Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant
Other names
- Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Celebrations
Pageant type
Performances
Place: Meadow Park (Irvine) (Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland)
Year: 1972
Indoors/outdoors: Outdoors
Number of performances: 3
Notes
15–17 June 1972, at 7.30pm.
Matinee performance Saturday 17 June, 2.30 pm.
Four performances were planned but the last of these on Saturday 17 June was cancelled because of bad weather.
There was a dress rehearsal performance on the evening of Wednesday 14 June 1972; free tickets were offered to the elderly of the town and district but these were the only members of the public admitted.1
The pageant venue, Meadow Park, is a football stadium.
Name of pageant master and other named staff
- Producer (Page: Terry Lane
- Assistant Producer and Master of Ceremonies: James Kennedy
- Field Designer: Ian Campbell
- Master of Works: Bill Cowan
- Wardrobe Mistress: Veronica Todd
- Props Mistress: Rosamund Lane
- Arena Manager: Charles Summers
- Field Commandante: Eileen Ferguson
- Choreographer: Anne Clark
- Rehearsal Pianist: Miss Jennie Robertson
- Sound Engineer: Ted Chandler
- Programme Editor: Bill Nolan
- Programme Designer: Tony Scott.2
Names of executive committee or equivalent
Organisation Committee:
- Police Judge J. Hunter, Chairman Irvine Town Council
- Provost A. Rubie, Irvine Town Council
- Baillie G.M. Donaldson, Irvine Town Council and Irvine Carters’ Society
- Baillie J. Dick, Irvine Town Council
- Treasurer H.F. Loach, Irvine Town Council
- Alex MacMillan (described as Pageant Director)
- William Lockhart, Irvine Incorporated Trades
- The Rev. A. Macara, Irvine Old Parish Church
- The Rev. R.D, Sawers, Mure Church, Irvine
- The Rev. T. Murphy, St Mary’s Church, Irvine
- S.J.J. Robertson, Community Development Officer, Ayr County Council
- W.A. Nolan, Public Relations Officer, Irvine
- G.J. Donohoe, Irvine Rotary Club
- Mrs Anne Gaw, Townswomen’s Guild
- Superintendent F. James, Ayrshire Constabulary
- J. Hay, Rector, Irvine Royal Academy
- P. Milne, Rector, Ravenspark Academy
- J. Shields, Harbour Arts Centre
- Representatives from Irvine Business Club and Irvine Round Table
Notes
Irvine Town Council provided the main players on the committee with representatives from churches, business and civic groups also taking roles. Unfortunately, specific records of the pageant committee have not been recovered and the pageant programme does not give information about office holders.
Names of script-writer(s) and other credited author(s)
- MacMillan, Alex
Names of composers
n/a
Numbers of performers
700c400 adults and 300 children plus a large numbers of horses.
Financial information
£17000 was set aside to cover all of the expenses associated with the centenary celebrations.5
Object of any funds raised
The figures relating to the loss made on the pageant have not been recovered in available documentation; however, it is likely that they recorded a substantial deficit. Despite a search, minutes of the meetings of the pageant committee have not been recovered.
The sum of £17000 was to cover all of the events associated with the centenary, with the pageant being the largest of these. At the first meeting of a town council committee that mentions the financing of the centenary, which met in November 1970, the figure conjectured was £7000; this later rose in July 1971 to an estimated £12000 before being set in November 1971 at the larger sum of £17000.7 Initially the events planned included a military tattoo to be held at the end of April 1972 and advice was sought from tattoo organisers in Edinburgh.8 This plan was abandoned, however, because of the rising costs of staging the tattoo and the pageant then became the flagship celebratory event.9
Linked occasion
600th anniversary of the granting of a burgh charter to the town.Audience information
- Grandstand: Yes
- Grandstand capacity: 2700
- Total audience: 3346
Notes
A total of 3346 went through the turnstiles. On Thursday 15 June, 690 were in the audience, on Friday 16 June,, 750 attended, and the matinee on Saturday had the largest audience at 1906 attendees. Only 124 people had purchased advance tickets for Saturday evening before the performance was cancelled.11
The stadium had capacity for 6000 spectators including those standing.12
Prices of admission and seats: highest–lowest
£1–10p.
Tickets for reserved seats were £1 or 50p, standing only tickets (pay at the gate) were 20p. All tickets for the matinee performance on Saturday were half price.
Saturday afternoon was by far and away the most popular performance. This can, at least, be partly attributed to the discounted prices available for this matinee presentation of the pageant.
