Grassmarket Resident's Association

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"People in Pyjamas"
We had some interesting activity this weekend (Mon 24/08/2009). Our newly declared "events space" seems to be working - for some.
 
The scale of busking in Grassmarket reached dizzying heights with large scale music ensembles and cheering crowds of around 100 people from 11pm to midnight on Friday night.
 
The tattoo had barely left the esplanade when around 20 performers set up to play, Hard to say with accuracy what the musical ensemble comprised of but drums were dominant. There were at least 5 people who phoned the police and the CEC Noise Team. And here's the interesting part; complaints about buskers are NOT handled by the CEC Noise Team these are processed by the police; while complaints about music inside pubs are NOT handled by the police they are processed by the CEC Noise Team.........
 
What it amounts to though is the same outcome - nobody does anything about it except the people who live here.
 
There were 5 of us (2 still in their jammies) tackling the buskers asking them to stop playing and we were ignored. Some of us were told that if we didn't like it we shouldn't live here. Eventually a random Community Safety van was flagged down and begged to move the buskers on, and the ensemble made their way along Kings Stables Road........
 
"People in Pyjamas" is the new Community Action Force. Forget the CCTVs, The Police, The Noise Team, The Community Safety Strategy, it's up to US. Nobody is coming out on their white charger to sort this out; we are basically on our own.

Volunteers for the above Community Action Force should apply stating their preferred colour of matching slippers................
 
Another View
Most of you will have heard the beltane drummers last night and hopefully called the police. A few of us went down and asked them to stop but they refused, gave us sarky comments and carried on. Apparently we shouldn't live here if we don't like it. They don't care. Some others also came down but there was nothing more we could do.
 
Police were called by at least 5 people, to varying degrees of success. We were not allowed an incident number without being able to tell them exactly where in the Grassmarket the large crowd and loud noise was coming from!
 
We flagged down a 'community safety' van in the end who spoke to them and they didn't play any more (although looked like they were packing up already). After 45 minutes out there we never saw the police so don't know what time they came in the end. Without that community van we'd have been completely on our own down there. What are we expected to do!
 
This morning some people have been emailing PC Burt, councillors etc. I have emailed all 3 councillors, the police general area email address and PC Burt to explain what happened and emailed Beltane (copying in PC Burt and Joanna Mowat) expressing my anger at the disgusting, disrespectful and obnoxious attitude of the drummers and how can they think the whole thing was acceptable and if we ever see them again ... etc etc.
 
Please, if you heard the noise get in touch with everyone you can!

 Reaction...

I just read with interest the comment about the Beltane Drummers:

 

Contrary to what the page says above, after the Beltane drummers were asked to stop by two residents they stopped within half a minute. They did not "carry on".  Are you confusing the Beltane drummers with other performers in the areas? There was a french group with angle grinders and drum style tubes, are you confusing both groups?


The beltane drummers were certainly not spoken to by any community safety van or team, and were not affiliated with any other buskers there. Someone is getting confused here.

 

Please publish a clarification about this on the above page, because the your website contains inaccurate information.

(It has not been ascertained whther this contributor is  a resident, visitor or one of the drummers)

 

More reaction...

This email is in response to your article "People in Pyjamas" and I would very much appreciate it if you could post it on the page.
 
Firstly, residents of the Grassmarket had every right to complain, but you have shot yourselves in the foot by exaggerating and downright lying about what happened that night.  At the first sign of disturbance and objection, the drummers ceased drumming.  They were stopped when two residents (not somone for Community Safety) registered protest. I know this because I was leading the drummers and signalled them to stop.
 
Secondly, residents were not told "if you don't like it, don't live here".  At the very worst they got some sarcastic comments and an injunction to get into the spirit of the festival (as you mentioned, it was barely a few minutes after the Tattoo finished and didn't last long).
 
So in short, people should get their facts right.  I suspect they exaggerated because, to be honest, the whole thing was not a big deal at all.

(leader of the drum troupe)

 

And another....

I was one of the drummers at that event, not a busk. There was no money being taken. Also it was not a Beltane event so I do not know why you describe it as so.

 

The drumming stopped the second someone complained (there was a second group on after that, I believe a French act), and all you people were completely obnoxious, and never listened to a word that was said to you.I guess you are the same people that constantly complain about the drumming at Dancebase.

 

Why do you live in an area where there will never be any peace?

 

Why do you behave like a bunch of curmudgeons in the heart of the city in the middle of the festival?

 Replies to emails (opposite):

1)  Certainly the group I spoke to didn't stop,

 

Actually they stopped for a nano second then a big cheer went up from the crowd and then they started playing again.

2)  There were about 10 drummers and about 5 others in body paint, some on stilts, with whistles etc and about 60 people watching. We walked straight up to the drummers and asked them to stop. They said no. I said every one of these windows surrounding us is someone's house, the girl said 'I don't care' and I was given some sarcastic comments by her and a guy. They refused to tell me what group they were from. We said they must have been arranged by someone, you don't just turn up by coincidence.

 
The girl said the 'lady in the top hat' organised it. While the drummers moved to a different area and continued to play we all asked the lady in the top hat who they were and she reluctantly told us they were Beltane drummers and she'd arranged it. We asked her to get them to stop, it's late at night in a residential area, they have no lisense or permission to be here. She said she'd 'try' and walked off.
 
The drumming continued for at least 40 minutes, joined by brass instruments. The group were not French, there were no angle grinders or tubes.

In addition we have received a response from the Beltane Fire Society in which they state:

 

"The Beltane Fire Society works closely with the council, police, and local communities for all of our events. We take complaints about noise or anti-social behaviour very seriously. Any member of our society who is found to bring the society into disrepute may be banned from taking part in our festivals, may only be allowed to participate to a limited extent, and/or may have their membership with the society revoked.
 
I will report your complaint to the board of trustees. We will investigate if any of our volunteers were involved in the incident, and if there is anything we can do as an organisation to prevent the incident  from occurring again. We may ask you for further information which may help our investigation and we will report to you the outcome of our investigation."

 

Comment

We believe that Grassmarket area residents deserve the same quality of life and amenities as other residents in the city. This includes not being subjected to intolerable levels of disturbance or noise.

 

First and foremost the area our home!

 

It is The City of Edinburgh Council who insist on utilising the area as a venue thus giving rise to the attitudes expressed opposite e.g. "Why do you live in an area where there will never be any peace?" and "get into the spirit of the festival".

 

These comments are insulting and intolerable.