A farmer near Hawick has revealed plans to install 30 ground-mounted solar panels to “reduce the carbon footprint of the farm and offset energy costs.”
A planning application has been made to Scottish Borders Council on behalf of Cocklecooty Farm, located a mile east of the town, off Burnfoot Road.
A planning application has been made for a wind farm of up to 13 turbines south of Chesters, seven miles south of Hawick.
The proposed turbines at Highlee Hill would measure 176m in height, according to Glasgow-based applicant RES Ltd.
A well-known photojournalist has been granted planning consent to install an array of 16 solar panels on the roof of his Selkirk home.
The local review body (LRB) of Scottish Borders Council unanimously agreed that Gethin Chamberlain should be given the go-ahead for the installation at Raebank in Chapel Street.
In so doing, the five councillors overturned the decision of a council planning officer who rejected Mr Chamberlain’s bid back in July.
Using delegated powers, that officer had deemed the panels would, as a result of their prominent siting, have an “adverse impact on the character and appearance of the Selkirk Conservation Area”.
Mr Chamberlain, who moved into the 19th century property last year, disagreed and lodged an appeal with the LRB. In his submission, he said that before coming to Selkirk he had been based in India for six years as a foreign correspondent specialising in human rights and environmental investigations.
“It is important for me to demonstrate that I do not merely criticise poor practice, but I take practical steps to set an example,” wrote Mr Chamberlain. “I care about the environment”.
Noting there had been no objections to his application, he cited the 40 solar panels which had been installed at Selkirk Parish Church and were clearly visible from half of High Street.
This, he claimed, set a precedent for such a development in the Conservation Area.
“I would argue these must have a more significant visual impact than 16 panels on the rear roof of a private dwelling in a back road,” said Mr Chamberlain.
And he said the planning officer’s rejection, based on a subjective view of what constituted an unacceptable impact, did not give sufficient weight to local and national policies on the importance of renewable energy and the merits of micro-generation schemes.
A former chief reporter with The Scotsman, Mr Chamberlain works for a range of international publications including The Observer, the Sunday People and the China Morning Post.
As a foreign affairs journalist, he was shortlisted in the 2014 British Journalism Awards.
Parents and their wee ones are invited to jump on board the free PlayTalkRead bus ‘Bessie’ as it visits the Borders next week.
Designed as a free drop-in playground, Bessie offers parents and carers a fun and relaxed environment to pick up exciting new ideas and tips to play, talk and read more with their little ones, which will help make a positive difference to their health and happiness.
Times and places: Monday, November 2 – Edinburgh Road Car Park, Peebles, from 10am-12.30pm; Gytes Leisure Centre, Walkershaugh, Peebles, from 2-4pm.
Tuesday, November 3 – Abbey Bridge Tollhouse car prk, Jedburgh, from 10a-12.30pm; The Square, Kelso from 2-4pm.
Wednesday, November 4 – Langlee Support Centre, Galashiels, from 10am-1pm and 2-4pm.
Thursday, November 5 – Burnfoot Community School, Hawick, from 10am -1pm and 2-4pm.
Friday, November 6 – Leader Leisure Centre, Lauder, from 10am-1pm and 2-4pm.
On board, parents and carers of young children can enjoy all types of fun from interactive storytelling, song and rhyme sessions to easy craft activities. The qualified and experienced play leaders will showcase lots of great low-cost or free activities that can fit into parents’ daily routines.
Minister for children and young people, Aileen Campbell, said: “As a mum of two young children, I know first-hand how difficult it can be to fit playing, talking and reading into your daily routine – the PlayTalkRead buses, Benji and Bessie, offer lots of ideas and advice for parents and carers to just do that.
“You don’t need lots of toys or expensive equipment to do it, it’s all about enjoying your time together and helping their brains grow.
“Being a parent is one of the most important jobs you’ll ever do and playing, talking and reading more with kids will give them the best start in life.”
Last year, more than 43,000 people visited the PlayTalkRead buses – an 11% increase on the previous year, while 96% of those felt the advice the buses offered was relevant to them and 70% said they would play, talk and read with their children more as a result of visiting.
A thief, who stole over £30,000 worth of items after breaking into an isolated country home at Maxton, has been jailed for nine months.
Ross Cowper was described as “a desperate man” when he committed the offence, which left the householders “vulnerable and alarmed.”
Dependant on heroin and Valium at the time, his life was said to have spiralled out of control.