Associated events
Centenary Celebrations as follows:- Grand Ball in Ravenspark Academy with International Cabaret and Buffet (April 7, 20.00–02.00). Tickets £4.00. Pop Ball [sic] in Irvine Drill Hall Featuring the Fortunes and Butterfly (April 7, 20.00–02.00). Tickets 50p.
- Opening ceremonies (April 8, 11.00), outside the Town House with a march past of the Carters, Incorporated Trades, uniformed organisations, Scots Guards Pipe Band and Doon Silver Band. Salute taken by Sir James Ferguson, Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire. Unveiling, unfurling and tree planting ceremonies.
- United Church service (April 9, 15.00) at Irvine Parish Church. Preacher Rev. D. H. Whiteley, St Giles Edinburgh.
Pageant outline
Prologue
The Spirit of Irvine recites verse describing the purpose of the pageant, an extract from this as follows:
Gentles, you are assembled here
To celebrate Six Hundredth year
Since Irvine first with Royal Seal
Acclaimed its faith in the Common Weal.
But Irvine's history, long before
King Bruce came knocking at the door,
Possesses some of Scotland's story;
Her triumphs, griefs and sometimes glory...
The verse ends, 'And I, your Spirit, proudly am your guide.'14
Episode I. The Presenting of the Charter to Irvine by Robert II, 8 April 1472
The brief description of this in the pageant programme is as follows:
King Robert II arrives in Irvine and after the Earl of Carrick has read the Charter to the assembled citizens, the King puts the seal to it and presents it to the people.
A translation of an extract from the charter is included within the pageant programme on page 3; it is presumed that the performer playing the Earl simply read from this and that most of the cast involved with this episode had non-speaking parts.15
King Robert was played by a New York born man called Steve Weideger who had come to live in the area seven years previously, having married a local woman. Weideger was a schoolteacher; he was selected because of his height (6ft 2in) and his ability to ride a horse. In the episode he was mounted on a 'giant white stallion'.16
Episode II. The Robertland Riot, 17th Century
This consisted of a re-enactment of a locally well-known riot in which the Provost of the day almost lost his life and a Halberdier of the town was murdered.17 Robertland was the estate of the local Cunninghame family. With less than a week to go before the opening performance the episode was dropped ‘because of difficulties over mob scenes which would have been necessary’.18
Episode III. Mary Queen of Scots’ Visit, c. 1560s
This enacts a purported visit by the Queen to Seagate Castle in Irvine. The episode depicts Mary with a hunting party. In the programme it is admitted that it ‘is doubtful if she visited’ the castle.19 A dance is included in the performance in which the actor playing Mary (Jacqueline Coyle) was the local gala queen for that year.20 Her dance partner was played by the Captain of one of the ancient guilds of Irvine, the Carters’ Society.21
Episode IV. The Seal of Cause of the Trades, 1646
This episode depicts an event of significance to Irvine wherein the magistrates of the town present a Seal of Cause to the town's craftsmen with the hope of avoiding civil unrest.22 This agreement granted certain privileges to the craft guilds. It was described in the local press as ‘a colourful and at times amusing episode’.23
Episode V. The Irvine Martyrs, 1666
In this episode, one of their own number hangs a group of local martyrs for the Covenanting cause. This man, on promise of a pardon, agrees to act as hangman since the local executioner refuses to undertake the task and no other can be found to execute the condemned men.24 This episode was described as the ‘most dramatic and impressive episode in the whole pageant’.25
Episode VI. The Smugglers of Irvine, 18th Century
The common practice of smuggling on the west coast of Scotland was depicted in this episode. The programme states that the Custom Houses in Irvine and Ayr were often robbed and that brandy was stored beneath the floors of ‘many an Irvine house’.26 The action of this episode was most likely based on a story related in the Annals of the Parish (first published 1821) by the well-known Irvine-born writer, John Galt.
