EARLSTON villagers raised more than £2,200 for Children in Need on Saturday.

Residents and visitors donated as eight local men pulled a nine-tonne truck from the village’s primary school to the Square to raise the cash.

Organiser Neil Walker said: “Saturday was a great success. The weather was superb and we had a great turnout from the local community.

“The truck was heavy, but we prevailed, with great support from the crowds. The men participating should have a great sense of achievement and pride – and the sore muscles to match.

“It took us approximately 17 minutes to complete the half-mile.”

The team pulling the truck were Mr Walker, Andrew Reid, Robert Beattie, Keith Veitch, Steven Cockburn, Chris White, Richard Allan and Nick Thorn.

The fundraising day included a coffee morning in Hanover House, with face painting, cake and candy stalls, as well as ‘find Pudsey’ and ‘guess the birthday’ competitions, a raffle, a bouncy castle and a food vendor in the adjoining car park.

Mr Walker continued: “The coffee morning and stalls were enjoyed by all, and the kids especially loved the face painting, bouncy castle and getting their pictures taken with Pudsey.

“I want to thank Glendinning Groundworks, the helpers and the shops for their generous donations for our raffle, and all the people behind the scenes without whom the event wouldn’t have been possible. “

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HEALTH chiefs have launched a fresh plea for people to make their organs available for transplant following their death.

Three people die each day in the UK waiting on a transplant and there are 600 waiting for a transplant in Scotland.

The NHS says that Scotland continues to lead the way in terms of the number of people signed up to the NHS Organ Donor Register – but say more are needed.

Statistics show that 96 per cent of people would accept an organ – but only 40 percent of Scots have confirmed they will make their organs available.

The debate continues as to whether organ donation should be an opt-in or an opt-on choice. At the moment it is an opt-in scheme.

Organs from one person have the ability to save seven lives. John Forsythe, Scotland’s lead clinician for organ donation and transplantation, commented: “In our society, nobody likes talking about death. There is a taboo about the subject.

“However, those who have elected to join the NHS Organ Donor Register or who have spoken with their families about organ donation at the time of death, make a 
most generous decision which allows others to live.

“Due to the generosity of the Scottish people, organ donor numbers are increasing and allowing more life-saving transplants. But there is much still to do as people wait on lists for their chance to get a transplant.”

David Speers from Aberdeen was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure during a routine medical examination in 2009 and now requires life-saving dialysis four times every day.

David, whose wife Linda gave birth to daughter Zoe in December last year, remains on the waiting list for a suitable donation.

He said: “My whole focus since then has been on my daughter Zoe. When she was born it was amazing, the best moment of our lives. We have so much hope, plans and excitement for the future. Zoe puts it all into perspective; both Zoe and Linda are my inspiration and energy for life, I’m not going to let this beat me.

“My story is not unique or special; I am just a normal guy, with a positive outlook on life, a loving wife and daughter, while also waiting on a life-changing transplant.

“There are so many people waiting on transplants and coping with a lot more than me, if from reading this, just one extra person joins the NHS Organ Donor Register then I have achieved something.”

With the likelihood of a person needing an organ transplant being greater than the likelihood of someone actually becoming an organ donor, Scots are being urged by the NHS to make their wishes known by talking to their family and adding their name to the register to help those in desperate need of a second chance at life.

To find out more about organ donation and to join the NHS Organ Donor Register, visit www.organdonationscotland.org or text LIFE to 61611.

Kelso 16 Melrose 19

BOOKER BORDER LEAGUE

Fiona Scott reports from Poynder Park

FOR the opening 20 minutes of this evening fixture at Poynder Park it was the hosts who had all the possession.

Melrose grabbed early penalty points with two successful kicks from Joe Helps but it was Kelso who had the better of the territory. And on the 20th minute their perseverance paid off when Gregg Minto danced over for a close range try. Murray Hastie missed the conversion but put his team in front minutes later with a penalty goal.

Kelso continued to enjoy the majority of the possession for the remainder of the half and, had it not been for a missed penalty, and then a spilled pass just metres from the Melrose line, the scoreline could have been verging on the embarrassing for the visiting Premiership side. As it was Hastie slotted a penalty right on the whistle to put his team 11- 6 ahead at the break.

One could only imagine what John Dalziel was saying to his team at half time but whatever it was looked to have worked as Melrose came out flying with replacement winger Bruce Colvine running half the length of the pitch to touch down and Andrew Skeen making the conversion to edge the black and golds back into the lead.

As they had in the opening half however Kelso kept their cool and even when Skeen notched a penalty to stretch the lead to five points the Tweedsiders continued to lump the pressure on. After 10 minutes play on the Melrose try line Darren Gillespie forced his way over to tie the scores and leave the game hanging in the balance with 10 minutes remaining and the score at 16-16.

