Last updated 21:51, Wednesday, 04 June 2008

THE report in last week’s E&L Advertiser of the Common Riding committee meeting reveals that, regarding the issue raised at the AGM about obstacles at the Buccleuch Square pump, the committee felt that “because the procession went round the pump in single file, it was thought not to be a real problem”.

The procession around the Buccleuch Square pump on Common Riding day is reduced to a degrading single file, says Betty Little

This is very misleading to the public, especially to those who have never even witnessed the proceedings at Buccleuch Square on the Common Riding morning.

Apart from when I rode the Common and an odd year or two when working overseas and I was unable to get home, since I stopped carrying a heather besom more than 70 years ago, I’ve walked round the pump. The access space has been reduced over the years but it is the thoughtless positioning of service utilities in such close proximity to the pump which has forced the procession to a degrading single file.

We, the public, must accept some responsibility for allowing this to happen for these obstacles seem to have appeared without warning.

I had hoped that the Common Riding committee would make enquiries into the matter and at the very least make a formal protest to whoever is responsible for this state of affairs.

Betty Little

Eskdaill Street

Langholm