Episode VII. Burns in Irvine, 1781
This depicts aspects of the fifteen-month sojourn of the poet in the town of Irvine where he came to learn the trade of flax dressing. In the pageant programme it is stated that he arrived in the town as a peasant but left as ‘a young man of the world eager to become a poet.’27
Episode VIII. The Last Stage Coach, 1743
The coming of steam trains to Irvine was said to have ‘led to protests about its speed and noise’ and ‘regrets for the departure of the coach’.28 The final coach leaving Irvine for Glasgow was depicted and the episode contained an authentic eighteenth-century vehicle.29
Episode IX. The Eglinton Tournament, 1859
The episode was meant to recreate the atmosphere of the medieval tournament held by the Earl of Eglinton in 1839 at his estate, which is situated around three miles from the town. The episode involved professional jousters who came from England.30
Episode X. The Ballet of the Years, No Date
Schoolgirls were featured in this episode as dancers. A detailed description has not been recovered but during the episode the dancers created formations that spelled ‘key words in the history of the town’.31 The episode was said to celebrate both the past and future of the town and 280 young girls took part.32
Key historical figures mentioned
- Robert II (1316–1390) king of Scots
- Mary [Mary of Guise] (1515–1560) queen of Scots, consort of James V, and regent of Scotland
- Burns, Robert (1759–1796) poet
- Galt, John (1779–1839) novelist
- Massingberd, Sir Archibald Armar Montgomery- (1871–1947) army officer [also known as Montgomery, Sir Archibald Armar]
- Montgomerie, Archibald William, thirteenth earl of Eglinton and first earl of Winton (1812–1861) politician and racing patron
Musical production
Glasgow Police Pipe BandThe Ayrshire Orchestra
The Kilmarnock Youth Silver Band
Newspaper coverage of pageant
The Glasgow HeraldIrvine Times
Irvine Herald
Book of words
n/a
A Book of Words has not been recovered.
Other primary published materials
- Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Celebrations, Pageant Souvenir Programme, 15p (Irvine, 1972).
References in secondary literature
n/a
Archival holdings connected to pageant
- The North Ayrshire Heritage Centre in Saltcoats has minutes of the meetings of the Town Council Committees which mention the pageant. See shelfmark series GR 1/1/74-78 (1970-72).
Sources used in preparation of pageant
- Galt, John. Annals of the Parish. 1821. Episode VI.
Summary
More than 18 months were spent planning the Pageant of Irvine, but all of this preparation could not have foreseen the exceptionally terrible weather that accompanied this event, which was supposed to be the exciting climax of the town’s 600th centenary celebrations. Poor attendances attributed to the downpours were naturally blamed for putting paid to earlier ambitions for a magnificent show, but it is possible that these only exacerbated other underlying problems with the whole idea of a pageant at this point in the town’s evolution. Although an ancient Scottish burgh, in 1966 Irvine was designated as Scotland’s fifth (and last) post-war new town and was the only one of this number that was built around a sizeable existing settlement. By the early 1970s, the effects of new town status were beginning to be felt as plans to demolish older parts of the town and the building of new houses, factories and infrastructure took place. Many residents feared that the character of the place and awareness of its history would be lost. In addition, there was heightened anxiety about such things as rent increases in the town's planned new social housing.
While all of this change was going on, the coincidental occurrence of the 600-year centenary no doubt encouraged the local council to make this anniversary a platform for reminding older residents as well as incomers about Irvine’s importance in the Scottish past. It was perhaps for this reason that this pageant did not trouble itself with references to the region’s Roman or Celtic times, but tried to increase awareness of Irvine’s place as an important economic hub since medieval times when the town had been a vibrant port. When this trade declined, as Irvine’s harbour silted up, the town nevertheless continued to flourish as a manufacturing centre, a fact highlighted in the episode on Burns, since it was well known that the poet had come to the town to work in the textile industry. By the mid-twentieth century, however, the de-industrialisation that affected many parts of lowland Scotland had taken its toll, a fact that the new town designation was meant to ameliorate. Yet it is fair to say that this measure was met with mixed feelings. It is possible that there would have been little enthusiasm among many residents, old and new, for any event organised by the local council at a time when the New Town Development Corporation seemed to have a good deal more local power than elected representatives. In addition, neither the council nor the established population welcomed all the changes being made.33 Highlighting the triumphs of the past may not have been a canny move when uncertainty about the future was in the air.
