FORMER valleys farm manager Ed Glenwright lost his case against his charity employers for breach of contract at a recent employment tribunal in Edinburgh.

However the ex-Borders Forest Trust (BFT) employee who ran Corehead Farm, near the Grey Mary’s Tail, won his case for unpaid wages and BFT was told to pay him £982.26 in the tribunal judgement made on April 3.

Yorkshire-born Mr Glenwright took over the running of the 1,580-acre property, home to the Devils’ Beef Tub, in spring 2010.

“IN such tough economic times, to have an event like this based in the heart of the Borders is a huge asset for shops, restaurants and hotels, and is a significant contributor to the local economy.”

So said Councillor Graham Garvie, Scottish Borders Council’s executive member for culture, after it was hinted this week that more visitors than ever are set to attend the ninth annual Brewin Dolphin Book Festival.

The 2011 event attracted a massive attendance of 12,600 – up 23 per cent on the 10,200 who enjoyed the 2010 festival – and analysts later advised that the economic impact on the central Borders was up by a similar margin to £3.34million. It was also revealed that 36 per cent of the audience last year came from outwith the region.

“Each year the proportion of people attending from outside the area has increased,” said festival director Alistair Moffat. “It is too early to give exact figures for this year, but with the strong programme and judging by ticket sales to date, I’m confident they will, at the very least, match, if not exceed, last year’s numbers.”

Councillor Garvie said: “The festival is now established as one of the major events of its kind in Scotland. It is a true success story in terms of the increasing number of visitors it attracts and the sheer enjoyment it also brings to the thousands of Borderers who attend.”

lAST year, Scots adventurer Mark Beaumont was one of the star turns at the Brewin Dolphin Borders Book Festival, thrilling his Melrose audience with an account of how, in 2010, he had cycled from Alaska to Argentina for a BBC television series.

The 29-year-old documentary maker from Perthshire had already won a place in the Guinness Book of Records in 2008 for cycling around the world – a total distance of 18,297 miles – in 194 days.

But the many new friends he made after his festival appearance in the gardens of Harmony House were stunned in January this year when they heard that Beaumont, in his latest act of derring-do, had been one of six rowers cast adrift in the North Atlantic after their boat capsized.

Beaumont and his crew spent more than two hours on a raft lashed to the hull of their stricken vessel before being miraculously rescued by a Panamanian cargo ship. They were taking part in the Atlantic Odyssey challenge to row from Morocco to Barbados in less than 30 days – and the disaster occurred 520 miles from their destination.

The drama of that day will be relived at 6pm on Thursday, June 14, when Beaumont will open the region’s literary extravaganza.

“Given that Mark is lucky to be here to tell the tale, we thought his story would be an ideal curtain raiser for our festival which features some fascinating events covering the great outdoors,” said festival co-ordinator Paula Ogilvie.

“Some of these are not for the faint-hearted and, although they are in the adult programme, they have been timed specifically for a younger audience and any with an interest in the science of nature.”

Jeremy Wade has become a household name and a weel-kent face with his TV series River Monsters being watched by over four million viewers.

Zoologist and journalist Wade will be at the festival on Saturday, June 16, at 4.45pm to promote the book of the same name, published in November last year, which is described as “a tale of obsession, adventure and very big fish”.

Wade, like Beaumont, has had several scrapes with death on his mission to find the world’s most deadly and bloodthirsty freshwater creatures – man-eating catfish, bullsharks, giant eels and super-piranahas – which are every bit as spectacular as those that prowl the oceans.

On the banks of the Tweed, one of the world’s most renowned salmon rivers, Wade will offer the ultimate fisherman’s tale, taking his audience on a journey from the Amazon to the Congo, from North America to the mountains of India.

Sandwiched between Beaumont and Wade, biologist Simon Watt, presenter of the award-winning Channel 4 series Inside Nature’s Giants, will present Dissections Uncut, on Friday, June 15, at 4.45pm.

The series explores the anatomy of the largest animals on the planet to reveal how these amazing creatures really work and the book to accompany it features dissection, CGI and wildlife photography to show how millions of years of evolution have enabled animals to thrive across the world.

Watt’s lecture has already been a huge hit at science festivals at York, Edinburgh and Oxford, and comes to Melrose with glowing testimonials.

Meanwhile, Watt will also be part of the Family Book Festival on Saturday, June 16, at noon when he adopts the guise of Doctor Death to offer a comic look at medicine throughout the ages.

A KELSO OCTOGENARIAN is urging the council to clear the “mess” they left in a local beauty spot, writes Sally Gillespie.

Roxburgh Street resident Rena Wark saw Scottish Borders Council staff rake up rubbish left by the flooded River Tweed at the riverside area known as the Cobby in Kelso.

Usually they return to remove the debris but this year piles of vegetation have remained for more than two weeks.

Mrs Wark said: “There’s a huge pile of rubbish from the last flood and people are bringing all their garden stuff and adding it on to it; it’s making it bigger. People are pulling sticks out to throw for their dogs and not putting them back so it’s getting scattered. We thought the council were going to take it away but they never did, they raked it up and left it. It’s the worst I have seen the Cobby look.

“They could have just set fire to it but they’ve left it and people are just dumping trees and everything onto it. There was a big skip added onto it but it washed away with the rise of water we had the other day.”

The former B and B owner said visitors often walked down to the Cobby to take photographs of Floors Castle and a local church.

“This is a really lovely spot but it’s horrible looking at that,” said the 84-year-old. “What used to be a lovely view is turning into a shambles.”

Another of the heaps includes mulched laurels by cut by council staff. She said: “The kids are coming along and kicking it – it’s a mess.” An SBC spokesman said: “The flood debris has been tidied up as per other occasions and will hopefully be removed from site in the next two weeks.”

