MORE and more brides are turning to wedding planners, who can bring a wealth of bright ideas, to help organise the big day.

Wedding planners have the contacts to bring your look to life. So whether there are certain areas of the venue that you would like to camoflage or you really want to wow your guests with something they have never seen before, your co-ordinator may be able to help you.

And by getting a planner on board, you will know that any decoration or table setting required will have a professional touch.

If you’re finding it hard to choose the details of the style you would like or are simply frozen and stupefied by the endless possibilities, a planner can guide you through the madness.

The right person will be at the end of the phone whenever you start to wobble over decisions, providing plenty of insipiration. A good planner will also be a sounding board for any ideas or concerns you have.

So, if you’re a natural born worrier, having someone there could be a real stress buster.

If you’ve chosen a venue that’s not normally hired for weddings and doesn’t have an established wedding package, then investing in professional planning help may be a good move. Not only will the co-ordinator be able to create a running order for the day, they will also be able to liaise with all the various suppliers you’ll need to bring your day to life.

And they will be able to work directly with the venue owners to ensure every area – from health and safety to crockery – is covered.

If you have a demanding job, children to look after or are studying for exams, then you’re probably wondering where you will ever find the time to plan a wedding. Or perhaps you feel you can’t do a thorough job of comparing all the options and still come out within budget.

In these circumstances, a planner can find the best deals and make sure these little time-consuming details are in place, leaving you time for the fun stuff without the guilt.

Most wedding planners are creative thinkers and have many of the tools required to make your scribbles (and the pages you have ripped out of magazines) come alive.

And bringing a co-ordinator on board might be a wonderful way to get everyone on the same page if it begins to feel your wedding is being planned by committee.

You can even ask that they liaise with both sets of parents on delicate details, such as guest list requests.

it was hats off to young Harry McCulloch this week, when fellow pupils at Earlston Primary School finished a special project to help the youngster raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital for children in London.

With the help of Melrose-based milliner Karen Reid, the school’s primary seven youngsters have spent one afternoon a week for the past five weeks designing and creating their own Easter bonnets, using only recycled materials.

The winning hats will be picked after a catwalk fashion show as part of an Easter Extravaganza being staged at the school tomorrow night.

As well as the pupils’ forays into millinery, there will be a raffle, the Cocktail Experience will be on hand to create ‘mocktails’ (non-alcoholic) refreshments, and Radio Borders presenter and Harry’s dad, Stuart McCulloch, will be on hand to compere the evening.

The rest of the school will also be involved with a colouring-in competition by the nursery department and primaries one, two and three, while pupils from primary four to six have been making Easter pictures using recycled pieces.

Money raised will go towards Harry’s Fund in aid of the children’s charity that supports the work of Great Ormond Street Hospital, where primary three pupil Harry has received treatment for much of the last year.

Born in 2004, it was aged 16 months that Harry was diagnosed with the condition Hydrocephalus – fluid on the brain. He also suffers from a left-sided weakness in his arm and leg, and is partially-sighted. By the age of two, Harry had endured a series of operations to remove fluid from his brain and it was then that he was diagnosed as having epilepsy.

Several years of drug therapy, rafts of tests and investigations, as well as spells in and out of a variety of hospitals followed. Harry also has to attend regularly at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. However, Harry and his family were eventually notified that he was a suitable candidate for a special operation which was carried out at Great Ormond Street in December.

Avid Celtic supporter Harry and his family – he has two older bothers and an older sister – now have to wait for a year to see how successful this has been. And in the meantime, they are raising as much money as they can as a way of thanking the hospital for its care and treatment.

Harry’s mum, Pauline Martin, an additional needs support worker at Greenlaw Primary School, says she cannot praise highly enough the care Harry and her family has received from staff at Great Ormond Street.

“The care the staff have given Harry and the consideration shown to us has been second to none,” Pauline told TheSouthern this week. “We have been up and down to Great Ormond Street a number of times, but they don’t have dedicated accommodation for parents who need to stay over close to the hospital.

“That gave us the idea of raising money to help accommodate other parents like ourselves when their children are receiving treatment.”

Harry’s Fund has already benefitted from several donations, including cash from a recent event staged by Borders College.

Karen says she is delighted with the way the Easter bonnet project with Harry’s fellow pupils has gone.

