Two miles east of Hawick lies Hornshole, the riverside scene of a skirmish in 1514 when the young men of the town routed a party of English raiders.

The spirit of that altercation – marked by a monument, recounted in the song Teribus and celebrated annually at the common riding – was evoked last week in the Scottish Borders Council (SBC) chamber.

For two Hawick members, the enemy this time was Scotland’s Boundary Commission, which has proposed that Hornshole, along with Denholm, should sever its local government link with the town and become part of a new council ward centred on Jedburgh.

The quango has already deemed that to achieve parity of representation across the region – and of one councillor for every 2,800 voters – the 11 SBC wards should be reduced to 10 and councillors cut from 34 to 32 in time for the 2017 elections. The commission has proposed that the two three-member wards of Hawick & Denholm and Hawick & Hermitage should give way to a single four-member Hawick & District ward.

After a recent sounding board of councillors, it appeared a consensus had been found, broadly supporting the commission, while insisting that Newcastleton should, with the rest of the Hermitage area, remain in Hawick.

On Thursday, Hawick & Denholm councillors Watson McAteer and Stuart Marshall launched a counter-offensive.

Councillor McAteer said: “Hornshole is a sacred and revered site for all Hawick people ... this site must remain within the boundary and control of Hawick. To do anything else would be to disrespect history and defy the wishes of those people responsible for placing their trust in us as their elected representatives.”

Councillor Marshall, a former chairman of Hawick’s common riding committee and currently the town’s honorary provost, blasted: “My constituents are appalled at the commission forcing these changes on our communities in a number-crunching exercise. My town is outraged at the very thought of moving Hornshole to another part of the Borders.”

But Councillor Stuart Bell (Tweeddale East) led the resistance, asserting that historical connections were neither defined nor influenced by electoral boundaries.

On a division, the McAteer amendment to place Denholm and Hornshole within the new Hawick ward was defeated by 26 votes to five, with the other four Hawick councillors ultimately siding with the majority.

The council’s submission to the commission will therefore recommend that Newcastleton remains with Hawick, that the 40 electors at Stichill Home Farm and Stables should switch from Mid Berwickshire to Kelso & District and that 15 electors at New Horndean Farm will nudge across the boundary from East to Mid Berwickshire.

The commission’s detailed plans will go out to public consultation for 12 weeks from July to October, with final recommendations due to be with Scottish ministers in May next year.

Scottish Borders Council has unanimously approved the departure of 28 secondary and 10 primary teachers over the next 15 months – with most set to leave at the end of the current session.

Aged between 54 and 62, the 38 were selected from 102 teachers who, between January and March this year, expressed an interest in taking early retirement or voluntary severance. A further 15 members of the local authority’s non-teaching staff – out of 34 who expressed an interest and aged 51 to 61 – have also been given the green light to go.

The exodus had been recommended in two reports at last week’s full council meeting and was approved.

Noting that all departing teachers would be replaced, Councillor Michelle Ballantyne, leader of the Tory opposition group at SBC, said: “I have been critical in the past of such deals as an effective way of reducing our workforce, but I believe this is good practice which will really help move our schools forward.”

The cost to the council of the teacher deals will be £749,539 for 27 severance packages, although this will be recouped in wage savings after an average of 18 months. A further £48,201 will be spent on 11 compensatory pension payments.

Losing the 15 non-teaching staff will involve one-off costs of £516,051, allowing the council to make future annual savings of £320,763 on salaries. The chosen ones include a 59-year-old librarian, a 57-year-old chief officer and a 52-year-old janitor.

Thursday’s meeting also heard that SBC was considering charging pre-school children who live in Midlothian and East Lothian for nursery placements in the Borders.

However, Councillor Sandy Aitchison, executive member for education, said that would not affect the free reciprocal arrangement which already exists with these council areas for “cross-border” primary and secondary placements. He explained that the receiving schools in the Borders tended to be on the periphery of the region and remote by nature, including Heriot (neighbouring Midlothian) and Cockburnspath (East Lothian).

“I am a great believer that, particularly in our more remote schools, children learn from their interaction with other children, both in the classroom and in the playground, and having classmates from outwith their own settlements can enhance that positive experience,” said Mr Aitchison.

“Any costs met by Scottish Borders Council – and I believe they are negligible – are more than outweighed by the benefits to our youngsters.”

A live music festival will be allowed to sell alcohol until 2am, despite claims from the police that this could result in antisocial behaviour and disturbance to nearby residents.

