July Newsround |
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Iain Goes for Top Job as Labour Takes Stock
Local MSP, Iain Gray has announced his intention to stand for the vacant leadership of the Scottish Labour Party and clearly enjoys the support of a sizable number of his constituents. As would be candidates jockeyed for position, Iain, currently the party’s finance spokesman, has been quoted by one source as being the joint favourite to fill the shoes of disgraced former leader, Wendy Alexander.
An astute, Haddington based, political observer told ‘Newsround’, ‘Iain Gray has worked tirelessly since becoming MSP for East Lothian and has championed diverse causes throughout the county. He has become a well known face in a comparatively short space of time and would be the ideal candidate to break the West of Scotland’s perceived stranglehold on the Scottish Labour Party’.
Following Labour’s poor showing in recent by-elections and opinion polls the job is clearly not one for the faint hearted but Iain believes that the eventual winner will have a ‘powerful mandate’ to take the fight to Alex Salmond.
The new leader will be announced on 13 September.
Last Orders for Popular Mine Hosts as Paul and Anne Call it a Day
Regulars of Haddington’s award winning Tyneside Tavern were stunned earlier this month to discover that Paul and Anne Kinoch were to give up their licence after nine years in charge. During their tenure, the Tyneside Tavern was named the Scottish and Newcastle Pub of the Year in 2007 and regularly picked up awards for various aspects of their service. The pub, which boasts an incredible, traditional style atmosphere and an eating experience that is both good quality and affordable has built |
up, over the years, a loyal customer base. Most of them were on hand on Sunday 6th July to join Paul and Anne in a riotously good-natured farewell party that just failed to raise the roof one last time. The couple will continue to operate Lothian Mobile Bar Services, their outside catering company and are currently taking bookings for all manner of events throughout the county. |
Farmer’s Market Goes to France
Haddington’s Farmers’ Market, which has become a well-established part of the community over the last few years, broke new ground recently when they set up shop in France! Approximately ten stallholders accompanied members of the Haddington/Aubigny Twinning Association and Haddington Pipe Band to celebrate the 2008 Commice Agricole (district agricultural show) which is held every seven years in Aubigny-sur-Nere. United by the love of good food, the farmers and locals hit it off immediately and the |
initiative proved to be something of a public relations triumph. Association chairman, Frank Elliot was wholesome in his praise and felt that the move had helped reinforce the strong links that already exist between the two towns. As an added bonus, the trip will be immortalised for eternity due to the fact that a crew from the BBC programme, ‘Landward’ which is broadcast on Sundays, televised it throughout. The tale of the farmers’ French adventure is likely to hit our screens this autumn. |
Fond Farewell to Major George.
Haddington teacher George Macfarlane has marked the school’s annual summer break by retiring, - twice over! George has been both a teacher and officer of the school’s Combined Cadet Force (CCF) for over 30 years and has decided to simultaneously lay down the chalk and baton. Head teacher, Janis Craig praised George’s diligence, enthusiasm |
and loyalty to the school in general and the cadets in particular and said that it was fitting that he should step down in this, the centenary year of the Knox Academy CCF, the only remaining cadet section in a state school in Scotland. Earlier this year, Major Mcfarlane performed the opening ceremony of the Haddington Festival as it in turn celebrated forty years of summer fun. |
Grants Braes Burns Club in Historic Link Up.
Grants Braes Burns Club have linked up with Lennoxlove to help celebrate the first year of the stately home’s reopening and its unique contribution to the Burns family history. Club members and friends will feature prominently in a family open day at Lennoxlove with a two-hour presentation in the grand hall. David Murray, secretary of Grants Brae Burns Club and chair of their restoration project told ‘Newsround’, ‘Robert Burns mother, Agnes Broun, lived for many years on the Lennoxlove estate at Grants Braes, and like her second son, Gilbert, eventually died there. We are delighted to be involved in the Lennoxlove celebrations and hope that this will be the first of many joint ventures’. Kenneth Buchanan, the general manager at Lennoxlove said ‘It is fitting that the Grants Braes Burns Society should launch the proceedings’. |
Grants Braes Burns Club plan a busy year in 2009 to celebrate the completion of their restoration project and the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns. It seems likely that this will feature a major event at Lennoxlove in the early summer.  David Murray, Grants Braes Burns Club |
Don’t Log Off!
No, don’t log off until you have seen the ninth collection of George Angus’s ‘Haddington Old and New’ featured on this website. Landmarks featured include the 1846 Stationmaster’s House, a 1954 shot of the ‘New ‘ School, the gasworks site of 1962 and the 1904 Ball Alley.
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George, who first learned the art of photography in Egypt, has been making coloured slides since 1952 and his shows have been a popular feature of all but a handful of Haddington Festivals. He has arranged to bequeath his Haddington Collection, including his numerous postcards, the Local History Department of the library in anticipation of the eventual establishment of a Town Museum. Bob Mitchell |
 The Old Gasworks 1962 |