The Box

The insignificant looking box lying on the ground was the centre of celebrations by the communities of Port Seton and Cockenzie today. They were celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Box Meeting with the Fishermen’s Walk with a procession and bands following the Box around the locality.

The Friendly Society of Cockenzie and Port Seton was founded in 1813 with the money from the quarterly subscriptions used for fishermen who needed help. The documents were kept in a special box with two different types of locks with the two keys kept by different people. The AGM was always held in September when the fishermen were home after the summer herring fishing off the northeast coast of Scotland and before they left for winter herring fishing down to Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

Here the Box is about to be carried in procession by some of the local fishermen who are all wearing the traditional fishermen jerseys. Just out of view are a group of “fisherwives” also dressed in their colourful traditional garb. Some of the much older women possibly worked the long hours gutting the herring that was plentiful at one time but no more. In the background are the boats that were in the distance on last Wednesday's blip with the old traditional wooden Reaper Fifie herring drifter boat from Anstruther which was taking part later in the official ceremony.