Scottish Borders Licensing Board voted 5-4 on Friday to grant the extension in respect of Audio Soup, which will take place from July 17-19 at Harehead Farm, just outside Cranshaws near Duns. The event, expected to attract around 1,000 punters, had a 1am extension when it was first held at the site last year.

Joining police in objecting to the 2am extension on both these nights was the board’s licensing standards officer, Ian Tunnah, who believed 1am was “quite adequate”.

However, board members heard a submission on behalf of the organisers from Holly McKnight who stressed the family-friendly nature of the event, which would have 50 stewards on duty over the weekend. She said children would not be allowed into bar areas unless accompanied by an adult and told councillors that an application for a public entertainments licence – allowing live music to be performed until 3am – had been submitted to the board and had attracted no objections.

Three other late drinking extensions, sought by licensed premises hosting events in connection with local festivals, were also approved, despite objections from the police and Mr Tunnah.

The board voted 6-2 to let the Base nightclub in Hawick stay open for an extra hour – from 2 till 3am – for this Saturday’s Denholm rideout, and Hawick Common Riding on June 5 and 6.

Licensee Neil Gillies successfully argued that catering for customers on these nights represented “exceptional circumstances” which would allow the board to depart from its current policy of no terminal hour beyond 2am outside Galashiels.

The dissenting board members were Councillor David Paterson (Hawick), who shared police concerns about noise and antisocial behaviour, and Councillor Gavin Logan (Tweeddale East), who said: “Local festivals which take place every year can hardly be described as exceptional.”

Also granted were applications from the County Hotel in Peebles to open until 1am this Sunday for the conclusion of the Tweedlove cycling festival and from the Border Inn at Kirk Yetholm to serve alcohol until 1am on June 17 for an event organised by Yetholm Festival Committee.

Sick pay is a hallmark of a civilised society, one that believes in a safety net for those who are unable to work – either temporarily or permanently.

It’s bad enough suffering from one or more of the myriad of afflictions which can strike at any one of us without worrying about coping financially.

This is a point worth remembering when reading the story about staff absenteeism costing Scottish Borders Council in excess of £3.7million during 2014/15 on page 7 of this week’s issue. Council leader David Parker says attendance levels are improving and when one learns that £3.7million figure was out of a total annual wage bill of £121.7million for the local authority’s 6,131 workforce, it tends to put matters into perspective.

Stress – caused by cost-cutting employers, resulting in increased workloads – is often blamed for absence. And for those still at work, there is even more pressure covering for missing colleagues. A vicious circle indeed.

Cutting costs can often make good business sense – but not at the expense of employees’ health. It’s surely more productive to have a worker at work than at home on the sick.

Of course there will be a minority more adept at swinging the lead, causing resentment among other members of the workforce. But this is a problem which human resources departments should be able to tackle – without adversely affecting the hard-working majority.

Staff absenteeism cost Scottish Borders Council more than £3.7million in occupational and statutory sick pay in the year ending March 31.

That was out of a total annual wage bill for the local authority’s 6,131 workforce of £121.7million and, according to council leader David Parker, attendance levels are improving.

“Work has been ongoing to support managers in effectively managing attendance and last year’s figures [2014/15] are expected to show the council has achieved the target to reduce sickness absence to 4%,” said Mr Parker at last week’s council meeting.

“Human resources [HR] will continue to work closely with managers to improve attendance levels and over the next 12 months staff will work with those sections which have higher absence levels to roll out further training to support managers in managing attendance.”

In the absence of Councillor Michael Cook, executive member for HR, Mr Parker was responding to a question about the cost of absenteeism from opposition backbencher Councillor Simon Mountford, who also wanted to know how SBC compared to Scotland’s other local authorities.

Mr Parker said he would supply that comparison after the meeting, but The Southern has learned that the HR department is still processing the data for 2014/15 and this will take about three weeks to complete.

The comparative figures for all Scottish councils will be published by the Holyrood Government’s Improvement Agency this autumn.

The most recently published data for 2013/14 shows that each SBC employee had an average of 9.88 days off through sickness, ranking the council 23rd out of the 32 Scottish local authorities.

That is an improvement on the 10.55 days of sickness absence recorded in 2012/13 when the ranking fell to 25th, but it is still higher than the Scottish average of 9.24 days per worker.

On other staffing matters, Councillor Michelle Ballantyne, leader of the Conservative opposition group, noted that in April Mr Cook had revealed the council had not lost a single employment tribunal case in the last two years. She wanted to know how many cases had been settled prior to a tribunal hearing becoming necessary.

Mr Parker said eight claims – all relating to equal pay – had been settled in favour of employees over that period.

