May 2026
On Auld Year’s Night – December 31st 1999 – the approaching Millennium was celebrated in spectacular style at Dunbar Harbour. Dr James Herring has investigated this event by studying a video and photographs and by interviewing people involved in this iconic event in Dunbar’s recent history. A section of the video has been posted on YouTube with permission of the creators.
One of the highlights of the event, which was organised by a sub-committee of Dunbar Community Council, was the lighting of a beacon on top of the castle. The photo above – by Stefany Hawryluk – shows the archer Colin Campbell next to the beacon. He was a member of the Wolfstar Archery Club at the time and was persuaded to launch a flaming arrow from the harbour entrance, opposite the castle walls, to the top of the castle to light the beacon. In an interview, Colin Campbell stated I had to go and research a flaming arrow and I found an example from the Olympics of a man lighting a beacon. On the night, Colin Campbell remembered I had never shot in the dark. After getting a signal from the castle top where the beacon was, I lit the flame and pulled back. I was VERY nervous as it was a cold night and my fingers were getting numb, but it went well. The arrow sailed over the beacon, funded by British Gas, and was lit by Kit Newman from Dunbar, who worked for British Gas at the time.
The photo above shows the lifeboat, lit up by flares, entering the harbour. At the front of the lifeboat was a piper, 15 year old Andrew Chisholm, whose father Ralph Chisholm was a member of the lifeboat crew and had taken his son on the lifeboat a number of times. Andrew Chisholm recalled I got on the boat at the harbour and we went outside the harbour for a while. What I do remember is that it was so cold on the lifeboat and I had to try to keep my hands warm. It was hard work, as my lips were frozen and trying to blow and keep my fingers going was very difficult. I was so happy when I got to start playing. He also remembered hearing the crowd cheering as the lifeboat came into the harbour, seemingly emerging from a red mist.
What those who were in the crowd that night particularly remember was the lifeboat being taken around the harbour at speed by Coxswain Noel Wight. The video above is part of an extended video, recorded on videocasssettes on hand held cameras by Frank Wood, Jim Thompson and Jimmy Jenkinson. Additional commentary has been added by Dr James Herring. The key organiser of the event, Stefany Hawryluk commented in an interveiw From the archer’s arrow to the beacon, to the lifeboat coming into the harbour, it all went very well. There was a real community spirit and the crowd – estimated by the local police to be over four thousand people – were very excited. It really was a great spectacle.
An article on the event, by Dr James Herring, will appear in East Lothian Life – Winter 2026 edition – later this year.
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