THE HUGELY popular Dalgety Bay and Hillend Gala could be under threat in the same year that the town is celebrating its 50-year history.

A series of events is set to be held throughout 2015 to mark Dalgety Bay’s Jubilee Year, but the biggest of them all could be cancelled because of lack of funds and volunteers.

Cat Moyes, vice-chair of the gala, thinks it would be “tragic” if it was cancelled, especially in the special year.

“Last year we had issues with the lack of volunteers,” she said. “It costs about £13,000 to put on the gala and there’s not enough funding in the pot.

"It’s all done through grants and fund-raising so we are desperate for sponsorship.

"We have two large marquee tents and we’re looking for a local business to sponsor one of them.

“Next year is the 50th year celebrations for Dalgety Bay and we’re going for the Golden Gala.

"There will be lots of events in Dalgety Bay and it would be tragic if the gala didn’t happen.

"We wanted an ‘olde worlde’ theme - we’ve got loads of plans and ideas but it comes down to funding.

“We really need more volunteers – it’s the same people who always come forward.” The gala, which is due to take place in June next year, is a huge event and Cat thinks that it would be a shame for people to miss out on it.

“Around 7000 to 8000 people come each year from all over Fife – irrelevant of the weather they still come!” she said.

“There’s a stage, processions, around 40 community groups and we’re hoping to have a farmer’s market too.

"We just try to make it a vibrant event for the whole community, a weekend of events.

“We’d normally have funding but there were issues with this year’s gala with very few volunteers. Those we had did a spectacular job to put it on at all.

“I left last year but came back because I’m so passionate about it.

"Sandra Henderson, the chair of the gala, is the driving force and she practically works full-time on it from March until June.” When it came to thinking about the prospect of the gala being cancelled, Cat added, “It would be absolutely devastating for the team. The amount of work that goes into it is phenomenal.

“The community needs to come forward if they want the gala to happen. It’s one of the highlights of the Bay, it involves the whole community.

"They don’t have to be massively involved, everything helps, from sponsoring to donating raffle prizes. Anything from a bottle of booze to a holiday in the Bahamas! Anything helps.

“We’ve also got a Christmas fundraising event coming up called the Snow Ball which is taking place at The Compass in Dalgety Bay on 29th November.

"It’s going to be a really fun event, with real live snowmen, so it would be good for people to come along to that.” To buy tickets for the Christmas fundraiser, or to find out more about sponsoring and volunteering, visit dalgetybayandhillendgala.co.uk or www.facebook.com/groups/dalgetybayandhillendgala.