Kintyre celebrates King Charles III’s coronation
Communities come together to commemorate this special moment in the UK’s history
Communities the length and breadth of Kintyre hung up bunting and baked up a storm to mark the momentous occasion of King Charles III’s coronation.
For most of the population, it was the first time witnessing a new British monarch being crowned, with the late Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign officially the longest in the country’s history.
Upon the death of his mother, King Charles III acceded to the throne on September 8 2022, and he was officially crowned, alongside wife Queen Camilla, at Westminster Abbey on Saturday May 6.
Southend kicked off Kintyre’s celebrations with a coronation concert last Friday evening, at which Christian folk singer/ songwriter Dan Holmes, from the US settlement of Kintyre in
Argyle, Illinois, performed.
Dan also made a guest appearance at a special coronation songs of praise at Campbeltown Parish Church on Sunday May 7, attended by all the South Kintyre congregations.
On the day of the coronation itself, the Campbeltown branch of the Royal British Legion Scotland hosted a party at Argyll Bowling Club, with music courtesy of Tommy and Stewart Blue. The celebration took place from 2pm-4pm, after King Charles was crowned at about midday.
The following day, Campbeltown Community Council organised a picnic on Kinloch Green. The event was weather-dependent but, thankfully, the sun shone, making it a glorious celebration for the many people who turned out.
Entertainment was provided throughout the afternoon by Campbeltown Brass, Kintyre Schools Pipe Band, SG Taekwon-Do Scottish Highlands, James McCorkindale School of Dancing and Sound City Disco and there were a variety of children’s races.
In Carradale, a whole weekend of events was organised by a single-purpose group, For King and Carradale.
“We gave out 120 afternoon teas on Saturday to some of our older residents and on Sunday we held a gala event which included a rounders tournament and a number of children’s games,” said Eleanor Sloan, who came up with the idea of marking the coronation with some community events.
“On Saturday evening, we had a very large bonfire on Carradale Beach, burning nearly 100 pallets and other scrap wood.
“Fortunately, all our events were rain-free, including the unveiling of a commemorative bench. This was carried out with due ceremony by Argyll MacMillan, the oldest ambulant Carradale resident, on Monday.
“We then planted a cherry tree at the village hall. Robert Strang was ably assisted by Lewis and James Adamson.
“I would like to thank East Kintyre Community Fund and Abbeyfield Fund for supporting our parties.”
Many took advantage of an extra coronation bank holiday on Monday to host their events then.
Clachan Village Hall held a coronation cream tea in a marquee outside the former Free Church building, which it is hoping to renovate and turn into a new village hall with a silver collection raising funds for the development fund.
The same day, ShopperAide’s Elderberries group met with the Campbeltown and District Multiple Sclerosis support group and the gentlemen from Garry’s Gang at Campbeltown Free Church for a joint coronation party, where Robert McCallum provided the soundtrack.
As part of the official coronation celebrations, King Charles III invited the nation to support causes in their communities through the Big Help Out initiative on the Monday bank holiday.
Southend Community
Council got on board with the volunteering drive, inviting people to help with a range of tasks throughout the village.
And despite the inclement weather, 30 members of the community met to carry out a beach clean and a litter pick along the sides of the road in the village, with 19 bags of rubbish collected in total.
The village planters were also tidied and new plants installed, and the access to St Columba’s Footprints was cleared and vegetation was removed from the steps leading up to the footprints and the well, with direction signs re-fitted to help visitors locate the attractions.
A grant from the National Lottery was obtained to buy equipment for use on the day.
Unfortunately, the wet weather prevented the painting of the picnic benches but this will be programmed for a future date.
At the end of a hard day’s work, the volunteers enjoyed a buffet and drinks at Southend’s Argyll Arms Hotel where a message from the King and Queen was read out by Margaret Bakes, secretary of Southend Community Council, to thank all volunteers; this was seconded by John Bakes, convener of the community council.
While Kintyre hosted its own celebrations, one lucky couple from the area joined the royal family at their star-studded Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle on Sunday evening.
Dawn and Simon Park from Peninver could not believe their luck when they found out they were among just
5,000 members of the public to receive a pair of free concert tickets after entering a national ballot.
Work commitments could have prevented the pair from accepting, as Machrihanish Airbase Community Company, where Simon works within the maintenance department, had decided to take Monday’s bank holiday on a different date because of pre-arranged training.
However, Simon’s manager Malcolm McMillan was “very supportive” and changed the dates to allow Simon the time off to attend the historic event, which was hosted by actor Hugh Bonneville and featured performances from Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Take That.
“Everyone was in high spirits and it was a great family party atmosphere,” said Dawn, who is a community learning worker with liveArgyll.
“When went got to the concert area within the grounds, we couldn’t believe our luck as we were about 10 rows from the front of the stage.
“The music started around 5pm with DJ Scott Mills who was absolutely fantastic and got the whole crowd up and dancing.
“King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived fashionably late, just after 8pm, and the main concert began.
“It was magical and we were so glad we got the opportunity to be part of this historic event.”