“It’s been an absolutely brilliant experience. The kids really got into the whole thing and came up with some really good creative ideas. Over the past five weeks they’ve spent time sketching out designs and then using recycled materials to make them reality,” she explained.

“The pupils have been working on recycling themes as part of their normal school work, so this fitted in very well and is also benefitting a very good cause.”

Karen is friends with Harry’s mum and it was while the two women were chatting that the idea of a project involving the school came up.

“Since opening my shop in Melrose, I’d always wanted to do something with local schools and it was Pauline who suggested doing something with the youngsters at her son’s primary school in Earlston,” she told us.

“I’d wanted to do something with a charity as well and, living in Earlston myself, this all seemed the perfect fit.”

Earlston Primary School’s Easter Extravaganza takes place in the school tomorrow, from 7pm until 9pm.

Tickets are now on sale from Karen Reid Designs in Melrose (contact Karen on 07773 058911) or from Earlston Primary School priced £2.50 for adults and £1.50 for children and concessions.

POLICE are seeking information about the theft of a grey-coloured Ironhorse mountain bike from Glentress, near Peebles, on Saturday afternoon.

A RELUCTANT robber was spared jail today (Thursday) for his part in a vicious attack on a vulnerable man.

Victim Dale Murray, 44, who has mild learning difficulties, was beaten up and held hostage while Patrick Wallace tried to plunder his bank account.

But as Eric Haig sat beside Mr Murray in his flat in Galashiels, he told the terrified man: “This is not right. I’m really sorry about this. It’s out of line and it’s bad karma.”

Wallace, 42, is serving a five-year sentence for the robbery after a court heard that he had inflicted the blows to Mr Murray’s face which smashed his jaw.

Haig, 49, of Gala Park, Galashiels, walked from the High Court in Edinburgh today after judge Lord Bracadale imposed a one-year community payback order.

“I accept your role in this incident was markedly different from that of your co-accused who also had a formidable record of previous convictions,” Lord Bracadale told Haig, ordering him to carry out 200 hours unpaid work and to get help for his drink problem.

Solicitor advocate Andrew Houston, defending, said Haig had not met Wallace before that day and did not know what was going to happen when they went to Mr Murray’s address.

And after his arrest he told police: “I am thoroughly sorry about the whole thing. I am ashamed of myself.”

In court Haig admitted detaining Mr Murray against his will, assaulting him to his injury and robbing him of a wallet, bank card and £100.

Mr Houston said Haig had not personally attacked Mr Murray but had gone along with what happened.

The court heard how Mr Murray had been supported by his mum until she died in 2004.

He answered a knock on his door last July 21 to find Wallace – someone he knew – and Haig standing there.

Wallace then punched Mr Murray, demanding money. As Mr Murray sat on a couch, Wallace sat beside him and elbowed him in the face, causing his nose to bleed.

“I want your bank card,” he said and then demanded Mr Murray’s PIN number.

Wallace went to a nearby cash machine and returned claiming he had been given the wrong pin. A second attempt to use the cash machine showed there was less than £100 in Mr Murray’s account.

The two men threatened to stay in Mr Murray’s flat until after midnight, when they believed a deposit would top up the account, and began to drink his beer.

Mr Murray arranged to pick up £100 from a friend to get rid of his attackers.

After they left, Mr Murray noticed that Wallace had left his tobacco tin and his wallet, containing a rent payment card and a TV licence card.

For several decades, the people of Clovenfords waited – not always patiently – for a new school to replace the Victorian-era Caddonfoot building and its attendant temporary structures where local children had been educated for 137 years.

However, this week there were smiles all round as youngsters passed through the doors of their new £6million replacement school for the first time.

It had been a long time coming, but it was not without a tinge of sadness as pupils, parents and teachers bade farewell to the old school, a place of happy memories for generations of local people.

When it opened its doors for the first time in March 1875, Caddonfoot school was state-of-the-art. It coped well over the years, but in recent times had struggled to deal with the demands expected of a modern educational facility.

At the end of the day, however, a school is just bricks and mortar. The happy memories of Caddonfoot are due to the warm and welcoming atmosphere created over the years by the teachers and pupils who have worked and studied there.

