Exhibition celebrating life of Voice of Rugby Bill McLaren opens in Hawick
Last updated 4th Oct 2023
A new exhibition celebrating the life of the late Voice of Rugby Bill McLaren has opened in his home town of Hawick.
Visitors to Hawick Museum will get a chance to sit behind a microphone and record their own commentary on a match, as well as view rarely seen memorabilia and photos.
Also on display is the number 14 shirt and cap belonging to Scotland player Tony Stanger, also from Hawick, and the original "Big Sheet" Bill prepared for the 1990 Grand Slam victory over England in which he scored the winning try.
Local historian, Dr Murray Watson, who helped curate the exhibition and who has known Bill since he was a wee boy, said: “Bill was a multi-faceted character and was much more than just the Voice of Rugby. We plan to surprise and delight visitors using rarely seen memorabilia and photos, plus an array of innovative digital technology.
"The design team has managed to create several wow moments, and from the minute visitors enter the gallery they should feel the hair stand up on the backs of their necks."
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Research for the exhibition has revealed a number of untold stories about the writer and broadcaster. Amongst other things, the research team discovered that, aged 15, Bill was in the crowd at Twickenham in 1938 at the first match ever to be televised live.
Researchers also found a cartoon drawn by Open Golf Champion, Bernhard Langer, thanking Bill for a putting lesson.
The exhibition - celebrating 100 years since Bill's birth - includes a recreation of Bill’s chaotic study, where visitors will hear Bill speaking to them in the very last interview he ever gave from a concealed loud speaker.
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Ewan Jackson, chief executive of hosts Live Borders, said: “It is highly appropriate to hold it in the Hawick Museum, located as it is opposite Bill’s family home at Hillersden.
"Visitors to the exhibition will cross the new McLaren Footbridge before passing the Bill McLaren statue which draws top rugby stars like David Campese and Scott Quinnell to pay their respects.
"Bill’s widow, Bette, used to talk to it when she went on walks in Wilton Lodge Park."
The exhibition runs at the Hawick Museum from October 4th to November 27th. It will then reopen in March 2024 alongside a new Hawick RFC 150 exhibition, celebrating Hawick RFC’s 150th anniversary.
Bill’s daughter Linda Lawson added: “Dad had a way with words. To paraphrase one of his better known sayings, ‘join us for a day in Hawick for a day that won’t be wasted’."
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