Galashiels New Year party bashed
Ally McGilvray • Published 17 Jan 2012 09:30
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GALASHIELS should do more to celebrate the New Year, it has been claimed.
It follows complaints that the bells failed to chime on the clock tower next to the Fountain at midnight on Hogmanay.
This week, Scottish Borders Council, which is responsible for maintaining the local landmark, insisted they did ring out.
However, with neighbouring Melrose boasting the biggest New Year street party in the Borders, as well as a spectacular fireworks display, events in Galashiels appeared to be a damp squib in comparison.
Hazel Galloway, from Church Square, Galashiels, called the Border Telegraph to confirm she did hear the bells, following our report last week that they failed to chime.
She celebrated the start of the New Year with her daughter and son-in-law, and their two grandchildren, who were visiting from England, from a vantage point in Lawyer's Brae. And she revealed they loved it.
However, she admitted the street party in Galashiels could have benefitted from a live PA system to mark the moment.
Hazel said: "The bells definitely chimed." But she added: "They should have had something like a countdown."
Only around 200 revellers attended the event in Galashiels this year - compared to around 2000 in Melrose.
However, Keith McDonald, from the Ship Inn, Melrose, revealed it wasn't always that way.
He explained he and his wife, Vivien, staged the first fireworks display in the pub's beer garden in 2000 - to celebrate the start of the new Millennium - as a one-off.
However, he said he received such a fantastic response from revellers who saw the display from the Square opposite that it exploded into an annual event and, with the support of the community council, has grown every year since.
Now the local landlord - who buys his fireworks from the same company that lights up Edinburgh every year - is planning to apply for a pyrotechnics licence to ensure next year is the biggest and best yet.
Keith said: "I've never actually seen the display because I have to set them off manually at present and there is a lot of smoke." But he added: "It brings a lot of trade into the town. The pubs and hotels were all full and we were rammed to capacity."
It has been suggested community councillors in Galashiels, who have discussed staging an event in the town centre to encourage more visitors to the area, could take the idea forward.
A spokesman for Scottish Borders Council said: "The caretaker has confirmed the clock is working as normal. The bells were not silenced at new year, and we've not received any complaints/reports of them not working on Hogmanay, before it or after it."
For more photographs of the New Year parties in Melrose and Galashiels find our page on Facebook.
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