Lothian Cat Rescue apology from council over bazaar blunder

EAST Lothian Council has offered its 'sincere' apologies after an animal charity had to scrap its biggest fundraising event after losing keys to the town hall.

Lothian Cat Rescue

Lothian Cat Rescue had to pull out of the pre-Christmas money spinner when Musselburgh Town Hall was still locked up as stallholders and the public arrived.

And because of the time of year, there seems little prospect they can reschedule.

It means they could lose out on mor ethan £1200 based on previous years totals.

Today, East Lothian Council said sorry for the blunder - which is still being looked into - and promised to do what it could to help.

In a statement, they said: “We apologise for the issues which led to the cancellation of this event. We are still investigating the matter, but we understand that in the absence of the usual caretaker at Musselburgh Town Hall, alternative arrangements were made to open the building but unfortunately the building keys could not be located by staff on duty that morning.”

They added: “We offered the organisers a room at The Brunton in Musselburgh as an alternative venue. A joiner was called, but due to the time required to open what is an old door, the decision was taken by the event organiser not to go ahead with the event.

“We offer our sincere apologies to Lothian Cat Rescue for the inconvenience and disappointment caused by our mistake, and would like to offer them a refund on their booking fee as well as a further booking at no charge.

“We are continuing to look into the circumstances around this incident, and will put the necessary arrangements in place to ensure that this type of issue does not happen again.”

The charity itself, which started in 1978, needs around £100,000 a year for food, litter and vets fees, rehoming almost 1000 cats and kittens a year.

Updating supporters on their facebook page earlier, they said; “We rely on the funds these events raise to help us meet the costs of looking after the almost 1000 cates and kittens we rehome each year.

“Typically our Christmas bazaar is our biggest and we would reasonably expect to make in excess of £1250.”

They added: “very sadly, even if we couldfind another venue we feel it is not feasible or reasonable to ask our amazing volunteers to give up more of their time - particualrly at this time of year when there are so many other commitments being juggled.”

“Our next event will be our February Bazaar.”

They added: “We are of course extremely disappointed.”

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