Having ignored pre-history, the episodes included in this pageant did not unfold chronologically. Instead, to highlight the genesis of the pageant, Episode I covered the granting of the royal charter to Irvine. The pageant then proceeded to move backwards and forwards in time using themes and narratives that highlighted either well-known figures in Scottish history, such as Mary Queen of Scots, or locally important events. The writer of the pageant, a local retired head teacher, was said to have aimed for ‘visual interest’ and to have ‘tried to follow a solemn event by an active one’ rather than staying with strict chronology. Sadly, this anticipated pattern was disrupted when only a week before the first performance, the planned Episode II, which enacted a famous local riot, had to be abandoned. This was almost certainly due to there being inadequate numbers of performers available. Indeed, in a newspaper article the pageant’s author, Alex MacMillan, is quoted as commenting on his difficulties with recruitment: ‘Generally we had little difficulty getting girls for parts. But there has been an apparent shyness among young men. Perhaps they are afraid of being laughed at by their friends’.34
Yet, despite the problems finding sufficient men for several of the scenes (not just the aborted Riot episode but also the depiction of Covenanters in Episode V and the re-enactment of the Eglinton Tournament in Episode IX), the surplus of girls seems to have been well exploited. No doubt, women headed up the episode on Mary Queen of Scots’ visit to Seagate Castle in the town, a scene which would have included the appearance of many female courtiers; and the central character of the pageant, the Spirit of Irvine, was also a young woman. Sally Wallace was a 22-year-old schoolteacher and was said to have 'a pleasant voice'. She was selected unanimously from 'a large number of applicants', although there is no mention if any of these hopefuls were male.35 Sally proved to be an asset to the celebrations; as numerous local news articles show, she appeared at a large number of public events in the run up to the pageant, clearly as a means to publicise it.36
It is evident from such reporting that the organisers of the pageant worked hard to make it a success and there does not seem to have been a lack either of will or of funds to create a memorable spectacle. Although the writer of the pageant had also been heavily involved with rehearsals and the general direction of the performers, the committee hired the well-known theatrical producer Terry Lane. This was probably thought necessary in order to execute some of the trickier technical aspects of the pageant. One example was the hanging scene in the covenanting episode, which involved ‘the use of a body harness to suspend the victims while a rope noose appeared to be doing so', the arrangements giving 'a realistic effect which brought gasps' from the spectators.37 Also providing successful entertainment for the audience was the re-enactment of a scene from the famous nineteenth-century Eglinton Tournament, which involved professional jousters and amateur archers. The jester was said to have 'raised more laughter than was induced throughout the rest of the pageant.'38 This episode had been controversial, as technically the Eglinton Estate, although it was nearby, was outside the Burgh boundaries.39 Probably Lane also was responsible for introducing an innovative start to the pageant. In a nod to the fact that the performance was taking place in a football stadium, the pageant began with two teams of young boys awaiting the start of a game; absent is a football to allow the kick-off. An outsize ball then arrives placed prominently atop a large moving jeep which, when it reached the centre of the arena, 'burst to disclose within it the Spirit of Irvine in the person of Miss Sally Wallace.'40 After a circuit of the stadium seated on the bonnet of the vehicle, the Spirit commenced the Prologue. No doubt, safety considerations for this type of spectacle did require professional advice.
Yet there was also a will to keep things local, as criticism of the Eglinton episode showed, and there was an investment of time and interest in the pageant by a plethora of local organisations including churches, schools, youth organisations and the Irvine Townswomen's Guild. Chief among these institutions, and described as 'stalwarts' of the burgh, were the Carters' Society, which had a 600-year history, and the Society of Incorporated Trades, which dated from the seventeenth century.41 This level of local support is not surprising given that Irvine had an established and much loved annual gala and procession, the Marymass Festival, which had been run every August from 1928. In the changing times of the 1970s, even the New Town Development Corporation seems to have played a part, supplying assistance with graphic designs for pageant publicity.
Thus it does seem that it was audience participation, or the lack of it, which let down the Irvine pageant. What accounted for this? Some commentators in the local press went for the jugular, acknowledging the effects of the bad weather but placing the main blame on ticket prices that they claimed were beyond the means of local families. One editorial in the Irvine Times praised the hard work and enthusiasm of the amateur volunteers who performed and assisted, but censured the pageant organisers for not opting for a free pageant procession instead:
not everyone is interested in culture, tradition and history. But that they can be made interested is clear from the annual success of Marymass. This very success should have told the powers that be in the Royal Burgh where the pageant should have been held... in the streets of the town... Every episode of the pageant presented behind payboxes [sic] could have been presented (with some adjustment in the method, of course) as a colourful procession... we are sure the public would have turned out to the last man, woman and child for such a free spectacle.42
In aiming to make a bigger splash for the centenary year, the Burgh Council got just that, but not quite in the way it had planned. The ambitious Eglinton Tournament had also been badly affected by a deluge of rain, and history repeated itself in 1972. When the schoolgirl dancers who closed the pageant heard, only fifteen minutes before the final show was due to commence, that it had been cancelled because of the weather, many were seen crying.43 Yet even without the downpours, it is more than possible that this pageant would all have ended in tears; for the Irvine anniversary pageant was almost certainly the wrong pageant at the wrong time.