If they carry that atmosphere with them to their shiny new school, as we are sure they will, there is no doubt that Clovenfords Primary School will continue the tradition of producing many more well-educated and happy children for a long time to come.

A BEAUTIFUL place and good employers have helped a Borders tractorman stay working on the same farm for more than three decades.

Mindrum Farm’s cattleman for five years and tractorman for the previous 28, Allan Logan celebrated his 60th birthday last week – and he intends to spend a further five doing more of what he does in the same place close to the English-Scottish border.

“It’s a good place to be at – it’s a nice part of the country,” he said.

Mr Logan was one of many presented with long-service medals from the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland at the 28th lunch held by the Border Union Agricultural Society in honour of recipients earlier this year.

From Haddington originally, Mr Logan was five when his family moved to Whitlaw Farm, near Lauder. They shifted again when he was a teenager – this time to Broomhouse Mains, near Duns. Allan left school aged 15 and went to work for Tom Hodge at Blinkbonny, near Nenthorn, Kelso, for a year before becoming a coalman for Pearsons of Duns for four years. But agriculture called him back and he returned to Broomhouse Mains for five years as a general farm worker.

It was in 1978 that he moved to Mindrum, employed as the farm’s tractorman by the late Honourable Peregrine Fairfax. And he became the cattleman there in 1995 after the then cattleman steward retired.

Now rented by Tom Neil of Howtel, near Cornhill, the 1,200 acres is a mixed farm, home to 1,200 Blackface and other ewes, and growing wheat, barley and oats. Previously it supported Simmentals, but now there is a 100-strong herd of cross Limousin and cross Angus suckler cows.

Life on a farm has changed much during Mr Logan’s career.

“There is more pace to the machinery now. When I came here there were four or five of us, but they’ve gradually moved away or retired, and it’s now just myself doing the cattle and two shepherds.”

The small team also work on the Howtel farm and other land rented at Callerburn, Reedsford and Branxton Hill farms, all within about five miles of Mindrum.

He’s sure he made the right choice to move into looking after cattle – “It’s more friendly with the cattle (than tractors). I do the cattle most of the time, it’s good and I’ve got a few pets!”

Asked what he has enjoyed about being in farming for nigh on 40 years in total, Mr Logan commented: “It’s fresh air and the variety of the job – you are not doing the same thing every day.”

FIREfighters took nearly three hours to make safe a farm shed containing fertilizer after a blaze near Gordon on Monday night.

The Kelso crew were first on the scene to a tractor which had caught fire in a building at Greenknowe Farm at 9.30pm.

But firefighters feared the blaze could spread as some of the 50 tonnes of nitrogen fertilizer, also in the building, became affected. Specialist crews were called in from Galashiels and Livingston as the emergency service declared the outbreak a chemical incident and a 100-metre cordon was put in place.

Crews contained the run-off after consultation with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). Officials from the environment agency were set to examine the scene on Tuesday morning.

The blaze was extinguished just after midnight. The cause is understood to have been an electrical fault.

AN AWARD-WINNING St Boswells book shop is a finalist in national awards to be announced next month.

The Mainstreet Trading Company is on two shortlists of the prestigious 2012 Bookseller Industry Awards which will be held in London on May 14.

The local store is one of seven competing for in the independent bookseller of the year category and the company’s Thomas Ogilvie is one of five up for the title of young bookseller of the year.

POLICE say a resident living in the Kelso area is the latest Borderer to be ensnared in a computer scam.

And a spokesman for the force has renewed calls for members of the public to be on their guard.

“A company calling themselves Microsoft Support Technical has been cold calling people across the Borders to ask if they wish to purchase remote support of their computer system,” he explained. “Last week, we were contacted by another member of the public from the Kelso area, who received a similar request from a company called 24/7 PC Care. On this occasion the individual gave the male caller direct access to their computer and shortly afterwards the individual was contacted by another male, who in turn sold some computer software.

“Unfortunately, the people involved in these types of scams go to great lengths to convince people that they are purchasing an authentic item or product. These people have various versions which they use to encourage people to part with their money, whether this be through providing credit or debit card details or for the householders to go to a local store and purchase a cash voucher.

“We would like to stress in no uncertain terms that people should never pass their credit or debit card details to people unknown to them, whether over the phone or via email. As a rule, if people receve a telephone call from an unknown person offering them any form of service, we would encourage them to terminate the call immediately.”

