THE chairman of East Lothian Ploughing Association has thanked the public after celebrating the group’s 40th anniversary at its annual match earlier this month.

The group held a successful event at Fenton Farm which saw 52 ploughmen from across Scotland take part in a range of ploughing matches and displays.

Prizes were given out in a number of categories, with Jim McKenchie from Stonehouse winning the overall vintage event.

Graham Letham was the reserve champion, with Ian Henderson from Melrose the overall champion.

Alistair Hill from Pencaitland was judged to be the best-looking ploughman.

Chairman Craig Macdonald hailed the event a huge success.

He said: “The dust is now starting to settle on what has been a busy but very enjoyable year for our club.

“At the start of this year, we wanted to make our 40th anniversary one to remember and I think we have managed to achieve that!

“Our film night in January, the road run in April, the lovely anniversary committee meal in May, the shows advertising the match in the summer, to finally what it was all about our ploughing match.

“Thank you to everyone who has supported us this year to make it fun and enjoyable!

“The match we felt went very well and we were very lucky with the weather.

“We had many people attending from all over the county from different walks of life.

“We were proud to have George Black from Earlston ploughing, who has ploughed at every match in our 40-year history.

“The weather we had for the day was fantastic and we made a day we’ll remember for a long time.”

The group is putting together a DVD of the match which will be presented at a later date.

Mr Macdonald said: “Once our match DVD has been through the final edit and presented to us, we plan to have a night to show it to everyone so keep an eye out for this event. Many thanks again everyone, we couldn’t have done it without you!”