I have had to budget carefully this week because I know that on Saturday I will be spending £5 more than I would normally spend. I’m not particularly frugal when it comes to cash, but the bookie – and the one-armed bandit – seldom tempt me.

However, on Saturday I will be having a fiver flutter on the Grand National.

A year ago Gala jockey and Braw Lad Ryan Mania piloted home Auroras Encore to the Aintree winning post at his first attempt. It was a 66-1 shot, but early punters secured 100-1. The whole of Gala seemed to be in on it – except me.

As I wrote then, it was only while watching the closing stages of the race on the telly that a lad frae guid auld Gala was about to win one of horse racing’s top challenges.

Ryan is back in the saddle at the Liverpool course this weekend. He’s got six mounts, including outsider Mr Moonshine in the four-and-a-half-mile National. Auroras has retired, but Ryan is bidding for a back-to-back victory. The down-to-earth 24-year-old would be chuffed to bits, but admits it’s a tall call. Ride on, Ryan – my Grand National fiver is tucked away in a place of safety ready to be placed on Mr Moonshine. I won’t be caught napping twice.

I don’t follow horse racing, but I love the Foinavon story. There’s rarely a Grand National year when the BBC doesn’t show footage of the unfancied, cumbersome, Irish steed’s crowning moment in the Sport of Kings.

It was April 8, 1967. Foinavon had once been in the stable of Anne, Duchess of Westminster, who also owned the legendary Arkle. The two horses were as different as chalk and cheese. Arkle was a winner, Foinavon a definite loser – so it and the duchess parted company.

New owner John Kempton had more faith and after some hard work decided to enter the National. He could never, in his wildest dreams, have foreseen what would happen on that spring Saturday in Liverpool.

Lagging from the start, the odds should really have been 500-1. But racing can be both cruel and kind.

Having unceremoniously dumped its jockey onto the Aintree turf, Popam Down lived up to its surname and at one of the lowest jumps on the course – the one before Canal Turn – brought down the leaders and what seemed like the majority of the field.

You have to grin when you see what happened next.

Foinavon, almost put of sight at the back, plodded on and was cleverly steered through the clutter of fallen horses and riders by John Buckingham to take the front.

Now, that must have been a strange sight for Foinavon. Rarely, indeed if ever, would he have seen an empty course in front of him.

But Foinavon wasn’t used to winning – and he hadn’t won yet. Some of the stunned fallen grabbed their horses and gallantly re-mounted and joined the chase. Josh Gifford, on Honey’s End, pushed Foinavon hard – but the up-until-now loser held on for a truly remarkable, unbelievable, but memorable, Grand National victory.

And it did prove to be memorable. The fence which paved the way for Foinavon now bears that name.

Foinavon had one Gala connection. My mum had it in her work’s sweep – but, like me, wasn’t a gambler and never had a bet.

A woman was bombarded for three months by filthy text messages to her mobile phone.

The indecent and offensive messages were sent by Ashley Bell of Bannerfield Drive in Selkirk.

A court was told this week that she decided to change her number and alert police after receiving up to 200 texts – and Bell was caught when officers discovered that he had previously used his phone to contact the police.

Bell, 30, has admitted sending grossly-offensive text messages of an indecent, obscene or menacing character to the woman between August 1 and October 15 last year. Some were of a sexual nature.

Selkirk Sheriff Court heard the woman didn’t know Bell and he told police he thought he was sending the texts to a former neighbour.

Depute procurator fiscal Tessa Bradley revealed that the woman began receiving text messages from a phone number which she didn’t recognise.

The prosecutor said the woman replied to a number of them and established that she did not know who the person was.

“From early August to October last year, she received about 150 to 200 text messages from the same number, and decided not to engage in the messages as she didn’t know who it was.

“At first, she thought the person was just immature, but the volume of inappropriate texts became such that she changed her mobile phone number and reported matters to police.”

The court was told that police officers viewed 
the messages and investigations revealed that Bell had previously used that 
mobile number to contact police.

He admitted to police that the phone was his and believed he had been messaging a former neighbour.

In court on Monday, sentence on Bell was deferred till April 28 while social workers prepare background reports.

Sadly, the weekend weather failed to live up to the balmy conditions further south and we had to make do with mist and murk.

On Saturday, after a look at the street market in Hawick, which was part of the Reivers Festival, I popped in to one of my favourite eateries near the bridge to the Common Haugh.

The main attraction for me, other than the food, has to be the huge windows overlooking the Teviot. Previously, I have seen an otter fishing in the pool, where the Slitrig converges with the Teviot, while enjoying my meal.

It wasn’t quite as spectacular on Saturday, but interesting nonetheless.

A pair of goosanders were diving for fish in the pool, while a grey wagtail energetically checked the water’s edge of the island facing the window, searching for tiny invertebrates.

Just downstream of the main pool was a small shingle island which was being used as a base by a pied wagtail.

Every few minutes it would fly out and hover above the deep water for a few seconds before dipping down and scooping a tiny fly from the surface. The energy used up in this activity was surely not replenished by that tiny morsel, but nonetheless it continued all the time I was there.