Anyone who feels they have been a victim of a similar scam should contact their bank to close their account and call the police.

Anyone with any information should contact the police on 01450 375051.

A quiet start to the year for the Border Search and Rescue (BSAR) unit came to an abrupt end over the Easter break, with two call-outs in the space of a week.

The first, on Wednesday April 4, took place over two days in the Lammermuirs, and involved 13 team members on the Wednesday and seven on the Thursday. Thursday’s contingent was helped by colleagues from Tweed Valley, and also by two dog handlers.

The search involved a middle-aged man visiting from Strathclyde, who was not found by the time the team headed home on Thursday, having scoured a large area to the north of Duns.

The missing person eventually turned up on the other side of the country several days later.

Late at night on Thursday, April 12 the pagers went again. Eleven slightly bleary-eyed team members turned out for a 2am rendezvous at Kelso Police Station, where they were tasked to search an area to the north of Kelso for a man who had been missing since the previous morning.

A complicated search through a clear frosty night ended with the man being found by a team member a couple of hours after dawn. The two searches involved about two-thirds of the team’s wholly-volunteer membership, between them racking up more than 200 man-hours.

The relatively quiet spell over the winter allowed the team to concentrate on honing the skills they practice throughout the year, and also to give a good grounding to a trio of new probationary members.

Team-member Damon Rodwell explains: “Our annual winter skills weekend in the Cairngorms at the end of February was an extremely useful three-day exercise involving about a dozen team-members.

In marked contrast to the previous two winters, when access to the Cairngorms was made difficult by the unusually severe conditions, this year snow was surprisingly hard to come by.

The purpose of the weekend is both to train for winter searches and technical rescues, and also to ensure that we have the skills and knowledge to look after our own safety in winter conditions.

“This year, finding sufficient snow to accomplish all this involved a long walk into the mountains from our base at Rothiemurchus. We were lucky to experience some very fickle weather over the three days, which reminded us just how quickly things can change on the Scottish hills.

“The weekend, as always, was invaluable experience, especially for one or two of the newer probationers, and the long walks with full packs necessitated by the dearth of snow meant it was also a thumping good workout for some of the more experienced!

“An unexpected opportunity for a high-level winter search cropped up when, on our final day, we were asked by the Cairngorm team to help their search for a missing walker who had failed to return from a weekend in the hills.

“It was a real bonus to take part in a search in conditions which we don’t often see on our own patch, but for which we need to be prepared when the weather gods are in feisty form.

“Once a year we try to arrange a day’s training with the Sea King rescue helicopter from RAF Bulmer. This took place in March in the hills above Yetholm in mixed visibility and snow-flurries. The general consensus was that it was probably our best ever helicopter training, with a superb safety briefing from a crew-member and a chance for everyone attending to be winched into and out of the machine from the hillside.

“April saw us joined by our aquatic friends from the Dive Team for a night exercise on the Tweed at Makerstoun Rapids. Again, it was a very valuable evening’s work, with several important pointers in the efficient use of our specialist equipment.”

The venue for this year’s sponsored walk has been pencilled in for Morebattle.

As usual there will be three separate walks ranging from a 5km family jaunt to a full-blown 25km for walkers and runners. The date is set for Sunday September 30. Further details to follow on the team website at www.bordersar.org.uk. Mark it in your diary, and blow the dust off your boots!

Fundraising is a vital task for the team, with average annual expenditure, including vehicle maintenance and replacement, running in the tens of thousands of pounds.

This month, the team had to replace our oldest Landrover with a new model, so replenishing the coffers is even more important this year than ever, said Mr Rodwell.

Supporters can donate at any time simply by texting “BSAR41 £3” to 70070. The amount can be anything from £1 to £10.

Next year is the team’s 50th anniversary, and they are planning something a bit special, Mr Rodwell said.

LORRIES mounting pavements came in for criticism at Kelso’s community council last week.

Cracked slabs in the town’s Roxburgh and Bridge Streets numbered nearly 500 reported councillor Dean Weatherston.

Scottish Borders Councillor Tom Weatherston said: “As long as lorries climb the pavements we will always have broken slabs.”

Cars parking in loading bays were blamed in part for forcing delivery trucks to drive onto pavements.

