The Alva Games committee is both proud and delighted to announce that its Life President Campbell Lyon has received the magnificent honour of being made an Honorary Member of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain. This award was bestowed upon him on Friday 20^th November at the Annual Luncheon of the Scottish Section of the Guild held in the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow.  

Scottish Section President, Philip Paris, whose grandmother had a shop in Alva and who was Guest of Honour at the 153^rd Alva Games held in July this year, read the citation which mentioned the life time of service Campbell had given to the games and his contribution over a period in excess of 50 years to the working relationship between the games and the Guild, with 25 of those years in his role as Life President. Such membership requires to be proposed by a member section and approved by all ten of the guild sections throughout the United Kingdom. It is not easily achieved.  

He joins an illustrious list of Honorary members, the last person to receive the honour being First Minister, Alex Salmond, at a reception hosted by the Scottish Government held in Stirling Castle last month. A stunned Campbell was delighted to receive the award particularly since the Scottish Section’s own Secretary of 29 years, Jane Rodgers, was also afforded the same recognition at the luncheon.  

Alva Games Secretary, Craig Dunbar, who was also among the invited guests, said “Neither Campbell nor I had any idea that the Guild was proposing to confer this honour. I am thrilled that Campbell has received this further public recognition for all that he has contributed to the games. It is a remarkable fact that Campbell has been involved in over a third of the Alva Games ever held and I am sure that this is a statistic that is unlikely ever to be equalled. It also demonstrates in a very tangible way the warm and close relationship between Games and the Guild and I am sure that the whole Committee shares my commitment to maintaining that bond over the years ahead.”.

23.11.2009