Thirty-eight-year-old Cowper, c/o Durward Court, Motherwell, appeared on indictment at Selkirk Sheriff Court on Monday, and admitted breaking into a house at Maxton Cross on November 29, 2014, and stealing property including a television, money, car keys, and valuable fishing equipment. He also admitted stealing a vehicle there.
Procurator fiscal Graham Fraser told how the couple had locked up around midnight, and hung a set of car keys for a Landrover parked in the driveway on a hook in the kitchen.
At 4.30 am, the woman was woken by the sound of a vehicle being driven on gravel outside and, thinking it may be a neighbour, went back to sleep.
At 8am she went downstairs to find the front door ajar and the kitchen light on.
A 27-inch television was missing from the living room, and she rushed upstairs to tell her husband.
They then discovered that their 63-plate Landrover was no longer in the driveway.
The couple realised an ipad, iphone, a handbag, and a wallet containing money had also gone, as well as valuable fishing equipment.
“Police enquiries led to the accused who was seen carrying items from a house in Airdrie to the car, and a search uncovered the stolen iphone, and fishing equipment in the boot of the car.
“He allowed police into the house and a substantial amount of the stolen items were found, including the television,” explained Mr Fraser.
“The total value was in excess of £30,000,” he added.
“The couple live in an isolated spot and have found themselves very vulnerable and alarmed by what happened,” he concluded.
Cowper’s solicitor said his client accepted his life had “readily spiralled out of control at the time.
“He was taking heroin and Valium, and was effectively a desperate man,” he explained.
“He has now managed to become drug free,” he added.
Sheriff Celia Sanderson told Cowper: “This was a significant house breaking.”
Council leader David Parker says he will “co-operate fully” with the Standards Commission if the ethical watchdog pursues a complaint against him.
The complaint, lodged by Innerleithen community councillor Brian McCrow, alleges Mr Parker breached the councillors’ code of conduct during a meeting of Scottish Borders Council’s petitions and delegations committee on October 1.
It was submitted on Monday to the independent Commissioner for Ethical Standards (CES) in Scotland, who will decide if an investigation is warranted. It will then be up to the Standards Commission to authorise further investigations, hold a hearing or take no action.
Mr McCrow’s case centres on the treatment he allegedly received when he talked to his 4,400-signature petition calling on SBC to overturn its decision to invest £3.5 million on a new visitor centre for the Great Tapestry of Scotland on a site near the Tweedbank rail terminal. The committee agreed to take no action.
In his submission to the CES, Mr McCrow describes committee member Mr Parker, whose Melrose and Leaderdale ward includes Tweedbank, as “the main driver” of the tapestry decision. “Mr Parker was clearly trying to discredit me as a petitioner through aggressive and out of context questioning,” claims Mr McCrow.
He cites Mr Parker raising the issue of Mr McCrow’s support for the AimUp mountain bike uplift project in Innerleithen for which, Mr Parker claimed, the business case had not been established.
“Mr Parker attacked my personal credibility by suggesting my support for AimUp was evidence of my incompetence… it was both rude and aggressive and irrelevant to the hearing of the petition and was designed to influence the members’ perception of me and place doubts in their mind on my motives and competence,” states Mr McCrow. “It was clear throughout that he [Mr Parker] came with a closed mind and an objective to ensure that no credence was given to our petition.
“He failed to act appropriately as a member of the petitions committee. His very presence on the committee is inappropriate as he is acting as judge and jury on his own decisions.”
Mr Parker told the Southern: “My understanding is that the Standards Commission requires confidentiality surrounding the handling of any complaints. Therefore, I am not able to make any comment on this matter. Suffice to say, I will co-operate fully should the Standards Commission take this matter further.”
A new scheme to create safe places for vulnerable people to go to – Keep Safe in the Scottish Borders – arrived in Galashiels on Monday.
The Scottish Borders Safer Communities Team has been working with partners including Police Scotland, Scottish Borders Council, NHS Borders and representatives of the third sector to help deliver the scheme.
It was first piloted in Renfrewshire and launched locally in Kelso last month.
The aim is to create safe places for people to go if they are lost, scared, need help or are the victim of crime.
Sergeant Justin Hulford, Police Scotland, said: “This is a great scheme that will help local people and those visiting the area know where they can get help if they need it.
“The logo is being used nationally and we expect this will provide help and safety to those that need it.