But the narrowness of Roxburgh St and angle lorries were forced to try to take while passing along the old cobbled road also contributed to the problem, councillors heard.

Councillor John Bassett believed there are slabs from previous work set aside for repair work.

Provost Fiona Scott asked members of the traffic management and Townscape Heritage Initiative stakeholders group to bring the issue up at their next meeting.

POLICE are appealing for information following a spate of thefts in Selkirk’s Dunsdale Road and Riverside industrial areas over the weekend.

Thieves tried to steal fuel from three timber lorries in a Dunsdale Road compound on Sunday between 9-9.30pm. And between 4pm on Saturday and 7am on Monday, vehicles in a building and civil yard at Rogers Road were tampered with and fuel stolen. Also fuel was stolen from a vehicle in the recycling depot at Riverside Road overnight between Sunday 6pm and Monday 6am.

Officers are asking anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in these areas or anyone with information about the thefts to contact them.

With the announcement of the winners of this year’s Scottish Borders Business Excellence Awards last month and victory for Borders Vintage Automobile Club in the Marketing Campaign of the Year Award, it seems timely to talk about the importance of branding to your business, writes Giles Etherington.

It is a popular myth that branding is the exclusive right of the big multi-nationals. Far from it. Branding is as, if not more, important to smaller businesses, who don’t have the luxury of bottomless marketing budgets. The less you have to spend on marketing the lower the exposure existing and potential customers will have to your business. So, it is vital that what few opportunities you have to grab their attention are done with a consistent message.

What do we mean by branding? Branding is more than the nice logo and pretty colours that the term is often, incorrectly, associated with. Branding is creating a personality for your business. Yes, it includes a nice logo and pretty colours, but goes way beyond that. Your brand should become part of the DNA of your business. It should be present in everything you do. From the logo on the side of your van, to the way you answer the phone. From what you say on your website, in brochures and tweets, to how you deal with a complaint.

It is only once your business has a personality that customers can decide whether or not they like it. If your business can portray a personality that complements theirs, they might just let you become their friend.

We marketing, design and advertising experts have been telling our clients for decades that creating successful brands is about creating an emotional connection with your consumer. But there are still so many business executives who don’t believe they are swayed by emotional factors when buying products and services, and often doubt that others are either.

Now, thankfully, the scientists are backing us up. The latest catchphrase in the pursuit of getting ‘buy in’ from your target audience is Neuromarketing. Over the last decade, neuroscience research has shown that emotions play a much more important role in decision making than most people have thought.

Our brains process much of their sensory input subconsciously, generating affection toward or against objects. Signals that don’t generate positive or negative emotions are filtered out (seen as unimportant) and never reach our conscious mind.

Like getting your car serviced, doing your accounts or having a filling, creating a brand is best done with the help of the professionals. It is no coincidence that all three finalists for the Marketing Campaign of the Year Award utilise the services of Borders Creative members.

For help with creating a brand for your business, there are plenty of professional creative businesses right here in the Borders. Visit www.borderscreative.com and pick one you like the look of.

z Giles Etherington is the creative director at Fruitful Advertising and Design Ltd of Melrose and a member of Borders Creative.

THE owners of empty shops in Borders towns should be more flexible in the lease conditions they demand from potential tenants.

That is the view of Gillian Morgan who, with her business partner Lesley Johnson, officially launched a multi-faceted retail business, Rum and Milk, in North Bridge Street, Hawick, on Saturday morning.

After the town’s Drums and Fifes had performed in the sunshine and free samples of the eponymous tipple – synonymous with Hawick Common Riding – were enjoyed at the opening ceremony, mum-of-four Gillian reflected on the journey from “good business idea” to “reality”.

“Finding premises which were affordable proved the most difficult task,” she admitted. “We were shocked at some of the rents being sought by shop landlords and that most of them insisted on a minimum 12-month lease which just seems so unrealistic in the current economic climate and when high streets in many of the region’s towns, including Hawick, are scarred with empty shops.”

By happy chance, the site the pair eventually chose – the well-known local landmark known as the Coffin End – was being advertised for let by its owner John Miller from Selkirk.

“The premises, which had been a restaurant until last Christmas, were ideally located, close to The Horse monument and Trinity Gardens, and in an area of the town which, in retail terms, is still relatively thriving,” said Gillian.

