A MUCH-loved Highland Games will return for another year as event organisers secured last-minute funding despite a Labour-led council “ripping up” a decade-long partnership and replacing it with a £1700 bill.
The Stirling Highland Games will return on August 17 as event organisers have secured funding after Active Stirling, a sports and leisure charitable trust of which Stirling Council is the sole member, terminated a 10-year-long partnership.
Stirling Council, led by Labour’s Chris Kane, pulled the plug on the much-anticipated cultural event deal and replaced it with a £1700 bill to hire the field in its place as organisers pleas fell on “deaf ears”.
The Stirling Highland Games are renowned for traditional competitions and attracts an estimated 5000 visitors every year and has more than 300 athletes compete in a variety of events.
The annual event also hosts around 50 local businesses in a Traders Village and generates more than £600,000 for the local economy while helping to encourage young people to give the sport a try.
Matt McGrandles executive director for Ceangail, the event organiser for the games, has said they are caught between a rock and a hard place as funding has dried up and they don’t want to pass the costs on to the visitors.
He said: “I was certainly disappointed to be told that the Active Stirling Board and senior managers at Stirling Council decided this was the right approach.
“All reasoning has fallen on deaf ears to date, so we did have to increase our entry ticket price slightly to try and cover their costs.”
He added: “There is no question that small events are feeling it this year with most suppliers increasing their costs.
"We have seen four other highland games fold because of lack of financial security.
“Highland Games are caught between a rock and a hard place as the event can’t continue to pass on these increased costs to customers through ticket sales.
“Decisions will need to be made at some point soon about this year’s scheduling, so I can’t thank our current supporters and friends enough for seeing the vision we have for the event and getting behind it, but we do need more support.”
Specsavers Stirling and new sponsors Anatomical Concepts and Kings Park Hospital helped ensure this year's event can be run and are also covering the event's prize support.
McGrandles added: “I am delighted to welcome both Anatomical Concepts and Kings Park Hospital on board as Supporters of the event this year.
“This level of support provides the backbone of event funding and through this collaboration, it will allow us to continue delivering these competitions and the many benefits the event brings to the city.”
Anatomical Concepts, one of the games' new sponsors, attended the event in 2022 to watch para-athletes compete in the Adaptive Heavyweights events and relished the chance to help it continue this year.
Carolyn Jones, UK director of Anatomical Concepts, said: "We believe the best work happens when people work together, and Stirling Highland Games is an excellent example of dedicated partners coming together to build excellence in culture, competition and community.
“The Adaptive Heavyweights is a unique event in the Highland Games calendar, and we want to raise the profile of the sport and the of athletes competing.
“Over the next few years of our partnership, we hope to increase the number of competitors and attract more spectators to the event so the games committee can continue to provide the same level of competition and prizes as athletes without a disability.”
The Labour group on Stirling Council has been approached for comment.