A CANDIDATE at the forthcoming Scottish Borders Council elections is calling for an investigation into a claim that work-related stress is at “pandemic” levels at the Newtown-based local authority, writes Andrew Keddie.

Michael Grieve, who is standing for Labour in the Hawick and Denholm ward and is a former employee of Midlothian Council, said he was “very perturbed” to read the allegation in last week’s Southern.

He was alluding to the story about Gordon Branston from Ettrickbridge who was dismissed as SBC’s wellbeing and safety officer in May last year.

Mr Branston, 47, said that, during the five weeks after he began work in January, he discovered that work-related stress accounted for 47 per cent of staff sickness absences.

He claimed that after asking his managers on more than one occasion to put tackling this issue at the core of the council’s wellbeing policies, he was shouted down by one of them. “It was a very traumatic and humiliating experience,” he recalled.

As a result of this perceived atmosphere of retribution, he himself was signed off with work-related stress, returning to Newtown on March 22 last year for an investigative hearing at Newtown, the transcript of which, he claims, was “hugely redacted”.

Mr Branston’s doctor considered his patient too ill to attend a disciplinary hearing on May 10, but he was able to give written submissions.

However, the following day he received a letter from Jill Stacey, head of audit and risk, who chaired the hearing, informing him he had been dismissed “on the grounds that there is an irretrievable breakdown in the working relationship between you and your managers”. No notes or transcripts of that hearing exist.

The decision, however, was later confirmed by Ian Wilkie, head of legal and democratic services, most recently in February this year, when he told Mr Branston: “The council has an agreed policy on health, safety and wellbeing and this has been endorsed by councillors. With regard to the disciplinary hearing which led ultimately to your contract of employment being terminated.I am satisfied the council conducted the investigation and hearing properly and in accordance with agreed policy.”

Mr Wilkie added: “I intend to have no further communication on the issue and consider the matter closed.”

Last week, SBC chose to make no comment on Mr Branston’s case or allegations, but yesterday a spokesman told us: “Scottish Borders Council has robust procedures in place for the protection of employees who are subject to disciplinary procedures and outcomes.

“This includes the right of appeal to an independent committee of elected members. The council’s wellbeing and safety policies and procedures are constantly under review to ensure best practice.”

Mr Branston believes his own case and the data he discovered on the scale of work-related stress during his short stint at Newtown “directly relates to a culture of bullying and intimidation”, and he has been heartened, since last week, to receive a number of communications from SBC employees, past and present, who claim to have also been victims of that culture.

“I received a kind and emotional letter the day after the article appeared from a former employee representing six SBC work colleagues forced into work-related stress after whistleblowing on bullying and harrassment, and forced to resign in 2008,” said Mr Branston. “The details were reported to two prominent councillors who did nothing which, unfortunately, seems par for the course.

“I will be happy to talk to any new councillors about what I have discovered and I would urge the new council, as a first step, to urgently impose a moratorium on all dismissals of, or threats of dismissals to, staff while they are on authorised sick leave and to ensure transcripts are available from all hearings, pending a full-scale review of policies which should be restorative, but are, in fact, retributive.”

Mr Grieve told us: “If elected on May 3, it will be a priority for Labour in the Borders to ensure the matters raised are investigated fully. If work related stress is as high as he claims, it must be taken seriously.”

LOOKING to the Lauderdale horizon, all the eye can see is a forest of giant wind turbines blanketing the landscape.

At least this is the future that awaits this picturesque area of the Borders, if, according to the Lauderdale Preservation Group (LPG), all the pending wind farm projects get the go-ahead.

The pressure group has now lodged a photographic montage of what this would look like in reality as part of its submission to the Scottish Government committee, which is currently holding an inquiry into renewable energy targets.

And LPG says long-standing relationships between neighbours are also being destroyed due to the divisive nature of cash incentives dangled in front of Borders communities by wind farm developers.

“We are deeply concerned by the divisive effect of these applications on rural communities and the way in which long standing relationships between neighbours are being destroyed,” state the report’s authors. “We are further very disturbed by the lack of consideration given to residents by the planning process and the way in which it appears to be biased towards the interests of developers and against those of local people.

“Our conclusion is that the relentless pursuit of over-optimistic renewables targets will destroy rural communities and damage the credibility of government and institutions amongst rural residents.”

There are presently around 2,000 onshore wind turbines in operation or under construction in Scotland. If proposed targets for renewable energy were to be met, LPG estimates that up to 8,500 could be required, depending on precisely how the Government’s target of 100 per cent of electricity from renewables is to be interpreted.

LPG chairman, Professor Jack Ponton, says any contribution Scotland makes to reducing greenhouse gases – the main culprit behind climate change – is virtually worthless, as increased emissions from rapidly developing nations such as China and India will simply overwhelm any reductions made in the developed world.

“I was shocked when I did the sums. Even if Scotland met all its targets by 2020, it would take just five days for that reduction to be overhauled by emissions from India and China. It is not a case of doing nothing – it is a case of not doing the wrong, expensive and ultimately damaging thing,” he told TheSouthern this week.

And, when it comes to the Borders, LPG’s report, to which Professor Ponton was a major contributor, says while Scottish Borders Council’s recent supplementary planning guidance on wind energy is a largely well-balanced document, its 50 pages contain less than one side of a page addressing the issues of impact on residents.

Professor Ponton, a civil engineering expert, also blames the ‘community benefit’ of wind farms, where communities close to turbines enjoy a financial spin-off from the profits of electricity generation, for causing a serious rift between people.

