All roads lead to Glasgow today as the 2014 Commonwealth Games kicks off in earnest with a record total of 12 Borders athletes representing the region over six sports.

Guy Learmonth (athletics 800m and 4x400m relay), Chris O’Hare (athletics 1500m), Libby Clegg (athletics T12 100m), Samantha Kinghorn (athletics T54 1500m), Jak Scott (swimming 4x200m relay), Lucy Hope (swimming 4x200m relay), Jo Pettitt (netball), Sarah Robertson (hockey), Grant Ferguson (mountain bike/road racing), and Stuart Hogg, Scott Wight and Lee Jones (rugby sevens) will all be in action over the next 11 days.

Also heading west are dozens more Borderers who will be involved in everything from meet-and-greet to officiating at one of the biggest rugby sevens tournaments in the world.

Andrew McMenemy and Iain Heard from Gala, David Crudge from Hawick and David Changleng from Peebles/Gala will run the touch at Ibrox Stadium on Saturday and Sunday, while John Montgomery from Peebles is a timekeeper at the event.

At the age of 60, John is the senior member of the squad of Borders officials and is responsible for keeping the clock in order during the games.

“It is essential that the timing is accurate at these events because every second at the end of a game counts,” said John who has four years of IRB Sevens experience behind him.

Along with John, David Crudge, 41, and Iain, 45, have never officiated at a Commonwealth Games before, while David Changleng, 44, and Andrew, 29, held assistant referee roles in Manchester 2002 and Delhi 2010 respectively.

Changleng, who has tickets for some of the hockey and athletics events, told The Southern: “The people of Scotland have really bought into these Commonwealth Games and I think they are something that we can all really be proud of.

“I’m really looking forward to supporting some of the local athletes while I am there.”

All five rugby officials were present at yesterday’s opening ceremony.

Let us know if you are taking part in the Glasgow Games in any way by posting your stories and pictures on our Facebook page.

The Common Agricultural Policy reform has been rumbling forward with more detail dripping through on a daily basis.

With the basic structure of the scheme confirmed – the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) combined with a Greening element – attention now turns to some of the finer details. In particular, the Digital by Default policy which is currently being debated in the House of Commons.

This refers to the move away from paper applications to having a system which revolves entirely around an online-based scheme.

Many of us who have the ability, equipment and inclination already use the online services. For others it is impractical or even impossible to access an online system from the remote rural locations that farming often offers.

The Basic Payment will account for a large proportion of many farming businesses trading income. I am not sure how comfortable many of our clients will be about completing this on the old farm office computer with hit-and-miss broadband connection!

There has also been an indication of an on-line only mapping system rather than the traditional pen and paper approach.

Another factor which will further disadvantage farmers in rurally challenged areas. We really need to be aware of the extra difficulties and pressure this will put on farmers, especially in the first year.

During the debate, Farming Minister George Eustice came under fire for the Digital by Default approach. Defending the policy, Eustice cited the £750million investment planned by Government in the Broadband Delivery UK scheme. This is a scheme designed to provide broadband to rural areas throughout the country. Furthermore, digital service centres will become available to those in the worst areas to help claimants with their application.

The Broadband Scheme sounds great, but is it likely that this will be in place for the 2015 BPS application – unlikely? The approach seems fairly narrow minded and it will be interesting to see what level of penalties are applied when people struggle to get up to speed on the new system in the first few years.

Unfortunately it is a rather gloomy picture to date of a scheme which is more expensive to administer, more complicated to apply for and with possibly less money at the end of the day.

George F White advise that farmers speak to their local MP and professional advisors to ascertain whether Digital by Default may be an issue for them.

Newly published research into soil microbes shows how, eventually, farmers might reduce greenhouse gas production through the way they manage their soils. The work, by an EU wide consortium including researchers from Scotland’s Rural College, shows how effectively a newly discovered group of soil microbes breaks down Nitrous Oxide, a major contributor to global warming and a gas blamed for depleting the ozone layer. It suggests that if their growth could be encouraged soils could make a greater contribution to addressing climate change.

The research, published in the respected journal Nature Climate Change, was led by the INRA agroecology centre in France. The consortium involved scientists from the Irish agriculture and food development authority, Teagasc, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and from Scotland, the James Hutton Institute and SRUC.