“Initially this will support people with learning disabilities, but we intend to expand who can use this scheme in due course, and spread it across the Scottish Borders in 2016.”
The Kelso launch last month saw eight local businesses confirming their support for the scheme and others considering supporting the initiative in the town.
Councillor John Greenwell, SBC’s champion for equality and diversity, said: “I was very pleased to launch the Keep Safe initiative in Kelso, which is all about keeping our vulnerable adults safe from harm, and I am delighted that shopkeepers and businesses have engaged with this project and are willing to offer a safe place for vulnerable people should they feel unsafe.
“During the launch we heard from a number of potential Keep Safe users about their experiences when they felt unsafe and from the number of questions at the end it was clear that this is going to be a very welcome project.”
Kelso and Galashiels are involved in the Scottish Borders pilot, which will initially be for people with learning disabilities and then be expanded geographically and in terms of those using the scheme.
People that use Keep Safe in the Scottish Borders will have a card that has information about their health, how they communicate and details of people who can help them.
Shops and other premises in the local communities sign up to the initiative and make it clear to users by way of a window sticker showing the Keep Safe logo.
Anyone needing assistance would then enter premises and staff will then assist the person, which could be as simple as offering directions.
However, if the person has been the victim of harassment, abuse or crime, the staff member can use the person’s Keep Safe card to contact someone who can help or contact the police or another service if the situation requires it.
Former beauty therapy student, Rio Paterson, who works for trend-setting make-up brand Urban Decay at Jenners, Edinburgh, came back to Borders College to take a workshop with the current HNC fashion make-up students.
She demonstrated various make-up applications and the students were able to try out different looks and application techniques.
Liesa Hamilton, course lecturer, said: “It was a pleasure to have Rio with us again this year and to share her area of expertise with the students, who created some fantastic looks and already showed a great standard.”
If there is a machine that deserves burial with full military honours, it’s the Borders Barmy Army’s treadmill.
The kilted cash-raisers have put the poor apparatus under so much strain over the years, piling on the miles in aid of several local and national charities, that the treadmill has unfurled its white flag, and has gone on to wherever it is that exercise equipment go to die.
And Sandra Henwood, of Friends of the BGH, wants to turn the tables on her charitable chums and buy them a new one.
She said: “They have done some great work here in the Borders, helping those in need.
“They support the Friends of the BGH and are currently helping us raise funds for a specialist lamp for dermatology.
“There normally do mosty of their hard work on a treadmill at the hospital and in other venues, but it is now sadly out of order and can’t be repaired.
“I’m trying now to raise funds to get them a new treadmill for Christmas and have launched a Just Giving page.
“They haven’t asked me to do this, but they have raised many thousands for the BGH and I would like to help them continue to do so.”
Over the last six years, the group has raised more than £85,000, mostly from doing crazy, but difficult challenges – always wearing their trademark kilts.
They have travelled the world – from New York to Kilimanjaro – to take part in marathons, zip slides and mountain climbs .
You name it, they have done it, for charities such as Anthony Nolan, Whizz Kids, Macmillan, Cancer Research and the Firefighters’ Charity.
They also raised £3,000 so a little girl could go to America to have treatment on a tumour on her throat.
And Sandra is keen to see them carry on their good work.
If you think you could help, please visit the Just Giving page on https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/sandra-henwood and pledge what you can.
The target is £700 – and if any more cash is raised, it will go to a charity of the group’s choice.
Borders dad Colin Waddell has raised an incredible £1,158 for the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) at Borders General Hospital. Colin’s baby, Neve, was born six and a half weeks early, weighing 2.99 lb. Colin, his partner Adele and baby Neve came to SCBU last week to give his sponsorship money from the Great Scottish Swim to the nursing team.
Colin said: “We were so happy with the level of care we received that this prompted me to give something back to support the great service provided.”
Neve is now a happy, healthy toddling one-year-old who loves to swim too! From left are nurses Noelene Stuart and Zoe Warner, with Neve and Colin.
The Cheviot Youth group is heading for the kitchens of the Kelso Youth Project to create a range of mouth-watering dishes with the help of a group of budding new cooks.
The project is called Budget, Shop, Store and Cook, and in partnership with Tomorrows People from Galashiels, offers young people the opportunity to cook a range of tasty, nutritious and healthy meals on a budget.
Over five weeks, youngsters will learn of the benefits to their health and their purse of thinking about what they buy and how to store and then cook food which is in season.