On Sunday, I embarked on a habitat survey in the hills above Selkirk as a preliminary to the Breeding Bird Survey, which I will embark on shortly, once the summer migrants arrive.

Just now, the resident birds have it all their own way when it comes to singing to proclaim their territories.

The conditions were windless and very misty, allowing the bird song to carry with great clarity.

Top of the pops were the thrushes.

Both the monotonous mistle and tuneful song thrushes were giving it their all, while the chaffinches, wrens and chiffchaffs struggled to compete.

The higher I got, the thicker the mist got and as I left the woods to cross some grassland, I could hear the unmistakable spring sound of bleating lambs.

I could see nothing for some time until eventually a family group of mum and twins appeared eerily from the murk.

They stood and looked at me for a few minutes before melting away into the greyness once more, as if they had never been there.

Don’t forget you can e-mail me with any unusual sightings or pictures of local wildlife you come across this spring at corbie@homecall.co.uk

Scottish Borders Council has confirmed that safety checks are being carried out at schools across the region.

It follows the death of 12-year-old Keane Wallis-Bennet on Tuesday when an internal wall collapsed at Liberton High School in Edinburgh.

In the wake of the tragedy the Scottish Government urged education authorities to examine their properties.

A spokesperson for Scottish Borders Council said: “Our property maintenance department has been carrying out surveys of modesty walls throughout the council’s school estate to ensure there is no risk.”

Dozens of youngsters put their best foot forward at the weekend for a dance event to help celebrate this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The Big Borders Dance Project saw students from the Michelle Douglas School of Dance in Kelso perform a specially-created routine at the town’s Bridge End Park on Saturday.

Making a positive choice for the United Kingdom in the vote on Scotland’s future is as much a matter of the heart as well as the head.

Those involved in the argument for Scotland to remain in the UK have begun to argue more assertively that a vote for the UK is the positive choice.

We have just over five months to decide whether we stay in the UK family or go it alone. Five months to choose between remaining part of this four-nation partnership that we have built together or breaking away and starting again.

I believe in the contribution Scotland has made over the last 300 years, along with our friends and families across England, Wales and Northern Ireland – our common effort to create and share something bigger and that serves us all well.

Our economy comprises four-and-a-half million companies, rather than 320,000. We have a market with no boundaries, no borders and no customs. We also have the stability of the pound that is respected and envied across the world.

Together, we constructed a National Health Service to combat ill-health across the UK. We also built a BBC which stands for excellence in broadcasting at home and around the world.

And, as a united country, we have the financial clout to reshape our energy system to meet the challenges of climate change and the fact that fossil fuels will run out.

In the Borders we know better than most the importance of being able to cross into England without barriers.

The complete freedom of movement that we enjoy provides immediate opportunities for young people to have careers that span the whole of the UK.

That’s why more than 830,000 Scots are now living and working elsewhere in the UK, and why 450,000 of those who are happy to live and work here in Scotland were born elsewhere in the UK.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference: “Forget hearts and minds, this referendum is about capturing imaginations”.

In 2014, all people who believe in the United Kingdom must make the strong, positive case for the UK – and to make it loudly and proudly. I am working with others to provide a positive vision for a prosperous future for every part of the UK.

As a Borderer, a Scot, and someone who is proud to be British, I appeal to all voters to get the facts and consider what is best for our future.

More than 600 young rugby players took part in Kelso Cougars’ annual mini rugby tournament on Sunday.

And with an estimated 400 adults, including coaches and parents, cheering them on at the town’s Poynder and Croft parks, it meant the popular event was another major success.

Teams from Gala, Hawick, Jed, Selkirk, Melrose, Marr, Berwick, Peebles, Duns and Kelso participated.

Kelso Cougars convener Mick Lyall was delighted.

“ Everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves and it all went very well,” he told The Southern.

With more than 100 players registered, the Cougars are going from strength to strength, but Mr Lyall issued a plea for more adults to help with tournaments.

“We could do with more folk volunteering,” he said.

Results: P3 winners, Kelso, runners-up, Hawick; P4 winners, Kelso, runners-up, Melrose; P5 winners, Melrose, runners-up, Selkirk; P6 winners, Gala, runners-up, Marr; P7 winners, Kelso, runners-up, Hawick.

A drink-driver being pursued by police ignored red lights and disappeared from view, Selkirk Sheriff Court heard this week.

After seeing the car parked at the roadside, officers gave chase on foot and Joshua Bird, who was also banned from driving at the time, was arrested.

Bird, 24, of Mill Road, Stow, was sentenced to a two-year community payback order with 150 hours of unpaid work. He was also banned from driving for five years and ordered to resit an extended test.

Bird admitted driving a car dangerously, while under the influence of alcohol and at excessive speed on the A7 Galashiels-Stow road on January 31. He also pleaded guilty to driving the vehicle while disqualified, without insurance and with a breath-alcohol reading of 68 mcgs – the legal limit being 35.

