On 18/12/1987 a dance was held to celebrate 30 years operational service.
In 1998 a week of events were held to mark the 40th anniversary of the opening of the station including a dance. (SFB Annual Report 1997/1998)

Strathclyde Fire Board decided that the second lowest offer from J B Bennett (Contract) Limited, Kilsyth, amounting to £833,620.17, for the refurbishment of Lanark Fire Station and an extension to the provision of dignified facilities be accepted subject to the conditions detailed in the report by North Lanarkshire Council.
(Strathclyde Fire Board Minutes 10/10/2002)

The Lanarkshire Fire Area Administration Scheme Order, 1948

Establishment 2000

The Wholetime Establishment are split over four watches (Red, Blue, Green and White) working a 2 days, 2 nights and 4 days off rota.

When the new call signs were being implemented in the WEST SDA over a 7 week period beginning 31/8/2020 doing 1 LSO Area per week, Lanark was changed from P04 to C04.

The fine new fire station in Cleghorn Road, long awaited and much needed for Lanark and the far flung Upper Ward is to be officially opened next Saturday afternoon, followed by a dinner in the Bonnington and an informal function for the fire personnel in the new station itself on the evening. The Chairman of the Fire Brigade Joint Committee, County Councillor James Aiton, Cambuslang is to declare the station open, and Provost Meiklejon will be one of the speakers.
(The Hamilton Advertiser, November 23, 1957. Page 6.)

Siren Sounding around 3-30 pm today will signalise firemen's quitting their old quarters to turn out and proceed with their machines to the formal opening of the handsome new fire station in Cleghorn Road at 3-45.
(The Hamilton Advertiser, November 30, 1957. Page 6.)

Lanark’s £38,000 Fire Station Opened

No Fireman’s “Sprint” Now!

From a glorified hut in a builder’s yard, with spartan accommodation and a control room so tiny that two firemen could barely turn round in it, Lanark Fire Brigade moved on Saturday afternoon to a magnificent new £38,000 station set amid trees nearby in Cleghorn Road.
Now, instead of having to sprint over 200 yards down Hope Street and into the County Buildings yard to be off on their machines to a fire (average departure time, 1½ minutes), they will slide down poles inside the splendid living quarters of the new station, huge doors will fly open at the pull of a cord, and the fire engines will be away in 10 seconds.

Public at Opening Ceremony

With the helmeted firemen lined up beside their machines, the three storey, red brick station was opened on Saturday afternoon by the chairman of the Lanarkshire Fire Brigade Committee, County Councillor James Aiton, J.P. Hallside, Cambuslang, in the presence of a big company of committee and guests and fully 150 of the public looking on.
Nine years ago, Lanark was to have been fobbed off with no full time unit nearer than Motherwell “a grave thought for the town and Upper Ward when one considers what a fire can do inside an hour.” Provost Meiklejon remarked after Mr Aiton had declared the new station open. Mr Aiton had recalled that time, and the struggle with the Scottish Home Department to secure Lanark’s existing full time station – but accommodated in a builder’s yard, very kindly made available free of charge, during and since the war by Mr Thomas Glaister. “Now, after a great deal of work and negotiation by the Fire Brigade Committee,” he said, “you see before you the completed first phase, the new Lanark Fire Station.” (The second phase will be a workshop, hose tower and drill yard at the rear.)
Entering the new building with the County Firemaster (Mr Alex H. Nisbet, O.B.E., G.M.) to unveil a plaque to record the opening, Mr Aiton returned to declare the station open, with praise for the workmanship done on it, for the way the amenity of it’s residential setting had been preserved and for the efficiency and happy atmosphere that had characterised the old station. (Applause)
Provost Meiklejon “It is a proud day for Lanark to receive this wonderful new station.” He added a tribute to the Lanark firemen as craftsman who had a reputation of leaving the minimum damage behind them in houses or premises that had had a fire.

Features of New Station

The modern efficiency of the operations rooms and bright sunny décor of the living quarters impressed the guests and public shown over the station, especially the beautifully appointed recreation room with parquet floor, modern kitchen, dinette servery, yellow topped tables and 10 bed dormitory with bedspreads as colourful as a seaside hotels’. Washrooms and showers, a clothes drying room and a billiard room (unfinished) are among it’s other features with everywhere alarm bells on the walls and quick access to the sliding pole.
A buffet tea in the County Hall before the opening, an 11 page souvenir brochure, cocktails and a five course dinner for 100 guests afterwards at the Bonnington, and a dance in the new station for the personnel marked the opening.
(The Hamilton Advertiser, December 7, 1957. Page 6.)

