Auld Earlston: How Earlston Civic Week Began - A Profile of Its First Chairman, Colin Smith

Wednesday 6 July 2022

How Earlston Civic Week Began - A Profile of Its First Chairman, Colin Smith

We are delighted to feature this article by Shirley Smith on her husband's involvement in Earlston Civic Week as its First Chairman in 1972.

Colin arrived in Earlston as a history teacher from a wee village in the north east of Scotland called Aberchirder. That village celebrate its flower show with a weekend of festivities and Colin was surprised that Earlston didn't do something similar.

As he settled into village life, he became involved in the local Scout group, as he had been a Scout himself. One night in the Black Bull over a pint, he spoke with others about what could be done to provide some fun for the people of Earlston . Following this discussion, members from each organisation in the village were invited to a meeting in the Black Bull to see what interest there was.

From that meeting a committee was formed with Colin accepting the position of Chairman and plans for a week of entertainment were formed.

Sunday - Children's flower service; the Bowling Green was open to all.

Monday - Talent Contest in the school hall.

Tuesday - Cycle Treasure Hunt; Pet Show; and Novelty 5 a sides.

Wednesday - Over 60's Entertainment; It's a Knockout with a demonstration from the Peebles team that had taken part in the TV competition, and then local teams competed against each other. Health & Safety wasn't really spoken about then, when there were slippery slopes lathered with washing up liquid and pools created from bales, polythene and gallons and gallons of water.

Thursday - Cafe Chantant with hostess tables; Disco for under 16s.

Friday - Buffet Supper Dance held in the Marquee. The buffet supper was prepared by the ladies on the committee and was well attended. Toilets were very basic with no lighting available, but there were no complaints.

Saturday - Fancy Dress Parade; Pigeon Liberation; Sports; Black Hill Race; Beer Drinking Competition; and a Dance to the Sunbeams in the Marquee finish off the week .

Photographs of Civic Week in the 1970s.

The First Civic Week in 1972 had been made by the people of Earlston for the people of Earlston. A huge amount of fun had taken place.

As the years passed the committee tried to add new items into Civic Week - Professional Wrestling for a few years; Superstars Competitions; Country Music Shows one featuring Sydney Devine for the 10th Civic Week; Andy Cameron and Marmalade; Street Races involving wheeled vehicles; Panto Horse Grand National; Torchlight Parades and Firework Displays are just a few. Some of these are still a part of Civic Week today.

Colin was particularly happy with the “We’ll Fix It” requests that came in - from having a wee boy’s dreams of being a firefighter come true during Its a Knockout with the help of Melrose Fire Crew, to helping a senior citizen realise her dream of a ride in a helicopter courtesy of the RAF. Many of the requests didn’t involve too much arranging but brought about lots of fun and enjoyment.

In 1977 Tommy Graham wrote the Earlston Song which brought pride to all in Earlston as all the Common Riding towns had songs attributed to them and now so had we.

Colin remained as Chairman until 1986 and was a member of the committee for a couple of years after that.

He loved being involved in the formation of Civic Week and considered how successful it became, down to having committee members who worked tirelessly for the events and to all the non committee members who gave their time or resources to help out, to all the sponsors especially in the beginning when Civic Week started from nothing and most importantly to the people of Earlston for the tremendous support given to Civic Week - by the amazing attendances at events and through participation in such a wide range of activities.

Colin was a great organiser but success came from everybody working together.