“We’ve seen what has been happening in our own community and I’ve heard other reports from different people in the Lammermuirs. This so-called community benefit has people at each other’s throats over money. It’s quite horrifying,” he added.

Asked for his view, local Lauderdale Scottish Borders councillor, John Paton-Day, agrees with LPG that the area has reached saturation point as far as numbers of wind farms are concerned.

“It’s now one step too far in my book,” he told TheSouthern this week. “This region, especially Lauderdale, already has enough wind farms and those that are proposed are just too much.

“Our area is trying to improve things like tourism and this doesn’t help in any way. I’m not happy with what is happening and support the efforts of the LPG.”

THE Big Quiz helped raise more than £5,000 for Prostate Scotland – and celebrated the memory of former Gala and Scotland rugby star Duncan Paterson.

It means almost £10,000 has been realised for the charity from the Big Quiz in the last two years, following the death of Paterson in December 2009.

The winners on the night at Galashiels Volunteer Hall were Lawrence MacPherson, Derek Forsyth and David Lindsay, who beat off 50 other teams. A raffle and auction included a Scotland World Cup top donated by Duncan’s nephew Chris Paterson which was bought for more than £300, while among the other gifts were a series of golf trips to some of the country’s top courses.

Duncan’s daughter Lucy McAneny, who organised the fundraiser, said: “It was a great night and I just have to thank everyone who attended, all my family and friends for their help and anyone who contributed or donated to the event.”

POLICE have issued an urgent appeal for witnesses after receiving a report that a 66-year-old man with mobility problems was assaulted by two young men in Newtown St Boswells on Monday, writes Andrew Keddie.

The attack, reported by the victim’s elderly wife the following day, occurred in Park Crescent at around 9pm.

“We are treating this incident, which is extremely uncommon in Newtown, very seriously,” said a police spokesperson yesterday.

“We are determined to bring the perpetrators of this cowardly attack to justice and would ask anyone with information to come forward.”

The police say the man, who usually walks with the aid of a stick, had been in one of the village’s two pubs and was walking home via Park Crescent when he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

He was then approached by two males, one of whom, described as being in his mid-20s with dark brown hair, asked him if he was okay and if he needed assistance to get up.

But what appeared to be an act of kindness quickly took a sinister turn when, having helped the pensioner to his feet, the suspect asked him if he had money.

“When the gentleman said he had no money, the young man who had enquired about his wellbeing pushed him back to the ground whereby he sustained an injury to his face,” said the police spokesperson. “Then, when he was lying on the ground, the other assailant, for whom we unfortunately do not have a description, kicked him on the side of the body.”

The two suspects then walked off and the victim’s wife reported the incident to police at 8.35am on Tuesday.

“It appears the man was in some pain and suffering from shock, but the fact that he sustained no serious injury when he was pushed to the ground and then kicked does not minimise the fact that this was a totally inappropriate attack on a vulnerable, elderly man,” said the spokesperson.

“This is certainly not a common occurence in Newtown St Boswells and we hope members of the public, particularly those who were in the central area near the pubs at the time, will be able to help us.”

Anyone with information is urged to call the police on 01450 375051.

AN intensive care nurse who injected her best friend’s four-month-old baby daughter with a massive dose of insulin at Cardona, near Innerleithen, was this week struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Veronica Duncan, now 46, committed the offence – reduced from attempted murder to serious assault – in 2007 and was placed on three years’ probation at the High Court in Edinburgh. As part of her probation conditions, she underwent psychiatric treatment and was banned from unsupervised contact with children under seven.

The professional nursing body, however, decided in 2009 not to strike Duncan off, choosing instead to suspend her from nursing for a year, a ban extended by another 12 months last May.

But in February 2011, at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Duncan, now living in Tranent, East Lothian, admitted fraudulently claiming £8,823 in housing benefit and was given 100 hours of community service.

Facing another NMC disciplinary hearing in the capital on Monday, Duncan wrote to say she could not attend as she was currently on holiday.

In her absence, NMC solictor Barry Dooley said Duncan had been involved in “a lengthy period of serious dishonesty” in claiming benefits to which she was not entitled because she was working.

“Although her previous [High Court] conviction is of a different sort, this is a dishonesty conviction which shows there is a pattern of criminal conduct. The incident which arose in 2007 was an extremely serious one,” said Mr Dooley.

“Nurses have a privileged position in society and the seriousness of her dishonesty is great. The public need to be able to maintain confidence in the profession. This registrant [Duncan] has not demonstrated honesty or integrity in any way whatsover and these two characteristics are fundamental in a registered nurse.”

Reading the NMC decision to srike Duncan off, Andrew Popplewell, chairman of the hearing committee, observed: “The registrant [Duncan] has demonstrated no remorse for her actions and shown no insight into her actions. She has a previous conviction and has not demonstrated previous good behaviour.

“Her behaviour demonstrated a serious departure from the relevant standard of the code...you must be open and honest and act with integrity. You must adhere to the law of the country in which you practise.

“The panel has decided the only appropriate action would be to strike her off.”

The 2007 trial heard that Duncan’s own 16-month-old daughter Anna had died in her Cardona home a week after contracting chickenpox.

On March 7, the following year, Duncan had called at her friend’s house nearby and had invited the mother to go to a coffee morning. Duncan offered to dress the baby while the mother got changed and it was then that the insulin, which Duncan had carried in her bag for that purpose, was repeatedly injected into the baby’s stomach.

The court heard that Duncan was overwhelmed with jealousy because her friend had a healthy child. Her defence lawyer contended his client suffering from a mental disorder which fell short of a mental illness.

The tiny victim was later rushed to the Borders General Hospital, a doctor at the trial estimating she was three minutes from death when life-saving dextrose was administered. During this treatment, Duncan sat in a waiting room of the hospital.