With five minutes left Helps banged over another penalty for Melrose and still Kelso never gave up. One of their final surges towards the line saw Adam Alexander brutally stopped in his tracks by one of the Melrose forwards and still they charged. It was not to be though and it was with great relief that the Melrose men greeted the final whistle with the score standing at Kelso 16 Melrose 19.

Kelso: W. Massey; A. Haig, C. Brown, A. Alexander, G. Minto; M. Hastie, F. Strachan; K. Cooney, C. Riddell, A. Marsh, D. Seed, J. Stewart, M. Robertson, E. Ford, D. Gillespie. Subs: D. Redstone, A. Wallace, S. McColl, D. Buckley, T. Wilson.

Melrose: A. Skeen; L. Mallen, J. Murray, J. Helps, U. Kalamafoni; R. Mill, S. McCormick; C. Keen, R. Ferguson, G. Holorn, R. Ovens, R. Miller, C. Wilde, D. Crawford, A. Nagle. Subs: W. Mitchell, C. Arthur, M. Stewart, B. Colvine, S. Chalmers.

“I’M going to be fairly blunt. We have to work together in the next 50 years, either we do it or die.”

So says Borders environmentalist Chris Badenoch who will speak at a land use debate in Melrose on Monday.

The Tweed Forum director is one of three south of Scotland speakers, alongside Southern Uplands Partnership chairman John Thomson and Hawick farmer Jim Shanks, at the free “How can Scotland’s land best contribute to sustainable economic growth?” discussion.

The former Scottish Natural Heritage area manager will tell the meeting: “We cannot continue our land use with a sort of minor modification of “It’s aye been”. We urgently require quite radical rethinking of our priorities, their planning, research and practical methods of application if we are to survive future demands. We must integrate.”

Mr Badenoch will note the planet’s finite nature – “Under existing production methods, it will be unable to feed its nine billion in 50 years time.”

Climate change will bring water imbalances and we must take care of water systems as “everything we do eventually goes down the stream”.

Most of the population will become vegetarian. And he continued: “Hill stock will demand a premium because in the lowland everyone will be growing crops to eat.

He says: “There’s a big row again between sheep and forestry, but if we manage our hill farms properly in the way that was shown about 50 years ago by the former Hill Farming Research Organisation (now part of the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute), we can have both.”

Hill grazing across south Scotland is “generally under-utilised”, he says: “A proportion of every hill could quite easily be put into forestry and woodland without jeopardy to agricultural production, with a gain for carbon sequestration, timber production, fuel, flood alleviation, shelter, amenity, game, and wildlife and habitat networks.”

Land owners should respect their wider responsibilities, for example says Mr Badenoch: “Bad grazing practices cannot be permitted to allow unfettered erosion; poor application of nitrogen fertiliser cannot be allowed to jeopardise internationally important wildlife habitats downstream.”

Southern Uplands Partnership chairman John Thomson will talk about land use from a landscape, wildlife and cultural heritage perspective and its role in recreation and tourism.

He said: “It’s very important and is easily neglected because of a tendency to look at land use from a single perspective, usually fairly exclusively farming or forestry. When we are managing land and producing whatever it is, we are affecting a resource that lots of other people make a living from or derive enjoyment from. The whole community really does have an interest in the way land is managed.”

Mr Shanks will argue that farmers have to make the best use of natural resources, become better, lower the pollutants they produce and “be part of the carbon solution rather than the problem.” They need to become “less dependent on subsidies and more tolerant of market fluctuations” and help fill the energy gap in a post peak oil world, he will say. 
Also speaking will James Hutton Institute’s Professor Bill Slee, Anderson Strathern Solicitors’ Alastair McKie on renewables and Holyrood’s Ian Davidson on Common Agricultural Policy reform.

To register for the talk, hosted by RSA Fellows’ Media, Creative Industries, Culture and Heritage Network and James Hutton Institute, visit http://landuse19nov2012.eventbrite.co.uk/

JEDBURGH horsewoman Ann Fraser has been awarded a national leading horse charity’s award of merit.

Mrs Fraser of Overwells received the British Horse Society’s (BHS) recognition from BHS president Martin Clunes in London earlier this month.

BHS Borders chairwoman Wanda Dodd said: “This award is very well deserved. Ann has done exceptional work for BHS and BHS Borders especially with the Borders Festival of the Horse of which she is the instigator.”

BHS Scotland’s Helene Mauchlen said: “Ann has incredible energy and is a force to be reckoned with. We are really proud that she represents BHS. She thoroughly deserves this award. She is the mastermind behind the festival and, never one to sit still, she is still improving and enlarging the festival which now has European dimensions.”

