102 years of the "DarvelOld Folks" Outing
21 June
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Darvel Old Folks Drive 1909
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A slight change in Costume for 2011
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Once it was horses now horse power
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Arriving at Largs
The "Trip" has been going for 102 years and the latest to Largs on June 15, 2011 prompted me to ask Robert McBride for some background. This is his interesting story of a Darvel institution:
The first Darvel Old Folks Trip was originally called the Darvel Old folks Drive when it took place on the 12th June 1909. For that is exactly what it was – 55 senior citizens set off in four horse-drawn brakes for a drive to the Bow Butts at Gilmourton.
This, of course, was long before buses or even motor cars. Other amenities which we take for granted today also did not exist. In Darvel in 1909 there was no electricity. Homes were lit by gas from the local gasworks and heated by coal fires. Most houses had thatched roofs and were in constant danger of catching fire. So Darvel had its own volunteer fire brigade.
But In 1909 Darvel was a boom town - with over 1000 folk employed in the lace trade and the town had just built its own Town Hall paid for by public subscription and built by local craftsmen. Out of this same sense of community was born the Darvel Old folks Trip, which has now lasted for over 100 years and survived two world wars.
At the first trip 55 folk attended. On the 100
th anniversary in 2009 there were 150 (now restricted to over 70s) in attendance. Numbers have fluctuated over the years. The biggest recorded attendance was just short of 200.
In the course of time it became a bus trip and normally 5 buses were needed, as buses were smaller and less luxurious than they are today. The practice was that when the trip returned from their jaunt, usually to the seaside, they would be met at the town foot by the Burgh Band and marched in procession up to the Town Hall for tea. The Darvel Old Folks Trip has always been open to all residents of Darvel without charge. This has been made possible by the generosity of many private individuals and local organisations. In this connection special tribute must be paid to Matt Richmond, a local lad who made his fortune in Canada and who supported the trip for many years and became its main sponsor. The trip is now known as the Matt Richmond Annual Outing in his memory. This financial support also enables the committee to visit in their own homes those who are unable to attend, with a gift of tea and chocolates. Another major factor in the continued success of the trip is the sterling work and organisation of the ladies committee. It seems always to have been a ladies committee. It is thought that the ladies took over the running during the 1 Unfortunately records are incomplete for the earlier years, but for many years from the middle of last century the organisation was in the hands of Mary K. Mitchell (Burgh Chamberlain), Jenny Fulton and her sister Ina Morton, Jenny Aird, Lizzie Smith, Kate McDougall, Matt Cleland, Sally Ireland, Betty Service, Jessie McKenzie, Madge Paterson, and more recently Jessie Brown, Jean Martin, Jan Robertson and Jessie Mair. And of course the present committee – Margaret McBride, Janette Struthers, Catherine Service and Marion McDill Pictures of the original outing and the more recent photos clearly reflect the vast changes in lifestyle over the period
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