Gaiety Theatre rescue chief resigns in disgust

Apr 8 2011 Ayrshire Post (main ed)

As the Ayr Gaiety Partnership descended into chaos this week with the resignation of two key members, chairman Iain Brown released this statement explaining his decision.

SOUTH Ayrshire Council voted last Tuesday to pay £29,400 to appoint a new design team to draw up plans for the Gaiety.

Having been involved for more than two years with council officials in putting together a business plan which would allow us to save the Gaiety, elect a charitable trust and bring this wonderful wee theatre back to life again, I feel I have been wasting my time.

I had a clear vision of how to make it a commercial success and provide opportunities for community groups to use a professional theatre to showcase their talents.

Sadly I have had enough.

You can only take so much kicking.

Some people have described us as amateurs. Perhaps we were in the theatrical sense but certainly not in the business sense.

I saw it as our task to put in place the building blocks which would give the Gaiety a secure future.

The Gaiety Partnership was made up of very talented individuals, all with different business backgrounds, but all had the common aim to make a difference and help the Ayr town centre regeneration project.

A common misapprehension that needs to be nailed is that we were going to run the theatre.

Our job was to make the finances available to secure its long term future.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Since we were to get no annual funding from South Ayrshire Council to support our efforts, we had to make sure we were putting in place a sustainable financial model to allow the Gaiety to generate a cash flow and produce profits, all of which would encourage people to see it as their own and something they wished to support.

It is worth recording that of the directors I had originally chosen, as of this week only THREE remain.

Those who felt we were getting nowhere and who asked to be excused were Andrew Pickles of Duncan and Company, Chartered Accountants; Graeme McKinstry, The McKinstry Company; David Cosh of Wallace Express; and Kirsty McDougall, former marketing manager of the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness.

To that list we must now add Alan Macdonald, chairman of the Dawn Group, and myself.

To lose one director is disappointing. To lose two is not good news. To lose three is careless, and to lose six tells the story of what it is like to deal with South Ayrshire Council.

Working in the background have been an extremely talented team of enthusiastic volunteers who have worked tirelessly, have rattled cans, persuaded companies and individuals to buy bricks and endow seats and who now face a much more difficult task of trying to persuade the public to donate their hard earned cash.

I could say I rest my case.

What about all the councillors in all this who appear to have little or no knowledge of what has been going on since January 2009?

A question I could ask is – have they been disenfranchised?

Handing over the theatre keys and giving the partnership a lease should have been a fairly simple task.

For me it has been a wasted two years.

To the people of Ayr and the surrounding community I can only say I am sorry. I had a vision, lots of new ideas and innovations, but that is another story.

Two years ago when I presented the partnership’s paper entitled ‘The Way Forward’ to South Ayrshire Council, we set out how we could restore and re-open the theatre.

I felt quietly confident that having been chosen as the preferred bidder this would kick start a journey that would see the curtain go up again.

Nothing warned me of what was to follow and I was shocked by the inability of the council’s Gaiety team to grasp the simple fact that the partnership was giving them a great opportunity to secure a bright new future for the theatre.

The partnership consisting of seven Ayr business people had given a commitment to endeavour to make the Gaiety a successful theatre again and surely it was sensible to hand over the keys and let them get on with it.

After all, they were not transferring the building, only agreeing to a lease.

What transpired over the months that followed were a series of setbacks, which we took in our stride, from the men in suits in Wellington Square.

They showed little interest in our initiative, and took the best part of two months to comment on our business plan.

No doubt they were consulting with consultants.

When they did, they stated it was not robust enough, did not have “a wow” factor and that our pensions proposals for our staff did not meet with their aspirations.

They totally lost sight of the fact that they would no longer be in charge of such matters.

Thinking out loud at the time, I posed the question – were they looking for a plan with a page three girl on the front cover or perhaps The Ladyboys of Bangkok, who they had booked for the Citadel?

They clearly believed they held all the cards, and that the £500,000 donated by the Scottish Government for the Gaiety and the sum ring fenced by themselves to get the show on the road, was going to be controlled and spent by themselves, not the partnership.

The alarm bells were now ringing.

The story of the Scottish Government’s grant is a sad and sorry one in itself and one can only hope that it becomes public.

Perhaps the local press could investigate exactly how this half million pounds was spent, how much they paid to consultants and how effective it was.

To me it was a huge waste of public money, money that could have been spent much more wisely.

Still, we ploughed on believing that things would improve and that they would hand the reigns over to us.

Little did I realise that I was to become the fall guy, the council wanting me sidelined from the partnership and to be replaced as chairman.

I believe that the reason was they had were upset by my criticisms on their handling of the closure of Girvan swimming pool.

This was a classic case of a community trying to help itself.

A local charitable company had been set up – £450,000 raised in three months.

They incredibly said our business plan put together by renowned local chartered accountants and plans drawn up by professional architects was badly flawed and deemed by them as “not fit for purpose”.

Some months later when I attempted to get an update from a councillor on progress with regard to the Gaiety it was quite clear that there was no communication between council officials and councillors who represent the people.

They were being kept in the dark, or on a need to know basis only.

What followed was a decision by the council that I could no longer take part in the partnership’s meetings with the council, and that I must stop immediately talking to the press and local radio about the Gaiety.

The alternative was for them to close down the partnership and look for another partner or option for their theatre.

In effect, I had been gagged. Naturally for the sake of the Gaiety I reluctantly agreed.

Before Christmas the council set up a steering group, including three of their councillors, two officials and ourselves to hopefully move the procurement process to a stage where the council could vote on handing over the keys.

This quickly ran into trouble and came to nothing.

Our designs and plans for the cafe-bar, arts centre, box office and workshops had effectively been stopped in their tracks and the council have set the negotiations back several months.

A consultant has again been engaged at yet further expense to the council and a new design team appointed at a cost of £29,400 – the partnership having already spent £20,000 on their plans.

It now appears likely that the Gaiety will not be handed over in 2011.

I have had to ask myself if we can really continue the fundraising momentum against this background?

The public must truly be fed up and most of the volunteers would be happy to walk away at any time.

My understanding is that they are going to await a meeting with those left in the partnership to decide what they are going to do. The fundraising shop is at present closed until after Easter.

Having now worked for the best part of a year with my hands tied behind my back, I have reached the conclusion that I can play no further effective role in moving the process forward.

I am extremely disappointed and saddened to tender my resignation to the partnership, having worked extremely hard for something I truly want to see happen and to produce some good news for the town.

I believe I have no alternative.

I wish those who are continuing all success and hope that their efforts will eventually get a better result for the people of Ayr.

They are long suffering and deserve better.

Iain Brown,

Founder chairman

Ayr Gaiety Partnership