Raul A. Mascarenhas

The Lord Cornet’s
Right-Hand Man

Geoff Smith

The Lord Cornet’s
Left-Hand Man

Kenneth Lean

Raul Mascarenhas has been a general practitioner in Lanark since 1999. He is also a police surgeon and is the Clydesdale representative on the Local Medical Committee of Lanarkshire Health Board. Raul, whose surname is Portuguese, was born in Dundee, was raised in Helensburgh and is half Indian and half Scottish. His wife Selma is also a GP in Lanark. Their children, Ayla, Rohan and Kara attend Robert Owen Memorial Primary School (Kara attends the Nursery). All three also attend the Celia Orr School of Dancing, Rohan being its sole boy member. Watch for them at the Cross, dancing on Marches Night!

Raul is an accomplished pianist, a committee violinist. He is an organist and has played for services in Greyfriars, St Nicholas, Christ Church and the EU Kirk in Lanark, and at Forth Parish Church. His musicianship is also reflected in his membership of Lanark and Carluke Choral Union and previously, of the Committee of Music in Lanark in its early days.

The Lanimers has been part of Raul’s life for ten years, through the family’s involvement in the Kilninie Club and its Lanimer entries. This year will be no exception, but may prove to be a little more hectic! He is enjoying learning to ride, despite initial apprehension about a possible asthmatic reaction. He already has an eye on equestrianism as a possible future hobby. He is feeling relaxed, and is looking forward to his Lanimer duties in 2011 and beyond. When the time comes we wish him, ‘Safe Oot! Safe In’ and hope he, and his companions, Jamie Allan and George Lang, have a truly memorable Lanimer Week.

Geoff Smith

The Lord Cornet’s
Right-Hand Man

Kenneth Lean

The Lord Cornet’s
Left-Hand Man

John Dickman

Geoff Smith was born in Edinburgh and moved to Warwickshire when he was 3. He went to school in Sutton Coalfield and has been back in Lanark for 17 years. A constable with Strathclyde Police for 15 years, 40 year-old Geoff was a ‘Daily Record’ winner of the ‘Emergency Services Hero Award’ and was also one of the winners of the inaugural Scottish Policing Awards.

40 year old Geoff has former roles as Captain of Lanark Rugby Club, a player in Lanark Cricket Club, Chair of Music in Lanark and Director of the Lanark Celtic Festival. Currently, he is a member of the Upperward Mountaineering Club and plays cricket for Biggar. He is a Leader with 2nd Lanark Scouts, a Duke of Edinburgh Award leader and a Prince’s Trust Adviser. Geoff is also a keen cyclist and mountain bike leader.

A member of Lanark Guildry Geoff has joined Lanark Lanimer Committee. A steward on the Marches route for 12 years he has also helped sell Lanimer brochures. He is enthusiastic about developing his riding skills and is looking forward to Lanimer Week, with his wife, Jane and son Jonathan, a keen Beaver Scout who enjoys judo and golf. We all wish Geoff a memorable year as Lord Cornet of our Royal and Ancient Burgh, and ‘Happy Lanimers 2010!’

Kenneth R. Lean

The Lord Cornet’s
Right-Hand Man

John Dickman

The Lord Cornet’s
Left-Hand Man

Brian R. Ross

Born in Lanark, Lord Cornet Kenny Lean grew up in Symington. The son of a local nurseryman, Norman Lean, he went to York to study horticulture and landscape design. He moved to Lanark 16 years ago to work with Clydesdale District Council. He is now an Economic Development Team Leader, working on external funding for projects across South Lanarkshire.

Kenny is Past Chairman of Lanark and District Round Table, Chairman of Lanark Primary School Parent Group and a member of the Lanimer Committee and Lanark Guildry. He helps coach PI to P3 pupils at Biggar RFC, but his real passion is Formula 1. He supports the Brawn GP Team and will be watching them this year – when he can. Kenny has helped build several Kranal Club Lanimer entries and has participated in guises from a wizard to a Teddy Boy!

Kenny and his family are looking forward to the busy year ahead. Hazel’s brother-in-law, Alistair Stewart A Fire Brigade Crew Commander, will be his Lanimer Week Companion. Kenny will carry the Burgh Standard with pride, and looks forward to taking part in other Ridings. He and Hazel wish Lanark residents and visitors a very happy Lanimer Week.

John Dickman

The Lord Cornet’s
Right-Hand Man

Brian R. Ross

The Lord Cornet’s
Left-Hand Man

Kenneth Douglas

Our Lord Cornet this year, John Dickman, came to Lanark from Motherwell when he was seventeen and worked at Ravenscraig Steelworks. At twenty five he joined Strathclyde Police, serving in Glasgow and Lanarkshire, ending his career in Motherwell, in 2006. He remains on the police civilian staff in Glasgow. John is a member of Lanark Guildry.

