Kessock Bridge Fireworks on Youtube

[Caley]

[Johnboy]

Good video, Caley...... but what a waste of money..... :020:

[SMEE]

A complete waste of money AND I hope heads are gonna roll over this ?250k "donation" to the fireworks. Its disgusting with all the other areas where the money could have genuinely benefited ppl :020: :33:

Ad be intrested to know the REAL amount of money the farce that was Highland 2007 generated back into the community

[L_G]

Well I'm going to try a bit of justification.  I was working last night (taxi) and there were a lot of visitors in Inverness for the weekend, just for Highland lights.  The middle of January would usually be a really quiet time in town, but it was busy last night.  I got an extra couple of fairs, but these people stayed all weekend, booked hotels, shopped in our shops and bought torches for our charities.  It did make me think a bit, that it probably had put a bit of money back into the community.  The charities must have done pretty well from the torch sales.

[SMEE]

Converesly L_G, an Inverness charity that helps those that have nobody to help them do work around the home faces closure coz lack of funding! Much rather see the money pumped into the likes of that than private buisneses and day of the week. I find it hard to beleive some fireworks encouraged ppl to come here for the weekend. Am guessing the vast majority were here regardless

[tm4tj]

Justifications aside, I popped along near the bridge on the North Kessock side.  That must be the record amount of people ever in North Kessock.  Cars were still queueing past my house two hours after the event and my house is about a mile from the bridge.  A few thousand people converged in the village to see this spectacle and it was pretty good.  Traffic jams abounded i doubt you could have got a taxi into sneck until after eleven.  There must have been near ten thousand people in North Kessock.  By the way, the prime spot to view this would have been the des res of bridgeview drive carnac crescent area, right in line with the bridge, perfect location location location.

[L_G]

I hadn't thought that either, but I can assure you that is why they were here.  There were folk from Caithness and from the east coast too.  They definitely came for the event and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I'm sure that there were many ways that the money could have been better spent, but it wasn't budgeted for that.  I was't convinced before, but the numer of folk who attended and the feedback I've heard has swayed me slightly in favour.

[L_G]

Justifications aside, I popped along near the bridge on the North Kessock side.  That must be the record amount of people ever in North Kessock.  Cars were still queueing past my house two hours after the event and my house is about a mile from the bridge.  A few thousand people converged in the village to see this spectacle and it was pretty good.  Traffic jams abounded i doubt you could have got a taxi into sneck until after eleven.  There must have been near ten thousand people in North Kessock.  By the way, the prime spot to view this would have been the des res of bridgeview drive carnac crescent area, right in line with the bridge, perfect location location location.

I can assure you that South Kessock, as they now like it to be called, was also very busy.  The police were stopping cars from going down hours before it was due to start.  It took just as long to clear too, compete gridlock.

[SMEE]

Dont get me wrong peeps........am all for these events.....ad normally have been there too....but its the way this fireworks show was funded that sticks in my throat. They should have used money generated from the whole event....pressuming it made that much!

[Guest TinCanFan]

I must admit that I cause fairly far away but I could see the entire bridge and watched the entire display and have to admit that it wasn't as great as some people have tried to make out and was definately not worth ?250, 000.  I've seen back garden fireworks that were better than most of that.

[12th Man]

I once watched the 5th November fireworks from Milton of Leys and I thought it was rubbish, its not the same as being there in amongst it all at the Bught.

I would say exactly the same of the bridge fireworks.

Prior to Christmas I was dead against the idea but I have to admit it certainly took my mind off of my team getting knocked out the cup.

I hope they celebrate the 12th next year!

[RichieKass]

Appalled at the funding quite frankly it is unacceptable that money for good cause can be spent this way and no-one held accountable, lovely fireworks if i had been up north i may well have gone out to see them but it seems like a massive finale to a very quiet year of culture - it was very poorly marketed and undertaken IMO...

[Johnboy]

 There were folk from Caithness and from the east coast too.  They definitely came for the event and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Oh, come on L_G... What sort of entertainment do folk in Caithness and the east coast have to look forward to..?

They have to make their own entertainment in these areas..... and given that this website is viewed by families, I won't begin to describe the kind of activities some of them get involved in.....  :017:

[Fanoffooty]

I must admit that I cause fairly far away but I could see the entire bridge and watched the entire display and have to admit that it wasn't as great as some people have tried to make out and was definately not worth ?250, 000.  I've seen back garden fireworks that were better than most of that.

Yes i agree , nothing startling at all & a total waste of money

[Alex MacLeod]

At the end of the day, whether or not the display was deemed to be worth the money, it marked the end of, what was, a very successful Highland Culture Year. The ?250,000 from the common good fund is only a small part of the total ?40 million spend on the whole event year. Money that was donated by a large number of business's who all believe that their investments will see an excellent return in the years to come. As one politician said. why shouldn't Inverness benifit in the same way as Edinburgh and Glasgow. This whole year was about advertising the area and culture of the highlands to the rest of the world and about enticing the tourists to the beauties that are north of Perth.