The mother of the victim, who is now a healthy five-year old, was at Monday’s disciplinary hearing after which she told reporters: “The NMC made the right decision today and I am very happy. The last time I saw her [Duncan] it was through a pane of glass at the High Scourt. I cannot believe she hasn’t shown again. I don’t even know what I would say if I saw her today.

“There are hundreds of people who have lost a child, but you wouldn’t dream of hurting another child. I understand that it was horrendous for her: the loss of a child is incomprehensible and I was very close to that.”

Recalling what had happened to her daughter, the mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, added: “My baby was unstable for 48 hours and these were the worst hours of my life. She was three years old before she was given the all clear. She is a lovely wee girl now, so happy.”

MEETINGS of re-established Scottish Borders Council committees will be held at venues throughout the region if the SNP gains control after the May 3 election.

In its manifesto published on Monday, the local party confirmed it will seek to abolish the current executive/scrutiny decision-making system and replace it was with “a fully democratic committee structure”.

“Rather than an elite executive making decisions that impact on Borders communities, we are determined to seek more transparent and accountable systems delivered through all [34] elected representatives,” said Donald Moffat, leader of the six-strong SNP opposition group on SBC.

“We also want to improve public engagement in council affairs by bringing some committees and meetings into venues in towns throughout the Borders ... we fundamentally believe residents should have the opportunity to see the council at work in the local area.”

Elsewhere in the manifesto, the SNP says it will help community councils “develop their own empowerment” and encourage the creation of development trusts and social enterprises, even suggesting SBC could purchase strimmers and garden tools for such grassroots organisations to look after their own amenity areas.

On transport, the SNP pledges to “make a success” of the new Borders railway and campaign for its reinstatement through Hawick to Carlisle, but Mr Moffat adds: “We recognise the entire region needs road improvements, better bus interconnectivity and a fully-integrated transport strategy. We will work for that.”

The SNP believes the wind is in its sails following last year’s Holyrood triumph, while the Conservatives, currently the largest grouping on SBC with 12 members, go to the polls proclaiming a five-year record of achievement.

But the prospect of these two parties combining to form an administration after May 3 appears to have been strangled at birth this week with the Tories launching a blistering attack on the SNP programme.

Tom Weatherston (Kelso & District) said the SNP manifesto was “a total embarrassment”, while Peter Duncan, the former Tory MP fighting Leaderdale and Melrose, claimed it was “a complete sham”.

“It’s no use promising to improve transport when you know your colleagues in Edinburgh have already said they will provide no funding for it,” said Mr Weatherston. “It is also deeply ironic the SNP are trying to improve public involvement in decision-making when it was their group who proposed the abolition of area committees.”

Labour’s Michael Grieve, contesting Hawick and Denholm, said: “The SNP’s conversion to localisation of power is hard to credit while their party at Holyrood is centralising power much like the Tories at Westminster.”

Lib Dem Catriona Bhatia, seeking re-election in Tweeddale West, told us: “While I agree that decision-making at SBC should be reviewed, to put that at the top of your manifesto is, quite frankly, ridiculous when the general public is much more worried about jobs, education and potholes in the road.

“In contrast to the Lib Dem manifesto which has key policies to support business, including a £1million business loans fund and a reform of SBC procurement, the SNP programme is scant on specific commitments which will create economic opportunities.”

Mr Moffat countered: “Investment in the local enconomy will be encouraged through the natural synergy between an SNP-lead council administration and the SNP-led Scottish Government. We will ensure we receive our fair share of development funding.”

And local SNP MSP Christine Grahame has endorsed her party’s SBC manifesto claiming: “In the Lib Dem/Tory/Independent administration, accountability was ditched in favour of an executive taking important decisions. Power in the hands of a few is not what Borders people voted for.

“It’s important all councillors have an active part to play, so returning to committee structures to hold the council administration to account is a start.

“Just as important is making sure development trusts and community councils have clout and the pledge to hold council meetings out and about in this dispersed area should make that a reality.”

POLICE in the Scottish Borders have issued a fresh warning for people to be on their guard against metal thieves, writes Bob Burgess

The rising price of scrap metal has led to a farms, industrial yards, building sites and domestic properties being targeted.

Details have just been released by police about the theft of lead from a sculpture at Allanton, near Duns in Berwickshire.

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said: “We have seen an increase in this type of crime over the past year due to the increasing worldwide value of metal.

“We are appealing for local people to be vigilant and to ensure that items are locked away. We would also ask that anyone seen acting suspiciously is reported to us as soon as possible.”

The Allanton raid is thought to have taken place overnight Thursday into Friday last week.

Anyone with any information can contact Hawick police station on 01450 375051 or Duns police station on 01361 882222.

THE questions of who we are and where we come from has been asked by every single human being since the beginning of time.

Now, thanks to a project part founded by local historian, author and broadcaster, Alistair Moffat, Borderers can now finally find the real answer to those questions.

Earlier this year, Mr Moffat joined forces with Dr Jim Wilson of Edinburgh University to set up the Scotland’s DNA project.

Using cutting-edge technology, Dr Wilson has discovered an extraordinary and unexpected diversity in the national DNA of almost 1,000 Scots.

Now open to the public for a fee of £170, it means anyone can have their DNA (the deoxyribonucleic acid which contains all the genetic codes for every living thing) tested and find out who they truly are.

Run from a small office in Melrose, the venture was expanded this week to include Britain’s DNA and Ireland’s DNA projects. While there has to be a commercial element to the project to continue funding the work and reinvesting in technology, Mr Moffat stresses the main reason for the initiative is as a major research project which will result in a book on the genetic makeup of the people of Britain.

