The threat of removal has been lifted from a static caravan which was installed without planning permission and has been used for the past five years as seasonal staff accommodation for a remote Borders hotel.

“I’m relieved, especially as no-one will be made homeless,” said Alistair Moody, owner of Tibbie Shiels Inn which sits on the western shore of St Mary’s Loch.

He was commenting after Scottish Borders Council’s local planning review board agreed on Monday to grant consent for the 30-foot mobile home, in a secluded wooded area near the hotel, for a period of 10 years and on condition occupation is limited to hotel staff or for short-term holiday lets.

Councillors thus overturned the January decision of planning officer Dorothy Amyes who had rejected Mr Moody’s bid for retrospective permission, claiming the economic case had not been established and that the caravan did not respect the character of the area.

Objections had come from St Mary’s Loch Sailing Club and Ettrick and Yarrow Community Council, the former expressing concerns over the caravan’s septic tank and the latter claiming it could set a precedent for similar random sitings in the area.

Mr Moody appealed and in June the review body deferred a decision pending further submissions from the interested parties.

It is indeed true that we occasionally admit dogs into our centre that have been physically abused or willfully neglected.

Way more common by far, however, are the dogs that arrive with more subtle, yet equally damaging, psychological and behavioural issues. We believe most of these are caused not by design but often through a worrying lack of understanding of a dog’s most basic needs and the damage caused if these are not met.

Separation anxiety, poor socialisation, lack of basic training, and poor fitness are the most common issues we see on a daily basis to varying degrees; with many dogs, far too often, exhibiting all four at once! Today we will cover the first two with the final ones next week.

Separation anxiety, caused mainly by being regularly left alone for long periods, can lead to an extremely stressed, depressed, unpredictable and unhappy dog. When Borders Pet Rescue look for potential new homes for a dog we look for households where the maximum time left alone would be around four hours. Indeed, for dogs with existing separation anxiety we would look for the dog to be very rarely left alone at all (certainly for a good while).

So if, as a household, your new dog would be left alone for say five hours or more on a regular basis please seriously consider the potential damage you could be doing to it. There is no doubt that all dogs and situations are different but, in our experience, not many canines would choose that way of life at all. We have continually developed and bred dogs through the ages to be social and integrated with us and to deny them human company and interaction can lead to serious behavioural issues.

They don’t adapt well to kennel life at the centre and their often stressed state makes them so much harder to re home as a result. Regularly we see peeing and/or pooing in the kennels along with destruction of their bedding. Hyperactivity and excessive excitability around people is also often observed. This can result in a dog that jumps up on people and mouths at hands or clothing. This attention seeking behaviour can be really dangerous especially if the dog is large or powerful and if there are children or the elderly exposed to it.

Separation anxiety and lack of socialisation are often linked and are major barriers to developing a fulfilled and well adjusted dog. We see the negative effects regularly at the centre and know the hard work involved in trying put these right. Before getting your new dog, please stop and think for a moment. Can you offer it the right environment in which to develop fully and do you have the time or inclination to expose your dog to a wide variety of social situations and life experiences on a daily basis. If you can’t or won’t then please consider getting a dog later on when your circumstances are more favourable.

I have mentioned previously about my involvement with the annual Breeding Bird Survey, which entails getting up at the crack of dawn on two occasions during the spring and visiting a predetermined 1km square to note all the birds encountered, either by sight or sound.

Sometimes it can seem a bit of a pain, until the results of the national survey pop through the letterbox and you really get the point of it all.

I have just received this glossy publication for 2014, courtesy of the British Trust for Ornithology, and it makes interesting reading.

Some of the numbers are a bit complicated for me to crunch, but here are some of the more digestible ones:

z 2,687 volunteers took part, covering 3,639 squares, logging 223 species.

z In Scotland, 474 squares were covered.

z The most commonly recorded bird for the past 17 years has been the woodpigeon.

z The rest of the top 10 are: 2, blackbird, 3, rook, 4, carrion crow, 5, jackdaw, 6, wren, 7, chaffinch, 8, house sparrow, 9, starling, 10, blue tit.

