ONE of Selkirk’s most successful tourist events is to be scrapped.

Organisers of Scott’s Selkirk will meet next month with a view to dissolving the 15-year-old enterprise.

A lack of new committee members and tougher competition is being blamed.

Scott’s Selkirk committee met last Thursday to discuss the event’s future.

A spokeswoman told us: “A Special General Meeting is being held in February and the resolution to be proposed is that Scott’s Selkirk will be dissolved.

“We are a very small committee and we can’t get younger blood on board, despite having made a couple of public appeals last year.

“When Scott’s Selkirk started, there was nothing like it in the Borders and now many of the other towns have similar events, though not of the historical nature.

“We are sure it won’t be long before another organisation will come up with another good idea for a Christmas event that will fill our spot.” Scott’s Selkirk began in 2000 to celebrate the millennium.

It continued for more than a decade as a hugely successful two-day winter festival.

Thousands would turn up each year to enjoy street entertainment, historic re-enactments, carriage rides, concerts, and a fireworks finale.

But as volunteer and organising committee numbers dropped so did the crowd numbers.

And last year’s festival was scaled back to just a single day.

The current committee remain optimistic that parts of the once popular festival, such as the Town Hall court cases, can continue in a different context.

Selkirkshire Vicky Davidson hopes that Sir Walter Scott’s association with the town can continue to be celebrated.

She said: “It’s sad news as many of us have had a lot of fun at Scott’s Selkirk over the past 15 years, but not entirely unexpected given how much work was falling on the same few committee members to keep it going. “The volunteers deserve all our praise for their huge efforts over the years making Scott’s Selkirk an event that other towns were anxious to copy. Unfortunately for Selkirk, many of them did.

“I’m sure new ways of celebrating Scott’s links with Selkirk will emerge, and some of the most popular elements like the recreations of court cases presided over by Scott or the gathering of musicians can be staged at other times of the year. I hope, in addition, we might find other occasions in future to show off the fabulous period costumes hand-made over the years by local seamstresses.

“Selkirk has proved over the years that it has a lot of expertise and talent for staging events and new attractions in the town like the mountain bike stunt riders on the High Street are developing all the time.” It remains unclear what will happen with the Scott’s Selkirk fundraising shop on the High Street, which has proved a success in recent years.

The Special General Meeting of Scott’s Selkirk will take place on Monday, February 23.