“Compared with what we know about Carbon Dioxide and Methane we don’t understand enough how different soil microorganisms create Nitrous Oxide or break it down,” says SRUC Soil Ecologist, Professor Bryan Griffiths. “This work gives us greater knowledge about the bugs which reduce harmful Nitrous Oxide to useful Nitrogen and Oxygen. We have also discovered that the effect of this denitrification does not depend on one simple soil factor like drainage or pH but relies on the abundance of these microbes. The next step will be to look at the factors which control that abundance and activity.”

There are literally billions of different microorganisms in soils. Instead of looking for particular individual species the researchers used DNA analysis to look for the genes linked to denitrification. Their results, from a survey of 47 different soils across Europe, represent many species of microorganism all of which share this ability to reduce Nitrous Oxide.

According to Bryan Griffiths: “Nitrous Oxide contributes some 6 per cent to global warming and has a major effect on the ozone layer. Around 70 per cent of the world’s Nitrous Oxide comes from various land-based ecosystems and 60 per cent of that can be attributed to microbial processes in agriculture. If we can find ways of altering the balance so that there are larger populations of these Nitrous Oxide reducing microbes, it will help agriculture reduce what we call its environmental footprint.”

For a full version of the Research paper entitled Recently identified microbial guild mediates soil N2O sink capacity, use the following link – http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2301

To contact Professor Griffiths email: bryan.griffiths@sruc.ac.uk or call 07879 43806.

A Lilliesleaf woman who falsely claimed more than £5,000 in benefits had sentence deferred for a further three months to review the progress of repayment.

Samara Thomson, 29, of Hislop’s Row, admitted obtaining £2,583 income support and £2,666 housing and council tax benefit to which she was not entitled between October 2012 and June 2013.

Defending, Mat Patrick said first offender Thomson had initially made valid claims, but failed to advise the authorities of a change in circumstances. He said pressure and family circumstances, including bereavement, had contributed to the crime of omission.

Jedburgh teenager Samantha Martin and her six-year-old gelding Touchwood both 
stood supreme at the 100th Newtown St Boswells Show.

The 15-year-old’s horse took the top prize on a day when a good crowd enjoyed a high standard of entrants.

The show, which took place at St Boswells Auction Mart, also included sheep for the first time since 2000.

The supreme of the show, judged by John Tilson and his wife went to the working hunter pony reserve champion, Touchwood, ridden by Jedburgh Grammar School pupil Samantha Martin.

The six-year-old Colleen Clover gelding was bought at Goresbridge as a three-year- old by Clive Storey and sold to the Martin family last October.

The combination are enjoying a great season as he has qualified in dressage to go to the pony club championships later in the year.

Reserve supreme was Beth Macdonald’s Connemara Mare, Tra Bhain Kate, who stood overall in the mountain & moorland section.

Aidan Kennedy from Co Tipperary judged the in hand hunters and he chose the winner of the foal class, Scotty, as his champion.

Scotty then went on to take the overall hunter championship with Clive Storey’s Barney in reserve. Scotty is by the stallion Classic Scott and is owned by Vicky Laub from Selkirk.

Pippa Bell on Humphrey were champion in the coloured classes.

Best in the ridden pony section was the 12.2 winner, Lindisfarne T’Ambassador, ridden by Amy Campbell.

Vicky Edgar took the tricolour in the working hunter pony classes aboard Another Adventure and Ellie Vestey was overall in the pony club pony classes on Priory Quickthorn.

The Retrained Racehorse Challenge, went to Charlotte Bunting on Clive Storey’s Rumour Has It while Charlotte Dun and Peter Dale’s Monsoon Music headed a strong class in the retrained racehorses show class.

The winner of the sheep class for the best pair of ewe lambs went to Philiphaugh Estate. These were judged by Jim Jeffrey, whose grandfather had judged at the show after the First World War.

The farmer group at Quality Meat Scotland’s Peeblesshire monitor farm, Hundleshope, focused on grassland at its latest meeting.

The majority of the Hundleshope land, 1,450 of 1,800 acres is hill, peaking at 2,200 feet and is home to a flock of 364 Blackfaces.

The lower ground supports a 79-strong suckler herd, flock of 450 Scotch Mules and Texel crosses and 170 hoggs and 30 acres of spring barley.

Farmers Kate and Ed Rowell want to address improving the lower ground grass during the three-year monitor farm term. Last year they made award-winning silage.