“We told Mr Miller about our big idea and how enthusiastic we were and he agreed to offer us a three-month lease, with a one-month rolling clause thereafter. While we are naturally confident our business will be a great success, we wanted to tread carefully, especially as we had been knocked back for a start-up grant from Scottish Borders Council which claimed our proposal was not sustainable.

“That was hugely disappointing and, if we had been then forced into a year-long-lease at an exhorbitant rent, we would have had to think again. Mr Miller’s support has made it all happen and I hope other landlords adopt a similarly flexible approach. If not, I fear our beleaguered town centres will wither further and die.”

Gillian, who has run many charity events for her church, and Lesley, a programme leader in the business and employability faculty at Borders College, have been lifelong friends.

“After the 2008 Common Riding, both of us were very disappointed at the standard of the stalls at Hawick Moor, which is a huge civic picnic, so we approached the Common Riding Committee to see if we could improve things,” recalled Gillian,

“We spoke to lots of local craftspeople and the next year around 20 of them took stalls; the following year there were no fewer than 42 represented and we also helped organise a food court.

“So we knew there was a ready-made supply chain from people desperate the sell their high-quality wares outwith the two days of Hawick Moor and that is how the idea for a shop to stock these goods all year round came about.”

The ladies also approached tartan specialists Lochcarron and, together, they designed an official Hawick Common Riding tartan which was also launched on Saturday.

Featuring the familiar blue and gold, and with the blessing of the Common Riding Committee, it is available in waistcoats, equestrian stocks, ties, bow-ties, travel rugs, scarves, bags, purses and even pram blankets. Rum and Milk also merchandises Hawick RFC tops and sells a range of other craft products, including ice-cream and tablet.

“We have created a one-stop shop for all that is best in what Hawick produces, creating an ideal source of gifts for local shoppers and souvenirs for visitors,” said Gillian. “We saw a niche in the market and we have jumped into it.”

LEGAL changes which will affect employers and employees in the Borders and all over the UK came into force on Good Friday.

In essence, the UK Government has changed the qualifying period for protection from unfair dismissal from one year to two years, the intention being to help boost business confidence and boost growth and recruitment.

To give it the full legal title, The Unfair Dismissal and Statement of Reasons for Dismissal (Variation of Qualifying Period) Order 2012 was made on March 30, and came into force on April 6.

Currently, employees only need one year’s service to bring an unfair dismissal claim.

From now on, they will need two years service. This doubling of the qualifying period brings it into line with the service requirement for a redundancy pay claim.

However, the change will not have any immediate impact, as it applies only to those recruited on or after April 6, 2012. Those recruited before that date are not affected, and so, the first potential point of change is April 5, 2013 when such employees would have qualified to bring their claims under the old regime.

So how are the changes being viewed?

Many employers have given the changes strong support, maintaining that it will help reduce employment bureaucracy and help cut down the number of costly employment tribunal hearings. The Government’s Department of Business Innovation and Skills, which led the review of the law, originally estimated that unfair dismissal claims will fall by around 2000 – saving employers £15million – £20million per annum.

Others are less convinced, believing employees will look at other routes to bring tribunal cases, including discrimination and whistle-blowing which have no qualifying period. In addition claims brought via these routes has no cap on compensation, unlike unfair dismissal claims which carry a £72,300 maximum.

However, it is apparent that frivolous claims brought without real legal merit will not go far, and will be dealt with sternly by tribunals who feel the system is being manipulated.

It is also hoped that the changes will encourage employer confidence to take on staff, with fewer worries about facing expensive unfair dismissal tribunal claims if things do not work out as anticipated or hoped.

Whether the changes to the law do create a more confident base of employers willing to invest in greater recruitment, a laudable aim in the current economic climate, remains to be seen.

The full impact of the changes will not be felt for some time, given that the new qualifying period will only apply to those entering employment after April 6. We can only wait and see.

z Ben Docherty is a senior

associate and Andrew Linehan is a partner (rural services), based at the Jedburgh office of Scottish law firm Lindsays.

THE Borders is bucking the national trend in terms of prime house prices, according to Lauder-based top-of-the-range estate agents Knight Frank.

According to the firm’s latest property index, prices of country houses in the region rose by 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year and are back at levels last seen in June 2010.