Life Saving partnership in Fire Stations
Paramedics with the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) are to be based in three Strathclyde fire stations on a trial basis.
The 12-month trial will help the SAS to meet its target of attending top priority Category A calls within eight minutes. Under the scheme, SAS Rapid Response crews will share washroom and other facilities with firefighters based in three Lanarkshire fire stations – Hamilton, Lanark and Bellshill. (11/8/2006)

Lanarkshire Fire Brigade Joint Committee 

Souvenir 

30^th NOVEMBER, 1957 

Opening of the Lanark Fire Station

Lanarkshire Fire Brigade.

LANARK FIRE STATION. 

OPENED BY COUNCILLOR JAMES AITON, J.P., ON 30TH NOVEMBER, 1957 

Committee

Councillor              THOMAS CUNNINGHAM.               Councillor JOHN McLEAN.               Bailie      SAMUEL REID.
                                EDWARD DALY.                                                    ROBERT POOLE.                             THOMAS CONNOR.
                                WILLIAM F. DAVIE.                                              ALEXANDER SMITH.                   CHARLES BROWNLIE.
                                JOHN FRASER.                                                        D. POLLOCK SMITH.                     JOHN JOHNSTON.
                                JAMES HEALY.                                                       J. MILLAR STODDART.                ALEXANDER McCORMICK.
                                JOHN LASHLEY.                                                     JAMES DIAMOND.        Provost GAVIN COCKBURN.
                                JAMES A. McEWAN.                                            ANDREW MOWATT.          ”     BERNARD BROGAN.
                                WILLIAM A. McINTYRE.       Dean of Guild ALEXANDER McCRACKEN.            Treasurer CHAS. W. V THOM.
                                WILLIAM MacLACHLAN.       Police Judge ROBERT DEVON.                                          ”        JOHN F. McKAY.

Councillor JAMES AITON, Chairman.
ALEXANDER H. NISBET, Firemaster.
IAN V. PATERSON, Clerk. 

                GAVIN PATERON & SON, Architects.                           MACKINTOSH & ROBERTSON, Measurers.

The Contractors for the erection of the Building were
                Wilson & Son (Hamilton) Ltd., Builders.                         David Purdie & Sons, Ltd., Joiners.
                W. A. Dunlop & Son, Plumbers.                                       Nisbet P. Patfield, Electricians.
                C.F. Howden, Ltd., Heating Engineers.                            John Youden & Sons, Ltd., Terrazo.
                R. Flemington & Sons, Painter.                                        J. A. Rowett & Co., Ltd., Plasterer.
                George G. Kirk, Ltd., Glazier.                                             Esavian, Ltd., Doors.

Edwards Jamieson & Co., Ltd., Steelwork. 

<PHOTO> View of Station fronting Cleghorn Road, showing Station Entrance and Watchroom on left of building. 

Description of the new Lanark Fire Station. 

The new Lanark Fire Station, the first phase now completed, promises to be as suitable, as the old one it replaces was unsuitable, for the purposes of the Lanarkshire Fire Brigade. It would be difficult to obtain a site in Lanark that could be more suitable, both from its geographical position and for the amenities which abound in and around the site. It is unfortunate, however, that the economical position of the country compels the need to erect the Fire Station in phases, but it is fortunate that the whole of the main block of this Fire Station has been erected. The hose and drill tower, workshops, drill yard and approaches to the Station, when completed, will present an admirable layout and a valuable amenity to the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Lanark.
The shape of the site is unsymmetrical and, as the plan produced on page 7 shows, it extends to 11,800 square yards. The area of the site is occupied as follows:—
                Main Building                                                                       880 square yards.
                Workshops and Drill Tower                                               430          ”
                Drill Yard                                                                               3,120       ”
                Officer’s House and Garden                                               830          ”
                Plantations at Sides and Rear of Building                        6,540       ” 