BHS’s former access officer in Scotland for 12 years is recognised by her peers as the ‘grandmother of Scottish equestrian access’ for Mrs Fraser is credited with gaining horse riders the same rights as walker and cyclists in the ‘right to roam’ Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.

A member of BHS for 32 years, the former Pony Club mum co-ordinated Scotland’s first horse count by postcode in 1981 which produced the first objective data on the value of the equine industry to the rural economy.

But Mrs Fraser is best known for starting the popular Borders Festival of the Horse in 2002 in the wake of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak the previous year.

She told TheSouthern previously: “The equine industry in the Borders had really fallen apart. Several people had gone out of businesss. I had always said the Borders was Scotland’s horse country, with the most number of horses per head of population of any of the regions in Scotland, so we came up with the idea of this shop window to bring everything back to life again. It’s grown from there.”

The festival now includes 40 events over 14 days, attracting 10,000 people and horses annually.

Mrs Fraser was also the driving force behind another innovation, the extensive network of 350km of off-road South of Scotland Countryside Trails for riders, which were launched in 2005.

Mrs Fraser has been a Riding for the Disabled (RDA) instructor for 35 years and is also a past chairman of Scottish Land and Estate’s south east Scotland branch.

BORDERS farmers Robert and Jacqueline Neill are finalists in the Scotch Beef Farm of the Year award.

The new accolade, run by Agriscot and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), is aimed at highlighting excellence in Scotland’s cattle production and raising the profile of beef farmers’ dedication and stock management skills.

Farmers had to be nominated for the award which was launched in July.

Mr Neill, of Upper Nisbet, near Jedburgh, said: “I’m chuffed to bits to be in the final. It’s quite an achievement and it’s good that somebody nominated us and thinks we are worthy of entering the competition.”

The award judges, including celebrity chef Brian Turner, visited the three finalists earlier this month.

Television chef Mr Turner, whose CV lists Claridges and the Savoy Grill as former employers, described all three as “dedicated, focused and experts in their field”.

Mr Neill said Mr Turner and fellow judges – QMS chairman Jim McLaren, award co-ordinator John Elliot and Airdrie beef farmer Jim Brown – were keeping their cards close to their chest: “There were a lot of questions being fired, but not a lot of feedback!”

But he thinks they liked the fact the Neills run a closed farm, controlling the beef they produce from “conception to consumer”.

The pair run 300 Limousin cross cows, along with 10 pedigree Limousin cows, eight pedigree Limousin bulls and two pedigree British Blue bulls on the 1,080-acre unit, 650 of which are in cereals.

The Neills settled on the Limousin cross because that was what butchers buying at the John Swan’s mart in St Boswells were looking for.

“They get a good kill-out percentage and value for their money. You have got to produce what the customer wants,” said Mr Neill.

And generally? “My aim is to improve the facility and get the infrastructure right to run a profitable and good business, and just do the job right and have a niche market and pay attention to the details,” said Mr Neill.

The former Farmers’ Weekly Beef Farmer of the Year is regularly top or thereabouts in the Christmas sale at St Boswells, and Upper Nisbet is currently a climate change focus farm involved in the Scottish Government’s “Farming for a Better Climate” initiative, run by SRUC, Scotland’s Rural College.

Mr McLaren said of the finalists: “The three businesses are very different types of units, but each shares an unmistakable drive for innovation and efficiency. The energy and enthusiasm those involved in the three farms showed us was matched by their commitment to the future and passion for the industry.”

The winner will be announced at Agriscot at Ingliston on Wednesday (November 21) and receive a £500 cheque and a £250 voucher to celebrate their success at a Scotch Beef Club restaurant.

Borders Banter, a comedy double bill written by two local playwrights Oliver Eade and Dorothy Bruce, begins its three week tour around the Borders next week. The first of the five performances, which run from Friday November 23 to Saturday December 8, will take place at Smailholm Village Hall, starting at 8pm.

See Them Rats by Dorothy Bruce, written in lively local Scots, is about three determined men who live in a discarded bus, and for whom things change unexpectedly when a famous woman sculptor appears seeking creative inspiration. Her ‘rat pack’ of three hearty men live cheek-by-jowel with midden rats, determined to make the most of their meagre lot.

The play is the first foray into performance writing for Dorothy: a short story writer who co-ran the Robin Jenkins Literary Award, and an annual ten day walking and arts festival. She is also the author of a book about Vincent Van Gogh’s friend, Alexander Reid, whose art dealer son lived for many years in Gattonside.

Curiously, a massive earthquake that Oliver and his Chinese wife experienced in China inspired his comedy The Gap, in which things change big-time for the dysfunctional Moscrop family, when the world splits in two along the Greenwich Meridian, and across the landing of their Peacehaven home.