Police spotted a vehicle coming out of the High Street car park in Galashiels shortly after midnight.

Prosecutor Tessa Bradley said: “It pulled out in front of them and they followed it. It continued to be driven in an erratic manner, weaving about the road, and, as they reached the 40mph limit, police activated the blue lights.

“It sped off, pulling away from them, so the police activated the siren, which was also ignored. Other police vehicles were deployed and a stinger authorised.”

The police vehicle continued to follow the car which came to a red light at roadworks near Stow. But Ms Bradley told the hearing: “It ignored the red light and travelled through at some speed. There was mud on the road and it was slippery.”

Officers were unable to make up ground and the tail lights of the car were seen entering a built-up area.

Police travelling from Edinburgh were informed and the car was found parked at the roadside on a minor road outside Stow. Officers saw two men covered in mud and a foot chase followed.

Ms Bradley went on: “It was clear they were both drunk, and when the accused was searched the car keys were found in his pocket. He confirmed he was the driver and a check confirmed he was disqualified.”

Defence solicitor Robert More said there were “little, if any, mitigating factors”.

A former RBS banker who lost nearly £500,000 of investors’ money in his failed property empire has been jailed for nine months.

Bob Quigley promised handsome returns for friends and family who ploughed their savings into his buy-to-let property business.

But when property prices collapsed, so did Quigley’s land and property empire – along with the hopes and dreams of the people who entrusted him with their life savings.

Livingston Sheriff Court earlier heard that some of the illegal deals involved property in the Borders. John Lithgow, who had a property being managed by Quigley’s company, agreed to invest £30,000 in development land in the Galashiels area.

But like several other investors, he received a mobile phone text message in June 2009. It read: “Truly sorry to tell you that I don’t think I can go on like this. Goodnight and God bless.”

Quigley, 46, from Livingston, pleaded guilty to accepting cash deposits without being regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

He admitted taking £470,000 from five investors between October 2006 and February 2009. All the money was lost.

The court was told he worked in the banking industry as a financial adviser with the Royal Bank of Scotland for two years before setting up his buy-to-let firm in 2003.

Lorenzo Alonzi, defending, said Quigley’s property company had grown rapidly during its first three years.

He said: “Mr Quigley had seen a 16 per cent per annum growth in the value of that portfolio. He was doing very, very well.

“Of course he regrets the half-a-million pounds he lost, but he didn’t deceive anyone and it’s not a case of him benefiting from other people’s loss.

“Mr Quigley lost everything himself, as did his family – not to mention the humiliation and embarrassment of everything that’s fallen on the family.

“It didn’t cross his mind to apply for authorisation and it didn’t cross anyone’s mind to ask, ‘Is that chap authorised?’.”

Passing sentence last Friday, Sheriff Susan Craig said Quigley had promised to repay his investors with interest.

She told him: “You made promises to them of a return they’d get on that money in circumstances where you were not authorised to give that advice. There’s the thick end of £500,000 been lost as a result of your unauthorised activity.

“The whole point of registration through the Financial Services Authority is to ensure that investment advice is being given by people who are qualified to give it. If they are being foolish in their investment decisions, they’re being protected from themselves and from people like you.

“The effect of you giving advice you weren’t authorised to give has left a number of people with a very significant financial loss.

“I need to mark the circumstances of this matter by imposing a custodial sentence.”

Quigley was trading under the name of Lothian Property Portfolios and the biggest financial losers were Timothy Rice and his mother, Sarah, who ploughed £240,000 into the ill-fated scheme.

A 14-year-old girl lost consciousness and ended up in hospital after drinking vodka with a 15-year-old friend.

David Rae, 18, of High Street, Galashiels, pleaded guilty to buying alcohol for the two girls at the town’s Tesco store on December 6. He also admitted supplying it to them, when the 14-year-old drank it to the danger of her life.

Depute procurator fiscal Tessa Bradley told how the girl’s mother found her daughter in a drunken state and took her to Borders General Hospital after she collapsed.

Ms Bradley added: “Her blood-alcohol reading was 166mgs, which is over twice the drink-driving limit of 80.”

Stock systems at Tesco revealed just one bottle of green apple vodka had been bought that day, and CCTV footage showed Rae making the purchase and meeting up with the girls.

Rae told police: “I’m sorry it ever happened. It’s never going to happen again.”

The accused’s solicitor said Rae had initially said no when asked to buy the alcohol, but felt pressured into doing it.

Sheriff Peter Paterson fined Rae £400.

STOLE FROM NEIGHBOUR, 87

A 55-year-old man stole money from a frail and elderly neighbour while she was in hospital to pay for his drug abuse.

John Harpur had suffered a relapse in his battle against drug use when he committed the offence.

Harpur, of St Dunstan’s Park, Melrose, admitted stealing £460 by using a bank card at a Royal Bank of Scotland ATM in the town between February 23 and March 2 last year.

The self-employed plasterer used the card while the 87-year-old woman was hospitalised after a fall.