And he is excited by the potential of the project to really get to the bottom of many unanswered historical questions :“This is a people’s history of Scotland - it’s not the usual suspects, like William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and Mary, Queen of Scots.”

Scotland’s DNA came about after Mr Moffat and Dr Wilson met during the 2008 filming of a television series in the Hebrides. “Jim Wilson is a brilliant young man, a cutting edge scientist who is a world authority on historical DNA,” Mr Moffat told The Southern this week.

“We got talking and I thought this another way of telling a story and in some ways a better way. So we started working on a book, which became The Scots: A Genetic Journey.

“But I began hearing people ask more and more where they could get their DNA tested and the answer was that, in Britain, it was very difficult. You could do it in the United States because DNA testing is quite an accepted thing in America because of health insurance.

“So, I thought OK, we’ll have a go at this.”

That decision saw a substantial amount of money invested in the technology needed to make it affordable for individuals to have their DNA tested - the cost is pegged at just £170 per person.

The equipment was purchased from a leading IT firm in California, including the state-of-the-art microchips needed to read the more than one million DNA markers for each person.

“As well as having Jim Wilson on board, I’m really lucky to have Alan Mathieson, an IT genius from Melrose, who runs that side of things and designed the IT needed to ultimately do all this automatically,” Mr Moffat explained.

Once registered, a person is sent a ‘spit kit’, into which they spit some saliva and then return the sample to the University Of London. The results are interfaced with the Scotland’s DNA computer system and outcomes the necessary genetic information.

“It doesn’t involve anyone holding a test tube up to the light or any of that stuff!” laughed Mr Moffat.

“We were taking a massive risk with the amount of money that needed to be initially invested, but when, after the first two weeks of the project’s launch, we already had enough subscribers, it gave us real confidence.”

There’s already been some high profile results, such as actor Tom Conti discovering he shared the same DNA as French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte , while broadcaster and comedian Fred Macaulay found out his ancestors were Irish and probably captured as slaves in the 9th century.

Of the 1,000 people tested so far, around 50 have been Borderers. But even though just a small number, its already thrown up some fascinating results.

“The results have been amazing,” said Mr Moffat. “Things I’d never have guessed in terms of the Borders. The first thing is, most Borderers are ancient. Folk have been here for a very, very long time. It is extraordinary, that in the Borders there is a layer of a population that has been here for 8 - 10,000 years.

“Another startling discovery was made through mitochondrial DNA which you inherit from your mother. In the Teviot Valley, there is a cluster of Pictish women way south of what was traditionally regarded as Pictland.

“I can’t explain it. Something was going on here - some ancient migration. Does this result make them Picts? Absolutely.”

Mr Moffat explained that the DNA people inherit from their father’s line is Y-chromosome DNA and changes very little through the generations. “That means you can say with a great deal of confidence, that I am descended from whoever. On the female side, DNA is more mixed up because women moved about a great deal and men stayed mainly in one place.

“And you can also say with real confidence that these people come from this part of the of the world. Because where a marker is most populous as a proportion of population is where it originated. The second test is where the marker has had most mutations - that’s the longest time its been anywhere.

“Your own marker is a mutation for a marker back in history, but there will be a clear line of descent. You get different markers within populations but not within individuals in terms of heredity, which is constant.

“There will be one main dominant marker for every single person. We can then inform people what markers are related to them in terms of ethnic groups, but we don’t divulge other people’s results.”

As for Mr Moffat, he admits while being Scottish to his core and with family links to the Borders stretching back centuries, he was taken aback when he initially found out his main DNA marker was English - or Anglian to be more precise.

“It was a bit of a shock at first! The marker originates in southern Denmark and my ancestors must have come across with the Anglo Saxons in the fifth and sixth centuries.

“We’ve only tested about 50 Borderers so far, but we have got four men with same marker out of about 30 men. People forget the Tweed Valley was part of Northumbria for 400 years.

“I suspect we will eventually find a whole cohort of Anglian markers that shows, absolutely, we are Borderers, in the truest sense of the word, in our blood and bone.”

On testing his mother’s DNA, Mr Moffat found the main marker came from southern India about 30,000 years ago.

He is not alone in being a Scotsman with unusual DNA - a number of others sampled have main markers showing them to be descended from the Berber and Tuareg tribes of the Sahara.

And Mr Moffat added: “Could this turn a lot of Scottish, and British, accepted history on its head? Absolutely. We are all Jock Tamson’s bairns right enough it would seem.”

A 14-YEAR-OLD girl has been charged with breaching the peace while she was allegedly drunk, writes Bob Burgess.

Police confirmed today that she was arrested on Saturday outside Hawick Rugby Club’s Mansfield Park.

The club’s annual seven-a-side tournament was taking place. It’s claimed she was creating a disturbance.

It was one of three separate incidents involving underage drinking at the tournament – despite an earlier police warning of a clampdown.

Police ejected a 16-year-old from the ground after they say he was found intoxicated. He was arrested a short time later and charged with breaching the peace.

Officers also seized alcohol from a group of 15 to 17-year-olds within Mansfield Park and a youth aged 18 has been reported to the procurator fiscal accused of supplying drink to the under age teenagers.

At the start of the 7s rugby season police appealed for people to enjoy themselves without getting drunk.

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said : “We will continue to challenge underage drinking and disorderly conduct at the Borders rugby sevens and the summer festivals.”

And it’s been revealed that in Galashiels, alcohol was confiscated from 15 and 16-year-old youths on two separate occasions on Saturday. Police have informed their parents.

In relation to the Galashiels incidents the police spokesman said: “ Officers routinely look for underage drinking.

“The alcohol has to be obtained from somewhere and we will always attempt to identify the source.”

