MELA to refund cost of tickets – Announcement due on National Performance Centre – Community council nominations open today – 80% of tickets sold for the Festival – Funding from Hearts fans
Edinburgh’s biggest world music event was forced to close its doors yesterday afternoon and cancel the appearance of their headline act The Orb due to safety issues when the wind speed whipped up to dangerous levels. The organisers have decided to refund the cost of tickets to those who bought tickets after 3:00pm on Sunday afternoon.
They have issued the following statement:-
“Public safety is our number one priority when organising the Mela. Given the weather forecast for this weekend and the nature of the venues used in our festival, we monitored wind speed very closely all day.
Due to extremely high winds and circumstances completely beyond our control, the Edinburgh Mela was forced to close the site at around 4.45pm today. It was thought at first that this would be a temporary closure and our team worked very hard to reopen the site; however at just after 7pm we were forced to completely close the site and cancel our remaining shows.
At just after 4pm we had to close the Main Stage due to a structural issue caused by high winds. At this point we thought it would be possible to re-stage our Main Stage programme on the Mix Stage, and informed the public of this. At around 4.45pm, wind speeds exceeded the safety rating of some of our smaller stalls and we were left with no alternative but to temporarily close the site while we dealt with that issue. We proceeded in the full expectation that we would still be able to put on a reduced programme on the Mix Stage, and tried to keep the public as informed as possible about updates. We were still working hard to try and resolve the issue and return to a reduced programme of events as quickly as possible. However, at just after 7pm the wind-related structural issue with the Main Stage became much worse, leaving the site unsafe for the public to re-enter, and all personnel on site had to be completely evacuated.
Full refunds will be available to anyone who entered the site after 3pm on Sunday or was unable to pick up a pre-paid wristband before site closure. We will also refund any members of the public with pre-bought unused wristbands. Wristbands need to be returned to the box office by post to:
Edinburgh Mela Box Office
180 High Street
Edinburgh EH1 1QS
Customers who pre-booked wristbands are asked to include a print-out of their confirmation email. Our staff will then confirm serial numbers and refund tickets accordingly. Postage will also be refunded.
The Edinburgh Mela organisers would like to thank our audiences and performers for their understanding. The overflowing of support we’ve received has been wonderful and has meant a huge amount to us. We’re obviously hugely disappointed that this has happened, and we’ll begin planning an even bigger and better event for 2014 (almost) straight away.”
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The council has been spending a lot of time and effort in putting together the bid to be able to site the new National Performance Centre for Sport here in Edinburgh. The decision will be made this week but ahead of that this weekend, some of the country’s top sports coaches and club leaders got together at Heriot-Watt – one of the proposed locations for Scotland’s National Performance Centre for Sport.
The two day conference, part of Edinburgh’s Festival of Sport, attracted some of the country’s leading coaches and sports figures who looked at ways of building stronger clubs and developing quality coaches in Edinburgh and the East of Scotland.
Edinburgh is up against Stirling and Dundee in the bid to be chosen as the location for the £30m sports development centre.
Ahead of delegates from across the country arriving at the Heriot-Watt University campus, Professor Steve Chapman, Principal of Heriot-Watt University, said: “This is a tremendous opportunity to support the spread of professional best-practice and performance excellence in sports clubs, which are vital springboards for future top Scottish sports men and women.
“We’re always delighted when the University attracts top class sporting professionals, and this event clearly underpins our bid to host the National Performance Centre for Sport. The development of athletes who can compete successfully on the world stage will not be achieved by facilities alone and it is vital that the NPCS is central to the development of world class support personnel and services required to support our athletes in the pursuit of excellence.”
Edinburgh’s Sports Conference is supported by the City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh Leisure, sportscotland, Glasgow 2014 and Club Sport Edinburgh. The two-day conference will run from Saturday 31 August to Sunday 1 September and will include both club and coaching workshops for different sports and levels. The sessions will also include tips to develop sporting skills and business essentials.
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Community council elections will be held on 24 October 2013 and the nominations open today until 23 September for those people interested in local issues who want to become members. Elections will only be held if there are more people nominated than places available.
