On June 4th 2012 at 10.15 pm our chief, the Earl of Home, lit the beacon on top of the observation platform of the castle.   It was a fine evening and a crowd of some 200 people had gathered for the occasion.   The beacon itself was a gas beacon supplied by the firm which provided beacons all over the UK.   In all over 4000 beacons were lit, many of them being bonfires, from 10 pm onwards, until HM the Queen lit the last beacon in front of Buckingham Palace at 10.30 pm.   In the Borders there were, according to some reports, over 50 beacons visible from the Greenlaw area.

The Hume Community Association organised a bonfire below the castle and after the beacon was lit a firework display took place, this being organised from inside the castle.   Lord Home was accompanied by his son Michael, Lord Dunglass and Douglas Tweedie, a Deputy Lieutenant of Berwickshire.   Our membership secretary Stephen Hume was present, a director of the Hume Castle Preservation Trust which funded the balance of costs after deduction of a grant from the Scottish Borders Council.   Your convenor was unable to be present, but did witness a similar beacon being lit on Inverness Castle.