Police appealed for spectators attending tournaments at Peebles and Langholm this weekend to enjoy their day but to drink responsibly.

A CALL has been made for more females candidates to stand for council elections in the Borders.

And Tweeddale West councillor Catriona Bhatia queried whether the use of quotas to increase female representatives could be introduced in Scotland.

Mrs Bhatia was reacting to statistics that the Borders had fewer woman seeking council office than the Scottish average.

Only 15 out of 72 candidates, or 20.8 per cent, are female in this region, compared to 23.6 per cent across the country.

A report by Dr Meryl Kenny and Dr Fiona Mackay of Edinburgh University has called for more woman to involve in local democracy to improve work on issues such as domestic violence and childcare.

And Mrs Bhatia shares both academics’ views.

She said: “I have raised this issue several times during the last council term, when we only had six female councillors out of 34.

“If only 20 per cent of the candidates are woman you are not getting a fair representation of the Borders’ female population at the council.

“I do think it is a real problem and although it goes against my liberal views, it is interesting that emerging countries such as India now have quotas for females in all its legislatures, from parliament down to the local councils.

“India is working on this whereas we do not seem to be.”

Mrs Bhatia says she does not know why woman are reluctant to stand in council elections.

She added: “Being a councillor is a very flexible job to have for a working mother as a lot of the council meetings are during the day when the kids are at school and for meetings at night a childminder can be used.

“It is much easier than a 9 to 5 job in that respect.

“There is still a male hierarchy in many areas such as business and politics but I look at the way the teaching profession has managed to break through with the number of female staff now employed.

“Also, we now have a female chief executive at SBC, where before we never even had a female director.”

Outgoing Borders Conservative leader Carolyn Riddell-Carre called for a quota, but on the length of time a councillor can serve for, rather than any gender issue.

She added: “Politics is a hugely demanding business, it’s rather like a drug, and it’s possible to carry on too long.

“I think that there should be a limit to the amount of terms anyone can serve in politics whether it be in Westminster, Holyrood or on a council.

“I don’t think it’s right that people should go on and on in any political job just to have a top-up to their pension. I certainly think the list system at Holyrood should be looked at afresh.

“When you look at the various councillors serving on SBC there is a very wide range of abilities both among the female councillors and the male ones.

“As Bernard Shaw said when asked who was more intelligent a man or a woman, he replied ‘It depends which man and which woman’.”

z TheSouthern asked three local farmers for their thoughts on the “greening” proposals.

Known mostly as a successful beef producer, Robert Neill’s Upper Nisbet farm near Jedburgh is an arable monitor farm in the Scottish Government-funded, SAC-run Farming for a Better Climate Initiative.

A past Farmers Weekly Beef Farmer of the Year, Mr Neill said: “My main concern is the permanent pasture ruling which would mean that we could no longer re-seed permanent pasture. This would have a huge impact on Scottish farmers who have a large area of land under permanent pasture which needs to be renewed to make it productive.

“The three-crop ruling is not going to affect us because we have enough crops in our rotation. I don’t understand the reasoning behind this and this will affect arable farmers who are predominantly growing cereals without any break crops.

“Europe is trying to get one system to fit 27 states which seems unrealistic considering the diversity of farming practices throughout the EU. What the Scottish Government should be concerned with is obtaining as large amount of money as possible to then be able to distribute it using a fair system that matches our agricultural needs.

“From our personal point of view, we would like to see subsidies in the beef sector that encourage growth in this sector and secure a future for an ever-dwindling industry. Beef production involves a longer term investment than many other livestock sectors, and growing pressure from increased costs and fewer markets have forced many farmers to diversify away from beef.

“It always goes without saying that only farmers who are productive should receive any monetary support.”

Specialist magazine Scottish Farmer columnist, noted Aberdeen Angus breeder and last year’s winner of the Borders Crop and Grassland Management competition, John Elliot, of Roxburgh Mains, Kelso, said: “I’m a bit cynical. They say they’re going to reduce the red tape, but it looks like there’s going to be a lot more and a lot less money.

“But it’s like arguing against goodness. There are a lot of things you should do, but sometimes they are not what would be beneficial or sensible and are against what practical people would do. You learn about things then suddenly find something you’ve done for years is no longer allowed, so you find a way round it.”

He is concerned about the permanent grassland proposal: “It seems an area that’s been in grass for more than five years becomes classed as permanent pasture and you can’t put it back into anything else.

“I’m not enthusiastic. It is not democracy. I suppose we’ll end up getting things imposed on us that will make us poorer and add to our workload.”

CAP reform was one of the topics being discussed at an open day of Quality Meat Scotland arable monitor farm Whitsome East Newton, near Duns, on Tuesday.

Farmer Alistair Hodge told us: “The proposals for 30 per cent greening payment need to be targeted at environmental improvements, but not at the expense of food production as food security is becoming ever more important as the world population is ever increasing and needs to be fed.

“The regulations need to be applied in a way that won’t tie the industry up in red tape, as everything that I have read so far suggests more complicated rules and time filling out forms and records, so heaping ever more expense on the industry for little benefit.”

KEY players will be at a two-day conference on CAP “greening” proposals organised by farming leaders for the end of the month.

Defra Secretary of State Caroline Spelman, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs Richard Lochhead and EU Parliament CAP negotiator MEP George Lyon are among those set to address the seminar organised by NFU Scotland.

The aim is to look at the impacts of the current EU Commission “greening” proposals in a reformed CAP, come up with alternative solutions and ways to make the ideas work.

