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1993 LORD
EWING OF KIRKFORD
" You would need to be a
person without feeling to
remain unaffected by the
spirit of the Bo'ness
Children's Fair "
READERS will have heard many
times all the old stories
told about the Bo'ness Fair,
the most common one being of
the two Bo'ness men stranded
in the desert with the sun
blazing down and the one
asks the other if he
realises that this is the "
Fair Day " to which the
other replies; well they are
getting a great day for
it!!!
Many a true word spoken in
jest and twelve years during
which my wife Margaret and
myself have enjoyed the
great pleasure and privilege
of being part of the Fair I
have absolutely no doubt
that when eleven o'clock
strikes on Fair morning and
Maria McIntosh is crowned
Queen there will be natives
of Bo'ness, certainly in the
Commonwealth countries of
Canada, Australia and New
Zealand and some I know in
South Africa, whose heart
and thoughts are at home in
Bo'ness and will see just as
clearly as those of us
present in the park, the
crown being placed on the
head of Queen Maria and will
hear, just as clearly as
those of us in the park the
words "Bo'ness has a new
Queen". It's the magic of
the Bo'ness Fair.
My introduction to the
Bo'ness Fair was not in fact
the Fair itself but speaking
at the Fair Burns' Supper
some twenty years ago. Even
then in the early part of
the year while commemorating
the anniversary of the birth
of Burns much of the talk is
of six months hence and the
preparation for the great
day itself. At that time I
had never been at the
Bo'ness Children's Fair and
while like many others, I
had seen the coronets
displayed near the
approaches to the Forth Road
Bridge, where alas they are
no longer displayed because
of various factors, I had
never attended the event to
which the coronets
referred. Time itself took
care of that and in 1981 I
was invited to attend the
Fair for the first time. In
twelve years that followed I
missed only one Fair Day.
As the people of Bo'ness
know, my home is in Fife and
so we came to the Fair not
knowing what to expect and
even less sure of how the
event would unfold. We need
not have worried, from the
moment we arrived at the
Town Hall on Fair morning
until the time we were made
to feel part of Bo'ness.
Over the years I have
watched with interest and
admiration how four
different groups of people
are welded to gether by the
atmosphere of the Fair.
People who have lived in
Bo'ness all their life,
people who have moved to
live in Bo'ness from some
other area, people who have
left Bo'ness but have
returned as so many do for
Fair Day, and people like me
who have never lived in
Bo'ness at all are welded
together in a friendly
spirit that defies
description by the Bo'ness
Fair. No one should take
that achievement for granted
because from my wide
experience the family
atmosphere to which I have
referred is quite unique and
quite remarkable.
Sometimes, I am sure the
good folk of Bo'ness must
wonder how " outsiders "
like myself view the Fair.
Let me be honest and say
that in the first year and
perhaps the second as well,
I suppose I could say that
it was very much a "
spectacle ", you need time
to be able to grasp the
tradition of the Fair and
there is no shame in saying
so. It would be quite
remarkable if the tradition
of the Festival, built up
over a great many years,
could be grasped in two
years and in many ways it
would be demeaning the whole
history of the Fair to even
suggest that it could.
Almost without you noticing,
the tradition and history of
the whole event begins to
take hold of you and before
you realise it the Fair Day
has as much special meaning
for you as it does for the
people of the town itself.
We take our place on the
area set aside for the
guests, the crowning stage
itself is empty, the band
begins to play and soon the
first of the children
arrive, the excitement grows
as the platform fills,
colour blends with colour,
the innocent sight of the
happy children waving to
their parents and friends
and soon the platform is
full to present one of the
most moving and spectacular
scenes you could ever wish
to see. The Queen who still
is Queen for a few minutes
more and then the Queen
Elect arrives and when the
band begins to play the
Bo'ness Fair song you would
need to be a person without
feeling to remain unaffected
by the spirit of the Bo'ness
Children's Fair. The moment
we have all been waiting for
arrives and the Queen is
crowned and at that moment,
those who work year in and
year out, see the reward of
all their efforts and
celebrations begun the night
before on the Fair E'en,
step up a gear and this
without doubt is the
children's day.