Oliver, a retired Borders General Hospital physician, also writes short stories and novels. Of his published children’s novels, two link the Borders with mythological China, and one of which, Moon Rabbit, was a winner of a national competition.

Dorothy and Oliver welcomed the opportunity to see their work staged at Carlops, Smailholm, Selkirk, Westruther and at the Wynd Theatre, Melrose: “Most amateur drama groups stick with well-established playwrights from north or south of the Borders,” Oliver said, “so it is very refreshing to see something new emerge from within our region and very encouraging for local theatre.”

Both one act plays will be staged by a drama group, Odd Productions. Directed by Kath Mansfield, whose productions of Romeo and Juliet at Traquair House and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie won acclaim, the cast of professional and amateur actors promise to bring to life local drama for Borders audiences.

Kirsty Jobling, in ‘The Gap’, is a professional actor. Originally from Northumberland, she trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Appearing on stage, television and in films, her work has taken her to various places including London and Italy.

Richard Nisbet from Peebles, known to many for his appearances in Shakespeare at Traquair, and Kath Mansfield, in her role as an actor, are also in The Gap, whilst Elsie Horobin, David Bon, Tom Hudson and Andy McGregor perform in ‘See Them Rats’.

Tickets cost £7 (£6 for under 16s), and the performances’ venues and dates are as follows: Smailholm Village Hall, Friday, November 23 (Tel: 01573 460666); Carlops Village Hall, Saturday, November 24 (Tel: 01968 660388); Selkirk’s County Hotel, Friday, November 30 (Tel: 01750 721233); The Wynd Theatre, Melrose, on Saturday, December 1 (Tel: 01896 820028 or 01896 822013); Westruther Village Hall on Saturday, December 8 (Tel: 01578 740265 or 07817 604153).

Scott’s Selkirk has bought more than 20 new pop-up market stalls for this year’s festival, thanks to almost £13,000 of funding.

The Scott’s Selkirk Association celebrated a double windfall in October, when both funding applications for the new gazebos were successful – a £10,000 lottery grant from Awards For All, and a £2,747 donation from Selkirk’s Common Good Fund.

The money has paid for 24 new market stalls in all: 20 at 3m by 3m, and four larger, rectangular ones, with two at 3m by 4.5m, and two at 3m by 6m.

The organisers of the 12-year-old festival, which will be held in two weeks, hope the new tents will make life easier for them when they’re setting up and taking down the craft stalls in the Market Place and High Street.

“They all come in their own carrier bags. Two people take a leg out and they pop up – that’s it,” said Scott’s Selkirk’s relieved chairman, Maister Tommy Combe.

Scott’s Selkirk stalwart Viv Ross also praised the look of the new blue and white gazebos: “They’re lovely,” she said, pleased with their “medieval, pointy tops.

“The old ones were getting a bit tatty, and were labour intensive to put up,” Mr Combe said. “We’ve also had problems with gales, so we hope these will stay on the ground better. There are 56lb weights on each corner to hold the gazebos down – I know, because I unpacked them.”

Scott’s Selkirk, traditionally held on the first weekend in December, is for the first time slimming down its usual two-day programme to one day, Saturday December 1, to “revitalise the event”, the festival’s website www.scottsselkirk.com says.

“There will be Christmas stalls in the County Pend and Market Place, lots of street entertainment, and, of course, Meg Dods’ kitchen, plus performances in the County Hotel, and Connections,” the site continues.

“There will be some events on the Sunday – the church services, court cases, and communal carol singing in the Market Place after dark.”

GALASHIELS has been deprived of thousands of pounds due to a missing pay-parking machine, writes Kenny Paterson.

The Stirling Place meter generated nearly £20,000 in the 17 months before it was disconnected on August 26 last year when its car park closed as part of the Galashiels Inner Relief Road (GIRR) project.

The 14-bay zone remained closed for almost 12 months, but finally reopened to vehicles on July 17 as part of the official launch of the £12million infrastructure scheme.

However, the ticket mechanism has not been replaced, allowing drivers to use it free of charge for the past four months.

The machine’s absence has angered former Scottish Borders Council (SBC) leader Drew Tulley, with the cash raised from pay parking given to local councillors to invest in town improvements.

Mr Tulley said: “Money from pay-parking machines is put back into the community.

“Who will compensate the town of Galashiels for this loss of revenue?

“It is costing the town £300 or £400 per week.”

Galashiels councillor Bill White told the town’s community council: “I believe SBC were paying next to nothing for the electricity for the machine.

“But after the works the electricity board said ‘We have had enough of this’ and started to charge. It means the council will likely have to put its own power system in for the machine.