The frontage of the Station is in Cleghorn Road and it is a building of two floors and mezzanine floor. On the ground floor to the left, is the front entrance, which gives access to the Station Watchroom and the Appliance Room which accommodates three fire appliances. To the rear on the ground floor of this side of the building is accommodation for the administration of the Station. On the mezzanine floor is a room to the front which will be used as a Study Room, and to the rear, a Billiards Room. The top floor gives access to the Dining Room and Kitchen. From the Dining Room, a door leads to the Recreation Room. The Battery Rooms and Boiler House are situated under this side of the building. On the left side of the Station on the ground floor are Duty Rooms and Ablution Rooms. There are also Washing and Drying Rooms where the uniforms of firemen on return from fires can be immediately cleaned and dried. On this floor there is also a large Equipment Room. On the mezzanine floor on this side of the building is an Officers’ Duty Room, Storerooms, Dormitory, Locker Rooms and Ablution accommodation. On the top floor, Cloakroom accommodation is provided. Access is also gained to the Recreation Room from the right-hand side of the building.
The building is built with local finished Auchenlea brick and faience tiling surrounds the main door on the left-hand side of the Fire Station, and also the doors of the Appliance Room, The Badge of the Fire Brigade, which is a design matriculated by the Lord Lyon King of Arms to the Lanarkshire Fire Brigade, makes a splendid motif above the doorway. The folding doors of the Appliance Room are of mulmien teak and the rear doors of African mahogany. The front doors are manually operated and at the touch of the pulley beside each fire engine, the doors fold open at speed. The floor is tiled in varying colours and together with the tiling on the walls of the Appliance Room, the whole provides a bright and cheerful design. The stairways and passages are laid in terrazo of a pleasing colour and the walls of all Ablution accommodation are tiled. The floors of the Recreation Room and Dining Room are laid in hardwood blocks.
It is unfortunate that the Hose and Drill Tower, the Workshops and Drill Yard, and the main approaches on the right hand side of the Station are not completed at this stage, but sufficient of the Station has been erected to indicate the pleasing features of the building and the preservation of the amenities of the district by the planting of trees all round the Station.
A cottage type house with a garden has been erected for the Officer in Charge of the Station, and the design of this building coincides with that of the Station.
The cost of the main block of the Fire Station will be about £38,000. 

<PHOTO> View of rear of main building. Foreground will form the Drill Yard and Workshops. 

<3 PHOTOS> D. Pollock Smith, 1948-49, James Aiton, 1957-58, John Fox, 1949-50—1956-57. 

Layout Plan of Station. Site and layout plan of Station and Station Officer’s House. Workshops, Hose Tower and Drill Yard will be incorporated in future development.

<PHOTO> Site of Fire Station cleared, prior to commencement of building operations. 

A Few Notes on the Lanarkshire Fire Brigade. 

The Lanarkshire Fire Brigade, as present constituted, is only 9½ years old and came into being when the National Fire Service ceased to exist and the responsibility for Fire Services was returned to the control of the Local Authorities.
Before the war of 1939-45, there were 212 Fire Authorities in Scotland and each was responsible for providing and maintaining fire equipment. The Parliamentary patchwork of Acts dealing with Fire Brigades and Fire Prevention did not, until the introduction of the Fire Brigades Act, 1938, make it a duty on the Fire Authorities to maintain an efficient Fire Brigade. Owing to the threat of war, the 1938 Act did not come into operation.
Local Authorities in many places maintained very efficient Fire Brigades, but the varying standards of Fire Brigades in their training and conditions of service generally, and their application, made it essential for the Fire Services of this country to be nationalised into one Fire Brigade in 1941. This brought in its train the standardising of fire appliances and equipment, standard training and the setting up of Training Schools. One of the important matters developed by the National Fire Service was the setting up of Training Schools where Fire Prevention research took place, and selected Officers of the Brigade passed through special courses of study.
At the end of the War and until 1948, preparations were made to return the Brigade to the control of the Local Authorities. The Fire Services Act, 1947, laid down that Fire Brigades would he grouped into larger areas, with the result that there are now only 11 Fire Brigades in Scotland, and the Fire Services in the whole of Lanarkshire are now under the control of a Fire Brigade Joint Committee on which is represented the Constituent Authorities in Lanarkshire. The standards of Fire Prevention that have developed from the experiences of war are reflected in the development of the Fire Services in Lanarkshire. Plans have been made and carried into effect which provides Fire Service cover that has never been experienced in the past.
Lanarkshire Fire Area is divided into fire grounds, each served with a wholetime Fire Station and attached to these Stations are a number of part time Retained Fire Stations.
Time wholetime Fire Station in Lanark covers the Upper Ward of the County and a number of part time Retained Stations are parented on Lanark. The attendance to fires is made with the nearest part time Unit, together with the wholetime Unit following on from Lanark and thereby providing an attendance that comes well within the standards set down in Regulations.
The provision of fire appliances and up-to-date fighting-fire equipment, as well as new Fire Stations, is a matter to which the Fire Brigade Committee has given careful consideration and the results are such that the Brigade has brought into commission 29 new appliances and vehicles, together with vast quantities of equipment. The appliances and equipment in this new Lanark Fire Station arc typical of the developments that have taken place in other Stations in Lanarkshire.
An extract from a record of old Lanark of 17th November, 1631, reports that “James Quhyte, deacone, David Lyndesay, William Porteous, Thomas Bell, .James Miller, William Schankis, ,James Fairie, and Mungo Bell, conburgessis of the said burghe of Lanark and friemen and breithereine of the Walker craft, indwellaris within the said burghe, compeirit in presence of James Hammiltoun and Johne Inglis, ballies of the said burghe of Lanerk, and of the haill cownsellouris” for the purpose of seeking a new “Seall of Caus” to replace one destroyed in a fire which had occurred about 54 years previously that had been in the hands of a certain “Mungo Huttowne, walker, deacone of the said craft for the tyme, and throw the cruell force of fyre the haill houssis, insicht, plenisching, writtes, securities, and evidentis of the said umquhile Mungo Huttowne wes burnt and consumeit at that tyme, and that the haill streit of the said burghe callit the Wellgait, on baithe the sydes thairof,wes burnt, quhilk wes be the space of fiftie four yeires since or thairby.” Also, the Town Council in their Minutes of a Meeting on 3rd December, 1719, received a petition from inhabitants who suffered great loss in a fire which occurred on 25th April, 1719, agreed not only to contribute themselves to the relief of the sufferers, but also “alloued and hereby alloues a voluntar contributione through this burghe both from the other publick stocks therein, and also from the particular inhabitants within this burghe.” An extract from the records shows that in 1646 it was reported that a great part of the burgh of Lanark, especially the parts called Hietoune, Wellgait, Bloomegiat and Castellgait, was burnt and destroyed by fire. It is also recorded that on 16^th October, 1740, the bailies and council resolved to buy half a dozen water buckets in case of fire and one from a pattern to be procured from Hamilton.
In every phase of life great changes take place as time passes and this is particularly so with the Fire Service. The Fire Service dates back to the days of the Roman Empire, and before that time, and in those days, Water Squirts and Preventer Hooks appear to have been the main items of equipment. It will be readily appreciated that much progress has been made in Lanark and the development from leather buckets in 1740 to the opening of the new Fire Station in Cleghorn Road and its complement of fire appliances and professional and part time retained firemen is symbolic of the general trend of scientific and industrial development of or country. 