Footnotes
- ^ Irvine Burgh Council Minutes (May 1971-April 1972), Meeting of the Town Council, 9 May 1972, 18. North Ayrshire Heritage Centre, Saltcoats. Gr 1/1/78.
- ^ Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant, Souvenir Programme (Irvine, 1972), 14.
- ^ Ibid., 8.
- ^ Advertisement feature on the pageant, Glasgow Herald, 7 April 1972, 2.
- ^ See Irvine Burgh Council Minutes (May 1971-April 1972), Meeting of the Finance Committee, 30 November 1971, 474-75. Gr 1/1/77.
- ^ Advertisement feature on the pageant, Glasgow Herald, 7 April 1972, 2.
- ^ See numerous entries in Irvine Burgh Council Minutes (May 1971-April 1972). For example, Meeting of the Magistrates of the Town Council, 3 November 1970, 396. Gr 1/1/75; Meetings of the Finance Committee, 22nd July 1971, 235 and 30 November 1971, 474-5. Gr 1/1/76 and 77.
- ^ Irvine Burgh Council Minutes (May 1971-April 1972), Meeting of the Town Council, 6 October 1970, 331-32. Gr 1/1/74.
- ^ Advertisement feature on the pageant, Glasgow Herald, 7 April 1972, 2.
- ^ An entry in Irvine Burgh Council Minutes (May 1971-April 1972) states seating capacity as 'over 2000', see Meeting of the Town Council, 9th May 1972, 18. GR 1/1/78; however, an article in the Irvine Times 12th May, 11 states the exact seating capacity as being 2700.
- ^ ‘600th Pageant Climax was a Washout’ Irvine Times, 23 June 1972, 1.
- ^ Advertisement feature on the pageant, Glasgow Herald, 7 April 1972, 2.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ 'Prologue' in Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant, Souvenir Programme, 9.
- ^ Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant, Souvenir Programme, 10.
- ^ 'Yankee at the Court of King Robert', Irvine Times, 9 June 1972, 12.
- ^ Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant, Souvenir Programme, 10.
- ^ ‘600 Years of History and Tradition’, Irvine Times, 16 June 1972, 1.
- ^ Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant, Souvenir Programme, 10.
- ^ ‘Irvine’s Pageant—One Week to Go’, Irvine Times, 9 June 1972, 8.
- ^ ‘600th Pageant was a Washout’, Irvine Times, 23 June 1972, 1.
- ^ Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant, Souvenir Programme, 10.
- ^ ‘600th Pageant was a Washout’, Irvine Times, 23 June 1972, 1.
- ^ Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant, Souvenir Programme, 10.
- ^ ‘600th Pageant was a Washout’, Irvine Times, 23 June 1972, 1.
- ^ Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant, Souvenir Programme, 11.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ ‘600th Pageant was a Washout’, Irvine Times, 23 June 1972, 1.
- ^ Irvine Times, 9 June 1972, 8.
- ^ ‘600 Years a Royal Burgh’, Glasgow Herald, 7 April 1972, 2; this was a full page advertising feature which included information about Irvine’s new town status as well as promoting the centenary celebrations.
- ^ Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant, Souvenir Programme, 11.
- ^ There was considerable tension between the Council and the New Town Development Corporation. See, for example, 'Dictatorial Irvine New Town Board', Glasgow Herald, 23 December 1971, 2.
- ^ Irvine Times 9th June 1972, 8.
- ^ Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant, Souvenir Programme, 5.
- ^ See, for example, a photograph of Sally Wallace, Irvine Times, 12 May 1973, 11 opening the Irvine Rotary Club's Spring Fair; and wearing her pageant costume to open a sale of work at Dreghorn Parish Church, Irvine Times, 26 May 1973, 3.
- ^ Irvine Times 23rd June 1972, 1.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Irvine Times 16th June 1972, 1.
- ^ Irvine Times 23rd June 1972, 1.
- ^ These two get a lengthier write-up in the pageant programme where acknowledgements of assistance are made to local organisations, see Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant, Souvenir Programme, 15. Details of organisations which took specific charge of some of the episodes are also described in an article entitled 'Yankee at the Court of King Robert’, Irvine Times, 9 June 1972, 12.
- ^ 'The Place for Pageantry', Irvine Times, 23 June 1972, 10.
- ^ Ibid.
How to cite this entry
Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘Royal Burgh of Irvine 600th Anniversary Pageant’, The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1102/