As readers will appreciate,
my wife Margaret and I have
had the great honour and
opportunity of seeing the
Fair from a different
setting in that Margaret
enjoyed the great honour of
crowning Queen Gayle in
1987. I can remember quite
clearly the evening our '
phone rung at home and at
the other end was David
Brown on behalf of the
committee inviting Margaret
to crown the Queen.
Over my years in public life
I have had ' phone calls
from two Prime Ministers,
Harold Wilson and Jim
Callaghan, asking me to
accept Ministerial Office in
government. In May of last
year I had the ' phone call
which invited me to accept a
Life Peerage and in all the
instances to which I have
referred the moments of
hesitation before I accepted
were almost unnoticeable.
Hard though it may be to
believe, the invitation to
Margaret to crown the Queen
was given much greater
consideration. First of all
the invitation is so
unexpected, which is not
always the case in
politics!! and secondly, if
the reaction of Margaret is
anything to go by, you are
not quite sure whether you
will be able to carry out
such an important task and
do justice to the Queen
which, you will not be
surprised to read, is not
always the case in politics
either!! However, after two
or three days Margaret
accepted and from that
moment on I was in more
ladies dress shops than I
realised existed. Shops
from Berwick-on-Tweed to
Aberdeen, from one end of
London to the other and even
in Strasbourg, we were told
about the " Bo'ness Fair "
as the search continued for
the ensemble for the great
day and from that moment on
I developed a great sympathy
for the husband of the lady
crowning the Queen!!
As far as the weeks leading
up to the crowning were
concerned, we need not have
worried because everyone was
so kind and helpful, from
Mrs. Andrews, who was
Headteacher at the Public
School at the time and from
where the Queen was elected,
to David and Jean Brown, who
welcomed us as guests in
their home, the generous
help and kindness was of the
highest order.
We both have our memories
from both the Fair E'en and
the Fair Day itself. From
the Fair E'en, the way in
which people opened their
homes and welcomed us in,
the hospitality and
friendship were beyond
description and as the clock
ticked away its minutes you
found it difficult to move
on to your next call where
the hospitality and
friendship were repeated and
remembered that an early
morning lay ahead, together
with a very full day, the
home of John and Barbara
Johnston, whose home seems
to be as much a part of the
Bo'ness Fair as the Town
Hall itself, had to be our
last call for the evening.
An evening of meeting and
enjoying the company of so
many nice people.
Fair Day itself dawned in
glorious sunshine and for us
both the crowning and then
the tour of the town were
moments we will never
forget. I can even remember
a lady stepping off the
pavement and rushing over to
the car to ask Margaret
where she got her hat!! In
days gone by we could have
said the Co-op but alas no
more. In case the lady
concerned remembers the
incident and reads this, she
might be interested to know
that Margaret wore the hat
again two weeks later and it
got ruined in the rain . . .
so much for the nice hat.
Among many memories of that
particular Bo'ness Fair one
other stands out for me, the
Pipes and drums of the
Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders march along
Braefoot Road at half past
seven in the MORNING, not
something that I am used to
but a sight to behold and
never to be forgotten.
Bo'ness Children's Fair
Festival has, over the years
given us much pleasure and
left us with many happy
memories and if, with the
impertinence that only a
politician can show, I can
make one plea to the good
folk of Bo'ness, it is never
to regard the Fair as an
annual ritual. Remember
always that the Queen and
her Retinue and all her
attendants and Presentees,
the Archways and decorations
in the streets, the bands
playing and the parade of
the floats, the family
gatherings in the evening
which are a very important
part of Fair Day. All these
things and more are not some
kind of ritual but are part
of the preservation of the
heritage that is Bo'ness.
Bo'ness it its people and
its people are Bo'ness, the
Children's Fair Festival is
a public demonstration of
that fact and as the Crown
is placed on the head of
Queen Maria she is being
crowned on behalf of
generations of the past,
generations of the present
and generations yet to
come. Bo'ness has earned
its place of honour in
Scotland and much further
afield. A Happy Fair Day to
you all.
LORD EWING OF KIRKFORD
( Harry Ewing, formerly MP
for Falkirk East )
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