Prosecutor Tessa Bradley told how the accused’s wife would regularly visit the neighbour and collected clothes for her while she was in hospital.

When the woman’s son went to the house, he noticed a cheque book and PIN number appeared to be out of place, and he removed her debit card for safe keeping. When he checked his mother’s account, he noticed three strange withdrawals.

Harpur’s wife went to visit her neighbour in hospital, but was told she didn’t want to see her as money was missing from her bank account.

Ms Bradley added: “Her husband broke down and admitted he had taken it, having relapsed into drug use. The money has been repaid and he went to the hospital and apologised to her.”

Defending, Mat Patrick conceded it was an unpleasant offence, adding: “He is 55 years old and has struggled with drug addiction since he was 15. He has a settled personal life and a good work history.”

Harpur was sentenced to a 15-month community payback order, with a drug treatment requirement.

FOUR MONTHS FOR SHOPLIFTER

A shoplifter who stole to fund a drug habit was jailed for four months.

Paul Crowe took clothing worth £45 from Sports Direct at Low Buckholmside, Galashiels, on July 28 last year.

The court heard how there had been no recovery of the stolen goods, which were sold to buy drugs.

The 38-year-old, of Glendinning Terrace, Galashiels, also admitted stealing aftershave from Asda in the town’s Currie Road on August 16 last year.

His lawyer, Mat Patrick, said: “He was very candid and said the clothing has been sold to buy drugs.”

BROKE CURFEW CONDITION

Dean Brown was sentenced to 75 hours of unpaid work after he admitted breaching a bail condition and failing to appear at court.

Brown, 19, of Orchard Park, Kelso, appeared from custody and admitted breaching a curfew to remain at his home at High Tweed Mill, Galashiels, where he was staying on January 26, when he was found at another flat in the building.

“He was slumped on a sofa, asleep, and heavily under the influence of alcohol,” explained depute procurator fiscal Tessa Bradley.

Brown also pleaded guilty to failing to appear at Selkirk Sheriff Court on February 24.

WINDOW SMASHED

After an argument with his ex-partner, Scott Dalgliesh broke a window.

The 32-year-old, of Tweedbank View, Tweedbank, admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at a house at Forest Crescent in Galashsiels on March 1, and was fined £150. He was fined a further £100 and ordered to pay £196.86 compensation for the damage he caused after pleading guilty to recklessly damaging a window there.

Prosecuting, Tessa Bradley said: “He said he wanted a key to the shed to remove some property and his ex-wife said it wasn’t convenient and asked him to leave. She told him she was calling the police and heard smashing, and found both panes had been broken in the bathroom window.”

Mat Patrick, defending, said his client had an argument with his ex-partner.

The lawyer went on: “He says that she, verbally, gave as good as she got. He is not proud at having lost his temper. He used his fist to hit the window as he was frustrated, but didn’t intend to break it.”

CAR VICTIM OF BIRTHDAY BASH

After leaving an 18th birthday party, drunken Sean Keene pulled the wing mirror from a car parked outside and head-butted the vehicle.

Keene, 18, of Station Road, Stow, appeared from custody and admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at Galashiels Road, Stow, on Saturday and damaging a vehicle there.

Tessa Bradley, prosecuting, said Keene had been a guest at the party, but his behaviour was such that he was asked to leave, adding: “He was abusive, shouting and swearing.”

A neighbour, whose car was parked outside, heard the noise and looked out of the window to see the accused damaging her vehicle.

Defence solicitor Iain Burke said his client had little recollection of the offence, adding: “He had been avoiding alcohol, but over-indulged on this occasion and spent the weekend in custody as a result.”

Sentence was deferred for six months for the accused to pay for the damage he caused.

BENEFITS ALLEGATION

A St Boswells woman charged with falsely obtaining more than £12,000 in benefits will stand trial on July 1.

Tina Mackenzie, 47, of Jenny Moore’s Court, denies obtaining income support, housing and council tax benefit to the value of £12,330.24 to which she was not entitled, between August 25, 2011, and March 31 last year.

An intermediate hearing was set for June 2.

DRUNK AND ABUSIVE

A drunken Hawick man was fined £300.

John Chapman, 48, of Chay Blyth Place, appeared from custody and admitted behaving in an abusive manner, shouting and swearing, in Chay Blyth Place on Saturday.

Depute procurator fiscal Tessa Bradley said Chapman was heavily under the influence of alcohol when he committed the offence. His mood deteriorated when he returned home after a party.

Defending, Iain Burke said his client was “abjectly apologetic”, adding: “He has no explanation, other than the amount of alcohol he had drunk.”

CO-OP BOOZE THIEFS

Stealing vodka from a Galashiels shop cost Emma Elliot and Scott Dalgliesh a fine each.

Elliot, 25, of Balmoral Place, Galashiels, was fined £100, and Dalgliesh, 32, of Tweedbank View, Tweedbank, £150, after they admitted the theft of alcohol from the Gala Park Co-op on January 9.

Both were seen entering the shop and taking a bottle of vodka each, hiding it and leaving. Each bottle was worth £11.55 and there was no recovery.

