LANARK LANIMER DAY
An ancient celebration held within the Royal Burgh of Lanark on the Thursday between the Sixth and Twelfth days of June annually since the year 1140.
 

Some Reflections Of Lanark

by Malcolm Ellis

It was an exceedingly wet November afternoon. It was my first visit to Lanark for more than ten years. I had been appointed Principal Teacher of Geography at Lanark Grammar School earlier that month in 1970. My wife and I had come to the town to look at some houses with a view to purchasing one. We were at the top of the High Street with our heads bowed clown into the wind and rain. Wallop! A body staggered out of a local hostelry into us. Welcome to Lanark! First impressions were not good.

Ten years earlier on the only previous occasion I had been in Lanark, I was playing cricket for my school against Lanark Grammar School. I was not to know that Lanark Racecourse (where both Cricket and Rugby were played) would become a significant aspect of my later life. Initially I played cricket for Uddingston but the dramatic rise in the cost of petrol in the mid 1970's resulted in my joining Lanark Cricket Club.

Cricket at Lanark was different! Everything was done by the players whereas at Uddingston one merely turned up and played. Thus at Lanark, I was introduced to gang mowers for cutting the outfield, a petrol mower for cutting the batting strip, a belching fume filled steam roller for flattening the playing strip, a hand pulled roller when the steam one was not working, an old railway carriage which served as a changing room and a group of dedicated fanatical members who literally were the club. The doing of everything for ourselves created a marvellous team spirit which enabled the club to achieve success beyond its natural talent. The cricket connection resulted in numerous visits to many towns in the Borders where games were played in lovely picturesque settings such as Melrose, Galashiels and Kelso. Happy Memories!

The Racecourse is also the home of Lanark Rugby, As with cricket, there are far too many reflections associated with it to relate here. The Racecourse is a notoriously windswept place which was bad enough for cricket in the summer, but in winter made it feel like Antartica. Yet, the dedicated (mad?) players seemed immune to the cold or had been bred to cope with its harshness.

My rugby involvement was largely school related although I refereed numerous games for the club side. The highlights of my connection with schoolboy rugby at Lanark were the success of the side in winning the Lanarkshire Schools Cup and league on several occasions. Thus the school supplanted the previous dominance of Hamilton Academy and Dalziel High School. More Happy Memories !

All my Lanark reflections result from my being appointed to Lanark Grammar School where I taught geography, served as Principal Teacher, Head of Lower School and latterly as Depute Head Teacher. My most cherished memories of my time at the school relate to extra-curricular activities although I also have marvellous recollections of pupils in the classroom - coping with classes of forty five second year pupils, coping with all boy classes of low achievers (one of whom brought me some fresh brown trout), coping with exceedingly able Higher pupils (one of whom brought me a bottle of 1934 claret) and coping with the belt and then its abolition. The challenge throughout was to cope with educational changes without the pupils knowing. Extra-curricular memories abound in school sport (cricket, rugby and swimming), in school musicals (Oliver, Oklahoma, Grease and Dazzle to name a few), in quizzes, in dances and proms and in foreign trips - 'It must have been the oranges Sir'- 'I only went for a ride on his scooter Sir' - 'Its for my father Sir'. So many more Happy Memories!

Observant readers will have noted that I have not once referred to any Lanimer reflections. Thankfully I have used up my quota of words before I am able to venture into that territory.

I hope I have illustrated that in my thirty plus years in Lanark there have been a huge number of happy reflections after that initial November afternoon.