Hansard

Like the other members who have spoken, I am delighted to participate in the debate and take the opportunity to talk about a couple of festivals that take place in my constituency. Like many of the festivals that we have heard about, both festivals that I will mention had humble beginnings but now occupy a prominent place in the local social calendar and bring economic benefit to the area.

The G66+Live festival—G66 is the local postcode—got under way this week with the official opening of an art exhibition in the Kirkintilloch campus of Cumbernauld College. It was unfortunate that Mr Russell, who was due to officiate, was unable to attend and do the honours. However, Mr Fergus Ewing pulled on the substitute's jersey and was an able deputy. Perhaps Mr Russell will make it next year, if he has not secured a lucrative recording deal by then.

G66+Live began in 2005 as a result of bad press about living in Kirkintilloch—goodness knows where anyone got that idea. Gordon Carmichael, a local parent and chair of the school board forum, whose cousin runs a festival in his home town in New Zealand, brought together a band of people, which became the committee that ran the first festival. The aim was to promote all the good things about living and working in and around Kirkintilloch and Lenzie, Milton of Campsie, Lennoxtown, Twechar and Torrance.

The festival's tag line is "celebrating success, developing potential". The aim is also to encourage local businesses to pick up on opportunities to generate more business and encourage local people to spend more of their money locally. G66 is intended to be an umbrella body that supports groups who want to put on an event during the defined festival period. Events are promoted free to every home in and around the G66 postcode area, using the Royal Mail's door-to-door delivery service, which is paid for by sponsorship from the local businesses who advertise in the programme. I have a programme with me: members might be able to see who is advertising in it—I refrain from mentioning names. Roughly 60 to 70 per cent of the funding comes from a community grant from East Dunbartonshire Council; the remainder comes from other grants and support from the local shopping centre. In practice, the committee organises many of the key events and an administrator is paid to organise the "our creative community" exhibition.

I am pleased to report that over the years the festival has grown steadily. It looks like this year's festival will beat all previous years, selling more tickets—that relates to a point that Dr McKee made, so it is sad that he has left the chamber—and generating more awareness. Many local groups are involved, including artists, dancers, musicians, businesses and charities. A browse through the programme reveals the variety of local organisations that take part.

The partnership between G66+Live and Cumbernauld College has been particularly successful and the "our creative community" exhibition involves many local artists. I am sure that if Mr Russell had been able to attend Monday's opening, he would have marvelled at some of the work that is on display.

Building up good audiences is a slow process and an active committee is needed to drive the process. At some point the festival must generate enough revenue to pay organisers and expenses. We are waiting to see what the future holds for G66+Live.

The Kirkintilloch canal festival is in its 10th year. Because the Antonine wall received world heritage status this year, the theme in 2009 is the Romans. The festival started life in 2000 as a small open day, which was entitled, "Coppers and Canals". Over the years, it has grown in popularity and size and it now attracts thousands of people every summer. Indeed, the minister for canals, Mr Stewart Stevenson, was a guest in 2007. He had a great time, although he did not sing for us, which was sad. The festival's profile has risen over the years. Indeed, it was nominated in 2000 for a VisitScotland thistle award in the best regional event category. East Dunbartonshire Council organises the canal festival in partnership with British Waterways Scotland, Strathclyde Police, Peel park community heritage association, the Seagull Trust, the Forth and Clyde Canal Society, the Auld Kirk museum, the Kirkintilloch initiative and the East Dunbartonshire campus of further and higher education. Last year's event was held on a particularly hot day and it attracted over 10,000 people, making a substantial contribution to the local economy. This year's event will be on the last weekend in August, which will mean another big boost locally, if the weather is kind. That is what happens with successful festivals, as we have heard.

Much has already been made of the impact of T in the Park, which is now second only to the Glastonbury festival in importance and audience numbers. However, just because it is sold out again this year does not mean that it will always be so—the experience of the Edinburgh festival tells us that. As the minister said, ways must be found to build and nurture successful festivals. With a captive audience at T in the Park, I suggest that the Government should, for example, put up its own culture tent and expose an enthusiastic young audience to the delights of, say, Scottish Ballet, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra or some of our more traditional music. For example, the Red Hot Chilli Pipers have shown what can be done to popularise bagpiping. Celtic Connections, which began in Glasgow to fill a wet week in January, now generates around £6 million in income for the city of Glasgow and around £8 million for Scotland as a whole. For every £1 spent by Glasgow City Council, another £37 comes back in income. In addition, it would be remiss not to welcome the minister's announcement of a £30,000 boost for the Edinburgh mela.

Mr Russell spoke earlier of his recording career, but the debate has unearthed other talent in our midst: Dr Allan and the Back district choir and Elaine Murray and Jamie McGrigor at the festival fringe. Who knows? We may have the makings of a fringe event at the festival of politics, although I hope that Elaine Murray's horse will not make an appearance. We have also heard about Ted Brocklebank's nocturnal habits, and it is no wonder that he carefully marks in his diary all the festivals that he wants to attend. We also had the bizarre suggestion of Iain Smith challenging the minister to a game of beach volleyball. Could that be another fringe event for the festival of politics? Well, let us hope not. However, if the minister wants to visit Twechar beach day this Saturday, I am sure that people will be pleased to see him.

Dr Allan spoke also of events whose origins are lost in the mists of time rather than being manufactured in the way that the two festivals that I mentioned earlier were. However, many gala days in towns around my area go back through the years, including the Kirkintilloch agricultural show, which celebrated its 150th anniversary this year. Jamie McGrigor referred to Dizzee Rascals—I think—but I should tell him that Dizzee Rascal is, in fact, a person and not a band. The song that Jamie McGrigor mentioned—

"What's that coming over the hill?
Is it a monster?"—

is a particular favourite of my three-year-old grandson. However, the pay-off line for him is to say, "It's my grandpa!"

The festivals that we have heard about are replicated across Scotland. Indeed, the list of them with which I was provided is many miles long, so I will not bore members by reading them all out. However, one in particular has been mentioned a couple of times: the Edinburgh military tattoo. As has been said, it not only generates a huge amount of money for Scotland, but celebrates Scottish music and brings visitors and performers from across the world, which gives it its unique atmosphere. The tattoo has achieved all that without receiving any Government subsidy or grant in the nearly 60 years that it has been going. A recent survey found that, among those asked, it was the most highly recalled Scottish tourist event or attraction, and over 90 cent believed that it is one of the very best events of the year and truly unique.

What we have been talking about and what we are celebrating are unique events in each of our own areas, and we should continue to celebrate them.