David Harvey, chair of Cheviot Youth, said: “I am very pleased that with funding from the Government’s Community Capacity & Resilience Fund, and a well-tested partnership with Tomorrows People, we can offer these young people the chance to experience what this excellent project offers in terms of an increase in confidence, self-esteem and team-working skills, and a better understanding of the what is needed to be employed in the catering and hospitality industry.”
Each week, the youths will cook a number of dishes using store cupboard ingredients such as pasta, rice, a variety of tinned products and pulses, supplemented by what is in season.
At the end of the five weeks, they will then decide what to cook at their pop-up restaurant at The Planet, home to the Kelso Youth Project, open for one day only and serving up to 40 people.
A Gordon student who recently graduated from Edinburgh Napier University has been recognised for her outstanding caring skills.
Kerry Hayward, 29, received the prestigious Simon Pullin Award - an honour established by the university to recognise the human side of nursing and midwifery – at her graduation ceremony on Wednesday, October 28.
Kerry, a BN mental health graduate, was presented with the award along with Siobhain Leith, from Ellon, Aberdeenshire.
Kerry was delighted to receive her award, which recognised her work on a placement on a mental health ward at the Borders General Hospital.
She said: “I am thrilled to be recognised.
“My nomination related to a placement on an acute mental health in-patient ward at Borders General Hospital where I did some work with someone who was acutely unwell and had been for some time.”
The placement obviously proved Kerry’s suitability for the role.
She added, last week: “I am now back on the ward working on a fixed-term contract which is great because it was the placement which I enjoyed most of all.”
Edinburgh Napier’s Dr Stephen Smith, who is Lead Nurse in Compassionate Care, said: “Siobhain and Kerry are very worthy winners of the Simon Pullin Award.
“They have both shown outstanding person-centred compassionate skills.
“At Edinburgh Napier we strive to ensure our nurses and midwives receive the very best clinical training.
“But it is also crucial for our graduates to develop an understanding of the needs of individual patients and their relatives and what is important to them while they are receiving health care.”
The award was created in memory of Senior Nurse Simon Pullin.
Simon played a key role in Edinburgh Napier’s Compassionate Care Programme up until his death from cancer in July 2011.
The programme encourages nursing and midwifery students to go further than just looking after the health of the patient.
In doing this, the Pullin Awards emphasise the various benefits of responding to needs not necessarily related to illness.
This can be ensuring patients have the privacy they need or responding to the small things that make a real difference when patients are feeling vulnerable.
The new bachelor of Midwifery graduate Siobhain, 21, and fellow graduate Kerry, also received £250 prize money each, in their graduation ceremony at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.
Radio Borders enjoyed a local audience market share of 51%, according to the latest listening figures.
It was just one of a number of Bauer Media Scotland local stations celebrating success for results in Q3, with Clyde 1, Northsound 1, Tay FM, MFR, West FM and Forth 1 also receiving positive news.
As well as capturing the majority of local listeners, figures released by industry body RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) reveal that the Radio Borders ‘Keith Clarkson at Breakfast’ has increased its share to 37.9% amongst all adults 15+.
Graham Bryce, managing director of Bauer City Network, said: “These latest figures are an absolutely terrific set of results for our stations across Scotland and demonstrate that we consistently get close to our listeners with rich and engaging local content.
“We continue to invest in local presenters, news, travel and sports teams to ensure that our stations, already rich in heritage, remain somewhere relevant that our listeners know they can trust and go to for entertainment and the best music.
“The success is all credit to our talented teams, not only on air but all the support behind them, while we also say a huge thank you to our local station listeners across Scotland for continuing to tune in.”
This week, kitchens again. Not the one that’s so very nearly almost just about finished at Shoogly Towers, but the old (very shoogly) Shoogly Towers kitchen (and utility).
Having seen other folk put their old kitchens they are having ripped out on Free Goods in the Scottish Borders and Freecycle, I decided that while it might look clapped-out to me, perhaps with some upcycling/top-class joinery skills might be someone else’s idea of kitchen heaven.
So, I offered the lot on the excellent Facebook page, Free Goods in the Scottish Borders. It was really interesting to see where it was going and what would be made of it all. First of all, a girl got in touch about the utility, on behalf of her dad. The lovely dad without a kitchen turned up and took the lot in two trips. Chatting as you do, it emerged he was a dab hand at building sheds and chicken coops, and was going to adapt it. And I am sure by now he has made a really good job of it.