We should all be proud that the city and its people are outward thinking about the future of this great area.

[kiltarlity]

Bottom line:

Fireworks are just money up in smoke

and totally bad for the enviromental.

Like LG I may have made a couple of tourist extra fares.  but the congestion, slowed me right down so I did less runs that night and so made less money than I usually would.

My wife finished a 12 hour hospital shift a 8.45 pm it took her well over an hour to get home to Kiltarlity.

Graham

[SMEE]

I was looking at the figures for the CGF....and whilst there was some dubious spending going on (?45 000 on new downstirs toilets in Town House, ?50 000 on renewing the glass doors in Victorian Market) there was a total of approx ?417 000 left. It appears that this firework money wasnt catred for so I can only imagine it comes out of the remaining ?417k.....which makes the whole episode even worse than it originally seemed IMHO

[Gabby]

Kiltarlity said

Bottom line:

Fireworks are just money up in smoke

and totally bad for the enviromental.

Like LG I may have made a couple of tourist extra fares.  but the congestion, slowed me right down so I did less runs that night and so made less money than I usually would.

My wife finished a 12 hour hospital shift a 8.45 pm it took her well over an hour to get home to Kiltarlity.

I say:

Did your wife drive home or walk home.  If she drove home she is just as bad for the environment.  Hypocrite!!!

In Brisbane we have a the River Festival that closes with a million dollar fireworks display.  Over 400 000 people, mostly families, flock to the bank of the river and have a great night.

Fair dinkum stop hiding behind 'environmental issues' just because you don't like fireworks - I'm sure there were plenty of people who did.  If you really care about the environment, shut off all the electricity in your house and walk to work!

[tm4tj]

:hiding03:

[Gabby]

Looks like it's safe to come out now TM4TJ  :004:

[tm4tj]

:015:

I heard the other day the fireworks cost more than the Sidney fireworks display.  VFM?

[RichieKass]

Fair dinkum stop hiding behind 'environmental issues' just because you don't like fireworks - I'm sure there were plenty of people who did.  If you really care about the environment, shut off all the electricity in your house and walk to work!

I think that's a bit unfair, if you're working late at a hospital good luck getting public tansport to the black isle home after work, as for walking  - it's not really an option now is it. I like fireworks, but i don't like fireworks which cost ?250,000 of public money. Fireworks are nice, but not that nice in my opinion. As for the environmental issue - there's clearly a difference between commuting home from work late at night in an area which doesn't exactly have sterling public transport and lighting up 250,000 of fireworks, it's not setting them off that is the problem, it is the biproducts and pollution created in manufacture which tends to damage the environment. In fact, why not invests that 250,000 into public transport/infrastructure and let those who want to watch fireworks either pay for a ticketed event or wait till november 5th.

[Alex MacLeod]

I was looking at the figures for the CGF....and whilst there was some dubious spending going on (?45 000 on new downstirs toilets in Town House, ?50 000 on renewing the glass doors in Victorian Market) there was a total of approx ?417 000 left. It appears that this firework money wasnt catred for so I can only imagine it comes out of the remaining ?417k.....which makes the whole episode even worse than it originally seemed IMHO

I think your being a little bit economical with the facts SMEE. The figures you refer to come from the half yearly budget reportwhich can be found here

The New Year celebration is mentioned in the statement but as stated it was dependant on other sources of funding coming forward as well. As for the so called "dubious spending" you mention. Considering the council takes in almost ?1.8 million in rent from its properties then budgeting to spend ?270,000 for the whole year must be seem as worthwhile. Over a million is budgeted for common good including ?350,000 to city centre transport improvements. The budget sees a surpluss of ?417,000 of which ?250,000 went to the celebrations. Dont you think, in all honesty, that they should be commended on their control of the figures instead of being ridiculed.

Please also note that the income to the common good fund comes from property rental and none from local taxes as has been assumed by many people. Local taxes would have been used to purchase the various properties many years ago but what I see now looking over the interim figures is an arm of the local authority making money from past investments and not having to rely on taxpayers monies to keep going.

[SMEE]

. The budget sees a surpluss of ?417,000 of which ?250,000 went to the celebrations. Dont you think, in all honesty, that they should be commended on their control of the figures instead of being ridiculed.

Au contraire Alex...i reffered to the YEARLY figures which can be found here http://www.highland.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/7E...DDA6/0/AC11.pdf.

Quite frankly, are you taking the p1ss when you say they should be commended for giving 250k of the remaining 417k for 15 mins of fireworks? Thats laughable to me. If i read correctly, the whole Highland 2007 event had an UNDERSPEND of several millions of of pounds.....so to take from the CGF is nothing short of scandalous and heads should roll!

[Guest TinCanFan]

Not in a million years was ?250K worth that sub standard firework display.