Collapse of Lord Semple's Gathering Company

[ThistleDown]

If this has already been posted elsewhere and I missed it, or if I am posting to the wrong forum Mods do your thing.

Lord Semple's 2009 Gathering Company has advanced into administration. Sad because, as is always the way in these things, it's the wee unsecured creditor who is left with the empty bag.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/s...st/8485152.stm

Rex too

[Paul]

There were other aspects of the financial situation of The Gathering captured within other thread, though there was nothing is recent as this.

It's ashame that it ended like this. I think next time round it should be purely funded by The Scottish Government and Edinburgh City Council, and not be privatised again. After all - Edinburgh benefited greatly from the amount of people who showed from elsewhere and supported both the event and local businesses.

[Mael Coluim]

A sad epilogue to a wonderful event.

[MacBean]

I can understand why people got upset that they lost money (and work) in the efforts to be welcoming. It feels a bit to me like hospitality gone sour....I suppose there was no way to have the tourists contribute?

[Jock Scot]

That is not good news for all concerned and I am genuinely sorry to hear that it has gone the way it has, but I can't say that I am surprised.

[ForresterModern]

They probably should have had the private organizing company put up a bond in a sizable amount to cover just these unforeseen and uncovered expenses. At least then the organizers would be paying the insurance comapny bond for the excess costs, instead of the little guys taking the hit---the people who should have had most to gain as a group from hosting the gathering. Too bad the financials were not worked out better in advance.

[Chas]

Can somebody, please, remind me what the cost of the 3 classes of tickets were.

Regards

Chas

[cessna152towser]

Sad but not unexpected.
As Scottish Highland Games go the Edinburgh Gathering was a very poor show, an embarrassment to Scotland, oh how I wished many of our overseas guests would have stayed two weeks longer and visited a real international Scottish run highland games with lots of activities, pipe bands and heavies from USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa etc. at North Berwick Games on 8th August.
Most of the clan tents at the Edinburgh gathering were run by groups from overseas rather than by Scots, this was a decision taken by the organisers, Lord Jamie Sempill will no doubt recall I gave him some grief in e-mails about this before the Edinburgh event took place, what was the point of a so-called Homecoming event when there were no Scottish based hosts on the clan tents to welcome you? Now perhaps you will understand why the lowland clans held our own Homecoming event, the Muster of the Clans, in Selkirk in September at which most of the clan tables were hosted by Scots, a big thanks is due to those overseas visitors from the lowland clans who were prepared to wait till September to visit Scotland and to attend our friendly event rather than the Edinburgh disaster.
The people I really feel most sorry for in this mess are the kids and parents from my local Hawick Scout Fellowship Pipe Band. This is a group of very talented young pipers and drummers, some of whom are just ten years old yet are capable of handling adult size pipes and drums. They were invited to play at the Edinburgh gathering and were promised a donation to their funds. I went along to watch them on the Sunday and missed them because the so-called "organisers" had re-scheduled them an hour earlier. Parents paid for two or three nights accommodation in Edinburgh for themselves and their kids at their own expense in good faith that the band would receive some funding. Shame on you Jamie Sempill as I see it right now you are a cad and a bounder, as I see it, morally, you really ought to pay the band the promised payment from your own personal wealth!
I genuinely do not like feeling the need to post this kind of controversial stuff on xmarks, I sincerely want you to tell me the band will receive the payment which they were promised in which case I will be happy to delete this post.

[Chas]

I can only agree, Alex. When I saw then at the Hawick Games last year, I was most impressed. Extremely difficult for a child to play an instrument and keep pace with adults and do both in a professional manner. A true credit to the town and most cruelly used. Lord Semple must have known before the day that monies could not be paid. For shame, for shame.

Regards

Chas

[ThistleDown]

It's ashame that it ended like this. I think next time round it should be purely funded by The Scottish Government and Edinburgh City Council, and not be privatised again. After all - Edinburgh benefited greatly from the amount of people who showed from elsewhere and supported both the event and local businesses.

We must remember that this idea, its production and, ultimately, its collapse, was that of a limited liabilty company. Within the production there were those who benefited greatly, some financially and some in terms of status. I would think that it was Lord Semple's idea that he should be a participant in both aspects; I suspect that he was paid a healthy salary to the end, but that his reputation as an opportunist has not been improved by his performance on this occasion. There is little that can be done about this other than to remember in the future.

Many (I think "most" might be going too far) Scots questioned the concept from the beginning; certainly most Scots who are members of this forum did. Lord Semple played his game well, however, by drawing in societies from countries where individual entrepreneurship is more highly prized than it is in Scotland. As these societies climbed aboard the bandwagon they forced the chiefs and many local organisations to join in or be left by the wayside. Most paid their way -- some quite highly -- in order not to be shamed by their absence. Eventually almost all were caught up in the hype and some even used their considerable influence to further Lord Semple's game. Two examples of this: the largest ever meeting of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs and the appearance of the Duke of Rothesay at the Gathering.

We must also remember that it was not Lord Semple's idea to lose money for himself or anyone else, or that small contributors should fail to receive what they were promised. He was simply inept at the level of expenditure control necessary to conduct such an event. As Paul said, these things in Scotland are best done by government or dedicated groups of not-for-profit individuals so that cost overruns are automatically covered by the taxpayers or by fund-raising efforts.

Rex, too