Down Memory Lane

TEN YEARS AGO

* CARLUKE Gala Day was facing extinction after chairperson Barbara Murray and her entire committee resigned. Barbara stepped down from her role as the co-ordinator of the second-largest gala day in Lanarkshire after an appeal for volunteers was ignored.

* carluke lad Calum Russell (15), beat thousands of other entrants to win a £1200 drum kit from the BBC Fame Academy Instrument and Equipment Awards. Calum had impressed judges by telling them all about his role with the Carluke Primrose Flute Band, for whom he played percussion.

* A CARLUKE High School teacher said he was “extremely disappointed” that four pupils on the books of Motherwell Football Club had been barred from playing for the school team. Motherwell FC youth development officer Chris McCart said: “We don’t want the boys getting burnt out.”

* CARLUKE High School under-14 girls football team still boasted a 100 per cent winning record that season – with eight victories out of eight and a stunning goal difference of plus 79.

* RETURNING Motherwell FC hero Phil O’Donnell told Gazette Sport that he had set his sights on another Scottish Cup run – 13 years after winning the trophy in his first spell with the Fir Park club.

* Lanark United manager Tom MacDonald said he was still confident of achieving success in his first year in charge at Moor Park, thanks to a tough new fitness regime he’d introduced at the club.

* carluke hearts drew 5-5 at home to Newton Mearns in an unbelievable Scottish Amateur Cup fourth round clash. Goals were by Ansell (2), Ferguson (2) and Brazil.

Twenty-Five YEARS AGO

* Clydesdale farmer Andrew Steel would have to wring the necks of 1000 chickens following December’s salmonella scare. In a further blow for Andrew, of Cobblehaugh Farm, Ravenstruther, he was also facing the prospect of destroying 6000 surplus eggs if sales didn’t pick up within a fortnight.

* CARLUKE Gala Committee had decided that the 1989 Gala Day would be held in Carluke High School playing fields. The previous year a number of problems had occurred trying to get people into the stadium at Shieldhill Road – the volume of both traffic and people had led to hold-ups on the main road.

* It was reported that the mild weather throughout December could have far-reaching consequences for local fruit growers. Fruit trees, like a lot of flowers and plants, had started to bud and if they continued a heavy frost could kill the buds and destroy most of the summer’s fruit.

* The Nationwide Building Society office in Carluke High Street would shortly be closing its doors for good. The company, in a major restructuring project, planned to concentrate its resources on strategic branches and was closing offices it considered to be too close together.

* PLANS were afoot to establish a salmon hatchery on the Clyde as efforts to restore the river to its former glory as one of Scotland’s major migratory fish runs continued apace. And local councillors hoped that Clydesdale would be the area chosen for the hatchery.

* FORTH Wanderers were sickened in the final minute of an OVD Scottish Junior Cup third round tie at Bellshill Athletic when the hosts scored a last gasp penalty which made the final score 2-2. It was a controversial spot kick award by the referee, who deemed that Forth’s Watson had handled the ball in the penalty area. Forth manager Derek Brown said that he felt “cheated” by the decision.

* CLYDESDALE’S top athlete, Alaister Russell of Law and District AAC, led Scotland’s under-23 squad to victory in the Celtic Nations cross-country match at wind-swept Irvine. The young Biggar farmer spiked the hopes of top runners from Northern Ireland, Ireland and Wales by covering the six-mile course in 31min 42sec. This was a full 14 seconds better than second-placed athlete A Spellman from Ireland.

* TWENTY-year-old Lanark driver Colin McRae finished an excellent 15th overall at the Swedish Rally, the opening event of the 1989 world championship campaign.