Current planned changes tie 30 per cent of direct payments to farmers into making environmental improvements. So far the planned “greening” requirements include ecological focus areas (EFAs), where at least seven per cent of a farm is left fallow, crop rotation, where arable farmers have to grow three crops on farms bigger than three hectares, and farmers having to keep in permanent grassland areas they declare as such at the start of the new regime. Currently, permanent grassland is defined as fields which have been in grass for more than five years.

NFU Scotland officials claim the proposals could be “hugely problematic” A briefing from the union argues the three-crop rule would be difficult to implement, needing separate sowing, spraying and harvesting regimes for each, that it would require “substantial” additional administration to run and that it takes no account of the short weather window for working in fields. Forcing farmers to keep aside permanent grassland – an attempt to protect soil carbon – could stop reseeding and traditional practices that help the soil. And, using 2010 figures, they say EFAs will take out 38,500 hectares of arable land and ask if the environmental benefits would match the costs to farms.

Adjustments they suggest include making applying for the green payment voluntary, reducing the three-crop rule to two and/or making livestock farms that grow their own feed exempt from it, and reducing the size of EFAs.

Alternatives they suggest are having Scotland and others in the EU set their own measures tailored to local set-ups. In addition, the extension of exemptions to other farms also committed to the environment, not just organic farms; adding to the existing Good Agricultural and Environmental Requirements farmers already have to meet to get subsidies, or targeting the environmental improvements through a cash-boosted Pillar 2 which is European funding aimed at rural development and includes farm adaptation, forestry, processing and marketing of farm produce, training and development, and less-favoured area support.

Stow farmer and NFU Scotland president Nigel Miller, who will chair some of the conference, said: “We need to tease out the impact of the three-crop rule, permanent grassland and ecological focus areas and start seriously to promote alternative smart solutions that will contribute to the EC’s environmental targets while fitting with efficient production and the increasing demands of food security.”

The seminar will also be attended by farmers’ representatives from England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland and Holland.

Mr Miller said: “The aim is to create as much common ground across like-minded EU member states as possible. There is no denying that when it comes to influencing EU decision-making there is strength in numbers, and a clear consensus from this meeting around greening will be a hugely important lobbying tool.”

the outgoing leader of Scottish Borders Council, the region’s largest employer, admitted this week that the management of stress in the local authority workplace must be tackled “head on”.

David Parker, who is seeking re-election on May 3 as the independent councillor for Leaderdale and Melrose, was responding to issues raised by former employee Gordon Branston who claimed work-related stress within SBC was of “pandemic proportions”.

Mr Parker was also explaining why, last month, he intervened to support a range of recommendations from the cross-party wathdog scrutiny panel after it had conducted a hearing into sickness absences among council staff.

Scrutiny was told in February that anxiety, stress and depression accounted for 23 per cent of long-term absences. It made several recommendations, including for the current policy of employees being in breach of contract for sharing concerns with councillors to be reviewed and for line managers to be reminded of their responsibilities in terms of contacting employees who are off sick.

Although these were dismissed by SBC’s executive, Mr Parker ensured the recommendations were endorsed at the final meeting of the council.

Mr Branston claimed that during a five-week stint in the wellbeing and safety department of the council last year, he discovered that work-related stress accounted for 47 per cent of sickness absences at SBC.

Asked what councillors elected on May 3 could do to tackle the problem, Mr Parker told us: “There is an important role for councillors to play in terms of the workforce and the workplace. One of the critical things we as councillors must do is make sure we have good human resources [HR] procedures and policies and that, in terms of employee support, we also have all the things you would expect from a good and caring employer in place.

“I think, as a council moving forward, there is a piece of work to be done to make sure we are doing everything possible to ensure these polices are sound so that, where there is best practice on stress management, we should be seeking it out and implementing it.

“Stress in the workplace is a well recognised issue and it is one we need to tackle head on. In supporting scrutiny’s recommendations, it was important to send a clear signal to our senior officers that this is an area elected members are concerned about.

“It’s something that staff do talk about and we have to ensure that, going forward, we’ve got the best possible processes and policies in place to combat it.”

Speaking to TheSouthern ahead of next week’s polls, Mr Parker also cautioned against calls in the local SNP manifesto for the current executive/scrutiny decision-making system, which vests power in the hands of an elite band of administration councillors, to be replaced by a more inclusive committee system.

“Nobody would argue with taking a fresh look at our current decision-making arrangements, but to go back 10 years to the committee system would be a retrograde step,” said Mr Parker.

He went on: “Under the committee system, 80 per cent of all reports were for noting and committees were unable to make decisions about property, finance and employment matters.

“In my opinion it was also the committee system which led to the failure in dealing with the infamous £3.9million education overspend in a decisive manner. Meanwhile everyone who sat on the old social work committee was completely oblivious to the issues [revealed at various enquiries into the infamous Miss X abuse case] that faced that department in the early part of the last decade.”

Mr Parker said that by far the most important challenge facing the new council was to re-prioritise resources to support job creation and economic development.

“Jobs are critical and we need to do more as a local authority in this area. The creation of jobs and an overhaul of the council’s economic development activity must be a key theme in the first year of a new council.”

The project to build the Margaret Kerr Unit at the Borders General Hospital involves many people, including the dedicated team of specialist palliative care doctors and nurses.

Palliative care is a holistic approach to care which looks after not only the physical symptoms of a patient’s condition, but also their emotional and spiritual needs. One aspect of holistic care is an innovative project which allows patients and carers to create their own digital story.

Traditionally, these have been created by the patient about an aspect of their care, or perhaps a record of their life which they wish to leave for their loved ones to remember them by.

However a digital story can be about absolutely anything – the creator chooses the topic. It can encompass photographs, video, animation, sound, music and text, often with a narrative voice.

Digital stories are typically short – around three minutes – which is a key part of their appeal and impact.