Welsh grassland specialist Charlie Morgan suggested to the group soil testing and dealing with any compaction problems.

He said: “The soil is the most important thing on your farm. Soil compaction restricts both (grass) root depth and oxygen. It also negates the benefits of lime and fertiliser applications.”

Mr Morgan dug holes in several fields finding the best soil structure in an area of old hill ground which has only grazed sheep and is rarely travelled over by wheels. He recommended aerating compacted soil in the autumn.

The next Peebles monitor farm meeting is an open day at the end of August when the farm’s changes over the last 18 months will be reviewed.

Glendale Show is gearing up to welcome a record-breaking livestock entry this year after introducing new classes in response to demand from exhibitors.

The annual showcase, held at the showground, Wooler, on Bank Holiday Monday, August 25, will be staging new pedigree cattle and non-MV Suffolk sheep classes as part of a raft of additional classes.

Now in its 122nd year, Glendale Show is aiming to build on the record 400-plus head of livestock that were exhibited in 2013. Andrew Walton, chief livestock steward and a director of show organisers, the Glendale Agricultural Society (GAS), said: “We are delighted that in recent years the livestock classes at Glendale Show have seen resurgence and have gone from strength to strength.

“To meet the growing interest we have incorporated some new sheep and cattle classes to appeal to both existing and new exhibitors and we do hope that once again the younger generation will be well represented.

“We are attracting exhibitors from further afield and as usual have a very high calibre of judges.”

A major extension of the sheep section will include four classes for non-MV Suffolks: shearling ram; ram lamb; ewe or gimmer; and ewe lamb. The new flock competition is also a first for the show, and will appraise the overall husbandry and performance of commercial flock entrants.

GAS decided to bring in pedigree cattle classes following requests from breeders and exhibitors at last year’s show.

Livestock steward Ian Murray said: “By extending our range of classes, we expect to attract not only new exhibitors but additional visitors to the show. The audience loves to see cattle on display, and of course, it’s a very worthwhile enterprise for exhibitors who have a good shop window ahead of the autumn sales.”

The main ring Grand Parade, sponsored by Davidsons Animal Feeds, which culminates in the crowning of the show’s Champion of Champions, sponsored by John Swan, will feature the winners of the cattle, sheep, horse, donkey and goat sections.

The show’s sponsors are its lifeblood, without whose generosity the show would struggle to exist.

Each year the show costs in the region of £100,000 to stage and it would not happen without their support.

This year, Carrs Billington is sponsoring the livestock points competition, which has a top prize of £200.

The contest allocates points from first to third place in all the sheep and cattle classes, with the exhibitor collecting the most during the show winning the money.

Also new for this year is Hexham Auction Mart Co Ltd who are sponsoring the Interbreed Championship, and Garth Thompson Wealth Management are sponsoring the cattle section.

In addition to the livestock classes, Glendale 2014 will be offering its usual wide mix of competitions, entertainment and trade stands.

The equine classes, which will occupy the main ring in the morning, include showjumping, hunter, ex-racehorse, Arab, coloured horses and children’s classes, plus the children’s ridden fancy dress contest.

Main ring entertainment will include The Kangaroo Kid, aka Australian world record-breaking stuntman Matt Coulter, who performs breathtaking stunts on a quad bike, and will this year be joined in the ring by his son Sam; the New Zealand-based Sheep Show, a fun educational show featuring different breeds and sheep that dance for the audience; an air display of thrilling low-level aerial acrobatics from a privately-owned stunt biplane; falconry displays; sheep racing; fell racing; rural crafts; countryside and food marquees; vintage machinery; chainsaw carving; children’s entertainment and live music.

Gates open at 9am.

The Borders’ answer to last week’s Tour de France excitement in Yorkshire takes place in just a couple of weeks.

There are still spaces for the region’s first closed road cycling event, the Endura Tour O’ The Borders, now in its third year, on Sunday, August 10.

And organisers are looking for more local volunteers to help at the sportive, which is expected to attract up to 3,000 cyclists.

One of the organisers Neil Dalgleish said: “An event like this needs a small army of staff and helpers. We’re recruiting a big team to help as stewards and marshals all the way round the 124 km route and we’re keen to get people who live on or near the course involved. They can be stationed along the way to direct riders and keep an eye out for any problems.