But perhaps the most interesting, delightful ‘small world’ fact to emerge from the conversation was that he had seen our Patterdale terrier Jock in the paper - in this very column, to boot - a couple of times, and recognised his own dog in Jocky Boy. It turned out he had owned Jocky’s grandsire and bred Jocky’s mum.
Next were two lovely ladies both in need of a large sink with drainer and taps. So that took care of the utility and kitchen sinks. The first sink was handed over to a third party to pass on during kiddie swimming lessons at the Kelso pool. The second (in my magnanimity) I dropped off into the recipient’s garden at her farm cottage whilst I was out and about in town.
Oddly enough, they were both to be used as ‘outdoor mud kitchens’ for kids to muck about in; one was for a playgroup, the other for a grandson. What a brilliant idea. They can mix up the muddiest of mud pies and then messily ‘wash up’ to their hearts’ content.
The bulk of the kitchen went to another lady and was picked up by men with vans. They also took a lot of the spare wood and other bits and pieces we’d flung out. Brilliant. Saved a trip to the tip. And that brings me on to the actual, real-live point of this column. As a child of the 70s I always call them tips, the right name for proper old-fashioned landfill. Its proper Sunday name is the Community Recycling Centre, and it appeared in the last year up beyond Saino’s and Lloyd’s Land Rover.
Fab for us Kelso-ites, who now don’t have to trail go the tip, erm, I mean Recycling Centre, at Galashielsville. So off Mr E and I set, with the remaining bits and pieces of rubbish that no-one in their right mind would want to ‘recycle, reuse’.
As someone who hates waste in any form, whether it’s stuff or food, I was appalled to see a girl’s bicycle lying in the skip for waste metal. It was purple, with shiny chrome wheels and handlebars, and was so new-looking it still had the spikes of rubber on the tyres that new tyres have. The chain was off and hanging down. A quick fix, surely?
Gobsmacked, I asked the employee who had helped us if they took things like that out of the skips and gave them to folk wanting them. No, he said. Once it was in the skip, that was it. To take it out was stealing. A CCTV camera was watching, to make sure this didn’t happen.
How completely and utterly daft is that? So a nearly-new bike which could have been fixed up and made some wee girl’s Christmas, was away to the crusher. When my friend the lovely Yvette lived in Devon she said that bikes binned there were fixed up and sent to charities. So why not here? At the very least the owner could have stuck it on Free Goods in the Scottish Borders and passed it on to someone who did want it. If people want a clapped-out 30-year-old kitchen, I am absolutely certain they would want nearly-new bicycle. Come on SBC, sort this out or we might as well goes back to the bad old days.
Parents who believe their children are being bullied should report incidents to their school as soon as they occur.
For if information received by schools is out of date, staff “struggled” to investigate allegations.
That advice was given by Scottish Borders Council during an investigation by a national watchdog into a claim by a couple that their son had been bullied at his school over a number of years.
The parents, referred to as Mr and Mrs C, first reported their concerns to the school, which has not been named, in 2012, and, after several meetings with staff, they complained to the council, claiming the school was not providing a safe environment for their son.
The couple then asked the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) to investigate, alleging that not enough had been done to respond to their concerns and that the issues affecting their son’s welfare continued.
The report on that probe, published this week, concludes that Mr and Mrs C’s son had, indeed, suffered from bullying behaviour.
But the SPSO declined to uphold the complaint that the council failed to investigate and respond to their concerns.
“Based on the available evidence, we are satisfied the council had agreed the points of concern and had carried out an investigation in line with their complaints process,” states the report
However, the watchdog records its “concerns” that there was a lack of records of the various meetings attended by the couple since 2012.
“The council provided evidence that records of meetings are now being held and that all reported incidents are investigated where there is sufficient evidence to do so,” says the SPSO.
The council explained it was important all alleged incidents were reported at the time they took place so that school staff could follow these up at the time.
“The council explained that when information was inaccurate or out of date, then schools staff struggled to investigate allegations.”
Autumn is well and truly upon us now. Last week’s gales and torrential rain brought down the first big leaf fall of the season. There’s nothing like walking along a woodland path, wading through the rustling leaves, kicking them up as you go.
There’s something quite comforting about this time of year, after the clocks go back and darkness falls at teatime, when you settle down in front of the fire, knowing that the log shed is full to bursting and all is ready for the coming winter.
