On Friday 1st November 2024 The club were devastated to announce the passing of Chairman Charlie Kirkwood.

Charlie had been battling health conditions over the last 4 years but his desire to see his beloved club succeed had never wavered.

Charlie’s association with the club spanned nearly 60 years; from kit boy when Rose won their first Junior Cup in 1966, to committee member in the 80s and a sponsor through his window cleaning business from the 90s. He will however be best known for his decision to re-join the committee in 2009 and ascend to the position of Chairman shortly after, when it became clear that the club was in a perilous state which threatened its very existence.

He immediately gave up his comfortable seat at Celtic Park and swapped it for no seats at New Dundas Park. Having been semi-retired from his business at the time he went into full time retirement, passing on his business to his son Kyle, dedicating the rest of his life to the Rose.

What followed was the most sustained period of un-paralleled success in the club’s history over his fifteen year tenure, with several league titles and with the transition from junior back to senior football, promotions which resulted in the club taking its unlikely place in the SPFL – something that even the most ardent supporter could only have dreamt of a few short years ago.

Attendances which struggled to break a couple of hundred in 2009 most weeks returned to that seen in the halcyon days of Junior football in the 60s and 70s under his leadership. Incremental improvements were made each year to the home of the Rose when finances allowed due to the many sponsors he managed to coax into his vision of the club, with New Dundas Park now unrecognisable from the ground he inherited fifteen years ago.

He changed the mindset at the club, where players needed to be looked after and no ask was too great or too small that he wouldn’t oblige. Such was his popularity with those that donned the red and white hoops that a huge number that long since left NDP still kept in regular contact with him, and he was always glad that they did.

On the rare occasions he was away from New Dundas Park he would often be seen on the sidelines at Poltonhall, Lasswade High School or King George V watching one of his grandsons kick a ball, as family was a big part of his life and over the years managed to rope in most of them to carry out some form of role at the club.

Gone but never forgotten, your legacy will live on. Rest in peace Charlie.