“It’s a great way to be part of the action and join in the excitement of a big event”

Organisers will provide training and cover helpers’ expenses for the 77-mile and 55-mile routes mostly on rural roads between Peebles, Ettrick, Roberton and Selkirk.

The event, which attracted nearly 300 riders in, 2012, its first year, is supported by EventScotland and Scottish Borders Council, and will raise money for Macmillan Cancer Care. It is expected to bring in £500,000 to the area,

For more information, visit www.tourotheborders.com

Osprey enthusiasts have not been disappointed with the ‘back-up’ nest, says project officer Diane Bennett.

Forestry Commission Scotland hastened to set up cameras (for live feeds to Glentress and Kailzie centres, near Peebles) on another nest after the loss of the female and her three chicks in the main nest of the Tweed Valley Osprey Project earlier this summer.

Diane said: “The new osprey pair are proving to be a real hit with visitors. The ringed adult birds are absolutely, stunningly beautiful.

“The male is a powerful and proficient hunter and he is bringing in good-sized fish which he passes straight over to the female and she feeds the two hungry young ospreys straight away.”

Volunteers have found out the male fledged from the project’s number one back-up nest in 2004.

Diane said: “It’s great to know birds born in the Borders are returning to breed in the area. This is another proven success for the Tweed Valley Osprey Project.

“We are still waiting to hear where the green-ringed female has come from, but records so far reveal she is not a Borderer.”

She added: “We have had delightful news that one of the osprey chicks ringed at the number one back-up nestsite last year has been photographed on a sunny beach on the River Tinto, Huelva in Spain this summer.”

After Saturday’s downpours, it was back to glorious sunshine on Sunday and an early start for me, to avoid the heat and humidity of the middle of the day.

I decided it was time to give Treacle – our cockapoo, who is now nearly nine months old – her first “proper” walk, so the destination of the day was the Three Brethren cairns – a good three-hour round trip from the house.

The first section, through the woods of Philiphaugh Estate, was cool and pleasant, but once out onto the open hills at the reservoir at the top of the glen, things began to heat up considerably.

I paused at the edge of the square lochan to look for a plant I first heard about many years ago from the late Arthur Smith.

It always grew near the reservoir overflow and I first found it many years ago, but the flash floods of 2003 resulted in a lot of ground works in the area and I wondered if it had survived.

The plant was greater birdsfoot trefoil (a much bigger version of the common one) and I didn’t need to look long.

It was absolutely everywhere. Its bright yellow flowerheads were towering above the long grass on both sides of the track.

The soil disturbance had obviously spread the plant around and it was doing brilliantly.

The winding hill path to the cairns is flanked with heather, which was just beginning to colour up and hundreds of tiny small heath butterflies were flitting back and forth across the path.

A family of wheatears erupted from the heather at my approach, the parents “chacking” loudly in alarm, and most of the way I was accompanied by the chirp of meadow pipits and the song of skylarks.

A pair of ravens perched on a skeletal dead tree gave off loud gutteral “kruuk kruuk” calls as I passed and a group of half a dozen red grouse were put to flight, much to the amusement of my black canine companion, who had never seen or heard anything like that before.

The final approach to the cairns seemed endless, as the path crossed a series of false summits, until at last, the three imposing drystane cones finally came into view.

By this time I was breathless and not a little damp under the rucksack, but Treacle was still full of running, despite the heat.

As ever, the view was stunning and it wasn’t long before I was joined by an English couple who were enjoying a week’s break in the Borders for the first time.

With only one wet day, they would certainly be returning home with happy memories of our lovely countryside and so would I.

Apologies to those who have missed my ramblings for the past three weeks – I did a couple of weeks holiday cover on the Hawick News and then enjoyed a week’s break.

To those who didn’t miss my weekly muses – tough. I’m back, so you’ll just have to turn the page and enjoy our coverage of Kelso Civic Week and the Cleikum Ceremonies and Games at Innerleithen.

Seriously, I do enjoy penning – or, more correctly, computering – this column. Journalists who are given the opportunity to be a columnist should really consider themselves fortunate. It provides an opportunity to express opinion – something that is normally denied the news reporter. An opportunity to break away from the rather rigorous rules of engagement that exist, if not for all newspaper reporters, at least for the local press man and woman.

It provides an opportunity to reflect on times, people, places and happenings that hopefully provide a half-decent read for those who cough up the cover price of the publication.

