7th June in the Village Hall Come and be part of history in the making at CCR`s first public vote for the Tub Elect. Come and vote for your Tub and shake your booty to somebody playing some 78`s on the Reflex Disco new gramaphone. Details of Tub Elects to follow
Farm yard or hoofed animals will be not be allowed to vote.....this year
TeamGB sets a new world record on their eight-wheeled cyclotron
as they prepare for Copshaw Common Riding 2008
The 10th Copshaw Common Riding, took place on
Saturday the 7th of July, where the 2007 Tub, Martin Pearson
performed his duties with the required excellence.
The day started with the annual Hound Trail, generously
sponsored by local painter and decorator Les “Slippy” Calvert, this years trail
was won by a dog.
Following the Hound Trail, some much needed refreshments
were taken at the Trap, Lager and Bacon is the staple breakfast of the
experienced Common Rider, as it’s a long day and this aids the stamina
required.
The committee proceeded to the Tub’s house to collect the
main man and escort him and his left and right legged men, Stuart “Butch”
Elliot and Neil “fat wat” Cuthbert, to the fountain, where an enormous crowd
had gathered, both riders and non-riders to see the Tub receive the flag, and
also to learn who had won some of the competitions which had been taking place.
Margaret Imrie judged the best turned out prize for the 9th
year running, and decided that 3 young ladies in afro wigs, Lorna, Nicola and
Katie, were the deserving winners, the Tub presented the prize to the girls,
and also the prize to the best dressed window, and that must have been a
difficult decision this year as the standard of the shop windows was remarkable!
This year’s winners were Thompson’s newsagents; Brenda and Nick are great
supporters of the Common Riding and are the kind of white settlers we like!!
This year the Common Riding ran a crossword competition organised by our
internet genius Craig and these were sold by Brenda in the shop, out of 60
entries, the winner was Brenda! As I said the crosswords were sold by Brenda in
the shop!! Many thanks are due to Tommy and Elizabeth at Costcutters for
providing the prizes for the Best window and best dressed, again they have been
great supporters of the Common Riding over the past few years.
Jamie then handed
over the flag to the Tub, for the final time, as he is now living down under
and won’t be back to do this duty again, and if you believe that then the moon
is made of blue cheese!!
The Tub led the chase up to the “shed” followed by the 107
riders, this count was verified by Bizler, and was reported incorrectly in one
local paper as being 70!! Wishful thinking on their part really!
This years Tubs chase was won by one of the Langholm
contingent, of which there were many, and very welcome they are too,
unfortunately being a Langholm man, Norman
couldn’t manage to drink down his prize, so had to be helped by Titch, who is
no stranger to downing a pint! This year we had people in the shed from as far
apart as Italy, America, Jed,
Selkirk, Hawick and the Terrace! The Tub was regally entertained; some of the
jokes would have made Bernard Manning proud.
The day proceeded with the ancient traditions of the Sod
cutting and snogging, this years Sod was rated one of the tastiest in recent
history, the Tequila is only used for medicinal purposes to take the taste of
the Sod away!, then to the Barley Fadge and Kipper ceremony, this years emblem
bearers being Ryan Lyall and Callum Cuthbert, many thanks are due again this
year to the Olive Tree, for providing the emblems and also for feeding the
gathered crowd, it is much appreciated.
Then on to the Toblerone ceremony, this year presented by
Ian Nichol, we cant use his nickname anymore as it’s not politically correct,
so we will call him Chinky! Then to the official Common Riding watering hole of
the Trap, where the official CD recording of Tub
Pearson’s song was unveiled, many thanks to Ann in the Trap
for raising loads of money through the Hound Trail sweep and for putting up
with ex Tub Mole’s noise!!
This years “Touching Cloth” ceremony took place in front of
the Fred’s corner memorial slate, kindly sculpted by Clivemickydezziebruce
Foster.
This years newest Ancient tradition is the Gilly Fraser
historical reading, written by ex Tubs Vicky and Shaun, and read by Vicky in
front of the Legion in pouring rain! We think Gilly was impressed, but maybe
just drunk!!
This years 3rd boundary at Dykehead, generously hosted by
the well known local philanthropist Thumbie, was as usual a lot of laughs, more
of the staple diet of Lager and Bacon, was again consumed, it is generally
accepted that this more beneficial than any flashy energy drink!
We were then driven to the final boundary at Liddlevale,
hosted by the Italian stallion and his lovely wife Pam, as usual this was one
of the highlights and the kids, both young and old seemed to appreciate the
bouncy castle, much music and song and some more refreshments! Many thanks are
also due to Franco and Pam for feeding everyone and for their hospitality.
In the evening we were joined by the Jedburgh Pipe band, to
open the festival concert and to pipe us to the fountain, where with tears in
his eyes, Speaker Atkinson performed his final crying of the fair, and Tub Pearson gave an emotional speech thanking everyone
for their support on his big day.
The 10th Common Riding will go down as the “best
yet” and if we have missed thanking anyone, we apologise, but all of the
support we get is much appreciated, finally a massive thank you to anyone who
made a contribution in the buckets on the night, we are the only Common Riding
in the Borders who make a profit on the day, and this helps us support local
causes at our New Year Honours event.
A big thanks to Chairman Cuthbert for writing this piece whilst I was in rehab suffering from Post CCR Blues.
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