The world outside is changing too in readiness for the approaching cold weather. The butterflies have virtually disappeared from my garden and my weekly moth trapping sessions are about to end, with only two customers visiting my light trap during the past fortnight – a Yellow-line Quaker and an Angle Shades.
Big skeins of incoming geese are seen in the skies almost daily, their evocative calls are a truly autumnal sound.
Winter thrushes are now pouring in to the Borders to feast on the last of the season’s berry crop.
These are chiefly made up of three species – blackbird, fieldfare and redwing. Many thousands of continental blackbirds come and join our resident birds, but it is the other two species, which we only see during the winter months.
Both fieldfare and redwing will visit gardens, particularly for fruit, so if you have any windfall apples, it is worth keeping them and putting a few out at a time. Other than when they are in gardens, it can be quite difficult to get a good look at them, as they tend to be nervous and flighty in the countryside, or are often seen in large noisy flocks on treetops, when it is usually just a silhouette that you see.
Here is a rough guide to their identification, if you do manage to get a good look at them:
The Fieldfare is the largest - just a little smaller than the Mistle Thrush - with very bold plumage. The male has blue-grey crown, nape, and rump; chestnut brown back; black tail; and a buff breast with black streaks that also extends to the flanks. The underwing, especially the “armpit”, is white, and it is this and the pale grey rump that are most noticeable when in flight.
Redwings are smaller than the Song Thrush with red flanks and a prominent yellow stripe above each eye. The upperparts are olive-brown, while the underparts are pale buff with dark spotting on the breast and belly. The flanks and underwing are reddish. In flight, the red underwing is most noticeable.
Now is the best time to look out for them as they feed on the remaining berries, before they disperse into the wider countryside in search of food, as the winter progresses.
There are few, if any, subjects more interesting and pertinent to farmers than common agricultural policy (CAP) subsidies and equally few more boring and inexplicable to the layman.
For many farmers, especially in a difficult year like this when prices have fallen for most products, a farmer’s annual support payment from European Union funds can be the difference between profit and loss.
Or as the farmers’ unions and farming organisations of all types have been pointing out with increasing anguish for months the EU payment can be the difference between business survival and having to quit. Even late payment of the subsidy can cause big problems for a farmer’s cash flow and for those with overdrafts increasing dependence on their bank or extended credit by seed, feed and fertiliser firms and auction marts.
Subsidies mean bureaucracy and delayed payments come with the increasing complexity of qualification for payment as Scotland’s farmers more than those in England are finding this autumn.
As listening to any radio phone-in involving farm subsidies will confirm the average layman takes a less sympathetic attitude to farmers claiming that they are in financial trouble. Farmers might argue that support payments averaging about £30,000 a farm in Britain have a trickle down effect for the whole rural economy.
But the layman is entitled to think £30,000 is quite a lot especially at a time when millions of the lowest income families face tax credit cuts and when many British farms because of their large size get payments of vastly more than that.
This is not to argue support payments are wrong. That argument is endless. It’s to say support payments are a matter of perception and the layman doesn’t think of them in terms of the European Union helping a rural infrastructure, but in black and white terms of a £30,000 handout to one family when the layman might be trying to pay the bills with a much lower annual income than that.
And without harping too long on another endless debate, farming as usual does itself no favours with self-publicity particularly at this time of year.
On the one hand we’ve had months of claims that the milk price is ruinous, grain prices on the floor, ditto pigs, not much better lambs and beef and squabbling within the industry about who is responsible for the almost certain late dispatch of CAP payments this year.
Yet there’s the headline teaser on the front page of the Scottish Farmer last week was for a Blackface ram making £160,000 followed by endless pages inside on Angus bulls to 20,000 guineas, Simmentals to 18,000, Charolais to 50,000 guineas (a guinea, as old fashioned a term as the prices and publicity, is £1.05), another Blackface of some sort to £50,000 and so on and on and on. As Jim Callaghan when prime minister never actually said ‘Crisis? What crisis?’
If joke auctions and prices aren’t providing enough laughs for thinking farmers a serious attempt is being made to raise money for Scotland’s rural charity the RSABI with ‘Farming Is A Funny Business’, more than 300 anecdotes and jokes compiled by Andrew Arbuckle.
The book is available from the RSABI, Ingliston, and will be £12 spent in a good cause.
