‘Dream’ Bo’ness Fair role for queen elect Lily

In what would normally have been a busy month in the run up to the Bo’ness Fair, this year’s queen elect is continuing to keep her spirits high.

This year will be different as the Covid-19 pandemic has put paid to a lot of the normal tradition which surrounds the day – the biggest event in the town’s calendar.

Fair Day 2020 should have been Friday, June 19, however the organising committee have taken the difficult decision to postpone it until August 28, when only a crowning ceremony featuring the Queen’s retinue is planned to take place behind closed doors and be streamed online.

Despite all of this, queen elect Lily Harvey is still excited to be taking on the role.

Her mum Jill Moffat said the whole family was “absolutely ecstatic” when Lily was chosen as queen elect earlier this year.

She said: “It was a dream come true for Lily. Every wee girl’s dream if you are from Bo’ness is to be the Fair Queen.

“It’s a huge part of the town’s history.

“There’s usually a big build up to Fair Day from when the retinue is picked in January but this year is obviously different.

“We were really well organised and had gone straight into organising things. Lily was so excited to be having the chance to be transformed into a princess. She’s really fortunate and understands how lucky she is despite everything that’s going on.

“She’s disappointed it won’t be the day we’d been expecting but she has got next year.”

The Kinneil pupil is already taking her role seriously.

Jill said: “She’s been writing letters to the people in the care home down the road and the invitations we had made for the dress showing, she’s cut up and made into cards and sent them to older people in isolation.

“She’s been giving some of the teddies we had for tombolas to other children who have been finding lockdown difficult. She’s also made a big hamper for the teachers working at the school hub.

“She has been getting called the Rainbow Queen, which is lovely. We’re really proud of her.”

As time goes on, Lily is excited about the new date.

Her mum added: “It is nice we’ve got something to look forward to, although at the moment we’re not sure how it’s going to look on the day but we’re sure the Fair committee will do all they can to make sure it’s a really special day.”