DALGETY Bay and Hillend Gala will come back “better and stronger” next year after this year’s event was cancelled due to lack of funds and volunteers.

Last week, the Press broke the news that the gala committee had been forced to call off the event, dealing a major blow to the town’s 50th jubilee celebrations.

The gala was to have been held in June, and a disappointed Cat Moyes, vice-chair, said the decision had been “absolutely soul-destroying”.

However, she hopes a postponement will provide more time to raise cash and attract volunteers for the 2016 gala.

She told the Press, “It was a combination of funds and volunteers. We’re trying to stay positive because we don’t want to put volunteers off.

“We have five months to go and we didn’t have the funding in place, and once you start paying for things, that would have been a major concern.

“We’re a really small team and it was asking too much of us to organise the gala and find additional funding. It was just an uphill battle.

“We wanted it to be a fun experience for the volunteers and committee but it was getting very difficult for us to pull it out of the bag.

“There were just too many ‘what ifs’. We needed financial support and bodies. It’s a large gala and the amount of work that goes into it is unbelievable.

“We’re hoping to come back better and stronger and hope that with the jubilee celebrations there will be something for everybody.” Cat said local community groups had also been hit by the postponement, as “all our charities use the gala as their major fund-raiser of the year”.

Although nearly £8000 has been raised, the gala needs around £20,000 to have a “gala in hand”, otherwise it would be back in the same position again next year.

Cat explained, “For us, £20,000 would have put us in a good position for a gala in hand next year.

“We technically could have put a gala on and people were talking about doing a scaled-back version. Because we take the event so seriously, we didn’t want to do that. We provide a stage and a marquee and we didn’t want to seem like a pauper’s gala.” Cat underlined that the committee was still in place and will carry on fund-raising to ensure next year’s event returns with a bang.

However, she added, “I’m somebody who never says never and I’m still hoping for a miracle. You never know what could happen.

“A big thank-you to everybody who has supported us and helped, and the church and sports centre who have always been very supportive.” Volunteers and donations are welcome. For further information, search for Dalgety Bay & Hillend Gala on Facebook or log on www.dalgetybayandhillendgala.co.uk.