“But it has been a loss of revenue for three or four months now.”

An SBC statement said: “The council has been exploring the best way of reconnecting the parking meter to a power supply and it is anticipated that the works will be undertaken soon.

“Income received in 2010/11 was £13,514 and, in 2011/12 when the car park closed at the end of August, the figure was £6,305.

“A number of different arrangements exist in the energy supply of pay-parking facilities across the Scottish Borders, either through direct or in direct supply by ScottishPower.”

The Stirling Place facility shut last year as work began on creating a new roundabout at the junction with Ladhope Vale.

Last December, Mr White, in his previous position as Galashiels CC chairman, called for the car park to be temporarily opened for the two weekends in the run-up to Christmas to boost trade.

But GIRR programme manager Ewan Doyle told TheSouthern at the time that it was not possible because there were too many potential trip hazards on the site and “the new parking arrangement isn’t marked out and the parking meter has been removed”.

NEW chairs and tables will be purchased for St Boswells village hall, thanks to a £600 financial boost from phone and broadband provider, TalkTalk.

The hall will be sponsored by TalkTalk for the next 12 months and residents in St Boswells, Newtown St Boswells and Bowden will also benefit from a £50,000 technology investment by TalkTalk, which is expanding its Next Generation Network to provide residents with access to better broadband.

St Boswells Village Hall is used by a variety of local groups, including mums and toddlers group, senior residents’ soup club on Wednesdays and for the various concerts and amateur dramatic performances.

Local badminton and short tennis groups also make use of the open space. The premises are also the home of St Boswells Concert Band which has its bandroom on site, and the St Boswells Parish Community Council, which holds its meetings in the Lesser Hall.

Hall treasurer Jennifer White commented: “We are very pleased that TalkTalk has chosen to support St Boswells Village Hall over the next twelve months.

“The donation will be put towards purchasing new chairs and trestle tables for the hall.”

A GALASHIELS police officer has denied the Black Path is a no go area of the town.

Sergeant Duncan Marker said reports last month of anti-social behaviour on the popular cycling and walking route turned out to be a group of men who were baring their backsides to passersby, with one of the men arrested.

Community council chairman Ian Purvis said: “In the last six or seven weeks I have heard a number of people express concerns about the Black Path. We would not like any part of the town to become a no-go area.”

By Sgt Marker replied: “I would not see it that way. But we might have to look at it again to see how we can make people feel safe.”

A total of 28 crimes were recorded in the town centre during October, with 15 in the more rural areas of Galashiels.

Sgt Marker said a community safety day was planned in the Gala Park area.

SOUTHERN Upland Partnership’s director Pip Tabor will be one of the speakers at a meeting about land reform next month.

The Borders group of the John Muir Trust (JMT) is co-organising the open event in Edinburgh on December 4.

Local group organiser, John Thomas, said: “Land Reform is back on the political agenda with the setting up this year of the Land Reform Review Group and the revival of the Land Fund by the Scottish Government.

“The meeting will be relevant to all those who take part in outdoor activities including walking, biking or field sports, and to all those involved in conservation and wild life.”

Land reform campaigner Andy Wightman, author of ‘Who Owns Scotland’, will set out his agenda for reform along with Mr Tabor and JMT and Eigg Community Trust chairman, John Hutchison.

For further information contact John Thomas, 01835 823518 or email j.p.r.t@btinternet.com

NEARLY a quarter of Borders women are still smoking while pregnant, writes Kenny Paterson.

Scottish Government figures have shown 23.2 per cent of expectant mums were still using cigarettes when attending their first doctor’s appointment in 2010.

The figure is slightly higher than in 2009, when it stood at 22.7 per cent.

Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire MSP John Lamont believes the figure could be higher, with pressure to quit possibly leading to people lying about their habit.

Mr Lamont said: “These are certainly very concerning statistics and show that we still have a lot to do to convince more pregnant women to give up this damaging habit.

“Smoking causes significant damage to your health but it is even more dangerous when you are an expectant mother.

“Not only will it improve the health of your baby, it lessens morning sickness, reduces the risk of stillbirth and reduces the risk of cot death.

“Smoking causes serious problems for a child and the mother, and we must do more to raise awareness of this. That nearly a quarter of expectant mothers are still taking this unnecessary risk is unacceptable and we must see these figures reduced.”

John Lamont added: “I would urge any woman in the Borders who is pregnant and smoking to use the NHS Borders Stop Smoking service not only for their health, but for the health of their child.”

Catriona Davies, NHS Borders’ health improvement specialist and smoking awareness service co-ordinator, said the health board’s Quit4Good scheme provides people with one-to-one support to try and end their addiction.

She added: “The service is currently looking at a range of other options to provide further support to pregnant women.

