Group set up to safeguard common riding festivals

A working group is being set up in a bid to safeguard the future of common ridings and festivals in the Borders in the face of ongoing financial pressures.

Increases in insurance and public liability cover have left most of the committees facing a shortfall in funding, despite many receiving support from local authorities to help offset operational costs.

Grants ranging between £400 to more than £9,000 are awarded to 29 festivals each year, including Cockburnspath gala week, Hawick Common Riding and the Braw Lads Gathering in Galashiels.

The working group will look at making festivals more financially sustainable, by reviewing current funding models and highlighting any required changes.

Every summer, towns and villages in the Scottish Borders elect principals, or standard bearers, to lead their communities in celebrating centuries-old traditions and conflicts.

An integral part of the festivities is mounted cavalcades checking the boundaries of their historic burghs and community lands.

Thousands of supporters turn out during the annual celebrations, in towns like Hawick, Selkirk, Peebles and Lauder, to support the principals and their mounted followers.

However, in the face of rising costs the working group will look at ways to help them continue.

A separate economic assessment study by independent consultants will examine the region's larger festivals with a view to accessing external funding.