So, that’s why, when opportunity arose for Grey Matter to sprout from the pages of The Southern, I grabbed it with mouse and keyboard in hand. No need for Tipp-Ex now – just find the delete button.

In my early days as a reporter, we didn’t have erasing fluid. We had the ‘x’ key on our trusty Remington typewriter. It used to drive the linotype operators crazy (and that could be fun). Line after line of xxxxxxxx erasing our mistakes or change of mind. And that was followed by the editor’s red pen.

I truly wonder how those typesetters made head or tail of some of the copy we put through. But, of course, if it was too bad, the good old Ed gave it back to us and we had to start all over again.

I committed a cardinal sin – some cardinals still do – on my first day at work as a 16-year-old. I typed on both sides of the paper. That was a definite no-no.

I’d like to say it was an exclusive page-one lead that first got me into bother with my editor. But it wasn’t. It was the Top Ten music listing which I was copying from the New Musical Express. I got to Number 5 and turned the paper over. My boss was kind, but firm. I did learn a lesson that first day – and I’m still learning now.

The arrival of Tipp-Ex in liquid and paper form was a boon in a way – but you got into some mess at times. It also did some damage to the roller.

But at least it extended the life of the typewriter ribbon by sparing it the excessive use of xxxx, which we seemed to always hit with excessive force, angry at our own mistakes.

To an extent those tantrums still exist. How many times have we repeatedly hit a computer because we think it is being stubborn and awkward because it doesn’t fulfil the required action immediately – only to remember every time you hit that key you were instructing the computer to carry out the same function over and over again. Frustrating, but, yes, I and a few colleagues still do it.

Somewhere in my loft I have a portable typewriter. I suppose then it was the equivalent of today’s laptop. I think I’ll dig it out for old time’s sake. xxxx

Eighty people packed into Darnick’s Smith Memorial Hall at the weekend in an event that had a distinct ‘Down Under’ flavour.

For it was on Sunday that the village hall celebrated its centenary. And, as well as being rededicated to John Smith of Darnick, the hall was also dedicated to his niece, the Australian philanthropist Helen Macpherson Smith.

Born in Darnick, Helen Macpherson Smith lived most of her life in Melbourne.

Her father had emigrated there in the 1850s, along with nine brothers, sisters and cousins from Darnick and the family became timber merchants.

On her death in 1951, Helen left most of her estate to found the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust in Melbourne.

Since then, it has become one of Australia’s premier foundations, giving more than 4,000 grants to charities and community groups in the state of Victoria.

To mark the rededication, 80 Darnick residents attended a special tea in the hall.

Presenting a centenary plaque made of Australian jarrah wood to the hall, Dr Philip Moors, chair-designate of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, said Australia, and particularly the state of Victoria, owed much to Darnick and its sons and daughters.

Dr Moors, who recently retired as chief executive of Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens. commented: “Helen Macpherson Smith’s legacy, skilfully managed by our chairman Darvell Hutchinson, has provided assistance to tens of thousands of Australians, ranging from asylum seekers trying to establish themselves to promising rural leaders.

“These sons and daughters of Darnick were the economic migrants of their day. On this 100th anniversary, it’s a joy to remember two of them, along with the many residents of Darnick who have given life to this hall.”

An Australian ballad was sung, and a poem about the hall, specially written by Bridget Kursheed, was read.

Keith Smith, chair of the hall trustees, told us: “It was a very nice day.”

Kelso gym instructor Kev Welsh organised a charity calendar, with Abbey Fitness gym-going men stripped to raise money for Prostate Scotland – and the enterprise raised £1,400.

Kev said: “I would like to thank Footeprint in Jedburgh for designing and printing the calendar, Alex Martin Photography for taking the pictures, all the monthly sponsors, The Juicy Meat Co and Cheers bars for the calendar launch night.

“And, of course, all the guys who got their kit off for charity.”

In the picture are Kev, Colin Dumma, Owen Noon – all calendar models – and Richard Walker from Prostate Scotland.

People First Borders, a collective advocacy organisation for those with learning disabilities, celebrated its 25th anniversary this month.

David Tawse, one of the founding members of the group, is pictured with Anne Suckling, a former support worker, at an event to mark the silver anniversary.