The survey really comes into its own when it comes to showing population trends and it confirms what I have been noticing in recent years, particularly that chiffchaffs, great spotted woodpeckers and blackcaps have all increased by over 400 per cent since 1995.

On the other hand, two of the biggest losers have been kestrel and swift, both down 60 per cent over the same period.

Interestingly, short-term population changes can also be indicative of other factors such as the weather.

Two of our smallest species – wren and long-tailed tit, increased significantly since the previous year, thanks to the mild winter.

Siskins have declined across Europe since 1995, but Scotland has bucked that trend by showing a remarkable 51 per cent increase.

The reasons are unclear but it is thought that it is probably down to us putting out garden feeders, which they have learned to exploit, and the increase in afforestation in Scotland.

There is a section on the survey forms for the recorder to note any mammal sightings as well.

For me, the most amazing statistic to come out of that is that foxes have declined by 29 per cent since 1995 and are currently at their lowest level since the survey began. What does that tell us about the effectiveness of fox hunting?

If you would like to help out in next year’s survey, there are plenty of vacant squares in the Borders and there will be a suitable one near you. Drop an e-mail to me at corbie@homecall.co.uk and I will put you in touch with the Borders regional organiser.

This week, another meander off-topic. Well off-topic. Although it does have a very tenuous link to chickens. But, I stress, very tenuous.

Anyhoo, you may remember (and it really doesn’t matter if you don’t, because like all columnists, I do tend to repeat myself because, like all columnists, I have a short memory and an even shorter repertoire. This is because all columnists are super-smart, and have brains positively fizzing with stuff – not much of it suitable for publication, sadly – and I also have the extra excuse that I am a mum. And like all mums, I have a brain fizzing with stuff, most of it once useful, but now addled from years of talking CBeebies-ese. I’m also going for a Guinness World Record in the use of parentheses) that our tent had been sold at the start of the year, and that there was talk of a caravan.

As a smallholder, I should really be knocking up my own Mongolian yurt out of sail canvas and Blu-Tak, and decorating it with home-made bunting. However, buying a caravan seemed a slightly less arduous way forward, and a much more mobile option. So the decision was made. The camping trailer must go, and a caravan must be bought.

An impending trip to visit Cousin Callum on the Isle of Mull with our mutt pack and the YMs sharpened our desire for said caravan. Cousin Callum and his wife, the lovely Jackie, run an immaculate B&B, and we decided that they would be better off if we didn’t rampage through their house, coating it in mud and dog hair, and destroying it over the course of a long weekend.

We could take a caravan on the ferry and we could be somewhere nearby, without imposing.

So the search was on, and an old – but very reasonably priced – caravan was spotted. The drawback? It was Doon Sooth in sunny Donny. Ah, Doncaster, home to the famous racecourse and possibly the most windswept, desolate train station in the north of England (in my opinion, based on my experiences as a student in London travelling home late at night in the holibags).

With the skoolio holibags about to finish, I thought it might be fun to go on one last road trip with the YMs. Down to Donny, buy the caravan, then an overnight en route before coming home the next day. Great excitement!

So off we went, with number plate, leisure battery and Porta Potty slung in the back of the pick-up.

Off we went down the A1. Many years later (or so it seemed due to the endless contra-flow) we arrived at the lovely Georgina’s house, and about half an hour later we were back on the road with our new (very old) caravan. It seemed only fitting that we should call her Georgina, in honour of the lady herself, who had enjoyed more than 30 years of happy touring with her late husband in the ’van.

So far, so good. Georgina has been such a hit with the YMs that they opted to spend a second night in her, on the drive, plugged into the workshop electrics. And this weekend they are determined to sleep in her again. All weekend.

And the tenuous link to chooks? Mr E says that if Georgina is no good as a caravan, she’ll make a good chicken shed. Gulp.

Two artistic Borderers are combining their talents to create a poignant memorial to the victims of one of the bloodiest episodes in Scotland’s social history.

Galashiels-born sculptor Angela Hunter, whose studio is in Innerleithen, and Broughton landscape designer James Gordon have been commissioned to design and install the work, which is due to be officially unveiled next month in Greenock.

