Fears of Overseas Criticism if Bannockburn Event is Scaled Back Even Further

By: Rodger Moffet - ScotClans

There are concerns that the already beleaguered Bannockburn Live event scheduled for the end of June this year may suffer even more set backs with one of the event days possibly being cancelled altogether.

Yesterday what was described by a Visit Scotland spokesperson as a technical issue with the online ticketing site has emerged to be part of a complete structural rethink of the event by the company behind the three-day celebration of the Battle of Bannockburn.

Last year the event was dealt a significant blow when it emerged that Stirling Council had penciled in National Armed Forces Day on the same day as the opening of the Bannockburn event. The National Trust for Scotland who run the Bannockburn site were furious about these plans which were made without their being informed. A few weeks ago it was discovered that the NTS had stepped back from the organisation of the live event with Visit Scotland taking charge and working with the Events Company, contracted to deliver the reenactment.

A representative from events company Unique Events said: “The contract between Unique Events and the National Trust for Scotland has recently been assigned over to Visit Scotland. Consequently, we are taking this opportunity to look at the overall offering for what will be a significant event in Stirling and, following the announcement of National Armed Forces Day, assessing the logistics required to ensure the success of both events.”

However members of the public yesterday were left confused when they were unable to purchase tickets for the Monday event. While a Visit Scotland representative explained that this was down to a ‘booking provider error’ enquiries with the Booking agency TicketSoup revealed that the decision to drop this day from the Schedule had been removed from sale at the ‘promoter’s request’.

With many tickets already sold and some tickets costing up to £75 this news has caused considerable anger and upset both here and overseas, many people have made travel plans including large clan groups and the whole event has once again been thrown into confusion.

President of US Clans Organisation COSCA said: “Again, why can't Scotland understand that they must COMMUNICATE with us on these matters. We are about to spend tens of thousands of dollars to hop over to this probably congested mess and we need DETAILS”

Representatives from Unique Events have said that they will make announcements once further details have been confirmed and Visit Scotland are intending to brief clan organisations shortly.