Also in attendance was Councillor George Turnbull, and former and current People First Borders members, support workers and friends.

There are five groups in this region – Kelso, Duns, Hawick, Galashiels and Peebles. Members meet and talk about issues that concern them, and respond to consultations about developments in local services.

David, from Peebles, gave a whistle-stop history of People First Borders. One of its early campaigns was for an end to the use of the label “mentally handicapped”.

Since then, the organisation has continued to be involved in a range of campaigns on local and national issues, and its members are empowered to speak up about matters that affect them.

The group welcomes new members and volunteers. For more information, contact Mary Daykin (01896 752120 or mary@peoplefirstborders.org.uk).

The identity of the author of a mystery poem found stuck in an old book has been firmly established as that of famous Borders poet, Will Ogilvie.

The book, a first edition copy of Ogilvie’s ‘Rainbows and Witches’, published in 1907, was bought from a Borders seller via the eBay online auction website by Ian Forbes, from Port Fairy in Victoria, Australia.

Ian, who hails originally from Edinburgh, but whose parents were from Selkirk, is a well-known expert on Ogilvie’s life and work.

Last year, retired marine engineer Ian, who has lived in Australia for 44 years, featured in another story in The Southern after settling a century-old outstanding debt of Ogilvie’s at a sports club in a remote town in the Australian outback.

Ogilvie, born near Kelso in 1869, lived in Australia for over a decade, and is famous across the continent for his outback poetry and ranks alongside such iconic bush writers as Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant, Henry Lawson and Waltzing Matilda author, ‘Banjo’ Paterson.

“The book is a work of Ogilvie’s which I did not have in my collection at home. This copy was on eBay and I bought it for £59 from a seller somewhere here in the Borders area,” said Ian, who returns to Scotland every year to visit relatives and attend the jazz festival in Edinburgh.

“When I opened it I found this poem, ‘For Mother’ on a typed sheet stuck in the back and it had Ogilvie’s name typed at the bottom,” Ian told The Southern this week.

The fly-leaf was also inscribed with a hand-written message dedicating the book to a Mrs Mann by ‘the author’.

However, Ian was puzzled: “To my knowledge Ogilvie never used a typewriter or a fountain pen and that, to the end of his days, stuck to using a pen and a bottle of ink.

“I’d also never heard of this particular poem and very few people in Australia had either.”

Ian had brought the book with him on his visit to Scotland last year and showed the poem to people in the Borders but none had heard of it.

And it was not until Ian was speaking to a fellow Ogilvie enthusiast in Australia that things took an interesting turn.

“I’d said to her that if she ever came across this poem ‘For Mother’ to let me know. She said she thought she had a copy of it somewhere.

“Then, about three days later, an envelope arrived with photocopy of her own copy. It turned out she had bought about 150 copies of this old school newspaper produced by the education department of Victoria in the early years of the last century.

“And on the front of one from 1910 was this poem and a photograph of Ogilvie and that was the definitive proof that this poem was indeed one of his, which was fantastic.”

The boys and girls of 
Howdenburn Primary School, Jedburgh were delighted when their recent request for sponsorship from a large agricultural supply business was successful.

The school football team, 
pictured above with teacher Mr Woof, are now proud to turn out in a complete new kit thanks to the support of Davidsons Animal Feeds.

William Davidson of Davidsons Animal Feeds commented: “We are delighted by the strong demand for our feeds from Borders farmers. When Steven Turnbull our rep in the Borders (pictured, left) told us that the Howdenburn Primary School needed a new 
football strip we were pleased to help. We are always 
happy to put something back into the community.”

It played host to an opera-singing Mohawk chief, its tower was rumoured to house spies and its owner built Scotland’s first chocolate factory.

Brunswickhill is an imposing Victorian mansion in Galashiels, set looking out towards Abbotsford and the Eildons, and commissioned in 1874 by industrialist Charles Schulze.

Currently up for sale by the present owner, Moira Sloss of Edinburgh, the property is also home to a fascinating historical archive relating to the extraordinary Schulze family.

Portobello historian and author Archie Foley’s recent book on Portobello and the Great War, co-authored with Margaret Munro, features a section on the city’s Continental Chocolate Company factory, built by Mr Schulze in 1906.

Archie’s recent letter in The Southern Reporter seeking information on the Schulzes resulted in Brunswickhill caretakers Frank and Trish Daly contacting Archie to reveal the existence of the Brunswickhill archive.