This is in contrast to Scotland as a whole where prime house prices fell 0.4 per cent after a 1.3 per cent decline in the last quarter of 2011.

Grainne Gilmore, Knight Frank’s head of residential research, commented: “Prime Scottish property prices outside Edinburgh fell again in the first three months of the year, but at a more modest rate than in previous quarters. Average values of prime Scottish country houses have been falling or static for nearly two years now, but the 0.4 per cent decline in the first three months of the year is the smallest fall since June 2010, when prices rose by 0.8 per cent.

“But there are also wide regional variations in prices and, significantly, values in the Scottish Borders are continuing to rise. Prices in the region are up 0.4 per cent on the quarter and are back at levels seen in June 2010.

“In contrast, prices in the north-east of Scotland fell by 0.9 per cent between January and March. However, price falls in Argyll moderated noticeably, with prices declining by 0.7 per cent after two consecutive quarterly falls of more than 2.5 per cent.

“Activity in Edinburgh has bounced back during the first couple of months of the year and we expect to see this ripple out to the regions.

“There has certainly been an influx of determined vendors in Edinburgh and outside the capital who are keen to achieve a sale and have priced their property to suit the market in order to achieve this. Buyer interest is strongest in the very best properties, priced correctly.

“There is still strong interest in the very top-end properties among domestic and overseas buyers, especially if the property is unique or unusual.

“House prices in areas with good schools or transport links to Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen continue to lead the way, with prices in the Borders up 1.6 per cent on the year.

Four businesses have won prizes in a special award scheme to highlight companies that do more to help blind and partially-sighted people.

The Go Shop Awards scheme – launched by the Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland and announced yesterday – aims to encourage improvements that make services more accessible to people with sight loss.

The Borders winners were the Galashiels branches of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Asda, Hall Opticians, and J. Holmes Wilson Opticians in Melrose. All 21 award-winners, from across Scotland, were nominated by service-users with sight loss.

David Puller, manager of the Royal Bank of Scotland branch in Bank Street, said: “Our aim at all times is to provide a helpful banking service to every customer and I’m extremely honoured that we have been nominated for this award. This is a real tribute to the staff at the branch and we are all extremely proud of the award. I would also like to say thank you for the nomination and for all the support we receive from our customers.”

Nicky Hall, of Hall’s Opticians, said: “This is a great honour for our entire team. It is very important that businesses cater for people with sight loss as well as other disabilities.”

John Legg, director of RNIB Scotland, said: “For people with sight loss, the Go Shop Awards have provided hope that service-providers will listen and are prepared to make changes to the way they work to make their goods and services more accessible.

“For businesses, it has been an opportunity to learn about the challenges people face in their everyday activities. And this doesn’t necessarily have to mean elaborate or expensive changes. Several have commented on how the awards have transformed the way they think about the needs of blind and partially-sighted consumers, which was precisely the kind of response we were hoping for.

“We need to work together towards more practical solutions for people living with disabilities.”

TWO local men, aged 31 and 24, have been charged with allegedly committing a breach of the peace following an altercation in Queensway, Earlston, at around 7pm on Sunday evening. A police report is being sent to the procurator fiscal.

THE six candidates seeking election to the Selkirkshire ward at the Scottish Borders Council elections on Thursday, May 3, will take part in a hustings meeting later this month, writes Andrew Keddie.

The event, organised by Selkirk Community Council, will take place in Selkirk Parish Church hall from 7-8.30pm on Thursday, April 26.

Presiding at the hustings will be community council chairman Graham Easton and questions to the candidates should be in writing and submitted in advance to Mr Easton (31 High Street, 01750 722744).

Each questioner must be identifiable, a constituent of the Selkirkshire ward and on the electoral role.

The candidates – Michelle Ballantyne (Con), Leven Brown (Borders Party), Vicky Davidson (Lib Dem), Gordon Edgar (Ind), Kenneth Gunn (SNP) and Gordon Harrison (Ind) – will be invited to speak in turn for no more than three minutes, during which interruptions will not be permitted.

Each candidate will then be invited in turn to respond to the questions from the floor. Spontaneous verbal questions will not be permitted, although exceptions may be allowed if, at the discretion of Mr Easton, they are deemed relevant and for clarification purposes. No candidate shall respond to questions for longer than two minutes.