John was a Boys’ Brigade Officer in Lanark, but is probably best known as a musician. He is a member of Lanark and District Pipe Band and Lanark Amateur Musical Society (LAMS). He is an active member of the Lanimer Committee and its Bands Committee, and is involved with Music in Lanark. In recent years two friends and he have formed Trilogy, a popular group presenting traditional and modern Scottish folk music at local events and, increasingly, further afield.

An Elder in Greyfriars Church, John is also a member of the church choir and is involved with the Kilninie Club and its Lanimer entries. He and his wife, May, are quietly enthusiastic about the busy time ahead. Their son, Gavin, will be John’s companion during Lanimer Week, while their daughter, Alison, will accompany her mother. Our Lord Cornet this year will have no difficulty in recognising his Sashing Lady and the Crowning Lady. John and May both worked with Mary Margaret Meldrum before they came to Lanark, when they were all members of St Aidan’s Operatic Society. Our Crowning Lady is a fellow Elder in his church. As he leads our Lanimer celebrations this year John will have ‘kent faces’ close to him. Beyond, the townsfolk of Lanark will watch with pride as he bears the Standard of the Royal and Ancient Burgh during his term of office. ‘Safe oot; safe in; John’.

Brian R. Ross

The Lord Cornet’s
Right-Hand Man

Kenneth Douglas

The Lord Cornet’s
Left-Hand Man

Tom Waddell

BRIAN ROSS lives in Hardacres with his wife Katrina and two daughters, Katie(13) and Allyson(10). He is a principal sheep auctioneer for Lawrie and Symington at the Lanark Agricultural Centre. He has long been involved in the equestrian side of Lanimers. Now aged 47 he first started in 1974 when he was chosen as an outrider, when Leslie Morris was Lanimer Queen and Jimmy Hamilton was Lord Cornet. Since then he has ridden in all Lanimer ride outs and has recently been joined by his two daughters, so this year promises to be a real equestrian family celebration.

Brian is a stalwart of Lanark and Upperward Pony Club, as a member until 1980, and since then a Committee member, treasurer and now Assistant District Commissioner. He took over as Coach to the Prince Philip Cup Games Team in 1982 and has guided them to be one of the top teams in the country, coaching a number of riders to international level. In 1995 he was chosen to coach the Scotland Team at the prestigious Royal Windsor Horse Show, where, in 1996 they secured a victory, the first time for Scotland in 20 years. He continues to coach on a weekly basis where he is joined by his two daughters.

Brian is looking forward to his role as Lord Cornet and to leading Lanark’s annual celebrations, and not least its equestrian elements, flanked by his Right Hand and Left Hand Men, and followed by a committed team of ex-Lord Cornets, some of whom he has been riding behind for nearly thirty years, in his loyal equestrian support of the Lanimers. We hope a good number of them will join him as he looks forward also to representing the Royal Burgh at the other March Ridings during his year in office. Lanark wishes its Standard Bearer a memorable year as Lord Cornet.

Note: We are grateful to ex-Lord Cornet John Armstrong for the use of ‘Ambassador’, as Brian’s mount for our official photographs. ‘Will’, as he is affectionately known, seems to sense the occasion.

Kenneth Douglas

The Lord Cornet’s
Right-Hand Man

Tom Waddell

The Lord Cornet’s
Left-Hand Man

William Wilson

KENNY DOUGLAS has been chosen Lord Cornet 2006. He is 34 years old and has lived in Lanark for almost 20 years. He is a former pupil of Lanark Grammar School.

As a young man himself he is very in touch with the youth issues in the town and as such is very involved in various organisations. One of these is ICE (Independent Community Entertainment) which he was instrumental in setting up in 1999. This group offers young performers the opportunity to go on stage or experience any aspect of amateur theatre. Kenny is also a founding member of STYL (Support Team for Young Lanark), and represents them on the Lanark Town Group. He has been an active member of Lanark Panto Club for more years than he cares to remember and is now working, as director, with Lanark Amateur Musical Society (LAMS). Kenny has previously been an active member of ‘The Crazy Gang’ during many Lanimer processions, only straying a few times to help with ICE lorries, and putting out a disastrous entry in the early 90’s!

As a serving member of the Royal Burgh of Lanark Community Council he has been elected to sub-committees dealing with youth issues and public awareness. Kenny works with South Lanarkshire Council’s Youth Learning Services, having worked with Street Level in Carluke and assisting in the setting up of Lanark Universal Connections. He is now based with Universal Connections at the Key in East Kilbride.

In between all this, he is finding time to work towards a BA in Community Education at Strathclyde University (currently on placement with community regeneration in Cambuslang), to add to his earlier HND from Bell College. Kenny considers his appointment as an honour and will fulfil his duties with pride and enthusiasm.