Defending, Mat Patrick said Dalgliesh had been unemployed at the time and was drinking too much. “He remembers very little about it,” added the lawyer, who said his client was now employed.

Mr Patrick said Elliot had “struggled with drink and drugs for some time” and also had little recollection of the offence.

SENTENCE DEFERRED

Jamie Wilkinson, 35, of Thistle Street, Galashiels, admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at his home on January 25.

At a previous hearing, prosecutor Tessa Bradley said there had been difficulties in his relationship and the woman had gone to stay with a relative. She returned to collect belongings and found Wilkinson asleep on a couch.

The woman tried not to disturb him as she packed her things, and was about to take the final box to a car when he woke.

Ms Bradley added: “She told him the relationship was over and she had left a letter for him, but he followed her out ranting and raving. She hurriedly got into the car and he punched the window.”

Defending, Ross Dow said:“His pleas for her not to leave him fell on deaf ears.”

Sentence was deferred until April 28 for reports.

Dog owners have been warned farmers can shoot pets found worrying livestock following an attack on sheep with lambs near Sprouston last week.

The Redpath family lost one lamb and had three others plus a ewe injured in the attack in a field near the old railway line.

Andrew Redpath and his family rent grassland in the area, where they run a flock of 200 sheep.

The lamb was lost after it had to be destroyed by a vet, while the three injured needed stitches to wounds and a ewe requiored treatment after having an ear ripped off, following what appears to have been a dog attack on a field of 26 ewes and 31 lambs.

Police Scotland confirmed to The Southern this week that its officers have been investigating the incident and enquiries are still ongoing.

Mr Redpath told us: “We’ve never been bothered by dogs before.

“The lambs in the field concerned were about 10 to 12 weeks old and we are lucky we didn’t lose more.”

The farmer said none of the family living locally saw anything, but warned dog owners that they need to keep their pets under control when near livestock.

He warned: “Farmers are entitled to shoot dogs they see worrying their livestock and at this time of year, when there are so many lambs around, dog owners should ensure their animals are under control at all times.

A Police Scotland spokesperson told us: “Farmers have the right to take necessary precautions to protect their livestock.”

The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act, 1953, defines worrying livestock as (a) attacking livestock, or (b) chasing livestock in such a way as may reasonably be expected to cause injury or suffering or, in the case of females, abortion, or loss of or diminution in their produce; or (c)being at large (not on a lead or otherwise under close control) in a field or enclosure with sheep.

However, a person must have a lawful excuse for shooting or injuring a dog, or they could face an offence of causing criminal damage.

And shooting a dog can also give rise to potential firearms difficulties.

Rural surveyor Tom Oates has left George F White to join Youngs RPS as an equity partner.

The son of well-known Borders farmers Richard and Marion Oates, he made the move after 15 years with his former company.

Tom said: “Youngs RPS has a strong reputation for its core rural work, and I am pleased to be able to add my expertise to the existing capability here.

“The opportunity to join was one I was delighted to accept, and will allow me to continue to carry out and develop my work across the Borders and further north.”

He will continue to be based in north Northumberland but will work throughout Scotland.

Tom has worked in land sales and acquisitions; valuations; CAP reform; land and business management; and landlord and tenant work.

Last week was involved as an expert witness in only the second rent review case to appear before the Scottish Land Court since the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003, involving a Kelso farmer.

Tom is also an approved agent of the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association and is listed on the DEFRA valuation panel. He has worked throughout the Borders, Lothians, Perthshire, Angus, Dumfriesshire and the islands during this career.

Tom grew up at Lumbylaw, Alnwick, Northumberland, where his parents, now at Billerwell, Bonchester Bridge, Hawick, were noted Limousin and Texel breeders. He was with Harrison and Hetherington for three years, following his land agency qualification, before George F White approached him to become a land agent and auctioneer at farm sales. He still keeps his hand in and sells occasionally.

A Selkirk man whose wife died in Borders General Hospital on Saturday has issued a heart-breaking plea over BGH parking rules.

Christina Edwards passed away after spending a month in the hospital with a rare disorder.

Her husband of 50 years, Arthur, spent many hours daily by her bedside, but says time taken up by having to troop outside to shift his car every four hours to avoid parking fines was all time he could have been with his dying wife.

And the 68-year-old retired delivery driver and grandfather has told The Southern he now intends campaigning to try to get parking regulations at the BGH changed.

“On Thursday, I spotted three police cars which were parked on prohibited parking areas near the front of the hospital and two parking wardens walked straight past them and into the accident and emergency entrance – presumably to ask the officers to move the vehicles,” Mr Edwards said.

“But why did the wardens not ticket these vehicles? The officers did not seem to be rushing like they were on an emergency, so in that case why are they not subject to the same parking rules as the rest of us?

“For the past month I was having to leave my wife’s bedside in Ward 12, come down the stairs, then all the way out to the car park – often to the far end of the car park – move my car to avoid getting a fine for overstaying the time limit and then spend more time driving round looking for another space to park in.

