Hi All and Happy 2026.
Could I please check with regards to the Royal Garden Party, how many tickets everyone gets and how do you allocate them especially when your civic head has previously attended one (be it over 40 years ago)
We ask for nominations of colleagues or councillors. Initially from the current Mayor and Deputy , then we go out to the chief exec and service directors, if needed we also send out internal communication to all staff to nominate attendees. The current Mayor then considers all nominations and agrees those who get to be sent through booking forms.
1 Like
Hi Emara - we have received two tickets this year (each ticket for two people) against only one ticket received last year. With the dates allocated they fall within the current Mayor’s year and she attended last year; so won’t be attending for a second time (which I know believe the King has instigated). Therefore we are offering one set of tickets to the current Deputy Mayor, however she will attend in her capacity as Councillor, so no support from the Civic Office. Otherwise, as in previous years, they are released to Council staff by way of a ballot. This ballot is with the approval of the Leader and Chief Executive
1 Like
Hi Emara
My understanding is that the number of tickets is governed by population size. There is basic guidance on how they are used with a key point being for service rendered. Of six that we received (1984-2015) two were used by the immediate past Mayor and the other four were passed to Civic Award winners with delegated responsibility to the Mayors Office. That may have changed now but it worked well for many years.
Hope that helps
1 Like
Hi Emara, we too have been allocated two tickets (4 people) as opposed to one (2) in previous years. Our policy is for the longest serving member to attend but this year the Mayor is attenidng (even though not the longest standing member). We will be reverting back to our normal poiicy next year (think to appease me). The other (additional) ticket has been allocated to a very worthy member of staff. Hope this helps.
1 Like
Hi Emara
We have been allocated 14 tickets this year, which is based on population size. Our current Mayor and guest always attend and the remainder are offered to our longest serving employees (with a guest) who have not previously attended, so each year we work our way down the list. So that’s Mayor and guest and 6 long-service employees and their guest. This policy has been in place since the 1990s.
Hope that helps.
1 Like
we get 10 tickets, and our approach has been to nominate 5 people with their choice of partner. we propose councillor(s) who are involved in civic activity; and staff who have won a national award or significant achievement or a Service milestone e.g. 40 years service. The instructions we get for Scottish G Parties are very clear its a once-in-a-lifetime attendance, so we never repeat a nomination. The Convener, Depute Convener, Provost and Chief Executive approve our suggestions.
Hi all, some nice news for us at Hartlepool. Both my long standing Members’ Services Officer and myself have been given an invite to the RGP at Holyrood by our Lord Lieutenant and we can take a guest too. Nice to be able to report something positive for a change.
Hi there, here at Argyll and Bute Council we get ten spaces (five plus guests). I contact our CEX and our two Exec Directors and ask them to provide employee nominations from their respective services. We may also seek the Provost’s views on nominating one elected member. We run those past the Provost when we have a ‘final’ list.