Last week, Archie travelled to Galashiels from his home in Edinburgh to peruse the collection of old documents and photographs for himself.

“After writing the book on Portobello and mentioning the chocolate factory, I had wanted to see what the Schulze family actually looked like,” Archie told us.

“I found out about Brunswickhill and got intrigued by Mr Schulze and found out he lived till he was 90 and so thought there might be an obituary in The Southern Reporter archives.

“I submitted the letter to the paper because I also thought there might be people who knew the Schulzes.”

The Continental Chocolate Company factory was erected in 1906 near to King’s Road in Portobello. Mr Schulze, who hailed originally from Brunswick in Germany – hence the name of his home in Galashiels – was a already a prosperous cloth merchant in the Borders.

He had wanted to establish a business making luxury chocolate products like those produced in Belgium and Germany – a first for Scotland.

The factory was of a radical design and construction. Four storeys high with exterior walls of red fire brick, it was constructed mainly of reinforced concrete.

People often remarked on the extreme depth of the foundations, the thickness of the floors and roof, and the strength of the reinforced iron pillars and beams that had been used.

Mr Schulze funded the construction and outfitting of the factory, which was then leased to the Continental Chocolate Company – a partnership formed by his three sons, Charles, Hugh and William.

Production of chocolates got under way in 1911 after delays with machinery and the need to train staff, but it was short-lived as the outbreak of the First World War just three years later saw the factory eventually requisitioned by the military.

This had been made easier by the anti-German feeling stirred up by the war, rumours the factory had been so strongly built so it could be used by German military forces and the fact Mr Schulze had never applied for British citizenship, despite living here for more than 50 years.

“Charles Schulze had married into the Lees family in Galashiels and his last surviving child was Dorothy, who lived at Brunswickhill until her death in the 1980s,” explained Frank, who has worked at Brunswickhill for 18 years and met Dorothy Alwynne just once, when he was a youngster of about 12.

“She was a concert violinist and after the First World War had toured Canada and the United States. But she used her middle name of ‘Alwynne’ due to anti-German feeling caused by the war.”

The opera-singing Mohawk chief she met on her travels, Oskenonton, actually came to Galashiels and stayed at Brunswickhill, giving concerts locally and visiting schools.

Tragically, it was not just the chocolate factory that Mr Schulze lost, two of his three sons being killed during the Great War – one with the Cameron Highlanders and the other with the Dorsetshire Regiment.

They were survived, however, by their siblings – Charles Frederick, Nora, Mary and Dorothy.

In 1922, their father had a replica of the door to Amiens Cathedral added to the porch of Old Parish and St Paul’s Church, Galashiels, in memory of his two dead sons.

After the war, the chocolate factory was converted into a technical college and in the 1990s it was turned into flats.

Archie added: “I had hoped to find documents about the chocolate factory here at Brunswickhill, or perhaps even some packaging or advertising materials the factory had used, but there is nothing.

“But now that I have stumbled across all this archive material, my quest for information about the Schulzes has turned into a bit of a quest to ensure all this historical documentation is properly preserved for future generations.”

And it looks like this will now become reality with confirmation this week that Mrs Sloss has agreed to the archive being donated to Scottish Borders Council museums service.

Judy Steel, wife of former Liberal leader David, will join the SNP’s finance boss John Swinney at a Yes indy rally at the Ednam House Hotel, Kelso, next Thursday.

They’ll be joined by lawyer Carol Fox and businessman James Aitken.

Landowner Colin Strang Steel of Threepwood, Blainslie, Galashiels was awarded a coveted Wildlife Estates Scotland (WES) accreditation at the Scottish Game Fair earlier this month.

The WES is a national version of the EU Wildlife Estates (WE) initiative aimed at protecting, preserving and improving the environment.

Mr Strang Steel, who applied for and underwent “quite a rigorous assessment” before gaining the accrediation, said: “This seems to be another logical step along the way towards showing what we do and how we do try and integrate everything on the farm from wildlife managment to predator control to farming and shooting, so that everything is run together for the benefit of each other.

“I’m pleased to get it and it will spur me on to try to do even more.”

He hopes to put in a ‘major wetland area’ in an already boggy spot. He has been farming Threepwood with a manager, and latterly another, since 1995.

