This years Common Riding was blessed with fantastic weather all day long, from the Hound Trail to the Tubs speech (better than the King’s speech and no stuttering) the sun shone and the followers had a great day.

Tub Pearson(2nd), well how good was she? spent 19 hours with a smile on her face, filled the memorial jacket very well! and did the village proud during all her various duties, she even attended school dinner during common riding week where all the food was yellow!

The day started with the running of the Hound Trail for the J A Foster Memorial Trophy, now don’t panic Fat’s is no deed, but he came mighty close on the Bike Clip doo night for sure! this years trail was won by a white dog with brown patches, followed closely by a white dog with brown patches honestly they all look alike, we would like to thank Les (Slippy) Calvert for his continuing sponsorship of the trail and also Marti Borthwick for her Donation and Podge and Robert for making sure the dogs run where they are supposed to!

I say this every year but the crowd gathered in the square this year was amazing, standing up on the fountain was like being on the balcony during the Royal Wedding especially with the fanfare from the Funnelonium band (click on Funnelonium band to see their web site)who were great again this year, more Benny Hill than Prince Will mind! so many folk from near and far, Selkirk, Peebles, Langholm, Roadheed, even Rowanburn,  they came to follow the Tub and her Left and Right Legged men, to secure the boondaries for another year and to have more than a wee bit of fun.

The Prize winners in the morning were Best dressed Kids, Jake and Amber Foster, Best dressed Adult Mhairi Herd, Best dressed bike and passengers, Adrian and Oliver Downey, and Best window, Lumsdens Paper Shop, many thanks to Margaret Imrie for her support of the Best dressed kid, and for picking the best dressed Adult, and this year the Music Festival sponsored the best bike and riders, with a fine silver trophy, the winners were chosen by Rodney Groom, also many thanks to honorary life members Tom and Elizabeth of Costcutters fame for their support, talking off support the Tub had a lot of “support” from her lifeguards with their buoyancy aids!.

This years song, expertly written and sung by Young Spannerface, which is the stage name of Martin Richardson (well it worked for Reg Dwight) went down very well and has also been recorded onto disc, by another popular beat combo Jarvis and Chinky.

So it was off for a day filled with fun and laughter, Kieran Cuthbert won the Mick Rick tankard for being first to the shed where this year the entertainment was probably a class above anything seen in the shed before, 2 ex cornets from Hawick, an ex principal from West Linton, some random bloke dressed like Laurence Llewellyn Bowen! an ex Chapelcross single hand champion and various other memorable performers made this part of the day better than ever, thanks to Waldorf and Statler of the Golf club, for their fine efforts behind the bar.

After the cutting and snogging of the sod, which was a particularly fine vintage this year, Duster must have been using a new fertilizer! We were off the to the Olive Tree to collect the common riding emblems of the Barley Fadge and the Kipper, this years emblem bearers were Tootie and Karen both common riding virgins, again many thanks to Ali and her staff for the great welcome and feed we receive every year.

The Toblerone and Whisky, celebrating the life and times of Erub Knubum, was presented to the Tub by Mr Ian Nichol, although he didn’t buy it last years Tub did! and then we were off to the Trap for a quick refreshment break as there had been no time before this to quench our thirsts on such a sunny day! the celebration of the infamous Battle of Fred’s corner, where the remaining surviving original members all Touched Cloth was followed by the ode to Gilly Fraser, given by ex-Tub Cuthbert (1st) in her own inimitable fashion, and then the very short journey to the opening of the all new Copshaw Kitchen, thanks to Nick and Brenda for feeding the masses, and all the best for the future from all at the CCR, the opening ceremony was written and performed by Ex Tubs Cuthbert (2nd), ex-Tub Elliot and Mr Ian Nichol.

The Dykehead boundary, where the gardens look much better than in previous years, the Wendy house at the bottom for the kids is a nice touch! and where John and Jo’s hospitality is much appreciated, not just by the committee but by everyone who had a bacon roll and where the Bridies from Brydon ceremony is narrated by ex-Tub Jackson, sorry to anyone who had a piece of the massive bridie and found a hair on it, this would have originated from ex-Tub Jacksons tache!

We had a new ancient ceremony this year at the Lidalia caravan park, where Mr Ed very kindly provided us with some liquid refreshment, some of which looked a bit dodgy but tasted okay, and where Mr & Mrs Curtis, I think he was Tony, had written a piece about the statue of the Hound of Lidalia which stands guard at the entrance to the park, apparently keeping in common riding tradition this is a true story!!

The Garden Party 2011 style, traditional common riding sports, games and merriment with kids of all ages enjoying such events as the human hurdles, the backward 61 yards sprint, the 10 yard sprint, the ever popular Egg Russian Roulette (memo to chef hard boiled eggs 15 minutes) and this year chocolate chilli roulette, but without the chocolate, the roulette committee will be working on this for next year!, huge thanks to the CCR ladies committee for all their hard work on the bar and the hot dogs and also to Aggie for the bouncy castle, much better without Kim! all the sports were very generously sponsored by Copshaw Caterers@The Trap, or Philip and Helen Jane of real chips fame.

The day ended in great fashion with the Jedburgh Pipe Band and  parade master Pee Wee marching the Tub and her followers to the Hall for the opening of the already opened festival concert and to “shake the shoulders” and to the fountain for the final crying of the Copshaw Fair and handing in of the flag, followed by Tub Pearson (2nd) last words on her big day.

Finally thanks to everyone who helped in any way big or small, all your support is really appreciated by everyone on the committee, thanks to Lynn for doing such a great job not just on the day but since she was voted Tub, she’s a credit to the Holm!! and also I’m sure everyone that takes part every year will appreciate just what a great job the committee do!!

Coming soon bigger and better than last year the all new “STARS IN THEIR EYES” don’t miss it!! and also due to the demise of the Legion!!! the Holm Show dance will be a Common Riding production this year featuring the Duke Street Band see the posters nearer the time.

 

Gary.