“I reckon all that cost me between five or six hours of time that I could have spent with my wife in her last days,” said an emotional Mr Edwards. “If wardens are ticketing people like me in my situation, they should be treating everyone the same.”

Mr Edwards said hospital staff are also having to spend time away from their patients to shift their vehicles. “And some staff also have to park up at the top car park to avoid moving their cars so often, but that means they have to walk quite a long way in darkness at night – that’s not safe either,” he added.

Mr Edwards now intends pressing politicians over the BGH parking situation, adding: “When someone is as ill as my wife was, you don’t know how long you have left with them. There will be other people in the same situation and it’s absolutely ridiculous.

“I’m not doing this out of spite – it won’t help me now my wife is gone. But it may help others avoid having to go through the same thing.”

After offering its condolences to Mr Edwards, NHS Borders pointed out the British Parking Association Code of Practice stated all marked vehicles belonging to emergency services are exempt from parking restrictions, regardless of length of time or reason for parking. On his complaint about having to move his car every four hours, NHS Borders said the BGH had four long- stay car parks – Mr Edwards said these were often full.

As for NHS Borders’ response that ward staff are permitted to issue parking exemption certificates to visitors and patients on an individual basis in exceptional circumstances, Mr Edwards said it would have taken a large amount of time away from his wife’s bedside every day to register for the hospital’s so-called white list, intended to make parking easier for relatives.

Responding to Mr Edwards’ complaint about police cars at the BGH, Police Scotland told us: “If Mr Edwards would like to write to Chief Inspector Clark at Hawick, then we will look into the matter for him.”

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My years in lambing sheds were such painful experiences I’m always impressed by those farmers and shepherds who not only manage the process well, but enjoy it.

That was reinforced last week by a visit to friends lambing over 1000 ewes and watching Lambing Live on TV.

The same sense of calm and orderliness was evident at both farms as healthy ewes gave birth to healthy lambs and well organised systems saw them then move on from individual pens to groups indoors then out to grass. Spending an hour or so on the ‘real’ farm with two grandchildren who were entranced by a pen of lambs on deep straw with an automatic milk feeder kept my anti-sheep feelings at bay. That might change, but seeing lambs through a child’s eyes made me smile.

The same was true of watching the Dykes family on their farm at West Linton in the TV spotlight. Hamish Dykes was not only calm while helping a ewe with a tricky birth with the camera on him, but patient when listening to presenter Kate Humble. She is an enthusiast, but a surname has seldom been less appropriate.

Always on the lookout for the downside of sheep I stayed alert for any sign of a dead ewe or the plastic bag containing dead lambs that always seemed to be part of my own lambing experience. Nary a sign, and every small crisis of lambs coming tail first, one leg back, head stuck or temporary refusal to breathe once extracted ended happily.

An occasional hint that it is not always so even in the best of lambing sheds would have been welcome, but overall the five nights of Lambing Live was a good advert for professional sheep farming, including the visit to the slaughterhouse to show the quality end product.

Slaughter of a different kind is on the minds of many sheep farmers as in spite of pleas, warnings and publicity campaigns sheep worrying by dogs continues to increase. It’s difficult to know what more can be done to prevent irresponsible owners allowing their dogs to run free and amok among defenceless sheep.

Shooting them – the dogs, that is, not the owners although some might think the humans more culpable than the animals – is one answer. But most attacks are unseen, it’s the aftermath carnage of dead, dying and mutilated sheep that is found. It comes down to some owners seeing dogs chasing sheep as sport and many others suffering the “He/she just wants to play” blind spot familiar to anyone who has been jumped on, pawed and slavered over by any family pet.

A saying I hadn’t heard was quoted to me recently, namely that “As the days get longer, they get colder.” That certainly seemed to be true of March and the cold winds that blew almost incessantly. In spite of that, landwork is well on, there has been some crop growth and the blackthorn blossom this spring seems more profuse than I’ve seen it for some years. Or perhaps that is wishful thinking – as might be my hope that April won’t be poet TS Eliot’s “cruellest month” as it was last year.

This week I am pleased to report that the mass-plastering of Crockett and Tubbs pictures around the greenhouse seems to have done the trick.

No more nibbled shoots. Hurrah! After four days of mice no-shows, I was inspired to replant, with, belt-and-braces, a few extra trays just in case Stuart Little shows up again.

Just as I was feeling pleased with myself, what should show up in the mail bin but the Thompson & Morgan catalogue.

Wait a minute, I hear you say. Mail bin? Isn’t that the recycling bin? The one you put all your junk mail in – ‘Free BT Broadband for 6 months’, smallprint: ‘new customers only’, ‘Are you over 50?’, and ‘Let us rip out your bath and put in a tiny one with a door in its place’ – and put out every fortnight for the bin men ... bin people? bin persons? Waste disposal co-ordinators?

Nope, in our case it is an actual, metal bin complete with bin lid with ‘mail’ crudely painted on it in white gloss (we thought ‘post’ sounded a bit snooty).

