| Where: | Innerleithen, Borders at the Memorial Hall, Leithen Crescent and Victoria Park |
| When: | Friday & Saturday of 3rd week in July |
| Time: | From 7pm on Friday ; all day Saturday from 11 |
The Cleikum Ceremony is part of the St Ronans Games at Innerleithen and is held on the Friday evening of the third week in July. St Ronan is said to have engaged the Devil in combat and the Cleikum Ceremony commemorates this event; a local boy represents the saint, who hooked the Devil with his staff and drove him out of town. At the ceremony, the boy representing St Ronan is invested with his staff and all the accompanying boys and girls receive medals; the Standard Bearer receives the Flag onto which is pinned a new ribbon by his Lass, and an act of Remembrance takes place at the War Memorial outside. A short ceremony at the Wells at 8.30 sees the Standard Bearer drinking from St Ronan’s Well and a Masonic Ceremony by the Cross near the church follows after the invited guests and participants share a meal inside. Next day, a flower parade is held in the morning at 11 and a costumed pageant processes around town on Saturday from 1.45 at Leithen Crescent with pipe bands. This is followed by the Games themselves at 2pm in Victoria Park, featuring events such as hill races and tug-of-war. In the evening a torchlit procession forms at Leithen Crescent at 10pm; this culminates with the Burnin’ the De’il and a fireworks display on Caerlee Hill. It’s a packed weekend with other events leading up to it (see website for details) and something for everyone, except perhaps the Devil….
Helpful Hints
In 2025 the Cleikum Ceremony should be on Friday 18th July with the whole festival running from 12th to 19th July.
Seating is limited at the Memorial Hall so if you want a good view, get there for the doors opening at around 6.15 pm. Donations are collected for admittance and you receive a programme for the ceremony itself – full programmes for the whole festival are on sale in shops around town (£3 in 2017). Parking is easily found but avoid the coned areas around the High Street as that’s the parade route.
Click here for the event website : https://www.stronansgames.org.uk/
and here for the Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/stronansgames
Thinking of coming up to my boyhood town of Innerleithen for the games week in 2015 can you confirm the dates of the games week for me please so i can organise leave from work
Thank you
David Currie
son of Ford Currie
Hi David,
Thanks for getting in touch! I’ve just checked and the games week begins on 9th July in 2015 – you can find the event Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/stronansgames and their own website at http://www.stronansgames.org so it would be a good idea to make contact direct if you need to check when individual events are on, and to keep up with any changes that might be made over the course of the months between then and now.
Hope you enjoy it!
Averil