Hawick runner Paul Foster managed his 24-hour Border Abbeys Way challenge at the weekend – with more than seven hours to spare, writes Kevin Janiak.

The route, which started and finished at the Hornshole Monument, took in Hawick, Selkirk, Melrose, Dryburgh Abbey, Kelso, Jedburgh and Denholm.

A delighted but exhausted Paul said: “It was meant to be 68 miles, but I missed a few turns and had to back track a few times, so I ended up doing more than 70.

“I started from Hornshole at 4am and by 4.30 I was leaving the roads behind as I made my way into the hills between Hawick and Ashkirk.

“There was a lot of dew on the grass, so my shoes and socks were completely soaked through early on, which caused a few blisters and very sore feet.

“I had a 15-minute stop at Kelso (45 miles in) and changed my socks, which felt good.

“The support from friends, family and even complete strangers on the way round was amazing and really helped to keep me going, and hearing the cha-chings from the Just Giving app on my phone as donations were coming in was a real motivator to keep moving.

“It was a long hard day, but I’m chuffed to bits that I did it.”

Paul has raised more than £1,300 so far for Love Life Hawick, in aid of Cancer Research UK, and his colleagues at SBHA plan a dress-down day and cake sale to boost funds further.

Donations can still be made through Just Giving at www.justgiving.com/BAW.

Paul added: “I only started collecting prizes and sponsorship two weeks before the run, but the response was incredible.

“Jock Reid’s Bar in Hawick donated a bottle of Champagne, Lyle & Scott gave a Polo Shirt and a lady’s bag, Shorts of Hawick gave a cashmere scarf and Peter Scott donated a gent’s woollen jumper.”

ALMOST three-quarters of shop-bought chickens are contaminated with food poisoning bug campylobacter, a major investigation by the Food Standards Agency has found.

The authority conducted a year-long study into the presence of the bacteria on raw chickens – which is the biggest cause of food poisoning in the UK, affecting 280,000 people a year.

Almost one in five chickens tested positive for campylobacter within the highest band of contamination, while 7 per cent of packaging tested positive for the presence of the bug.

The FSA said it would run the survey for a second year in a bid to reduce the presence of the bug, which can be killed through proper cooking and infection avoided by following good hygiene practice in the kitchen.

Asda performed worst, as the only major retailer which tested positive for a higher incidence of chicken that is contaminated by campylobacter at the highest level compared to the industry average, while Tesco was the only one which had a lower incidence of chicken contaminated with campylobacter at the highest level.

However, none of the retailers achieved the joint industry target for reducing campylobacter.

Professor Mark Stevens, chair of microbial pathogenesis at Edinburgh University’s Roslin Institute, said that the levels of the bug found in chicken had not improved since they were checked in 2007-8.

“In the interim, hundreds of thousands of laboratory-confirmed cases of human campylobacteriosis have been recorded, with many more undiagnosed in the community,” he said.

“Such infections exert a substantial burden on society and the economy. Poultry are unequivocally a key reservoir of human infections and the latest survey serves to highlight the importance of ongoing research to control campylobacter at source.”

Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd said: “It beggars belief that nearly three-quarters of chickens on sale in supermarkets are still infected with this potentially deadly bug and that no retailers have met the FSA’s target.”

Asda also had the biggest proportion of packaging with the highest levels of campylobacter contamination, while Marks & Spencer reported the lowest at just 2.9 per cent.

Steve Wearne, director of policy at the FSA, said: “We are going to run this survey for a second year and will again look at campylobacter levels on chickens at retail sale.”

A group of retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, the Co-op and Waitrose, today published the results of their recently implemented campylobacter reduction plans, showing “significant” decreases in the incidence of campylobacter on their raw whole chickens.

The tests were carried out on more recent samples than those taken from the FSA survey samples, with some targeted to demonstrate the effect of particular interventions.

Mr Wearne added: “I am absolutely delighted to see the really encouraging results from these four supermarkets and their suppliers. They are making a real difference to public health, helping to cut down on the estimated 280,000 people who get ill from campylobacter each year.

“As we have always said, if you are prepared to work across the food chain to reduce the spread of this bug then you will get results.”

The FSA has held a campaign which encourages people to implement good kitchen hygiene in a bid to avoid becoming ill from the bug – including not washing raw chicken and ensuring that chicken is hot all the way through before serving.

Leaders of the Salvation Army in Hawick are hoping a new Community Store will boost their outreach work in the town – and help cut down on landfill.

The church and charity has opened a Community Store at 48 High Street,offering a range of quality preowned items for sale, including a small selection of furniture.