We have three dogs, including the Big Brown Dog who likes nothing better than his daily bark (think demented scrapyard guard dog on a chain) at our brilliant postie (so sorry, Sid). Any passing walkers/cyclists/workmen in hi-viz vests and motorbikers suffer the same fate.

So, for a quieter life, we accept our mail in this ‘bin’, placed over the wall on the right-hand side of the gate in an area where only our chooks roam.

If we didn’t accept our mail like this, we probably wouldn’t get any at all, due to Big Brown Barkalot scaring folk off unnecessarily.

Anyhoo, back to Thompson & Morgan. Just as I am starting to feel quite proud of my replanting, the late-afternoon emptying of the mail bin reveals the latest, full-colour brochure from Messrs T&M.

Oh, how depressing. If you love gardening, but aren’t perhaps the most green-fingered soul, you may never have found yourself on the T&M mailing list. But once you get on it, it’s a ritual humiliation about twice a year.

From front cover to back page, it is bursting with colourful, robust, plants flowering rampantly. You can’t help but ‘ooooh’ and ‘aaaaah’ with every turn of the page.

If you have never seen it, imagine the flowers pictured as the equivalent of Cheryl Cole’s hair – so healthy-looking, so abundant, so vigorous ... so weirdly, well, long. But Cheryl-style hair is only possible under special conditions – in Cheryl’s case, very regular trips to the hairdresser to have those long extensions put in.

Even the fantastic displays of bedding plants, flowering beautifully in many of the gardens along the Bongate in Jethart, face stiff competition from the Fantasy Flowers in the T&M catalogue. Not that I’m saying you couldn’t achieve the results shown in the T&M catalogue.

But mere mortals like me will have to make do with ogling the gorgeous pictures knowing that they could never have blooms like that in this life. Perhaps in the next. With lots of Miraclegro, 24-hour care and Monty Don on-hand as a personal gardening advisor. Sigh.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE TRAILER

The original Rio had a lot going for it. The story wasn’t bad. At least, it moved about a bit, with birdnappers in the city creating a frisson of excitement.

Now, three years later, comes the next phase in the history of Blu, the rare macaw, who was rescued from smugglers and brought up among wingless, two-legged creatures like Linda, a well meaning, drippy girl thing who would like to save the world, but saves a bird instead.

Blu thinks that he and his lady, Jewel, and their three chicks, now growing into cheeky American kids (birds), are the last of their breed. But he discovers from a clip on TV News that others exist along the Amazon.

The film is about family roots, where you come from, where you belong.

On their return to South America, Jewel has a toe curling reunion with her father, while Blu is treated as an outsider, a human pet.

Layers of sentimentality clog up the works to such an extent that even the synchronised flying sequences and cheesy ballads from the Simon Cowell songbook cannot stave off waves of nausea. As well as sinking into a morass of sugary fizz, a serious question bursts to the surface: are children really interested in emotional cohesion within communities?

Don’t they want action?

There is a game, a kind of midair football, between The Blues and The Reds, but that’s about it until near the end when the real villains, the loggers, turn up with their monster machines and army of chainsawers.

Comic relief is provided by traditional goofy oddballs, but they don’t cut it.

Even the bad tempered cockatoo, Nigel, is back, behaving like a disabled luvvie who can’t fly.

Where is this going?

Don’t ask. It’s already gone.

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The Old Testament is stuffed with fabulous stories, the majority of which are as nutty as a fruitcake.

Noah and the ark is not the nuttiest – old buffer with white beard supervising orderly intake of wild animals and birds onto a floating zoo before a ginormous tsunami covers the face of the earth – but it’s up there with Jonah and the whale.

Darren Aronofsky’s film will go down in the history of religious adaptations as a disaster of Biblical proportions.

It’s not just nutty, it’s nonflippingsensical and goes on so long you’re dead before it ends.

According to the Book of Aronofsky, Cain fled after beating his brother’s brains out and created a tribe of murderous colonisers – no, not the Taliban – who took over half the globe.

The other brother, Seth, was the hippy one who encouraged free love and the whole right-on philosophy before Jehovah, who is not named in this movie surprisingly, put a stop to it. Noah was from that family. He believed he was in touch with the great master and had to behave like a loyal lieutenant. When the hordes of rapacious killers under the leadership of Tubal-cain (Ray Winstone) moved ever closer, burning and pillaging, he decided to build two massive containers and fill them with first-come-first-served (birds and snakes) before the rains came.

Living, as moviegoers do these days, in CGI City, Noah didn’t construct the ark.

This was left to a crew of giant rock monsters. Meanwhile, on the personal front, Mrs N (Jennifer Connelly) pleads with her hubby, “I want my sons to have children. I want them to be happy.” Corny, but reasonable. He says, no girl babies allowed.

He’s gone doolally by then. And so when his eldest’s wifeling, the once barren Ila (Emma Watson) – Grandaddy Methuselah touched her with his magic hands – becomes pregnant the air is tense with expectation (just kidding!).

