Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Festival boss warns over Speyfest’s future if they haven’t broken even this year

Post Thumbnail

The organiser of Speyfest has warned there will have to be serious discussion about the viability of continuing the Fochabers event– if they have not made a profit this year.

James Alexander admitted despite healthy crowds at the three-day Celtic music festival this past weekend, it was not clear if their books would end up in the black at the end of it.

Next year’s event would be Speyfest’s 25th outing – and bosses admit it would be “disappointing” not to get there.

Mr Alexander said: “It will come as no surprise that it is becoming harder and harder to make any money because the costs are rising round about us.

“It is not easy and despite having full houses now and again we still struggle to make a profit.

“Without giving too much away we had a decent year in 2018 but we were still well off making money.

“It can only happen so long so we need to break even this year.”

Thousands attended the East Street playing fields in the Moray town to see acts including Eddi Reader, Iona Fyfe and Blazin’ Fiddles.

Long-time chairman Mr Alexander added: “Saturday’s concert was pretty much sold out so the Eddi Reader effect was on full show there.

“She’s a very popular person and superb act.

“People just know we are consistent in finding good quality music.

“I was optimistic having seen the crowds last year so I’m reluctant to say we can make money this year.”

Speyfest organiser James Alexander warns over the viability of the festival which, despite good crowds, is not making a profit regularly.

The festival does not receive any funding from government and creative funding bodies.

“We are talking about thousands of pounds for tents, thousands for lights and sound equipment and that’s before you sell a ticket,” Mr Alexander said.

“I have warned the committee, as chairman, that if we don’t make a profit this year we are going to have to have a serious look at getting to Speyfest 25.

“We have a loyal following and it would a real shame if we could not reach that milestone – but I do think we are due a bit of help from the public purse.”

The committee intends to seek financial help from the Scottish and UK governments to help cover their costs should they continue to struggle to break even this year.