AN EXPLOSION in the price of fireworks threatens to put a damp squib on Bonfire Night celebrations in Innerleithen.

Plans are already being firmed up for this year’s show and organisers are seriously worried about the costs.

Innerleithen, Walkerburn and Traquair Rotary Club has raised thousands of pounds for charity across more than 30 years of staging the traditional event.

But that could all end amid a sharp rise in costs.

Rotary chairman Robin Tatler, a Tweeddale East councillor, said: “It would be a massive loss to the community if the fireworks did not happen.

“It is going to take us everything we have got just to see if we can keep going this year.

“If we don’t get enough money we cannot run it, it is as simple as that.”

It is not all gloom as two sponsors, the town’s Durty Brewing and Rathburn Chemicals, in Walkerburn, have guaranteed about 50 per cent of the costs.

The race is now on to find other sponsors.

Mr Tatler added: “We ringfence £1,000 for the fireworks and we will open a Crowdfunding page.

“The club was formed in 1989 and this is our major yearly fundraising event.

“The key objective was to provide something that would be safe and fun as well as raising money.

“Today people are encouraged to go to public shows and we have contributed to safety for years with a professional show at a reasonable price.”

When the Rotary Club started running the show, in the early 1990s, the fireworks cost between £500 and £1,000. After expenses were taken out, donations from the public left a profit of around £2,500 for charitable causes.

Mr Tatler said: “We were fortunate that one of our members, Frank Neville, did all the training for the insurance to become a fully qualified pyro-technician and has run the show the whole time.

“He has also recruited a second fully qualified person.

“The cost of the fireworks, which come from China through an agent, has gone up in the past two to three years, with inflation and the cost of living.

“Frank has managed to keep the cost down with lots of negotiation but it has come to a point where we might not be able to continue.”

Money is collected on the night from the 500 spectators with a bucket collection and in recent years a hand-held card reader.

“People are very generous as they come in and cheekily we ask on the exit too and many people donate a second time,” said Mr Tatler.

“They know they are donating to the local community.

“The money always goes to local charities such as the Silver Band, school activities, pipe band, amateur dramatics, St Ronan’s Care Home and the Horticultural Society.

“The main focus at the moment is, ‘Let’s make sure it happens on November 5’.”

The GoFundme page can be found at: gofund.me/9e1c15f0