“In addition, the Quit4Good service provides advice and support on reducing the impact of second hand smoke through a Smoke Free Homes initiative.

“This scheme encourages people – particularly parents – not to smoke in their house.

“This can make a big difference to children as it reduces significantly their exposure to the toxins associated with cigarette smoking.”

Dr Eric Baijal, joint director of public health told us: “All pregnant women are tested for levels of carbon monoxide in their body – one of the poisons associated with tobacco smoking.

“If the levels are high and consistent with those of a tobacco smoker, they are given advice on how to stop smoking and are offered a referral to the NHS Borders stop smoking service Quit4Good.

“We can only help and support those women who attend their antenatal appointments and this is one of the reasons that NHS Borders is working to improve access to antenatal services here in the Borders.”

CELEBRITY adventurer Bear Grylls would be impressed, after a Selkirkshire dog survived 16 days on his own in the Dumfriesshire countryside.

The Collie cross is recovering well from his fur-raising ordeal, when the curious canine ran away from owner Steve McLachlan at Grey Mare’s Tail near Moffat.

After searching the area and putting up posters appealing for any sightings, Sparky was finally spotted more than two weeks later on a ledge at the bottom of the waterfall, eventually being rescued by a mountain rescue team.

Mr McLachlan, from Lindean, told TheSouthern: “He is a bit more nervous than usual but almost back to normal.

“I don’t think we will be going back to the Grey Mare’s Tail soon but if we do I will make sure I keep a close eye on him.”

The extraordinary survival story began on October 15 while Mr McLachlan and his family were walking in the Grey Mare’s Tail area.

Mr McLachlan explains: “Sparky chased after some goats as I handed the lead to my wife, pulling me off my feet.

“Then he disappeared and we didn’t see him again for 16 days.”

Posters were put up by Mr McLachlan in the area where Sparky was last seen, but initially proved unsuccessful, and the family were resigned to not seeing their beloved pet again.

Mr McLachlan said: “We returned in the days after Sparky went missing but saw no sign of him.

“We had a couple of false alarms by people who said they had heard a dog but we thought it was probably other dogs in the area as the sounds echoes off the waterfall.

“But then on November 1 someone rang saying they heard a dog and had seen him on a ledge at the side of the waterfall. They said he had a red collar which made it pretty clear that it was him.”

Moffat Mountain Rescue Team were called out and rescued Sparky by abseiling down the gorge to reunite the 12-year-old with his owners.

Mr McLachlan added: “Moffat Mountain Rescue Team could not have done more – they really knew what they were doing. We got him to the vets and his weight had fallen from 18kgs to 12kgs and he was understandably weak. But apart from that he seemed fine.

“I really don’t know what he was doing for the 16 days. He was on the opposite side of the waterfall from where we last saw him so whether he was wandering around or then got stuck on the ledge, I’m not sure. The problem is, you cannot ask him.”

Scottish SPCA Inspector Janet Proudlock said: “When Sparky was found he had already lost a third of his body weight so he wouldn’t have survived for much longer.

“His owners were very sensible to distribute posters in the area with their contact details as this is ultimately how they were able to find him.

“Sparky is an incredibly lucky dog and I was delighted to be present at the happy reunion between him and his owner.”

As fundraisers for the Margaret Kerr Unit Appeal close in on its £1million target, and with only two months to go before its expected opening in January, TheSouthern was this week given an exclusive preview of the Borders General Hospital’s new in-patient specialist palliative care unit.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” enthused appeal chairman James Marjoribanks on site. “It makes me a very proud Borderer to see this. The people in the Borders embraced the appeal, and gave generously.

“This, I feel, would only have been possible in the Borders, because of the good people here. We’ve a community spirit that’s second to none – other health boards are envious of what we can achieve.”

Three quarters of the £4.113million needed to complete the building was donated by individuals, charities and trusts – notably £720,000 from the Miss Margaret Kerr Charitable Trust, £750,000 from Macmillan Cancer Support, and £350,000 from The Robertson Trust. A public appeal for the final million was launched in September 2011, and last week, in just over a year, Borderers had raised an amazing £900,000 – with only £100,000 to go.

“The unit will make a big difference,” Mr Marjoribanks added. “It’s more fit for purpose, more patient and family friendly.”

Building work began on April 3 this year, with an estimated construction schedule of 40 weeks. On TheSouthern’s visit on Monday, officials confirmed BAM Construction are on target to hand over the building to NHS Borders on November 23, with the Margaret Kerr Unit expected to admit its first patients in mid-January.

The original facility – a combined stroke and palliative care ward – received 200 admissions a year, with an average stay of two weeks.

“The new unit will give patients more privacy, space, and family time, and really improve their quality of life,” explained Samantha Dunlop, a clinical nurse specialist in palliative care. “It’s been long overdue.”