Daniel Rous, Divisional Charity Shops Operations Manager, said: “The project has had fantastic support so far. We’re hoping the shop will also have a positive environmental effect by helping cut down on the amount of the waste that ends up in landfill.”

The store is open Mon-Sat 9.30am to 4.30pm.

Calum Kerr, the Borders’ new SNP MP and his party’s Westminster spokesman on rural affairs, claimed this week it would be an “absolute disaster” for the region if the UK comes out of the EU.

Commenting on the eve of the EU Referendum Bill being presented to parliament, Mr Kerr said withdrawal would risk hundreds of local jobs.

He said: “The simple fact is that European funding plays an important part in funding our vital industries in this part of Scotland and we would almost certainly lose money if we were to withdraw. We receive millions of pounds worth of assistance, helping to pay for everything from support for our farming industry through to payments to help our farmers, aid for rural businesses via the LEADER programme and transport infrastructure projects.

“Those who wish to take us out of the EU are simply playing fast and loose with the future of the Borders.”

Mr Kerr has also waded into the row over Prime Minister David Cameron’s insistence – set to be opposed by Labour and the SNP as the bill progresses – that 16 and 17-year-olds should be excluded from the referendum vote, along with EU citizens resident in the UK.

“The UK Government already fails to support us properly when it comes to funding from Brussels,” claimed Mr Kerr.

“For instance, the payments it allocates to our farming communities under the Common Agricultural Policy are disgracefully low.

“Now it seems Mr Cameron is prepared to compromise us further for his own narrow political ends and his grubby attempt to sue for peace with UKIP could end up causing the biggest economic decline in the Borders for decades.

“We now learn he is not only prepared to put our future at risk, he is happy to subvert democracy itself by refusing to let EU citizens in Scotland, as well as 16 and 17-year-olds, vote.

“If we must have this referendum – and I don’t believe we should – then we must do so with the widest possible franchise.”

Mr Kerr said he and his SNP colleagues at Westminster would continue to fight, as the bill progresses, for the introduction of the so-called double majority cause, meaning that withdrawal from the EU could only take place if every one of the UK’s constituent parts –England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – voted by a majority to leave.

Award-winning Borders farmers Robert and Jac Neill of Upper Nisbet Farm near Jedburgh welcomed a special visitor last week.

Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment Richard Lochhead paid a visit to their farm to thank them for their participation on the Scottish Government’s Farming for a Better Climate (FFBC) initiative, which saw the Neills reduce their business’ carbon footprint by an impressive 19% and achieve savings of just over £19,000 between 2011 and 2014.

Robert and Jac volunteered for three years as a Climate Change Focus Farm in FFBC, which is run on behalf of the Scottish Government by SAC Consulting.

Although better known for their award winning herd of 300 Limousin cross cows, as a focus farm the Neills concentrated on the arable side of their business.

Using SAC Consulting’s own farm efficiency measurement tool ‘AgRE Calc©’, Robert and Jac investigated a number of areas and made practical changes to routine activities which benefited both the business and its carbon footprint. Data from 2014 was compared with the baseline year of 2011.

Key findings include:

A good harvest in 2014 meant an increase in arable crop sales, improving farm yields when compared to inputs.

Knowing the value of FYM on the farm, plus GPS soil analyses of Phosphorous and Potassium levels and pH, meant improved targeting of nutrients to where it was needed on the farm, saving on the fertiliser bill.

Better management of the farm fleet meant fuel use decreased.

Careful monitoring of the weights of finishing livestock enables cattle to be sold when they reach their optimum performance, thus reducing their contribution to on-farm emissions.

Managing grass as a crop and increasing grass/clover leys in the rotation allowed young cattle to be kept at home rather than away wintered, achieving more output from the home farm.

Through these measures financial savings of just over £19,000 were achieved and the overall farm carbon footprint was reduced by 19% in 2014 compared to baseline year of 2011.

During his visit to Upper Nisbet, the Cabinet Secretary toured the farm to hear more about the successful changes that have been implemented.

Jac Neill said: “Taking part in this study has focused our thinking throughout our business and as well as finding ways to reduce our footprint we have been able to make cost savings.

“Farmers must be prepared to analyse their business and often all it takes is for small changes to be made to current working practices to improve efficiency and increase profits. We would encourage any farmers who get the opportunity to take part in a study such as this to grasp that opportunity.”

The Neills involvement with Farming for Better Climate has ended but others around Scotland are participating. For more information, visit www.farmingforabetterclimate.org or follow the project on Twitter @sacfarm4climate or Facebook.