The format was agreed at a meeting of the community council last Monday night when all three of the present SBC incumbents elected in 2007 – Davidson, Gunn and Carolyn Riddell-Carre (Con) – delivered their monthly reports.

Mrs Riddell-Carre, who is not seeking re-election for Newtown, listed what she considered three of her achievements over the past five years: supporting the planning application from Scotbet to take over the former Post Office in Selkirk’s Market Place; the adoption of a “proper” investment policy for the capital reserves of the Common Good Fund; and, as chairman of the latter’s working group, bringing meetings to Selkirk – something that had not happened for 30 years.

Mr Gunn told the meeting: “There have been many things I have been involved in since I was elected. The pavement up the Yarrow Road was a weed-strewn dirt pathway where now it is a proper pavement up to the Corbie Linn corner.

“Thornfield housing estate has a new roadway with the upper part of Scott Crescent promised an upgrade where it has worn through. The street lighting in Market Place and the trunk road part of High Street and Tower Street has been upgraded and we have a new bus shelter in Market Place.

“It has been an honour to serve the burgh as one of your councillors.”

Ms Davidson confined herself in the early part of her report to giving community concillors what they expected: a monthly update of SBC issues affecting the town, including SBC’s approval of the flood protection scheme; good progress on cash bids for the town centre heritage initiative; an electrical problem at the Scott Courtroom which was being repaired, although the facility was in need of “complete refurbishment”; and the completion of four dropped-kerbs at Tait’s Hill.

But, as a parting shot, Ms Davidson reasserted her support for the return of SBC’s area committee system, largely dismantled two years ago despite the protestations of the Lib Dems at Newtown.

“The Eildon Area Committee was an excellent and effective forum for the town, particularly on planning matters, and should be restored,” she added.

SCOTTISH Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson has urged Borderers to vote in the council elections – even if it was not for her party.

Fears have grown that the turnout could sink to 25 per cent across Scotland, with the elections not being coupled with parliamentary polls due to 2007’s spoilt votes fiasco.

But speaking at the launch of Borders Conservatives’ campaign, Ms Davidson emphasises the importance of people turning up to their local primary schools, and village and church halls across the region on May 3 to vote.

She told TheSouthern: “I think any indication that this might be a low turnout is sad because when I speak to people on their doorsteps across the country, nine times out of 10 the issues that come up are local ones.

“No matter what your political views, to have a stake in your own community, you have got to partake in the democratic process. What happens at council level really does matter.”

Ms Davidson told the Tory candidates, who hope to once again be part of a ruling coalition administration at Newtown St Boswells, that the council elections were the first step towards resurrecting the party in Scotland.

Praising the work of Conservative councillors in the Borders, she said: “This has been a council which has been marked by real financial prudence, real value for money, and a real sense of rural priorities.

“You only have to look at the way they have tackled the problem of alcohol, which is way ahead of the Scottish Parliament.

“They are also trying to take a more disciplined approach to wind farm issues.

“We have a great mix of experience councillors and new candidates. I hope very much the people of the Borders will return the Conservatives as the largest group so we can carry that good work on.”

Outgoing Conservative SBC leader Carolyn Riddell-Carre said the party would “keep our options open” as to who they would be prepared to work with in a joint ruling group, after a five year spell in power alongside the Lib-Dems and Independents.

But aiming a broadside at the Borders Party, she added: “They were against the railway but now want it to go to Carlisle.

“They were against the crematorium in Melrose, saying a black fog would hang over the town but it has been a success and not spoilt the environment.

“We want to work with people we can trust.”

Mrs Riddell-Carre described the Tory influence on Newtown as a steady pair of hands, and said their ambitions for the Borders were in line with what the cash-strapped local authority could afford.

She told us: “During our time, we have built three new secondary schools and refurbished and built five new primary schools, while all our schools have broadband.

“We have helped to draw up guidelines on where you can or cannot put wind farms. “We realise our landscape, along with our people, is the Borders’ greatest asset and we need to protect them.”

Adding her support to Ms Davidson’s plea for Borderers to vote, Mrs Riddell-Carre said: “These elections are very important as it is at local level where people get exorcised about street lighting, planning matters or pot holes in the road.

“It is important the elected councillors bring a sense of purpose and honesty to these matters.”