<BADGE> 

Ensigns Armorial were granted to the Lanarkshire Fire Brigade as indicated, by the Lord Lyon King of Arms on the 8^th day of February, 1950.
(Typed from a photocopy of the Souvinir brochure by Graeme Kirkwood December 2007.)

STRATHCLYDE FIRE & RESCUE

LANARK COMMUNITY FIRE STATION

50^th ANNIVERSARY

Thursday 29^th November 2007

 ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS

 GUESTS ASSEMBLE

 TOP TABLE PARTY ASSEMBLES

 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Watch Commander Ian McLean

 OPENING REMARKS
Area Commander Andy Wilson

 CHIEF FIRE OFFICER’S REMARKS
Chief Fire Officer B. P. Sweeney QFSM D. Univ. MA

 CHAPLAINS’ REMARKS
Father Jim Thompson
Reverend Colin Anderson

 CHAIR OF THE ROYAL BURGH OF LANARK
COMMUNITY COUNCIL’S REMARKS
Mr Frank Gunning

 CONVENER OF THE FIRE BOARD’S REMARKS
Councillor Brian Wallace
Convener of the Board of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue

 PLAQUE UNVEILING

 CLOSING REMARKS

 BUFFET

LANARK COMMUNITY FIRE STATION 

The personnel of Lanark Community Fire Station would like to welcome you to their 50^th Anniversary celebration.
Lanark purchased it’s first Fire Pump in 1767 for £40.The Burgh report detailing this made no mention of hose, so the pump probably delivered water from a nozzle fitted directly to the pump.
By 1892 records show that Lanark Fire Brigade personnel consisted of one Firemaster, one Captain, one Lieutenant and three Firefighters. The hose and pump were kept in the Flesh Market in the Castlegate. Nineteen fires were attended in this year.
Lanark acquired a dedicated Fire Station in Hope Street in 1910, 300 yards from today’s station. It wasn’t much more than a hut, consisting of an appliance bay with officers’ accommodation above. An open tower was attached to the building. The station was crewed by one officer, one driver and a number of Police Officers who doubled as Firefighters when the need arose.
In 1948 this Fire Station became part of Lanarkshire Fire Brigade. At this time there were eleven Brigades in Scotland, compared with eight today.
The current Lanark Fire Station opened on the 30th November 1957.
The station was built in two stages due to the costs involved. The first stage saw the completion of the main building and Station Officers’ house and cost £38,000. Ten years later the workshop, hose tower and drill yard were added.
The day of the 1957 opening was marked with a buffet tea in the County Hall, cocktails and a five course dinner for 100 guests at the Bonnington Hotel and a dance in the new station for the personnel.
In 1975 as a result of regionalisation of the Scottish County Councils, Lanarkshire Fire Brigade became E’ Division of Strathclyde Fire Brigade.
In 2005 the Service restructured, becoming Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, to allow it to work towards the Modernisation Agenda set out in the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Scottish Fire Service Framework Document. Lanark Fire Station now incorporates the HQ of South Lanarkshire Area, one of the ten Areas that make up Strathclyde Fire and Rescue.
Thank you for coming and we hope you enjoy this evening.