Why has the Glasgow Green fireworks display been axed?

Why has the fireworks display on bonfire night at Glasgow Green been axed?

Was there a secret plot hatched somewhere in the shadows, late at night, deep in the HQ of Glasgow Life to kill it off?

We may need to get Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot or maybe even Mystic Meg to find out the answer.

For the second year in a row the event, which was popular with families from the city and beyond, has not been organised with no reason given.

It now looks like it has been scrapped for good.

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It has not been held since 2019 after the Covid pandemic, then COP26 put paid to a big gathering of thousands of people in the park.

And Glasgow Life, which organises these events, has said it is not going ahead this year and has no plans to organise a display in future.

No specific reason has been given.

 Is it cost? Has the price of fireworks rocketed?

Can the council budget only stretch to squibs and bangers these days?

If so, then perhaps Glasgow Life can follow the old - now dead or at least dying - tradition of what was basically children begging, sitting outside pubs and busy places with a stuffed Guy Fawkes and asking passers-by “Penny for the Guy?”

Could that raise much-needed income for the cash-strapped organisation?

Or is it that the event doesn’t raise enough money to make it lucrative enough to stage anymore?

Or has it been cancelled due to a lack of interest?

Has the Glasgow public suddenly become uninterested in a night out with a big fire and a colourful pyrotechnic display?

This seems unlikely as thousands have attended before.

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So many questions and the Glasgow Times has tried to get the answers.

But we don’t know because, while we are told there are no plans to hold the event again, we are not being told why.

The statement from Glasgow Life in full, again: “In recent years we have focussed on delivery of winter and Christmas entertainment aimed at attracting visitors who will also enjoy Glasgow’s shopping, entertainment and nightlife sectors across several weeks in the lead-up to and during the festive period.

"We haven’t staged a fireworks event in recent years and have no current plan to do so this year or in the future.

"We are very much looking forward to unveiling our plans for Christmas in due course.”

So, to be clear, because someone has to, the Glasgow Times asked a question about Bonfire Night and got an answer about Christmas.

It is a simple question, not exactly rocket science.

Is this a good thing, that the biggest organised bonfire and display may be lost to the city’s cultural calendar?

Or will it mean that people will be more likely to hold their own?

It would be a pity if this were to be the end of the organised fireworks display and the events around it on the Green.

Many people enjoyed it, some, like the show people who organise the funfair on the night, rely on it as part of their calendar of events and some businesses in the east of the city centre no doubt get a lift in trade on the night.

There is the argument that an organised, professional display is better than people letting off their own fireworks and building bonfires in places that might not be the safest.

Not everyone enjoys Bonfire Night or indeed the period leading up to it.

In some parts of the city, fireworks seem to be let off weeks before November 5 as soon as they are available.

Small children get distressed and pets are terrified.

A&E departments are busy with injuries, some horrific, when handling fireworks goes horribly wrong for some people.

The Fire Brigade has its busiest night of the year as many bonfires are lit which are or quickly become unsafe.

The Fire and Rescue Service advice is they recommend going to an organised display and warning of the dangers of bonfires and fireworks.

The scrapping of the biggest, free organised event renders this advice null and void for many people.

Glasgow loves a good slogan.

The city gave us some of the best-known and most successful, like Glasgow’s Miles Better, and People Make Glasgow.

The message being promoted this winter is Glasgow Loves Christmas.

Next month, however, it is No Pyro. No Party.