Showing posts with label Pageants & Parades. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pageants & Parades. Show all posts

Saturday 25 June 2016

Earlston On Parade

As we come to celebrate Earlston Civic Week 2016, 
a look back at summer events of the past

  Earlston Clown Band at Galashiels Cycle Parade, 1916


 Earlston Fancy Dress Parade, 1924



 
Coronation Parade, 1937 

On to Earlston  Civic Week itself,  which began in 1972, with fun events, races, social get togethers, and concerts, culminating on the Saturday in the fancy dress parade, torchlight procession and fireworks display - now about to celebrate its 44th anniversary. 

  







Earlston Ladies  Olympic Synchronised Swimmers,
braving the elements on a chilly Saturday in July 2012. 
 
HAVE FUN! 

Thank you to everyone who has  donated or loaned old photographs for scanning.









Auld Earlston welcomes all contributions on the village's past  -
 contact us on  auldearlston@aol.com 


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Wednesday 24 June 2015

Pageants, Parades & Fancy Dress in Earlston

A summer events theme with photographs from the Auld Earlston Collection, 

Not in procession, but  Earlston Clown Band  is  here  appropriately dressed and ready to take part in the Galashiels Historical Peace Pageant of summer 1919 -  a parade of bands and  ex-servcemen,  with wreath laying,  was followed by a fancy dress show. picnic  and sports.  A  seven minute vintage  film of the event is held at Scottish Film Archive.



A year earlier in 1918,  the band were dressed to take part in the Galashiels Cycle Parade.
 

In 1934 the Pageant of Ercildoune  took place on the nearby estate of Carolside.  The costumed outdoor event portrayed in drama, music and dance some of the scenes from Earlston and Border history,  produced by Earlston Girl's Club, and directed by Colonel Ferguson.  Below - the arrival with her retinue of of Mary Queen of Scots.




The Coronation of George VI in 1937  was celebrated in this float with  the leading figure Britannia.   


On to Earlston  Civic Week which began in 1972, with fun events, races, social get togethers, and concerts, culminating on the Saturday in the fancy dress parade, torchlight procession and fireworks display - now about to celebrate its 43rd anniversary. 







To end, two of the oldest photographs in the Auld Earlston collection - a parade of soldiers off to camp in July 1907 and  a year later the  Pipe Band led a procession along Earlston High Street to mark the "Semi-Jubilee" of the local Temperance Society.   






Thank you to everyone
who has  donated or loaned old photographs for scanning.

Auld Earlston welcomes all contributions on the village's past  -
 contact us on  auldearlston@aol.com or via the comments box below. 

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Tuesday 12 May 2015

Earlston's Temperance March, 1908

In the vintage photograph below,  the Pipe Band leads a procession along Earlston High Street in 1908 to mark the "Semi-Jubilee" of the local Temperance Society.   







The Scottish Temperance Movement was founded by John Dunlop of Glasgow. concerned at the high level of consumption of spirits. He established an anti-drinks society in 1829.  For Dunlop a vital first step was education and social improvement.  

A more radical approach was adopted by William Collins, a publisher and evangelist,  who favoured total abstinence.   By 1831, the Scottish Temperance Movement numbered 44,000.   Local abstinence societies. often linked to religious denominations,  were formed and many of these offered classes and concerts as alternative entertainments. National groups also began to be established, with branches opening in many areas of Scotland, with the Band of Hope targeting  children to "Take the Pledge".  

By the close of the 19th century, the temperance movement was strong with Victorian morality  linking   drunkenness with ill-health, poverty and misery - an image often portrayed in Temperance literature. 

The movement's cause to cut excessive drinking  found favour in parliament with the passing of  the  1853 Licensing (Scotland) Act.  This prohibited Sunday drinking, except by bona fide travellers who were allowed to buy alcohol.  Of course some locals seized the opportunity in this loophole, by travelling  to neighbouring towns and villages to buy a drink.   

Temperance activity in Scotland peaked with the passing of the The Temperance (Scotland)  Act 1913  which gave voters in small local areas the right to hold a vote on whether their area should be "Wet" or "Dry".  

The First World War, however, meant that more pressing matters were the focus of the country and the Temperance Movement went into gradual decline, though abstinence pledges were still being signed in the 1940's.



Do you have any recollections of the Temperance Movement in Earlston.  
Did your parents or grandparents sign the pledge?  
Do share your memories by writing in the Comments Box below.


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