Palliative care describes the care given when cure is impossible, and the unit is designed with the physical and psychological needs of patients and their families in mind.

Each of the eight, spacious bedrooms includes a shower/wet room, pull-down beds for relatives to stay overnight, and access to the landscaped, private garden, for wheelchairs and hospital beds. Each patio area is divided by a trellis of plants, and earth mounds to obscure the passing traffic – but not the view of the fields and Eildons beyond.

Essential equipment, such as oxygen bottles and hoists, are discreetly hidden.

“We are trying to minimise the effect caused by patients needing all this equipment,” said Dr Annabel Howell, a speciality doctor in palliative care, “because it’s something their families can struggle with.”

An extra, ensuite double room for relatives to sleep is a “massive step forward,” adds fundraising manager Clare Oliver. “If people are at the end of their lives, relatives want to be there.”

The new relatives’ room overlooks a courtyard “for peaceful reflection,” Dr Howell added, “and a bit of normality in the midst of everything.”

Patients can find travelling by ambulance stressful, she explained, so service corridors connect the new palliative care unit to the refurbished Borders Stroke Unit, and to the hospital’s other services. The new stroke ward, with increased space for patients, will also be opened in mid-January.

The unit’s two lounges will be decorated with artwork by five commissioned Border artists, and a piece of art called ‘Lasting Impressions’.

Open days are planned for Thursday and Friday, December 13 and 14 for the public to look around.

“But we haven’t finished yet, there’s still a lot of fundraising to go,” said Ms Oliver, encouraging people to keep their donations coming.

An Advent Ball in aid of the new unit is sold out, but raffle tickets are still available and can be bought at the BGH and in shops in Kelso.

The historic Gordon Arms Hotel, once the haunt of famous Border bards, is getting ready to host its first traditional music concert on Sunday, November 25, four months after reopening, with two local musicians at the helm.

Melrose recording studio owner Tommy Roseburgh and Bonchester interior designer Malcolm McEwan hope to revive the 200-year-old coaching inn’s fortunes by turning it into a centre for traditional music in the Borders. The Gordon Arms, located 10 miles up the Yarrow Valley from Selkirk, was, in its heyday, a regular meeting place of the local literati, including Sir Walter Scott and the Ettrick Shepherd James Hogg, and other illustrious visitors like Robert Burns and William Wordsworth.

The hotel was repossessed by the bank from previous owners two years ago, and had been closed until the new buyers were found in March.

McEwan and Roseburgh believe their experience in the music business will be pivotal in the business’ success.

Mr McEwan was one of the founding fathers of the Both Sides of the Tweed music festival and, for six years, was chairman of the Newcastleton Traditional Music Festival. More recently, he has been involved in organising the Borders-wide The Land, The Light, The Locals traditional music festival.

Mr Roseburgh, an accomplished musician who plays keyboards with Borders folk band Real Time, specialises in recording traditional music acts.

“Not only has Tommy moved his Big Sky Studio from Tweedbank into the hotel, but also Malcolm has already hosted a number of sessions in the newly refurbished bar,” writes one of the concert’s performers Kenny Speirs.

Tommy’s own band, Real Time, will be the first performers to kick off this new venture. Real Time were formed in 2002 by Judy Dinning and Kenny Speirs.

Northumbrian singer Judy, a member of Jez Lowe and the Bad Pennies, and the all-female band Lucky Bags, performs an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary folk music with the Denholm guitarist and keyboard player Speirs, who is best known as a founder member of the John Wright Band.

For this concert they will be joined by Border fiddler Shona Mooney, winner of the 2006 BBC Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Award, and part of the internationally acclaimed all-female band The Shee.

The concert starts at 4.30pm, and admission will be £10 at the door. Further information can be had from the hotel on 01750 82261.

A TOTAL of £1.25million has been invested into the Borders agricultural and forestry industries through the Scottish Government’s Rural Priorities funding.

The biggest Borders award went to Duns-based Hoardwheel Farm Partners who received more than £200,000.

Others to benefit include woodland projects on the Roxburghe (£155,400) and Lothian (£120,250) estates.

South of Scotland MSP Paul Wheelhouse, who is also Scottish Government Minister for Environment and Climate Change, said: “This is great news for the successful Scottish Borders farms and forestry businesses and provides them with essential funding for diverse issues such as new woodland planting in Selkirk, investing in local farmland and measures to protect native red squirrels as a priority species.

“I look forward to seeing the fruits of this investment in situ in the future.”

A FORMER Selkirk mill is set to be turned into housing.

Developer Matthew Claridge has submitted an application to convert the former High Mill on Dunsdale Road into 16 flats and maisonettes.

