The Way I see it...By Eric Baxter
Eric Baxter • Published 25 Jan 2012 15:00
Tireless devotion each year
IF it's the end of January, it must be the beginning of the Inverclyde Music Festival.
It's an exciting time for the hundreds of schoolchildren who get their first taste of what it's like to perform on a big stage.
And it's probably a nerve-wracking one for the parents and grandparents who go along to the town hall and the saloon on tenterhooks, with fingers crossed things go well.
Adults too, of course, get their chance to demonstrate their talents in a two-week festival, regarded as one of the most important in Scotland.
President Isabel Lind - now in her second year in charge - has, for the first time in the festival's history, detailed the exact costs involved in running it.
The figures will probably open a few eyes, not least the £4,700 to hire the town hall, which many possibly think is free of charge.
This is the 87th year of the festival.
Bills have soared over the years, with inflation now pushing the running cost up to £22,000.
None of this goes to the team of 20 who, as Mrs Lind says, devote their lives to the festival throughout the fortnight.
So professional are they, she points out, that the public assume automatically they must be rewarded handsomely for their contribution.
Not so.
For these valiant volunteers, it is almost a year-long labour of love that begins every March.
Here's to the next 87 years.
This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 25 Jan 12
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