Opening TODAY (28th May) and running till 5th September 2021, the exhibition showcases the past and present of Lanark Lanimers, and includes some of the key objects from the annual tradition including the Lanimer Crown and the Burgh Standard.
This FREE exhibition also contains a number of contributions from many of our Lanimer Entrants over the years and is sure to stir some fond memories as we look forward to our unique 2021 Lanimer Day on the 4th September.
The exhibition is open all from 11am till 5pm throughout the May bank holiday weekend. It will then be open weekends only in June and September and all week in July and August.
The Lanimer Silver Club are pleased to advise that 2021 draws will commence on Sunday the 6th June with a series of draws over 6 days over what should have been our traditional Lanimer Week for 2021.
A further two special draws will be made for prizes of £1,000 on Monday 7th June and on Thursday the 10th of June. The winners of these top prizes will be announced here on the official Lanimer Celebrations website and with vidoes on our Facebook and Twitter social media feeds.
These six draws will cover the January to June 2021 draws, which have been delayed as the Silver Club team have adapted their procedures to continue this vital fundraiser in a COVID safe way.
A further 4 no. £1,000 draws take place throughout the remainder of the year, with a special draw taking place at our Lanimer Garden Party on Saturday the 4th September 2021.
There is still limited time to buy a ticket to take part in the 2021 draws – for further information, please read on.
What is the Lanimer Silver Club and how can I be part of it?
The Lanimer Silver Club is THE key fundraising activity for our Lanimer Celebrations. For an annual membership fee of just £10, our lucky members are entered into 12 monthly cash draws.
THAT’S LESS THAN 84p a MONTH!!
Each month there is a top cash prize of £100 – with further prizes of 1 x £50, 6 x £25 and 11 x £10 to the lucky members. Special £1,000 draws take place throughout the year as outlined above.
Established in the 1980’s – the Silver Club has been the major source of fundraising for the approximate £40,000 annual cost of running our Celebrations, whilst giving the Lanimer Committee the opportunity to give something back to the people who support US and our festivities!
It is through the support of the members of our Royal Burgh and their friends and family beyond our boundaries that we can put on one of the most spectacular, historic and respected events in Scotland.
Buying a £10 Annual Membership greatly supports our work and ensures that our Celebrations can continue to go from Strength to Strength. New Memberships can be purchased online from our dedicated Silver Club website below – or from any member of the Lanimer Committee.
The Lanimer Committee met on Wednesday 21st April to discuss proposals for this year’s Lanimer Celebrations, now rescheduled for Saturday 4th September. With the current positive moves in terms of easing of COVID restrictions and the successful rollout of vaccinations, the committee have agreed on an approach to celebrating this year’s Lanimers in the fullest way possible, within the limits of any restrictions that may be in place on this date.
The following arrangements are set out on the basis of the current roadmap out of lockdown being successfully delivered and that limits on numbers public gatherings are eased from our current position.
**Please note that the Lanimer committee are also preparing fallback alternatives to the arrangements below, should restrictions or permissions not permit these events to go forward**
Lead up to Lanimers
As with recent tradition, we will be encouraging the decoration of gardens for members of the Lanimer Queen’s Court. We will also be encouraging members of the community to decorate their houses and help celebrate our unique 2021 Lanimer Celebrations . In addition to the court Lanimer Court gardens, a number of past Lanimer Queens and Crowning Ladies will be decorating their houses with decorated crowns and balloon arches respectively.
For those who are looking to decorate their gardens in this year’s Lanimer Colours, we are pleased to advise that these have been chosen by Lanimer Queen Elect Lacey as;
Lanimers, 4th September 2021
Our Lanimer Celebration will try to closely follow our traditional event, but with some modifications to account for likely social distancing restrictions.
The day itself will be split into three main parts;·
The Lanimer Costume Parade
The Crowning of the Lanimer Queen
Queen Lacey’s Garden Party
The Lanimer Costume Parade
A parade this year will start at St Leonard Street at 10.30am, proceeding to the High Street and then to Castlebank Park via the Castlegate. The parade will be led by our Champion Mackenzie Curran and First & Second Lords. The parade will not include any Lanimer Lorries, but we are encouraging entrants to participate in a costume parade, with a theme of their choosing.
The parade will lead the Lanimer Queen elect Lacey Holmes and her court to the Crowning Ceremony, taking place in Castlebank Park.
