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Social Life
provost from 1898 to 1907, quickly assured the council that ‘We did not go more than twenty miles per hour!’
A new golf course was proposed in 1907 and amongst the reasons put forward was the pause in the town’s prosperity as a summer resort and the belief that it was necessary to do something to attract more visitors. The Hotel Hydro was prepared to give £200 towards the estimated cost of £1,000 but in 1908 a new course was constructed at Kirklands for only £761. Kirklands replaced the old nine-hole course constructed in 1892 at Morning Hill, about a mile to the south of the town.
Peebles Rovers just prior to the First World War made a name for themselves as exponents of the five-a-side game with players like Wat Baillie (Peebles Athletic), J. Bain (later of Hamilton Academicals), C. L. Buchan (Queen’s Park and Dundee), Jamie Reid (Airdrie) and Arch Cairncross (Third Lanark). Jamie Reid’s greatest triumph was at Selkirk when on one occasion he scored over twenty goals during the afternoon. He had played for Airdrieonians in 1912 and was one of Scotland’s finest centre-forwards. A native of Peebles, he was the son of Dean of Guild Alexander Reid, and learned his skills with Peebles Adventurers as well as Peebles Rovers before joining Lincoln City.
A notable Peebles ‘worthy’ and a nippy inside-forward with Peebles Amateurs was Steve Howitt. He was prominently involved in the town’s social life for more than half a century, giving generations of Peebleans a lifetime of happy memories that the years cannot dim. Steve Howitt started work in the March Street Mills in 1896 and only retired in 1953. Although that long service is in itself quite outstanding, it was as an entertainer that he will long be remembered. He was our own ‘Sir Harry Lauder’ and we shared his acclaim with the whole of the Borders where he was very popular.
As a young man, Steve Howitt, along with other local youths, would meet on the grassy banks of the Tweedside - a favourite spot was near to where the Fotheringham Bridge was built - and they held impromptu concerts on Sunday afternoons. They would sing the ‘pop songs’ of the day, including those of Sir Harry Lauder which Steve particularly made his own with his ‘patter’ preceding the final chorus.
He had a fine baritone voice and gave many performances but Steve will long be remembered for the ‘Store Concerts’ which were given for the children of the town. His repertoire was extensive and it was his
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