You have to be on the electoral roll and over 16 to be considered eligible to stand. Alternatively community groups can also be nominated to serve on the community council. If you are an individual wanting to stand on the community council then you can download a nomination form by clicking here.
Community councils must be consulted on planning applications and licencing applications in their areas, so if this is the kind of thing that you are passionate about then you can find out where your local community council is here. There are a few areas which do not have a community council and the City of Edinburgh Council and the local Neighbourhood Partnership will assist in setting up any new ones in the city.
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The 67th Edinburgh International Festival was brought to an official end last night with the Virgin Money Fireworks Concert gathering approximately 250,000 Edinburgh residents and visitors across the city to share in the annual spectacular performed live by The Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Pyrovision.
Over 2,200 artists from 36 nations, almost 800 of them from Scotland, have filled Edinburgh’s stages over the last 24 days in 220 performances and events.
Overall, the Edinburgh International Festival has sold over 80% of all available seats for performances, with nearly half (48%) sold out.
Festival Director, Jonathan Mills said:- ‘I would like to thank all those audiences who have joined us over these three heady weeks who have helped to create such a fantastic atmosphere in theatres and concert halls, and around the City. Edinburgh International Festival 2013 has been enjoyable, exciting and thought provoking. Artists have joined us from around the world, bringing fresh perspectives on ideas and technologies familiar or strange, old and new.
‘Audiences have flocked to an epic Chinese version of Coriolanus and to intimate late night rare live performances of Stockhausen and Stroppa. We’ve been proud to present numerous world premieres including Leaving Planet Earth and the wonderful showcase of new choreographers in Dance Odysseys. The International Festival has once again brought a mix of large scale, high profile events and artists unfamiliar in the UK, with world premieres, commissions and partnerships which continue to reinforce the Festival’s uniqueness and provide Festival-goers with a magical summer experience. A special thanks must go to all the funders, sponsors and supporters who made this Festival possible.’
It is estimated that overall attendance at this year’s Festival will be over 400,000 with Scottish ticket buyers joined by those travelling to Edinburgh from 66 nations. Approximately 158,500 tickets have been issued and the total box office income reached over £2.43million.
China’s Beijing People’s Art Theatre gave an epic, heavy metal laden performance of Coriolanus to over 4,000 people over two nights and attracted media interest from around the world including MTV, China Central Television (CCTV) and BBC China.
Incredible performances from Valery Gergiev, Daniil Trifonov, Michael Gambon and Barry McGovern, Patti Smith reading the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson, Frankfurt Opera and Scottish Ballet’s intimate yet vast undertaking in Dance Odysseys, as well as visual arts exhibitions based on the work of Leonardo da Vinci and Nam June Paik have all excited critics and audiences alike.
Young people signed up in their hundreds to access concerts and music events at the Festival for free. In the pilot year of this partnership with The City of Edinburgh Council over 670 young musicians became Young Musicians Passport holders. The most popular events among passport holders were City Noir, La Belle et la Bête and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
In the virtual world the Festival was visited by people from 154 countries with 63% being new visitors to the website, eif.co.uk. Thousands of users interacted with the Festival’s three new mobile and social media apps.
48,772 minutes of Festival footage were watched on the Festival’s YouTube channel, on Facebook 4.9m brand impressions were seen by 2.3m users and 60,740 people actively engaged with the Festival.
The Festival’s social media followers doubled last year’s numbers and reached 54,905.
Over the autumn the Festival will release a series of audio and video podcasts online showcasing highlights of this year’s programme, and particularly the talks and conversations which explored the ideas and the artists that underpinned it. The Festival will also continue its year round work in Edinburgh’s schools.
Concerts still to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 include those of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the closing concert from the Usher Hall, Verdi’s Requiem.
The Edinburgh International Festival in 2014 will run from 8 to 31 August.
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Today is a very significant day in Scottish football history as the greatest movement of supporters begins in earnest. The first direct debits from at least 7,400 supporters (and rising) will be drawn down by the Foundation of Hearts from today. Fans have been asked to sign a direct debit for anything from £10 a month upwards to ensure that the ownership of the club is brought under the control of the Foundation who will then run the club with this working capital.
Even now it is not too late to pledge your monthly payment. Find out more on the Foundation of Hearts website.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
