Homecoming Scotland II
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A budget of £3m will be made available for Scotland's second Homecoming extravaganza in two years time. The 2014 event will take place in the year of the Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup, and the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn.

The first Homecoming in 2009 was said to have generated £53.7m for the Scottish economy. But the showpiece of that event, The Gathering 2009 Ltd, went bust after receiving £670,500 in taxpayers' cash.

THE man who led efforts to secure the new £16 million arena at Edinburgh Castle esplanade has been put in charge of Scotland’s second “Homecoming” celebrations. Tom Chambers has been hired by Scottish Government agency EventScotland to head up the team responsible for the £5.5 million initiative. To be jointly organised with VisitScotland, which will lead marketing efforts, the year-long drive will coincide with the Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup and the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn in 2014.

Mr Chambers spent several years at the Tattoo, which raised money from the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and Edinburgh City Council for the new spectator stands and corporate hospitality boxes. Mr Chambers said: “As with Homecoming 2009, collaborative working will be the key to success in 2014, building on existing Homecoming partnerships and those established during the next few years.” It emerged yesterday that £3m of the overall £5.5m budget was being ringfenced to support Scotland’s events industry. The pot will be part of an extra £10m in VisitScotland’s budget for 2014-15.

A NEW international clan gathering to be staged during the next “Homecoming” celebrations is set to need another £700,000 of public money, The Scotsman can disclose. Stirling Council has revealed the expected bill for the centrepiece of the city’s celebrations to mark the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn.

Council leaders say it will be modelled on the controversial Edinburgh event, which left a huge trail of debts despite being given £500,000 in grants and an emergency bail-out of £180,000 from the Scottish Government. More than 100 private sector creditors are still a combined £400,000 out of pocket.

AMBITIOUS plans to hold a second Gathering of the Clans during the 2014 Homecoming celebrations have been scrapped, Scotland on Sunday has learned. The Gathering, due to be held in Stirling shortly before the independence referendum, has been dropped amid fears the event could lose ­money.

Last night Stirling Council leader Corrie McChord said there had been reservations about the cost of the event, which had been estimated at around £700,000. “We were aware of what had happened in 2009 with various organisations, small businesses, the Scottish government and Edinburgh City Council all losing out as a result of the event,” he said.