Interviews of Norman Burns aged 65

Biographical interview with Norman Burns (aged 65), who has lived in Sanquhar his whole life. He was born at home, into a family of 10, and his father died, in a mining accident, when he was only 4 years old. His childhood home, where he lived until he married, was built post-war to encourage miners to move to the area. Norman talks about his early life and schooling before speaking about his apprenticeship as a joiner with a small local firm, which was run by Edward Turnbull. He describes how the size of the firm meant that his apprenticeship was wide-ranging and recalls that his time at college allowed him to bring in new skills and knowledge back to the firm. He talks about other jobs he had before he joined the Council as a Repairs and Maintenance Officer. Council tenants voted to move ownership of social housing to the Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership which allowed for houses to be upgraded with new bathrooms and kitchens. He also worked as the local Registrar for births, deaths and marriages.

The second half of this interview is concerned with some of the community endeavours Norman has been involved with. This includes the local fire service (for which Norman was awarded the Queen's Fire Service Medal) and the Children's Panel. As a young man, he started an agency with a couple of friends which brought bands to the local area and, during the miner's strike which led to a shortage of candles, they were able to secure supplies from Germany to re-stock local shops. One of the bands they booked to play in Sanquhar were Middle of the Road who, by the time they played there, had a number one single in the charts (Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep Cheep).

Since 1969, when he was the cornet, Norman has also been involved with all aspects of the Common Riding festivities in Sanquhar including, for Sanquhar's 400th anniversary as a royal burgh, showing Princess Anne around the burgh. Norman has also been involved in saving Sanquhar post office, the oldest post office in the world, and developing plans, using windfarm benefits, to use the Sanquhar brickworks site. The bricks produced by the brickworks were highly prized due to the suitability of the local clay and Norman mentioned that the Ibrox stadium frontage is built from Sanquhar bricks.