A great Crosser celebrated his 90th birthday on July 9th. Despite Richard Demarco's many significant achievements in the cultural sphere, he maintains fond memories of his time as a young Holy Cross cricketer.
As we know, the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe won't be taking place this year. The Cowgate, usually a hive of activity at this time of year, was serenely quiet as I passed through it on Wednesday morning. I was on the way to meet Richard Demarco in relation to his massive archive project (currently based at Summerhall). Despite his long association with both the International Festival and the Fringe, he was not unhappy about the cancellation of this year's Festival. Though the Edinburgh Festival ‘gave Edinburgh a much needed special dimension’, he feels that the Festival has lost sight of its original mission and a rebirth is long overdue. Perhaps the year off will lead to some rethinking..
90 not out is a fine achievement for any cricketer and for any Crosser. Demarco attended Holy Cross Academy from 1941 until 1949. He was delighted to hear of my connections to the cricket club. He had heard about Hugh Kilpatrick's death. Both were at Holy Cross at the same time (Richard 3 years older than Hugh). He passed on his good wishes to the club and hopes that it can keep alive the Holy Cross name (the school having closed in 1969 and the rugby club having become Inverleith in the 90s). When reviewing the history of the school (published 10 years ago) he suggested that the cricket club 'deserves to have a history all to itself'.
Richard admitted that he was ‘obsessed’ with cricket in his youth, as the letter below from David Harding (another Holy Cross Academy pupil who became a leading artist and art teacher) makes clear. The letter indicates Demarco’s passion for record keeping - something he’s maintained throughout his life, culminating in his archive which contains hundreds of thousands of items. The photo of the 1949 Holy Cross Academy school first XI includes both Richard and his brother. According to Hugh Kilpatrick's computerised records (which only cover 1st XI matches), Demarco only once turned out for the FP 1st XI (his brother Louis played 4 times).
Demarco is currently in the midst of organising his vast and rich archive with the hope that it will be transferred to a purpose-build home in Granton ...possibly in 2024. From the energy and passion for life and art he displayed when I met him, a century seems within the grasp of this legendary Crosser.
Find out more about Demarco's archive project here.
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