Last week marked the start of the British strawberry season and, as the berries begin to arrive on the supermarket shelves fresh from the farm, growers are predicting a £325 million record year of strawberry sales in 2015, beating a previous record of £275 million in 2014.

According to the soft fruit industry, there are four main reasons for the growth: an extended season, new varieties, further use of innovative growing methods and more acres planted.

Consumers can’t get enough of the great British berry thanks to its taste, which this year will be even more sweet and juicy, as a result of the sunniest winter since records began. This winter, Britain enjoyed record levels of sunlight, totalling 196 hours. The Met office also reported the warmest day in April for four years, peaking at 25°C. With longer periods of natural light the rate of photosynthesis has increased, which means the plants have produced more sugars, resulting in a sweet and juicy crop.

British strawberries are flying off the shelves in supermarkets, outpacing all other fruit categories. Furthermore, a recent National Farmers Union survey reported that 86% of shoppers are keen to buy food produced from British farms, supporting the growth in British strawberries.

This year’s strawberry season has started 10 days later than in 2014 due to the colder nights in April. However, British Summer Fruits, the industry body that represents 98% of growers supplying supermarkets, predicts that 76,000 tonnes of strawberries will be produced this year.

Up, up and away in my beautiful balloon ... those of a certain age will remember the melodic fluff that used to drift out of the kitchen radio, tuned in from breakfast time to the time everyone abandoned the kitchen for the comfort of the living room (a misnomer in my childhood home, as we did most of our ‘living’ in the kitchen).

From first thing in the morning til after tea-time, the ever-present soundtrack to my childhood was the local BBC radio station’s playlist. The closest I can come to describing its DJs are a Yorkshire version of Alan Partridge, complete with phone-ins and a mobile studio which did endless rounds of gala openings, village fetes and – very occasionally – turned up at a truly exciting time, like a night-time fire at an empty factory.

‘Up, up and away’, ‘Only Yesterday’ by the Carpenters, ‘Afternoon Delight’, ‘Sweet Caroline’ and ‘Claire’ by Gilbert O’Sullivan were seemingly on an endless loop. Or so it seemed. Ahh, those golden days of easy listening.

But ‘Up, up and away’ was always quite cheery and uplifting. And this last weekend, it came oddly to life at about 6.45am on St Boswells’ green.

The story of Gamford’s very own beautiful balloon started last year, when we bought him a hot-air balloon flight from the (excellent, IMHO) Alba Ballooning for his 85th (birthday, that is).

Despite repeated bookings, windy weather and a double cataract op put paid to his chances of being airborne in 2014. Alba recognised there was a period he couldn’t fly due to medical reasons – you’re not supposed to shake, rattle and roll new cataract operations, so a bumpy balloon basket landing would not have been allowed – and extended the voucher for us for another six months. Brilliant.

The ballooning season, I now know, is a short one (April/May to October at the latest), fraught with cancellations due to wind. Perhaps, like I once was, you are thinking: ‘But wind is a good thing for balloons, isn’t it?’ Or maybe not, because you’re probably not a dumb as I am. I now know much better.

Hot-air balloons are filled with hot air from the burning gas, and naturally-occurring wind outside the balloon is a Very Bad Thing, because it can toss the balloon hither and thither. And perhaps into pylons or into trees. Not good at all.

Anyhoo, the flight wasn’t cancelled the day before (as had happened every other time) and so we found ourselves standing on St Boswells’ green, after getting up at Stupid O’Clock, as a big Defender pulled up towing a long trailer with the most enormous-looking picnic basket and huge bag on it.

It was amazing to see it unloaded and set up, with the help of the potential passengers and well-wishers, before finally taking off into a near cloudless sky. Perfect.

Usually the flight is around an hour, and upon landing champagne is served and certificates are handed out. Then it’s a quick repack for balloon and basket and back on the trailer, before heading back to Bosils.

True to his northern roots (Derbyshire), Gamford managed to get summat for nowt and ended up in the azure blue Selkirkshire skies for almost 2.5 hours before the pilot could make a safe landing. Talk about value for money.

But even at 10 times the cost, it would have been worth it.

He absolutely loved every minute, and his face lit up like a child in wonderment at the sight he had seen way down below.

As they say, every day is a school day – even when you’re 86.

After weeks of bitterly cold weather, summer finally arrived on Saturday, only to be replaced again on Sunday by more of the same.

It was so good on Saturday, that I decided it was time to get back in the saddle and go for a spin on the bike.

