I Don’t Beelieeeeve it!

On the 9th of April at the North Coast Area Committee, Elisabethe Marshall opposed the grants which Largs Viking Festival had applied for: grants which have been applied for successfully over many years, and which are vital for the success of the festival. Since myself and Alan Hill are directors of the Viking Festival Committee and were therefore (rightly) barred from voting on our own grant applications,  the committee could not reach a decision and the grants were refused, at least until some solution is found to the impasse. 

You may ask why a local councillor would apparently want the Viking Festival to fail. I have to say it is difficult to see any defensible explanation for Cllr Marshall’s behaviour.

It can’t be political….. at least I can hardly believe that it the policy of North Ayrshire Conservatives for the Largs Viking Festival to be deprived of money and support…… can you?

continued…over the weekend I attempted to find out if Mrs Marshall was following local Conservative Group Policy. I wrote an email to Pat McPhee, the Conservative Group Leader on the Council. She replied that as she  wasn’t at the meeting and knew nothing of the relationships of the people on the Committee or the details of the running of the festival, it would be wrong to comment.

 However, she did say that there is no Conservative policy on the allocation of such grants.

 I replied that I was not clear what point she was making. The relationships of people on the committee should have no bearing: local grants to local festivals should not be political footballs or due to personalities. The question for me is: is Elisabethe Marshall acting with the support of the Conservative Group or not?

 If Liz is politicising the grants, (and even if she isn’t), the Tories risk ridicule and harm in Largs and beyond because of her behaviour. Ridicule and harm to the Conservative cause would normally be no skin off my nose, but I like to seek co-operation if possible and I have always believed that local issues are solved more easily if we can keep party politics out of it.

 I just thought, as Conservative Group Leader, Pat McPhee might like to talk to Liz and at least try to stop her causing a stink in Largs, and making a fool of herself and of the Tories in the bargain, before the whole thing blows up and becomes an issue in the North Coast Ward, at least. . 

 As of Monday evening 13th April, I have had no response to my second email….

 

More… late on 13th April I got an email from Elisabethe Marshall, although I make the presumption that it was written by  Tom.

 

It said, among other things

 

“Cllr Gallagher fails to make it clear that the Largs Viking Festival (LVF) Grant Applications were continued ( not refused as he states)  to the next meeting as were other grants.”

 

I said, if you read the post, that Liz Marshall opposed the grants at the meeting. She did. The applications were not successful. If they were successful, we would not be having this discussion.

 

“Further information on the operation of LVF has been requested.The grant was delayed last year for other enquiries”

 

Just because the grant was delayed last year doesn’t mean it has to be delayed this year.

 

“To talk of  “failure “of  LVF”

 

No-one has talked of “failure” of the Festival. In any public pronouncement I have been clear that the 2008 Festival was a relative success, and that the new Festival Committee would build on that success. 

 

“The reason  for the delay is that in the last few months according to Companies House  in Edinburgh, 6 Directors of Largs Viking Festival have resigned.”

 

 Liz resigned of her own volition and she knows exactly the circumstances which have seen the improvements in committee membership and attendance.  

 

There are other comments about the LVF committee, but as they are presented without evidence or context, they are IMO unfounded, so I have not reproduced them here.