The Crowning of the Lanimer Queen
The parade will arrive at Castlebank park, where Lanimer Queen elect will be crowned by Mrs Sharon Hamilton. This will take place at 12 Noon. The selection of Castlebank for the crowning allows for appropriate social distancing for spectators, which could not be achieved at Lanark Cross. The use of Castlebank also gives us a wonderful location to hold our unique event for 2021, the “Lanimer Queen’s Garden Party”.
Queen Lacey’s Garden Party
Following the Crowning Ceremony, our newly Crowned Lanimer Queen Lacey will host a Garden Party within Castlebank Park. With a nod back to more distant Lanimers, the Lanimer Queen Lacey will present all entrants in the procession with their Lanimer medal. A marquee will be available, and we hope to have a variety of stalls selling local produce. We are looking to encourage a family picnic atmosphere within the beautiful surroundings of Castlebank Park where we also aim to provide family entertainment within our events arena.
Our afternoon will culminate in presentations to the Lanimer Queen and her Crowning Lady. We hope that this unique Lanimer event will provide some very special memories for all involved. As a Committee, we are committed to providing a very special day despite the unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in.
All events will be delivered with strict adherence to COVID restrictions and will be subject to change should the current recovery from the pandemic deteriorate.
We always welcome new members to the Lanimer Committee who can bring their support and talents to help in our hard working team. Should you wish to become part of our committee, details on how to join can be found HERE
We optimistically look forward to once again having a very Happy Lanimers!
In November the Lanimer Committee committed to working hard to plan for a Lanimer celebration in 2021 within the conditions permitted around the COVID 19 virus restrictions and update the community in the New Year as to these plans.
The Lanimer General Committee met via Zoom on Wednesday 20th of January to discuss the planning for Lanimers 2021, where everyone present recognised the difficult period everyone in the community and ever business is going through in 2020 and 2021 and that people’s health and wellbeing are paramount at this time.
The Committee recognises that although progress with the vaccine is hopeful, conditions are very unlikely to have sufficiently improved and restrictions are unlikely to have been sufficiently lifted for a full public event and mass gathering such as Lanimer week and the procession to take place in June 2021.
Therefore it has been agreed to postpone the Lanimer procession and crowning until later in the year on Saturday 4th of September whereby a Crowning and if conditions allow a procession will take place.
The change of date allows three additional months for conditions to improve and it is hoped this will give the town a focus to celebrate coming out of COVID restrictions. Planning and considerations to all factors will continue and the scale and type of event will be dictated by the conditions and what is appropriate closer to the time.
Lanimer week in June will still be celebrated with the Shifting of the Standard and installation of the Lord Cornet and this and any other events will comply with the permissions allowed at that time.
Further detailed events and activity will be considered in the coming months guided by our statutory partners and Government guidelines.
The Lanimer Committee will be working hard over the next months to bring the community together to deliver a Lanimers and community celebration. This is our purpose on behalf of you all. A small army of volunteers works tirelessly to make this happen. As Lanimer Committee Chairman I am grateful to everyone for their efforts over many years, but particularly for their anticipated assistance and support for the Lanimers in 2021.
If your family, friends or you would like to volunteer their help, skills and/or time please:
Over the weekend of the 29th to 30th August, Lord Cornet Ian Douglas, accompanied by his front party and Lord Cornet Elect Derek McGuinness undertook the formal inspection of the boundary stones of our Royal Burgh.
This inspection of our March Stones was carried out in accordance with all current social distancing and mass public gathering regulations and with the full permission of land owners to inspect March Stones located on private property.
A video of this historic declaration, which continues an unbroken condition of our Royal Charter which has been carried out every year since 1140, is found found below.
We look forward to next years Lanimer Celebrations where we can hopefully return as a community to participate in our perambulation of the Marches.
“Chairperson of Lanark Lanimer Committee and the townspeople of Lanark,
As Standard Bearer for this Royal and Ancient Burgh of Lanark, duly appointed in 2019, invested with the sash of office, and recognised as ongoing Custodian of the Burgh Standard during 2020, when all official Lanimer Week events were cancelled due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, I have the honour to report to you that I have duly inspected the March Stones of the Royal Burgh in the company of four witnesses who are members of both Lanark Lanimer Committee and The Lord Cornets’ Club. (This was carried out over two days, during the summer months, without breaking any current legal restrictions on group gathering).