After months of neglect, the tyres were flat and after 15 minutes of frantic pumping, I decided that the tube on the front must be perished, as I couldn’t get any air into it and so proceeded to take the front wheel off to investigate.

It looked OK, so I put it all back together again and still it wouldn’t inflate. To cut a long story short, I discovered that it was the pump which was knackered (and so was I!).

A neighbour kindly loaned me one which worked and off I went.

Selkirk is not the easiest place to get around in just now, due to the massive flood protection scheme, and it took me some time to escape into the countryside, thanks to road and bridge closures and footbridge removals.

However, I eventually got free and began to enjoy the riverside wildlife.

On a bike, insects become particularly noticeable, especially when they are projected into your face, and at one location it was pretty bad.

Clouds of slow-moving, big black flies with long trailing back legs, made cycling with your mouth open a bad idea.

They were St Mark’s flies. They are so called because they emerge around St Mark’s Day on April 25 every year and can be seen in flight in May. They are found around woodland edges, hedges, rough grassland and wetlands.

Male St Mark’s flies are around 12mm in length with clear wings, large eyes and long dangly legs.

Interestingly, the male’s eyes are divided by a groove and have separate connections to the brain.

This allows the males to use the upper eye part to look out for females and the lower part to monitor their position in relation to the ground, allowing them to hover in the same position.

Females are bigger than their male counterparts at 14mm in length, with smoky brown wings and much smaller eyes and legs.

The St Mark’s Fly has a very short adult life cycle, being in flight for approximately only one week.

Swarms of St Mark’s flies may be annoying, but they are very useful creatures as they feed on nectar, making them important pollinators of fruit trees and crops.

Nearer to home, a newly-purchased, suckered window feeder has brought our garden birds even closer and it is fascinating to watch them in comfort from a few feet away.

The garden is presently full of young sparrows and blackbirds, all begging for food from the adults and our niger seed feeder has at last attracted a pair of beautiful goldfinches, which now visit regularly.

With over 15 million books sold and the most borrowed UK adult author in libraries, M C Beaton clearly knows a thing or two about writing.

Now, the queen of the village green mystery and creator of the much-loved Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mysteries is heading for next month’s Borders Book Festival in Melrose.

M C Beaton - her first name is Marion - has written a quartet of Edwardian murder mysteries, 30 Hamish Macbeth murder mysteries and 25 Agatha Raisin novels. Her books have been translated into 15 languages and published in 19 countries.

The 30th Hamish Macbeth was published in February, while the 25th Agatha Raisin appeared two months later.

“This will be my first time at the Borders Book Festival, so I am really looking forward to it,” said Glasgow-born Beaton, who makes her home these days in the Cotswolds.

“I know the Borders a bit - I can remember coming down to Langholm many years ago to visit Hugh McDiarmid.”

Beaton started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department at John Smith & Sons Ltd, and it was during this period, by chance, she received an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows, quickly rising to become theatre critic.

She then joined Scottish Field magazine as a secretary, without any shorthand or typing experience, but soon became fashion editor.

A move to the Scottish Daily Express followed where she reported mostly on crime, before going to Fleet Street.

After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Beaton moved to the United States after her husband took up editorship of the Oyster Bay Guardian.

It was while both were working on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, in New York, that Beaton started writing regency romances whilst at home looking after her young son.

After nearly 100 books, she decided she had mined the 1811 to 1820 period for as much as she could get out of it, and instead turned her hand to detective stories.

And it was during a trip back home to Scotland on a salmon fishing trip that Beaton first got the idea for a story about a Highland policeman that would eventually be made into a hugely popular television series starring Robert Carlyle .

“There wasn’t really a Scottish cop character in literature at that time, so I thought it might be worth exploring,” she told us.

“The Highlands did have that type of Hamish Macbeth-style of policing back then and he’s been great fun to write about over the years.”

Beaton says she thinks of herself as “more of an escape artist and entertainer,” rather than a writer. “I like to think I give people a bit of an escape on a wet day, or when they’re having a bad time.”
She doesn’t have nasty things happen to children or to nice people in her books: “The bad stuff happens to people who aren’t terribly nice,” she laughed.

On their return to Britain, Marion and Harry bought a croft house in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep.

When her son graduated, and both of his parents tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds, where Agatha Raisin was created.

A bad sleeper, Marion says she tends to work mostly in the morning and at night. She remains an avid reader: “You can’t write if you don’t read. But you can’t put out, what you don’t put in.”

And she says when meeting her readers at book festivals, she is always mindful that some may want to write themselves and is always encouraging.

