Market Square to be given Marillion inspired makeover

Ally McGilvray • Published 9 Apr 2012 09:30

A LOCAL landmark made famous by one of the biggest songs of the last century has been destroyed.

The cherry trees in Market Square, Galashiels, were believed to be the inspiration for UK rock band Marillion's biggest hit, "Kayleigh", which reached number two in the charts in 1985.

It was written by frontman Fish, real name Derek Dick, who dated a student from the local textiles college and played his first gig in the town.

The twice divorced singer said the song, which included the line "Do you remember cherry blossom in the Market Square?", was "his way of apologising to some of the women he had dated in the past."

However, the trees have been ripped up by their roots during a multi-million pound make-over of the town centre in Galashiels, leaving local music fans stumped.

A council spokesperson said: "We will be replanting cherry trees. We had hoped to keep the original trees, however, a number of them were diseased and had limited life left.

"Given the revamp of the Market Square we are taking the opportunity to once again replant semi mature cherry trees. We are also set to go ahead with engraving lyrics from the Marillion song Kayleigh into the stone paving."

But he added: "Unfortunately stone engraving is yet to be done and we're a bit away from this at the moment."

Marillion played a gig in Galashiels in their earlier years and Fish says he's always kept fond memories of the town.

However, the Market Square in the lyrics is in fact the one in the band's birthplace of Aylesbury in England.

To find out what Fish thinks of the Market Square makeover, pick up a copy of this week's Border Telegraph...

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This article appeared in Border Telegraph 04 Apr 12

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