If there is a machine that deserves burial with full military honours, it’s the Borders Barmy Army’s treadmill.
The kilted cash-raisers have put the poor apparatus under so much strain over the years, piling on the miles in aid of several local and national charities, that the treadmill has unfurled its white flag, and has gone on to wherever it is that exercise equipment go to die.
And Sandra Henwood, of Friends of the BGH, wants to turn the tables on her charitable chums and buy them a new one.
She said: “They have done some great work here in the Borders, helping those in need.
“They support the Friends of the BGH and are currently helping us raise funds for a specialist lamp for dermatology.
“They normally do most of their hard work on a treadmill at the hospital and in other venues, but it is now sadly out of order and can’t be repaired.
“I’m trying now to raise funds to get them a new treadmill for Christmas and have launched a Just Giving page.
“They haven’t asked me to do this, but they have raised many thousands for the BGH and I would like to help them continue to do so.”
Over the last six years, the group has raised more than £85,000, mostly from doing crazy, but difficult challenges – always wearing their trademark kilts.
They have travelled the world – from New York to Kilimanjaro – to take part in marathons, zip slides and mountain climbs .
You name it, they have done it, for charities such as Anthony Nolan, Whizz Kids, Macmillan, Cancer Research and the Firefighters’ Charity.
And Sandra is keen to see them carry on their good work.
If you think you could help, please visit the Just Giving page and pledge what you can.
The target is £700 – and if any more cash is raised, it will go to a charity of the group’s choice.
Business in the Borders are seeing a boom in trade as a result of the new railway – proving it has been the “biggest success in decades”.
That’s the view of Borders MP Calum Kerr, who says the increased number of customers spending money in the region proves what a hit the Tweedbank to Galashiels service has been – and helps make the case for it now going on to Hawick and Carlisle.
Tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants and bars say they have seen business rise since the rail services started in September, with some local hospitality outlets seeing a 50 per cent increase.
Traders in Galashiels are reporting a big jump in trade, and Herges on the Loch restaurant at nearby Tweedbank reporting a significant rise.
One reason why the hospitality sector is doing so well in the wake of September’s Borders Railway opening is that people are able to go to local places for a pint or a glass of wine as they no longer have to drive home.
Local tourist attractions, too, have found increased interest in their offering. For instance, Abbotsford House is reporting a rise in numbers of nearly 20 per cent compared to 2014, with the summer opening season extended into October.
Mr Kerr said: “These are hugely encouraging figures which prove that the railway is already making a difference to the economy of the region. In fact, it’s fair to say that it’s the biggest success in decades for the Borders.
“It’s great to see businesses in the hospitality sector doing so well by offering travellers coming here by train what they want – food, drink and a really positive experience.
“I’m sure that this is just the start of our new railway dividend. In future, we’ll see more local companies doing well as a result of it and an increase in inward investment, leading to more jobs and more prosperity.
“This early success also strengthens the case for restoring the original Waverley Line route to Hawick and Carlisle.”
Eildon Housing Association is continuing with its volunteering programme ‘Eildon Makes a Difference’ with six members of staff volunteering to support Fresh Start Borders.
The charity helps people in the Borders who have been homeless and are moving into their first permanent tenancy.
They provide starter packs of basic household essentials to clients as they move into their new homes, giving families and individuals, who may have no possessions, a start-up until they can afford to equip their homes themselves.
Nile Istephan, chief executive of Eildon Housing Association said: “Fresh Start Borders is an excellent local organisation that we have had links with for some time.
“They have supported a number of our tenants over the years and in turn we have supported their work with financial contributions and donations of surplus office furniture.
“When we started the ‘Eildon Makes a Difference’ programme, a number of staff were keen to offer further support to Fresh Start Borders by volunteering their time and showing their appreciation for the work of this charity.
“I am very proud of the commitment shown by Eildon staff to demonstrate our focus on being connected to our local communities. We have developed an exciting programme of other volunteering opportunities around the Borders that our colleagues will be supporting over the next few months”.
Irene McFadzen, co-ordinator at Fresh Start Borders commented: “Fresh Start Borders is extremely grateful for the continuing support from Eildon Housing Association.
“Our storage space has recently increased and the cabinets and practical help from Eildon has enabled us to re-organise our stockroom making best use of the new space.
“We especially appreciate the involvement of the staff members who participate in the ‘Eildon Makes a Difference’’ scheme. We thank you for choosing Fresh Start Borders.”