1961 -VILLAGE GALA FACES A CRISIS
£100 Yearly Loss must be met
Newtongrange annual children's gala has been run at a loss of
£100 each year for some years and this is causing concern to the organisers.
But the gala will go on as usual this year despite the loss. This has been
made clear in a statement issued by the Chairman, Mr. John Slater and the
Secretary, Mrs E Wright. They say that "each year there is more and more
a regrettable lack of interest in the Gala Day. Many people turn out to watch
the crowning ceremony but show no other interest during the year".
The statement goes on to say that Newtongrange Gala Day is one of the oldest,
if not the oldest, gala in the Lothian's. But it will have to be abandoned
if more interest is not taken and better financial support forthcoming.
The statement adds: "The Gala is not now paying its way and the annual deficit is about £100. Each miner resident in the village and working in the pit at Newtongrange voluntarily donates 2/6d (12½p) towards the Gala, but each child at the Gala receives goods to the value of 2/7½d (13p), exclusive of the cost of the Court. A considerable proportion of the population of the village is not now connected with the coal industry and there exists no means of readily tapping this additional source of revenue except by asking those outwith the coal industry to make a donation towards the cost of the Gala."
In a general appeal to the "people of the village", the committee asks inhabitants to attend the various functions run by the Gala Day Committee to raise funds.
The Court:
King - Alan Paxton;
Queen - Christine A. Robertson;
Dux of Newbattle - Ann D. Wylie;
Chief Maid of Honour - June J Cropley;
First Lord -William Thomson;
Maids of Honour - Janis B Noonan, Winifred Doyle;
Lords in Waiting - Gordon H. B. Laing, Alan O'Connor;
Herald - Donald A. Nimmo;
Crown Bearers - Alexander Conlan, Robert G. H. McDonald;
Pages - Brian S. Wilson, Alan B Herriot, David C Drummond,
Michael Szatylowicz;
Yeoman - Ernest V.Smith;
Ladies of the Court - Heather McDonald, Lindsey M. McLeod,
Catherine B Moore, Sheila A. Bowden, Rose Atkins,
Pearl Haylott, Susan Faulkner, Mary Connolly.
Bower Girls - Helen Moore, Janet M Anderson, Mary M Malcolm,
June Arthur;
Halberdiers - Ian G Crane, J. John Bielski, Ronald M. Herriot,
Robert Cosgrove;
Flower Girls - Kathleen Morris, Mary Purves, Elizabeth A.
Whitehead, Margaret S. McIntosh, Brenda J Wilson, Katherine M.A.L Knight,
Patricia McLuskey, Margaret McHale.