There are a wide variety of stories available on the internet, and they are used in all walks of life – in education as well as museums, and as part of public health initiatives.

NHS Borders first used the stories in a palliative care conference three years ago, when delegates were shown three very different interpretations, one recorded by a patient and the other two by women who had been recently bereaved.

“After each story, you could have heard a pin drop,” says Dr Annabel Howell, speciality doctor in palliative care who helped run the conference and oversees the digital story project.

“The stories created a great deal of debate and were a wonderful learning experience for us all. One story was about a gentleman called Forbes, who shortly after retiring got a diagnosis of metastatic cancer with a very short prognosis.

Indeed, he was too unwell to have been able to do a story himself, but his wife went on to create a story about his life before diagnosis, how he was diagnosed and the subsequent efforts by the palliative care team to get him home for end-of life-care – his wish and strongly supported by his family. The story portrayed his interests and hobbies, as well as an overriding impression of a much loved family man.

Forbes’s wife, Helen Morton, of Blainslie, said: “Creating Forbes’s digital story just a few months after his death produced a huge range of emotions. Looking through photographs was difficult and sometimes distressing, but it also brought back so many memories; reminders of many years of happiness together.

“Looking back, it was a very therapeutic thing to do at that time. Watching it now reminds me of the sadness I felt then, but also brings back wonderful memories of a loving, dignified, strong Christian man to whom I had the privilege of being married. The DVD is a very treasured memoir.”

Helen is now actively involved in fundraising for the new unit, and has allowed the fundraising team to share Forbes’ story in their presentation.

As a result of the impact created by the digital stories at the conference, the palliative care team were able to arrange for a number of patients to have stories produced by a team in Edinburgh.

Creating your own story can be very therapeutic, looking through photos and deciding what you want to say, but it should not be rushed, so it can be very time consuming. Patients’ wellbeing often varies, which impacts on their ability to produce a story.

After an opportunity was missed for a patient, her family donated funds which have enabled NHS Borders to set up the digital stories project, which is unique in the UK, as the service is provided by volunteers who act as facilitators. They have had training in the use of storyboards, the software involved, as well as listening skills, and they are supported by the cancer information service and the palliative care team at the BGH.

Dr Howell, the project leader, is keen that as many people as possible are aware of the digital story service, and the benefits that it can provide.

“Creating a digital story can be a wonderful experience for patients to share with their family and friends. Involving others in the process can also help during difficult periods when the patient feels too unwell to continue with the creation of their story.

“This service is a way of caring for each individual, creating discussion and humour while still allowing patients to be in control, despite being unwell, and we hope that as many people as possible are able to benefit from it.”

If you would like further information on digital stories, contact Dr Howell on 01896 826813. For further information about the Margaret Kerr Unit Appeal, contact Clare Oliver on 01896 828261 or visit www.thedifference.org.uk

a SENIOR doctor at a medical practice in Hawick has been found dead at the town’s health centre, writes Bob Burgess.

The doctor worked for the Teviot Medical Practice. A spokeswoman for NHS Borders confirmed the centre would remain closed today and tomorrow.

The grim discovery was made this morning and police immediately sealed off the complex.

Lothian and Borders Police have confirmed the death of the GP, who has been named locally but whose identity has not yet been released by either the police or the health service.

It’s understood there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of the doctor.

The Teviot Medical Practice operates with 10 doctors and in addition to Hawick has patients in Lilliesleaf, Southdean, Teviothead, Buccleuch, Ashkirk, Chesters, Carter Bar, Mosspaul and Craik Forest.

IT was February 1912 that Vauxhall managing director Percy Kidner entered the company’s Prince Henry vehicle in a 600-mile winter trial through rural Sweden in sub-zero temperatures.

Now a Selkirk enthusiast of the famous UK motoring company is set to drive a recreated model which has taken him 22 years to put together and follow the route taken by Kidner 100 years ago.

Alisdaire Lockhart said: “It will be a very special occasion.”

The Ettrick Terrace resident moved from Bedfordshire to Selkirk five years ago with wife Trish, whose uncle, Rowland Elliot, was a doctor in the town.

But he has had a lifelong interest in cars, in particular Vauxhalls, and also owns two other vintage vehicles made by the firm, the 1914 model picking up the quickest Edwardian car in an event at Silverstone race track in February.

But back in 1988 Alisdaire began piecing together his Prince Henry 1912 recreation, and after various parts being transported from Australia, the final product was eventually completed in 2010 .

Explaining the Prince Henry model’s history, Alisdaire added: “In 1910, Vauxhall made specialised models to compete in the Prince Henrich of Germany trial of that year.

“Three cars were sent across and took part in a series of tests.

“Following modifications on their return to the UK, it became the first 21-horsepower car to exceed 100 miles per hour.

“In 2010 there was a centenary of the Prince Henry Vauxhall and 11 out of 12 of the cars still in the UK were there.

“Because this year is a rather important centenary of Vauxhall entering the Swedish Winter Trial in 1912, I decided to take my car across.

“We are being hosted by the RAC of Sweden, who will host a reception for us and have allowed us to get the car photographed beside the original trophies from the 1912 trial.”

Alisdaire will accompany the Prince Henry, which he keeps in England, from Harwich to Sweden.

But he does not expect conditions to be as tough as 100 years ago.

Alisdaire told us: “It should take us five days. The car can still do around 50 or 60 miles per hour, but we won’t be pushing it too hard.

“They went from Stockholm to Gothenburg and back again, whereas we are going the opposite direction.

“They started off in the morning and drove until 5am the following day. They had to have a 12-hour break back then, so started again and drove through the night, often through woods in temperatures as low as minus 27.”