Playing in the New Year, 1925

Hogmanay 1924 was a wild night, as it had been all day. When the bells were ringing the old year out and the New Year in, the elements were in a boisterous mood. It was not a night congenial to first footing and in consequence only a few hilarious spirited people were seen going about.

So what were Blantyre folks doing 99 years ago this morning?

The 1925 Blantyre New Year opened with sleet, snow and rain, which prevailed more or less all day and the conditions for walking about, could not possibly have been more miserable. There was the usual New Year’s morning parade through the streets by both Blantyre Silver and Auchinraith Silver Bands, who cheered the people by playing popular Scottish selections, which of course included “A Guid New Year.”

The bandsmen were to be congratulated on their pluck in venturing forth in the teeth of a raging horizontal rain storm. It was noticed an old timer in the person of Mr Maxwell Sneddon, a trombone player in the Blantyre band, had the unique record of having turned out with the band every New Year’s Day for the past forty years.