1974: Rutherglen’s big day returns after absence of 48 years

RUSSELL LEADBETTER Selections from

The Herald Picture Store

ON June 1, 1974, Landemer Day returned to Rutherglen for the first time since 1926.

As the Evening Times reported, the day had once been celebrated “almost religiously” for many years before fading out in the year of the General Strike.

“But now,” the paper added, “as the burgh prepares to be swallowed up by the Glasgow District in the new local government changes, the town decided that its character and community spirit should not be swallowed up. The revival of Landemer Day was the result.”

A procession of floats and pipe bands made its way that June Saturday down Main Street, and Teresa Keenan, a 13-year pupil at Cambuslang’s Trinity High School, was crowned Landemer Queen. The procession then went to Overton Park, where there were displays of gymnastics, karate and free-fall parachuting.

Landemer Day’s roots are thought to stretch back to the Middle Ages. It was revived in 1919, after the Great War. In 1926 the celebration coincided with Rutherglen’s 800th anniversary as a Royal Burgh (the status had been granted in 1126 by David I).

This year’s Landemer Day is on Saturday, June 8. The main events are once again in the Main Street but the wider festival programme contains various events, including a fun-run and an art competition in the weeks leading up to the big day. A singing group supplied each year by Music in Hospitals entertains the elderly in local care homes.

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