Conservation and wildlife promotion work includes creating ponds, wildlife scrapes and planting crops such as kale, quinoa and triticale, which provides food for birds over the winter.

And he leaves the stubble from spring barley for lapwings and others, as well as hares. He has also planted about two miles of hedges.

He runs predominantly sheep on the 1,020 acres and has a small family shoot.

For the last two years, a part-time gamekeeper has controlled predators such as crows and “since he’s been here we’ve seen a marked increase in song birds and lapwings” said Mr Strang Steel.

The Songbird Survival trustee explained: “I just love birds and wildlife generally, and I have always been very attracted by birds, especially songbirds: they are under an enormous amount of pressure, not from farmers, but from predators such as crows, magpies, jays and cats, and they need a lot of protection.

“I have enjoyed the challenge of trying to help.

“It’s enormously rewarding when you go out and turn a corner and there’s a lapwing on a scrape you know would not have been there two years ago.”

He released 50 grey partridges last year and is set to do the same again this year.

Last year, Threepwood gained a Highly Commended certificate at the annual Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation.

And in 2010, Threepwood was awarded the RSPB’s Nature of Farming Award in Scotland.

WES was founded by Scottish Land & Estates with support from Scottish Natural Heritage, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland and the Cairngorms National Park Authority. It has been supported from the beginning by the Scottish Government.

Threepwood was one of five estates to win the accredition.

Wildlife Estates Scotland Chairman Robbie Douglas Miller said: “The recipients are diverse in nature, ranging from large farm businesses to more traditional sporting estates.

What they all have in common, however, is a desire to work exceptionally hard for the good of the nation’s wildlife at the same time as sustaining their own business activities, and it is pleasing that this effort in wildlife management – that is sometimes taken for granted – is being recognised more widely.”

I AM quite proud of my lovely, tall raspberry canes, which sit at the head of each of my two raised beds. Each year, I have carefully tended them, or so I thought.

I have spent hours and hours cutting them back to the required length at the right time, watering them, tying them to supports when they became too unruly and generally cosseting them.

And each year they have paid me back with – no fruit.

I did the usual pruning, straightened up the supports and then waited to see if the summer of 2014 would be any different. Then the mild spring happened and they suddenly sprouted, all bushy and as tall as trees, swaying in the breeze.

Mr E noticed them one day. “Those raspberries need tying back or they’ll snap in the wind,” he says. I tell him it’s on my ‘to do’ list, quite taken aback by his sudden interest in soft fruit welfare.

“I’ll sort it for you,” says he, and sets off with a handful of rope (yes, proper rope, not the usual twine or string) and some humongous supports which are so tall they would have done for pole vaulting at the Commonwealth Games. Men don’t do ‘ordinary’ when they set their minds to An Important Task (AKA meddling), do they? No mere knobbly garden canes for Mr E. Everything has to be bigger, better, more engineered. They are only humble raspberry canes, but they are getting the full man treatment. I watch in awe and wonder.

An hour later they are trussed up with rope thick enough to use for towing cars in some sort of elaborate criss-cross pattern between the vaulting poles. “So, what do you think?” he says, hands on hips gazing lovingly at his creation.

“Erm, great,” I say, making a mental note not to garotte myself on the ropes next time I go in and about the beds to pick lettuce (they are strung across exactly at neck height). I thank him profusely and hope that this is the end of it.

No such luck. He has become involved. He now has a vested interest in the raspberries. A few weeks later, Gamford spots a blackbird standing amongst the lettuce, leaping upwards repeatedly and plucking something from the canes. Fruit. We have raspberries and they are starting to ripen. Or rather, Mr E does. For they have now become ‘his’ raspberries.

“I must get them covered up,” he says, “Or the blackbirds will get them and that’s not happening after all my (!) hard work.”

I say that he can’t have the netting as it is draped over the Le Bresse chicks’ run, to stop them being taken by crows. So off he pops to the garden centre, and comes back with – fleece. Now, I am no Alan Titchmarsh, but I’m pretty sure fleece is designed to keep plants warm in colder months and whilst offering some protection from predators it’s mostly an autumn/winter/spring thing.

However, I kept my opinions to myself as he was hell-bent on ‘his’ project, and it seems to have worked.

Last night, Mr E went out and picked a full punnet of rasps. Lovely, big, sweet-tasting ones. What do I know, eh?