User:S.Ross81/Peterhead Scottish Week

Peterhead Scottish Week

The origins of Scottish Week

In the early years of the 1960's the General Council in Scotland set about planning a number of Gala events throughout the country that would primarily promote trade and tourism in Scotland. A limited company, based in Edinburgh, under the name 'Scottish Weeks Ltd' was created and this idea was then forwarded to the local council authorities in order to gain an interest in participation.

Feed back on the uptake of Scottish Week was slow but 10 places throughout Scotland decided to take up the challenege to promote the country by hosting a programme of events. The ten Scottish Weeks would take place in Arbroath, Coupar, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Gourock, Peterhead, Portsoy, Rothsay, Skye and Stranraer.

The first set of Scottish Weeks were set to take place during the summer of 1962. In the years preceeding, some towns already had Gala events in place, such as Peterhead Gala, but it was hoped that under the Scottish Week banner that promotion of the towns participating would see an influx of visitors from around the country and further afield.

Initially all 10 Scottish Weeks went smoothly and perhaps with various degrees of success, however the Scottish Week Ltd board noted that one town in particular had exceeded all expectations. The board spoke of Peterhead, in the North East of Scotland that "had produced the most ambitious programme of all the Scottish Weeks". This news was gladly recieved by the townspeople of Peterhead. The town had embraced the ideal of Scottish Week by catering for a week of family entertainment as well as encouraging local businesses to get involved. Over the years the other towns opted to withdraw from Scottish Week Ltd and thus today only one remains; Peterhead Scottish Week.

Peterhead Scottish Week - The Early Years

The initial committee for Peterhead Scottish Week had between 20 and 24 members with many more people from the community assisting on the lead up to July 1962 programme. The President of the committee was Peterhead's Provost, Robert Forman O.B.E. The Peterhead Scottish Week committee appointed Mr George S. Copeman as chairman, who had much experience in organising events and fetes and had played an integral part in the now extinct Peterhead Gala. Mr Copeman was the manager of local factory Crosse & Blackwell and was ably assisted by Mr Stanley G. Church (a factory exectutive) who had also been appointed Secretary of the committee.

The Chairperson and Committee

On an official basis, Peterhead Scottish Week had until 15 years ago a residing President. However, the role of the President was largely ceremonial. The office of the Chairperson has been carried out by a number of Peterhead residents over the years and is appointed by a vote by the committee members. In 2010, Peterhead Scottish Week (itself a non-profit organisation) was officially registered with charitable status and thus the members of the committee are now trustees. The team have the task of organising the events in addition to finding sponsorship, insurance and permits to allow the festivities to go ahead. The structure of the meetings are as follows - welcome by the chairperson, apologies and then the agenda of discussions to take place. Each meeting (which is normally held the first Monday of every month) is recorded in minutes by the Minutes Secretary.

The Official Programme Guide

The first Peterhead Scottish Week was organised with such short notice that a planned programme guide was shelved. The first programme guide of events was issued the following year in 1963. The main advantage of the programme was the number of competitions that readers enter, most notably, a window number spotting competition. Each programme had its own unique 4 digit number and located within the town was a shop window displaying the identical number. If the spotter noticed the number then a prize from that shop could be claimed. To avoid any tampering or advantage the early issues of the Programme Guide were sealed in envelopes so not to reveal the lucky number. Today the numbers are located on the inside back cover with more than 170 shops in Peterhead participating. Many local business also take the opportunity to advertise in the programme with an estimated 10,000 people viewing a Peterhead Scottish Week programme each year. The programme has been closely associated with Peterhead based newspaper The Buchan Observer and P. Scrogie printers but has also been printed in conjunction with James Davidson Printers. Printed largely over many years in black and white with coloured pages being inserted in recent years, until 2008 when the programme was for the first time printed entirely in coloured ink. The front cover design has differed greatly over time. The task would normally fall to the team at the Buchan Observer but in the last 7 years the committee sought local designers to contribute with Anne Lynch, Scott Ross and Ben Mooney adding their own touch to the front page. Note that in 2000 that the front cover was designed by schoolgirl Roberta Cay.

The Buchan Queen Contest

Since the inception of Scottish Week back in 1962, many local girls have entered the annual contest to see who will be crowned 'Buchan Queen'. The idea was originally taken from the local 'Herring Queen' competition and it's a tradition that continues to this day, with a busy schedule for the winner during the weeklong gala, as wellas for the two princesses - it's no easy task! In earlier years a number of preliminary dances were held on the run up to Scottish Week with a Grand Final being held during the week itself. Over the decades since there have been a few changes to the format of the contest which is now held months in advance (traditionally in May) with a panel of five judges deciding who will wear the crown during the upcoming Scottish Week. The Crowning Ceremony initially happend on the final day of Scottish Week but pretty soon changed to the beginning of the week. A well known personality or respected member of the Peterhead community would have the honour to crown the Buchan Queen.

The Raft Race

Arguably the most popular of any Peterhead Scottish Week, the Raft Race has had a long associattion with the week-long Gala but many locals are surprised to learn that the event itself was not an original concept of Scottish Week and was only introduced in 1979. The name of the first event was infact Raft Race 2000 but the '2000' was later dropped. The first few years saw a battle between local based companies Asco and British National Oil Corporation (BNOC) as to the 'champions of the sea'. BNOC won the very first Raft race and again triumphed two years later in 1981. It would have been a hat-tick of victories for BNOC as they also crossed the line first in the 1980 event but were later disqualified when failing to follow the correct course; thus handing the win to rivals Asco. Nineteen teams participated in 1979 and this grew to its peak of 29 entrants in 1984 with some companies such as BNOC submitting 2 or 3 teams in the event. In latter years, with a greater demand in legislation and the necessity for health & saftey regulations, the cost in insuraning water-related events as part of Peterhead Scottish Week meant that the committee had to withdraw the event from the 2006 calander. In 2008 a proposal by a member of the public to finance a return of the Raft Race was welcomed but with less tahn a month to go before Scottish Week 2008 it was not possible to carry through with the plans. As 2011 marks the 50th edition of Peterhead Scottish Week, the committee decided that the week itself should feature a number of nostalgic events, most notably the Raft Race. The insurance headaches that had plagued the event and brought it to a halt had now been overcome. Please note that a Raft Race event sponsored by Peterhead Scottish Week was held in 1977 to raise funds for the Peterhead Hospital Pacemaker Fund. The winners of that event was the team of JMC Silver Streak.