It commemorates the Radical War of 1820, sometimes called the Scottish Insurrection, which saw widespread strikes and demands for reform, particularly from weavers impoverished by economic downturn.

The unrest spilled into Greenock on Saturday, April 8 , when a party of prisoners was being escorted to the town’s jail by the militia set up to crush the movement. Locals took to the streets to protest and, on their way back from the jail, the militia responded to insults and stone-throwing by opening fire – killing eight people and wounding 10 others.

The youngest of the victims was eight-year-old James McGilp and the oldest was 65-year-old John MacWhinnie – and it is their hands, clasped in solidarity, which are symbolised in Angela’s bronze work, enclosed in a bronze ring and mounted on a sandstone plinth.

James has been charged to design a memorial wall bearing the graffiti-like inscription, “Remember the 8th of April that bloody day when many were wounded and carried away”, along with the names of those killed.

Among those who opposed the radical movement was Sir Walter Scott. After the insurrection was quelled, it was on Scott’s advice that hundreds of unemployed weavers from the west of Scotland were put to work paving a track around Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh. The path is still known as the Radical Road.

Angela’s 2013 bust of rugby commentator Bill McLaren has pride of place at Murrayfield. In 2009, she completed the bronze – Turning the Bull – which graces the civic space in the Heart of Hawick.

It’s a movie that has all the ingredients to be a blockbuster; the true story of an odd couple taking on the might of a state to right a historical wrong. Unfortunately, this week’s DVD doesn’t quite hit the mark.

Helen Mirren plays Maria Altmann, member of an Austrian Jewish family who fell victim to the tyranny of the Nazis. As a child she escaped the country, forced to leave her parents behind.

The Nazis stole the family’s art collection, including the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I – Maria’s own aunt – by Gustav Klimt.

Years later, an ageing Maria enlists the help of Ryan Reynold’s young lawyer Randol Schoenberg to get the painting back from the Austrian government who have claimed it as their own.

From the outset of the film, Mirren has fun as the eccentric and slightly cantankerous old lady who takes great pleasure in cajoling a struggling young lawyer into her service. Ryan Reynold’s character suffers by comparison.

He’s bland and boring, and not helped by a script which can’t infuse much drama into the bureaucratic courtroom struggles which play out throughout the film.

It’s in the flashbacks to Maria’s youth that director Simon Curtis finds something to get his teeth into. These darker glimpses into 1940s Vienna offer up some bleak and compelling visions of the past. However, it’s difficult to reconcile this bleak history with the cosy storytelling of the post-war legal battle. The contrast is too stark, despite Mirren’s propensity to stare off, misty-eyed, into the middle distance every once in a while.

Woman in Gold tells a remarkable story coming out of one of the 20th century’s darkest chapters. Unfortunately, the film is a disappointingly heavy-handed portrayal of this important historical episode.

St Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Kelso holds its summer sale on August 29 – but it will be without much-loved member Babs McLeod, who died recently aged 103.

Babs is pictured at her hand-knitted goods stall at last year’s event – and she sold the lot. The 2015 sale runs from 9.15am-12.15pm, concluding with the drawing of the raffle.

Its name is a battle honour proudly carried on the colours of every Scottish regiment – and saw no less than 17 Victoria Crosses awarded.

The Battle of Loos in France started in September, 1915, and was the largest British conflict that took place that year on the Western Front.

Of the 21,000 British troops killed, more than 7,000 were soldiers from almost every town and village in Scotland.

A total of 17 VCs were earned by British troops, with probably the most famous Scottish award being that to Piper Daniel Laidlaw, of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers.

But it is a fellow Borders VC winner, Lieutenant Colonel Angus Falconar Douglas-Hamilton, who will be remembered in a special service in Melrose next month.

He was commanding officer of the 6th Battalion, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, which suffered 357 casualties at Loos, including nearly all its officers.

A plaque in Holy Trinity Church in Melrose commemorates the memory of Lt Col. Douglas-Hamilton, who won his VC for operations at the western end of Chalet Wood near Hill 70 on September 26, 1915.