Russell Crowe plays Noah like he was auditioning for King Lear – not a hint of humour, not a whisper of irony. It seems incredible that a director known for such indy classics as Pi and Requiem For A Dream could have blockbusted so badly.

Jehovah must be sleeping. Otherwise he would have sent fire from heaven, like in the old days.

Perhaps he doesn’t care. Now that Charlton Heston has passed what can you expect from non-believers on the Holly side of the wood?

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Post-apocalyptic movies come in two shades of maybe – anarchistic or fascist. The latter is the favourite. Easier to control.

Chicago appears to be damaged but standing. There are tall, slim barrier walls protecting it. Against what?

“It’s been quiet out there for years,” someone says. “But that could change at any moment.”

Oo-er! No, it’s not war with an aggressor; it’s war within – sort of.

Society is based on a number of Factions.

In late teenage, boys and girls are tested for one of them, either the clever, the sympathetic, the dauntless and so on.

The Factionless are the homeless, the hopeless, the failures who are cared for by others.

The problem is The Divergents.

They don’t have a faction of their own, only a streak of independence which is considered dangerous.

Certain sentences become slogans: “Orders are not optional”, “Human nature is the enemy.”, “Dauntless never give up.”

You have been there, at school, in the army. Discipline rules, OK?

Tris (Shailene Woodley, a Jennifer Lawrence lookalike) is chosen for The Dauntless faction where extreme fitness freaks end up. They do crazy stuff like leap off buildings, into moving trains, down cavernous holes.

They don’t show fear. They are (supposedly) indestructible.

And then Tris discovers she’s a Divergent at the moment when the authorities decide to have them assassinated.

The film is Full Metal Jacket for futuristic squaddies. It’s all about the training which is straight out of a Nazi handbook.

Only at the end does the spectre of rebellion emerge from the facade of benevolent repression.

“I don’t know who I am anymore,” Tris says.

If she doesn’t know, who does? Confusion leads to wonder and wonder leads to a question and the question asks: “Is this The Hunger Games without the games?”

Hawick-based milliner Yvette Jelfs has landed a prestigious national award, recognising her business’ quality products and use of traditional skills.

The Marsh Heritage Crafts ‘Made in Britain Award’ was presented to Yvette at The Carpenters Hall in London.

The award, run along with the Heritage Crafts Association, recognises manufacturers who make British products using locally sourced materials and traditional crafts.

Yvette, an internationally renowned milliner, said:“It is wonderful. We were put up for it without knowing much about it, and to be put forward by other people is really nice.

“It was quite a shock, but it is a wonderful thing to win.”

In addition to creating custom-made pieces, Yvette also designs and produces collections for various design houses and boutiques, and as well as working under her own name she established Noble Headwear in 2012.

“We have only been going 18 months as Noble Headwear Ltd and I had to put a lot of my own money in to it, but I have been very fortunate in that when I was living and working in London I built up lots of contacts in the industry,” she said.

Supplying firms such as Jaeger, Daks and Aspinal of London, Yvette is focusing on quality over quantity.

“It is quite time consuming and labour intensive to make our hats as we do it all ourselves, so we are concentrating on high end and high quality rather than high volume.”

Yvette added: “I love my job, I’ve got the best job in the world, and I’ve got the best staff, and without them I wouldn’t have a business.”

And the good news is the workforce could double in the near future due to a move to larger premises in the St Boswells or Kelso area, which Yvette hopes will also allow the creation of a visitor centre.

Another big step has been the creation on a new website with online shop facility.

Yvette said: “The new website has been amazing. It has been designed by Definitive Studio in Melrose and people can now buy hats direct from us online. Selling direct means we get a better margin and the customers also get it at a better price.”

More than 120 health board staff based at Newstead are being transferred to offices at Borders General Hospital and elsewhere.

NHS Borders has to save £4.8million by the end of the current financial year and the closure of the former fever hospital site, where the offices are based, is part of the savings.

Employees are being moved to various locations, including the education centre, Westgrove, as well as to the BGH itself, this month.

NHS Borders told us: “The closure of the Newstead site will reduce our property, energy and maintenance costs, in addition to releasing a capital resource for investment in healthcare services.

“NHS Borders is working in partnership with the individual departments at Newstead to ensure the moves are completed within the required timescale and with minimum disruption to services.

“Once all employees have been relocated from Newstead, the site will be placed for sale on the open market.”

Asked if the transfer of so many staff to the BGH would exacerbate current parking problems at the hospital, a spokesperson said those employees who are being relocated to the BGH have been encouraged to car-share.

“A car-sharing scheme was introduced before and employees have also been told they can continue to park at the Newstead offices for the moment and car-share from there to relieve the pressure on the BGH carparks,” she said.

“As many staff from Newstead also work in support services, they are often out and about and are flexible, which should also help the parking situation.”

A survey was recently carried out at the Newstead site to ascertain the extent of erosion of the cliff face at the rear of the property, overlooking the River Tweed.

A 10m area, including a small building, was cordoned off and cleared as a result.