entertainment on the castle esplanade and a clans village in Kings Park.

This is despite the company behind the Edinburgh event – run by clan chief Jamie Sempill – going into administration, despite attempts to rescue it.

Mr Sempill, who has been in talks about the event through his involvement with the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, has offered to work as a consultant on Clans 2014.

However, Stirling’s provost, Fergus Wood, said: “Jamie Sempill has been involved with the discussions about the clan gathering, as he is involved with the clan chiefs organisation, but he is not working on the event and we are not employing him in any way at the moment.”

A spokesman for VisitScotland said: “We welcome the news that as part of Stirling’s 2014 celebrations the council plans to organise a major clan event. Despite the final financial difficulties of The Gathering 2009 Ltd, the event the company delivered was a great success, with 47,000 people attending over two days resulting in £10.4m for Scotland’s economy.”

A spokesman for EventScotland said: “We have had meetings with Stirling Council about 2014 and are supportive of what they are doing, but no funding has been confirmed.”