Accompanied by these witnesses I inspected March Stones in these places – the March Stone at Mousemill Brig, the March Stone in the River Mouse at Glenburnie, the March Stone in the lands of Glenburnie, the three March Stones in the lands of Jerviswood, the March Stone at Oakwood, the March Stone at Leechford, the March Stones upriver from Leechford, the March Stones in the lands of Bonnington. Further, the witnesses and I inspected the limits of the Marches along the highway, formerly the old Roman road from Lanark, to the boundary through Huntlyhill Mains Farm, from thence along the highway past the Turning of the Staff to Lanark Racecourse, and from the Racecourse to the Cross at Lanark. I have the honour to report that none of these stones has been molested and that there has been no interference with the ancient boundaries of the Royal Burgh, and that I have duly discharged my duties once again, in this respect.
Ian W Douglas, Lord Cornet of the Royal and Ancient Burgh of Lanark for 2019 and as said Custodian during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. ”
We hope all our friends and supporters are safe and well in these difficult times.
At 8.15pm this evening, and every coming Thursday over the next 6 weeks, we will be taking a look back down ‘Lanimer Memory lane’ with the Premiere of a recently digitised video of Lanimer Day from the the 1980’s on wards.
Over the next 6 Thursdays, a “new” video will be released every at 8.15pm on the lead up to what would of been our now cancelled Lanimer Week 2020.
We hope these nostalgic memories from the 80’s, 90’s and ‘noughties’ will bring some comfort to our followers in these difficult times.
First up is a trip back 35 year as we take a ‘lockdown look back’ at Lanimer Day 1985.
Our Lanimer Queen Cheryl Reilly was Crowned by Miss Grizel Rankin. Our Lanimer Procession was led by Lord Cornet John Armstrong.
Shown below is a scan of the original pull-out from the 1985 Lanimer Brochure detailing all the entries in the Procession. How many can you remember?
Lanimer Procession Programme – 6th June 1985
Stay tuned till the very end of the video – there is a special extra of the National news coverage of the day; something that used to happen every year! A huge thanks to Cheryl’s Mum and Dad, Joy and Brian for helping us with this footage!
Do you spot anyone in the procession, court or crow that you recognise? If so – please feel free to share this vidoe share with them!
Have you any special memories of Lanimer Day 1985 – If so, we would love you to share them with us via our social media pages.
Remember – the link below goes live at 8.15pm tonight (30th April 2020), we hope you enjoy!
Lanark Lanimer Committee Executive met on Wednesday evening, 18 March 2020, to take decisions on behalf of the Lanimer Committee regarding the impact of the current COVID-19 crisis on Lanark’s 2020 Lanimer celebrations.
We appreciate that the latest advice published by the Scottish and UK Governments on COVID-19, and the limiting of social contact has profound implications for our community activities. With that in mind Lanark Lanimer Committee has taken the difficult decision to cancel all Lanimer Events for 2020.
We feel that this is the only course of action open at this time, to protect our precious community. We understand also the pressure on our vital emergency services and believe also that to reschedule activities would put additional strain on their resources.
We realise that you were looking forward to June, as we were, and will have put many plans in place but, as you know, the situation is totally outwith our control. All principals for 2020, including our Lord Cornet-elect, Crowning Lady, Sashing Lady and the Lanimer queen-elect and her court will carry forward to 2021.
We would hope that all of the above will take part in 2021 celebrations and shall issue details concerning this in due course, along with plans for 2021 celebrations.
We hope everyone in our community stays safe through this crisis and shall keep you up to date later in the year.
Ex-Lord Cornet John Dickman, Chair of Lanark Lanimer Committee, and all its members.
Coronavirus: Implications for Lanimer Week Preparations
Preparations for this year’s Lanimer events are under way, as planned. As the current circumstances continue to evolve Lanark Lanimer Committee will continue to follow the Government’s lead, direction and, when and if required, instruction, to ensure we work with all involved, and with the town itself, to effect the safety of us all.
For now we shall continue with our planning schedule for a spectacular Lanimer Week 2020 and shall keep everyone up to date, promptly, on any changes we may have to face.
We shall advise our members entrants, riders social media and local press as anticipated adjustments occur.
Ex-Lord Cornet John Dickman, Chair, Lanark Lanimer Committee
The Lanimer Committee is delighted to announce that this years Sashing Lady will be Jean Gardner.
Jean has been a strong supporter of Lanark Rugby club for many years and has assisted in a variety of roles with the locals club. She has supported our annual celebrations through preparing the bouquets for the ladies of the Lanimer Court and by acting as a judge for decorated houses on a number of occasions.
Jean is delighted to be chosen to present Lord Cornet Elect Derek McGuinness with his sash of office on Marches night at The Cross.
We wish Jean and her family all the best for a very special Lanimer Week and hope they have a very Happy Lanimers!