“This was all I ever wanted to do, so I consider myself very lucky.”

Asked if her visit to Melrose might provide the backdrop to the next Hamish Macbeth mystery, she laughed: “Now there’s a thought - he’s never had to investigate a murder at a book festival before!”

On Friday I had a day away from the labours of this mighty organ and its wee sister, the Selkirk Weekend Advertiser with which we share a stable.

I enjoyed a welcome long-lie and listened with some guilt to the hum and buzz of grasscutters and hover mowers – I think they were for real, but maybe I was in dream mode.

Arising mid-morning, I treated myself to a fry-up. Three rashers of smoked bacon, two pork sausages, fried tomato, mushrooms and two tattie scones of the triangle version which I intended to top with a single, runny, fried egg.

For me fried eggs have to be runny. I discard the white (destined for my new shiny brown food-waste bucket just delivered by the cooncil) and go with the flow of the bright yellow yoke.

But on Friday I was to be punished for slumbering too long under the duvet. My egg refused to do my bidding. My heart sank as soon as I cracked its brown shell and watched my beloved and yearned-for yoke break free and meander amongst the mushrooms.

Oh, how I cursed that egg and myself for being too heavy-handed when cracking it against the edge of my sturdy frying pan.

But there was no alternative. It was cast aside and I mentally counted the cost to my pocket while reaching for the last of my half-dozen.

By now – because the egg must be the last item added to the culinary delight of a fry-up – the sausages were moving from a lovely light-brown to a darker shade that might soon become a light shade of black. And the bacon was beginning to take on a crispy look that makes it difficult to enjoy in a piece. The skin on my tom was no longer bright red and my triangular tattie scones were beginning to look decidedly well done. And of course my mushrooms were coated in solid egg yoke.

Yes, I know I should have removed my breakfast ingredients and popped them in a warm oven or under the grill. But I am miserly with my gas.

I hasten to add that a fried breakfast is rare treat for me – it is not something in which I daily, or even weekly, indulge. So when I decide to indulge, it is a time to savour. But this one was running away from me, literally.

I made room in the pan for my last egg. I cracked it and popped it into the pan. Yes, you know what happened. Horror of horrors. It happened again. The yoke spilled out and my breakfast was ruined.

Next time I think my eggs will be scrambled. I can’t take the trauma.

There are a number of recurring themes regarding types of business expenditure on which we are often asked to explain the tax treatment – and one such example is the business website.

Websites have become an important tool for businesses to market services and interact with customers and clients.

The simple one-page site to give an internet presence has in many cases been replaced by large and complex sites, containing databases, searches, secure areas, payment and ordering facilities and two-way communication channels. Expenditure levels can be significant.

Many business owners take the view the website is an advertising tool and should therefore be deducted from profits in arriving at tax liabilities. The view of HMRC is, however, not as clear cut and they take the view that the cost of setting up a website is likely to be capital expenditure and should not be included in the profit and loss account as an allowable expense. Regular maintenance or update costs are, however, likely to be revenue expenses and can be deducted. HMRC draw an analogy with a shop window. The cost of constructing the window is capital, but the cost of changing the display from time to time is revenue.

Even if the cost of a new website is treated as capital for accounting purposes, it may, however, be possible to claim a tax deduction under the capital allowances regime, on the basis the cost could be considered computer software.

The cost of acquiring a domain should be considered separately. For companies, capital allowances will not be available as the domain would be treated as an intangible asset, but it may be possible for a tax deduction to be claimed over the useful life of the asset, under specific tax rules for intangible assets.

Should you require further assistance with this or any other tax matters, Mark Thompson of Rennie Welch LLP can be contacted on (01573) 224391 or mark.thompson@renniewelch.co.uk

The thunder of horses’ hooves and the clang of swords filled the air at Traquair House at the weekend when it hosted its annual medieval fayre.

The historic property provided the magical setting for two days of medieval mayhem for all the family, with a chance to find out how life was really lived in the Middle Ages.

Over 2,500 visitors flocked through the gates to witness everything from spectacular jousting on the avenue to a full scale medieval tournament featuring armoured knights, as well as falconry, archery, living history demonstrations, medieval traders and wandering minstrels. And with Traquair commemorating the tercentenary of the Jacobite 1715 prising this year, the fayre was complemented with the additional attraction of a living Jacobite camp and some combat demonstrations to show how fighting techniques had moved on after medieval times.

Catherine Maxwell Stuart, the 21st Lady of Traquair, says this year’s event was blessed with glorious May sunshine: “The fayre was a great success, made extra special by the lovely weather on Saturday. It was a bit cooler on the Sunday which was probably just as well as I think the re-enactors in all their heavy costumes were suffering a bit in the heat on Saturday!”

