Lanark Burgess tradition is just the ticket

MANY happy memories seemed to have been stirred by a story on the front page of the Gazette’s Lanark edition last week about the ‘re-birth’ of an ancient Royal Burgh tradition.
By The Newsroom
Published 13th Jan 2013, 08:00 BST

We related how Lanark Community Council is to reintroduce the awarding of Burgess Tickets to worthy citizens, an accolade that died out in the mid-1970s when the old Lanark Town Council disbanded.

One of the first problems facing the Community Council was finding out who the surviving Burgesses were.

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An appeal for the ‘old’ Burgesses to come forward issued through the Lanark Gazette has had a superb reponse.

Among those who contacted us were Iain McLauchlan, made a Burgess in December 1969 for his services to the Lanimers; Grizel Rankin, awarded her ticket in May 1970 for services to Guiding and the Lanimers; and William Beattie, made one of the last Burgesses in June 1974 for services to the town’s YMCA and youth sports coaching.The longest-serving Burgess to contact us so far is T. Henry Shanks, the former Lanimer Committee secretary who reckons he received his honour in the very early 1960s.

For more details, see the Carluke and Lanark Gazette, or contact us if you have a Burgess ticket.

Related topics:Tickets