CORONATION celebrations will go ahead in Galashiels this summer despite the “paltry” amount of funding on offer from the council.

Controversial plans to set aside around £35,000 from the local authority’s COVID recovery fund for events over the historic weekend were narrowly voted through in February.

It means that each of the Borders’ 69 community councils have access to £500 to put on coronation parties, regardless of the size of area it covers.

Galashiels Community Council chairwoman Judith Cleghorn told this month’s meeting that she had been weighing up whether to go ahead with events considering the “paltry” amount of cash.

“After a lot of consideration I think we should,” she said. “For a lot of people there will never be another coronation.

“It seems to me that King Charles deserves our recognition and Galashiels deserves an event.”

Among the ideas floated for the weekend in May were a fancy dress competition on Channel Street, a commemorative coin for children, decorative shop fronts and an afternoon tea event.

“It’s going to be an exercise of doing as much as we can for as little as we can,” said Ms Cleghorn. “We just need some fun.”

She added that nothing was written in stone and it was just a starting point.

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On the plans, Scottish Borders Council (SBC) leader and Galashiels councillor Euan Jardine, of the Conservatives, said: “It’s great. I think it will bring the town together and I like the fancy dress idea, it gets people out and taking pictures.”

Fellow town representative Fay Sinclair, of the SNP, asked about funding.

Ms Cleghorn said that she was hoping to raise around £2,000 including the £500 from SBC and the same amount from the Borders Railway Community Partnership.

The coronation ceremony is due to go ahead on Saturday, May 6.

The government has confirmed that a bank holiday will take place in the UK on Monday, May 8, in recognition of the event.

Emily McGowan, one of the founders of the Heartland Market which is held in Galashiels on the first Saturday of each month, said events had both economic and social benefits – especially for the elderly.

“When there are opportunities for the town it’s wrong for the town to turn that down,” she said. “I think it should be done, irrespective of how you feel about it.”

Ms McGowan added that the plan was to hold the market on May 6.

“There are no intentions to not run it, we feel like we have made that commitment to the town,” she said. “People might want to be out and celebrate.”

She said that the possibility of running a second market on May 8 was being explored.