And she added: “Everyone really seemed to have a good time and the Jacobite camp was a new dimension that proved popular with visitors.”

The potentially job-creating tenants of industrial and commercial units owned by Scottish Borders Council are to be given the chance to buy them outright at a reduced price.

Councillors heard this week of the need to strike a balance between the long-term viability of the vast portfolio – which currently comprises 227 units and has an asset value of around £10million – and the needs of companies whose business plans “drive them towards owning the properties”.

In 2010, the council adopted a policy whereby the sale price to its commercial tenants was set at a level which would reflect any outstanding loan debt on the property as well as lost rental income to the local authority.

The upshot has been that sale prices have been fixed well above market value.

“Officers are concerned …that this will prevent the sale of commercial buildings to local businesses where there is an overriding economic development case for a sale to proceed,” stated a report by chief economic development officer Bryan McGrath to Tuesday’s meeting of SBC’s executive.

“It has also led to delays in the disposal of property which has limited alternative value to another tenant.”

With the green shoots of economic recovery set to grow faster with the return of the Borders Railway in September, Mr McGrath wanted a change in the policy.

He said examples of “overriding economic development considerations” included the potential for a company to grow, create local jobs and contribute positively to the wider local economy.

Councillors agreed that if these criteria could be met and subject to the approval of Mr McGrath and senior officers, sale prices should be set simply at market value.

Mr McGrath reported that the council’s commercial estate, which generates around £1.2million a year in rental income, was affected by “gradual obsolescence” and that around 10% of the portfolio was currently unlet.

He cited St Mary’s Mill in Selkirk as an example of a large property which the council, despite marketing it for a decade, had been unable to bring back into productive use and which presented “a challenge for any future owner or tenant”.

He said a feasibility study was required to determine its future and “site clearance” was now an option.

Mikey McLaren was awarded the Chief Scout’s Silver Award at a packed Melrose Scout Group AGM.

Donald McDonald, from Darnick, opened the newly-refurbished kitchen in the Scout hall. Beavers, Cubs and Scouts received badges, and entertained the parents with songs.

A woman whose elderly mother, suffering from dementia, fell five times while she was a Borders General Hospital patient at the end of 2012 is to receive an apology from NHS Borders.

The apology has been sought by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) who, after an investigation, has delivered a highly-critical report on the level of care received by the patient, who is now dead.

The watchdog has also issued a raft of recommendations in a bid to ensure NHS Borders delivers the specialist care to which people with a cognitive impairment are legally entitled.

The probe identified a significant number of failings in the care and treatment of the patient, who is referred to as Mrs A in the SPSO report published last week.

Mrs A, a resident of a care home, had been admitted to the BGH after a fall on November 20 and discharged on December 4, only to be readmitted two days later and discharged again on December 17.

Her daughter complained about aspects of her late mother’s treatment, believing she had been discharged too soon and had been treated poorly because of her cognitive impairment.

Ombudsman Jim Martin, who took independent nursing and medical advice during his investigation, concluded that Mrs A was not discriminated against because she had dementia.

But he said the failings meant her rights as a patient with dementia had been infringed and that many of these failings related to a failure to provide appropriate care and support to someone with cognitive impairment, or to follow the legislation that provides protection for someone with cognitive impairment who requires medical treatment.

The report states: “Care seemed to be poorly led and coordinated. There was no evidence of a full care plan and, despite the fact Mrs A had been admitted to the hospital because of a fall and had five falls during her stay, there was no completed falls assessment in the clinical records or any evidence of a falls prevention plan.

“There was limited evidence of the involvement of medical staff and communication with the family was sporadic and poor.”

Mr Martin added: “Pain and nutritional assessments were inadequate.”

Mr Martin’s recommendations to NHS Borders include a requirement that national dementia standards should be met and that the presence of cognitive impairment is given due regard in the planning and implementation of care.

The health board has been told to improve record keeping in wards caring for patients with cognitive impairment, to ensure appropriate nutritional care plans are implemented for each patient, to adopt good practice in relation to the prevention of falls and to review its discharge policy.

A health board spokesperson responded: “NHS Borders has accepted the recommendations in the SPSO report and will complete these actions in a timely manner to ensure lessons can be learned from these experiences.

“We have assured the ombudsman’s office that we fully recognise and regret the aspects of the patient’s treatment which did not meet expected standards, and we will take what has been learned from this experience to improve our service in the future.”