1955
With regal pomp and splendour, the coronation ceremony and gala day celebrations of Newtongrange and District Children's Gala, among the oldest and most outstanding in the county, were held on Saturday in dull but dry weather. Nearly,1800 children assembled in the local Square Park to await the arrival of the King and Queen and their court.
Headed by the Newtongrange Lothian Silver and the Newtongrange Pipe Bands, the royal party in two horse-drawn carriages and the court retinue in motor cars, drove slowly through the principal streets of the village. Their loyal subjects, in processional order, followed them through the densely lined streets to the raised dais in the public park.
Councillor Andrew Ross, Chairman of the Gala Day Committee, presided at the crowning ceremony, and in a short address he congratulated the principals and Court members on their scholastic achievements. He intimated that this would probably be the last Gala Day of such large dimensions, as the increase of population in the neighbouring villages meant that they would probably soon be holding their own celebrations. A full meeting to discuss this would be held at the end of the year.
Amid great enthusiasm, Richard Hay and Moira Peattie, Duxes of the qualifying classes in Newtongrange and Newbattle Schools espectively, were crowned King and Queen by James P. Purves, Dux of Newbattle Junior Secondary School.
On behalf of the Gala Day Committee, the chairman presented wristlet watches to the King and Queen and to the Dux, who also received the Gala Day Dux Championship Shield. Congratulatory telegrams from last year's principals were then read out .
After the ceremony, each of the school children received a bag of buns, a bottle of milk and sixpence (2½p). The children then embarked upon a lengthy sports programme. This was interspersed with dancing exhibitions from the academies of Miss Brownlee and Miss Mclntosh.
Newtongrange School:
King - S. Richard Hay;
Maid of Honour - Janette Morris;
Lord in Waiting - J. Stuart Lloyd;
Ladies of the Court - Roseann Dubickas, Margaret Pryde, Christine
Low, Helen S. Lunn, lsabella Heriot, Anne G Crombie, Jean D Gray, Anne M.
White;
Halberdiers - R. Roy Knight, A. Kenneth Black;
Pages - James Morrison, Thomas Dalgleish;
Flower Girls - Phyllis Nicol, Janet Allan, Margaret Morrison,
Anne I. Robertson, Patricia M Swan, Mary H Wright,
Sheena E Goodlet.
Newbattle School:
Queen - Moira Peattie;
Dux Boy - for Crowning Ceremony, James P Purves;
Herald - Andrew Shearer;
Chief Maid - Mary J. B. Tait;
First Lord - Alexander N. Peattie;
Maid of Honour - Margaret O Burnett;
Lord in Waiting - Thomas McGuire;
Crown Bearers - Andrew C Dickson, William A Smith;
Page - Ian J Taylor;
Yeoman of the Guard - James W. Inglis;
Ladies of the Court - Jean B. Halliday, Isabella M. McD.Thomson;
Bower Girls - Evalina M Dickson, Roberta Cornwall, Anne B.Fowler,
Margaret A Bowie;
Halberdier - James Morrison;
Flower Girls - Joan M. Chatham , Elizabeth Bell, Aileen D
Taylor, Marion W. Jones.
Newtonloan St Andrew's School:
Flower Girl - Ann Drummond;
Page - Gordon McNeil;
Ladies of the Court - Sally Dougal, Mary Dawson;
Halberdier - Eric McQuade;
Maid of Honour - Tessa Smith;
Lord in Waiting - John MacDonald.