Mr Claridge already has permission to turn the adjacient Forest Mill into 14 flats.

The fresh submission for High Mill includes car parking for 18 vehicles.

Mr Claridge has entered two applications – one to convert the building and the other to carry out internal and external alterations.

A decision is expected on the planning bid at the start of January 2013.

WALKERBURN inventor and plumber Ross Dickinson has won another award,

The 36-year-old invented the Kibosh, a temporary repair for burst pipes made in Selkirk, and last month was highly commended in the Horners Awards.

He said: “It’s probably one of the best awards I’ve won because it’s the oldest plastics competition in the world and it’s a big accolade because the Horners are world famous.”

The competition is run by the British Plastics Federation (BPF) and the Worshipful Company Of Horners, an ancient guild and livery company of the City of London, for innovation in plastics design and manufacture. And the prize is believed to be the longest established design award for plastics in the world, with the first held in 1947.

BPF’s public and industrial affairs director, Philip Law congratulated Mr Dickinson on winning BPF’s Highly Commended Certificate and wished him “a very successful and well deserved commercialisation of this highly innovative product”.

Past winners include the Eglu chicken coop and an ‘easy-clean’ bedside cabinet to help reduce infection in hospitals.

Ross’ invention goes on sale for the first time outside the UK in Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East this month.

THE local authority is being urged to seek compensation for what a former councillor for Earlston has described as an on-going series of defects with the village’s flagship secondary school.

Together with new secondaries at Eyemouth and Duns, Earlston High School was part of a £76million public-private partnership (PPP) project.

Opened just three years ago and costing around £28million, Earlston High suffered problems last week when part of an art classroom ceiling collapsed during maintenance work.

Former local Scottish Borders councillor, John Paton-Day, told TheSouthern at the time it was just the latest in long list of defects since the school opened.

Not so, said Scottish Borders Council, adding that it would be “wrong” to suggest there had been a number of serious construction problems.

However, this week TheSouthern has been passed a list of incidents which Mr Paton-Day has collated and which he claims shows the level of problems.

The alleged incidents include flooding of a sports field; front concrete steps breaking up; a large number of leaks all around the building resulting in damage to white boards etc; large panel from the front of the building falling off; on-going problems with light pollution; inadequate classroom temperature control; fire door closers not fixed securely; at times the classroom above boiler room is like a sauna; biomass boiler only providing minimal output and gas boilers having to be used; floor screed throughout the school being uneven.

Mr Paton-Day says neither school, staff or the council are to blame, as they are, to all intents and purposes, simply tenants.

He told us: “As tenants they have every right to expect a building that meets all requirements, but since the school has been open there has been an ongoing list of problems.

“Until now those problems have caused annoyance and some disruption, but when large panels fall off the front of the building onto the main entrance to the school, and now classroom ceilings collapse, it surely must be time to accept that enough is enough.

“Our teachers and technical staff have enough problems with the ever-growing financial restraints being imposed on them; they should not have to deal with the effects of poor design and construction quality.”

The school, along with the two other new secondaries, was designed and built by the Scottish Borders Education Partnership, and Amey is the company supplying the facilities management services portion of the deal.

Mr Paton-Day now wants the council to take action: “I believe it is time to negotiate financial compensation, and to put in place a more effective quality control system, one that has teeth, and not rely solely on Amey to oversee repairs nor to be the sole renderer for repairs.”

One local parent says it does not look as if SBC got a good deal on the new schools, adding: “The kids have been blamed for a number of these problems, with accusations of vandalism, but that’s not true. It is due to building defects in a lot of cases.”

In a statement this week, SBC told us: “As with all major projects and new buildings, including the three PPP schools, there will be snags and defects that appear through time.

“All defects or remedial works that arise are addressed through the building warranty and rectified to an agreed programme of works.”

Asked to comment, a spokeswoman for Amey said the statement from the council should be “treated as a joint one” from both the local authority and the company.

Councillor Sandy Aitchison (Galashiels & District, BP), SBC Executive Member for Education, was unaware of any of the issues raised by Mr Paton-Day.

“My understanding is that any structural problems will be the responsibility of the builders and owners of the property but 
I will need, and will seek, clarification,” 
he said.

Councillor Nicholas Watson (Leaderdale & Melrose, BP), who was aware of some of the issues, said any huge building will have problems; the question was whether these were rectified promptly.

He said: “Some, like the fallen panel, were fixed pretty sharply, but others, like heat and lighting levels, and biomass boiler performance, can involve protracted wrangling, because SBC is effectively the tenant and anything seen as a change is another profit opportunity for the buildings’ owners.

“The biggest problem though is the overall cost. Ultimately education should be more about good teaching than about buildings.”