Musselburgh Party Prices

[John S]

First thing to say (before I lapse into Grumpy Old Man mode) is that as always I thoroughly enjoyed the Scottish Champs at Musselburgh and I think that what Scot & his crew have achieved over the last 5 years (£35000 +) to various charities is amazing. Any minor criticism has therefore to be seen as what is, ie minor.

My concern (and it didn't affect me as I had paid for the whole weekend anyway) is the disparity in prices between the Friday and Saturday night parties. The Friday event (8pm - 1am) cost £7, while the Saturday event (7.30pm - 12pm) cost £15 for anyone who hadn't been to the competition during the day.

There's maybe a marketing reason for the difference, eg price the Friday event cheaply to encourage attendance, and/or make the Saturday evening expensive to maximise numbers at the afternoon competition. And if so, maybe it worked.

But in terms of "dances for their dollar", anyone who chose just to attend on the Saturday evening rather lost out, particularly as there was a mass (if temporary) exodus of dancers about 8pm when the party started. And having the blues room (which was an excellent innovation this year, by the way) meant that those who were left were split between the 2 dance areas.

So my suggestion would be for next year, to have both evening parties priced at £10 each. I don't think it would make much difference to the numbers choosing to attend on the Friday night, but it might encourage others on the Saturday night.

OK, it's much ado about a minor criticism, it's just the way I am!

[ducasi]

Can't say I have a strong opinion on the price for the Saturday night, beyond that I'd say about £12 sounds right... £15 isn't so bad when it's for charity...

For the Friday party, £10 sounds a bit high... It wasn't especially well-attended, and at that price I'd imagine it'd be even less so... (Though as I was there mainly for a bit of pre-comp practice, this wasn't really an issue for me.)

Thing is – the ticket receipts go to charity, so I don't greatly mind slightly higher prices... I don't imagine that the profits from the bar and food sales went to charity though, and that's my biggest complaint about prices – £2.50 for a pint of warm Irn Bru is a bit OTT.

(BTW, the Friday event was only to 12 midnight.)

[Easter Bunny]

Originally Posted by ducasi

Thing is – the ticket receipts go to charity, so I don't greatly mind slightly higher prices... I don't imagine that the profits from the bar and food sales went to charity though, and that's my biggest complaint about prices – £2.50 for a pint of warm Irn Bru is a bit OTT.

£1.40 for a very small bottle of warm water was a bit much as well - couldn't tap water be provided ? A few of us purchased 2.5 litre bottles (ice cold) from the SPAR opposite the venue for 87p - trouble was most of my 'evening' bottle was consumed by someone else - they were kind enough to put the empy bottle back in my bag though! - bless, how ecolologically sound of them. Just meant I had to carry on paying the £1.40 each time for my water as it was so incredibly hot in the venue.

Apart from the drink prices and the heat in the main ballroom, (why was it much cooler in the blue room on the same air con system ?) - I have no complaints, the event was superbly run, very enjoyable, as last year, and the usual Scots warm welcome (could have done with a little more vocal support for the showcases though).

to all the organisers for their hard work.

[Piglet]

I paid the full amount for the full weekend and have no complaints about either night- I had an absolute ball and enjoyed this year much better than last year for two reasons:

1. I didn't get any lousy dances with any yankers this year,
2. The Blues Room

Re: the tap water situation. The bar staff explained when asked that they wouldn't serve the tap water - as it isn't cold - rather luke warm and nasty and probably wouldn't be safe to drink.

(Remember there were no cold water taps in the ladies? Hopefully this might be rectified when they do their refurbishment - along with perhaps air conditioning - Scot if you can influence this at all then I'll love you forever )

My tip for next year (or any year) is to come with your own water - I've done this for the last 2 years and I'm happy. The first year the bar ran out of water and I had to switch to apple juice which was served in small glasses and I didn't find it quenched my thirst at all.