And 100 years to the day since his death, a second memorial in the form of an engraved paving stone honouring Lt Col. Douglas-Hamilton, who lived in Melrose, will be unveiled in the town.

Father Phillip Blackledge, Rector of Holy Trinity, told us: “We’re expecting the event on September 26 to be quite a big thing.

“Brigadier Nick Ridley is the grandson of the late General Sir Philip Christison and will read his grandfather’s account of the Battle of Loos at the service to unveil the plaque.”

General Christison, another soldier commemorated at Holy Trinity Church, was a junior officer under Lt Col. Douglas-Hamilton, winning the Military Cross for his own bravery at Loos.

Other 100th anniversary specially-engraved paving stones will also be installed at other locations and dates in memory of Piper Laidlaw and also for the Borders’ only other VC winner from the First World War, Acting Sergeant John Daykins, of Hawick, who won his VC at Solesmes in France in 1918 while serving with the York & Lancaster Regiment.

A website aimed at boosting the public profile of Kelso has been given a makeover by a group of local business owners and other prominent individuals.

The website, Visit Kelso, (www.visitkelso.com) was originally set up by the town’s chamber of trade.

The aim is now to make it the major focal point for businesses, events and information for people within Kelso and for attracting additional visitors to the town.

The group involved is currently taking an interest in lots of initiatives, including bike painting for the up and coming Tour of Britain national cycling event.

The group is made up of individuals who have a particular interest in the town, and ranges from shop owners, business owners, including many from the hospitality sector, and other prominent individuals within the town.

One of those involved is Nikki Allman, of Kelso Border Retreats. She told us this week: “The aim is to make this website a real focal point for people visiting Kelso, as well as local residents, whether it is for things to do and see, forthcoming events, local services or places to shop and eat out.

“The website was already up and running thanks to the local chamber of trade, and this new group came together to help give it a boost and a new lease of life.

“The website will be constantly updated with information and the plan is for it to be the main site to find out everything visitors and residents need to know about Kelso and what’s going on in the town.”

A teenager is expected to appear in court today after ten youngsters were treated in hospital after taking mystery pink pills.

The ten, all aged 16 or under, were from Hawick and were treated at the Borders General Hospital. They have all now been allowed home.

Police confirmed that 19-year-old man from Hawick has been arrested and is expected to appear at Jedburgh Sheriff Court.

Inspector John Reid of Police Scotland said the public should remain vigilant in case any of the unidentified tablets were still in circulation.

The field of battle lay sodden with morning dew and the sky was laden with thunderous clouds as the archers readied themselves with longbow, bracer and arrows.

This was not the historic bloody conflict of 502 years ago, but a rather more friendly sortie between the archers of Scotland and England, hosted by Ettrick Forest Archers at Thirladean.

And the threat of rain manifested itself in a couple of mere showers – the thunderstorm thankfully holding bay until the evening, by which time Scotland had been proven the confident winners of the Flodden 500 trophy by a good margin.

Leading the Scottish charge for the ladies was Betty Wylie with 51 hits for a fantastic score of 143, including no less than five clouts. Bronze medals for first and second rounds were taken by fellow Scots Ina Morris and Elizabeth Normand. Ina also won the shoot-off by ends at 120yds.

In the junior ranks, Scotland were led to victory by brother and sister act Kyle and Logan Fairbairn. Kyle, who moves up to the seniors next year, won with 37, 92, 2; while Logan took the bronze for the first round.

In the 180yd gents’ competition, recently-crowned Scottish Champion, Selkirk’s Jimmy Stillie had a great second round to win with a score of 40, 81, 1. First and second round winners were Green Hollow’s Bosco Hazard and Doug Anderson, while Kilwinning’s Ned O’Neil, who got into the best ends shoot-off thanks to five best ends in the last six, won said shoot-off.

One English archer did actually get into the prizes – Christine Menanin taking the spot prize for scoring most ones.

Flodden clout – results

Ladies’ double clout round results: 1, S* Betty Wyllie 51, 143, 5; 2, S* Ina Morris 45, 129, 2; 3, S* Elizabeth Normand 47, 122, 2; 4, E Elizabeth Arrowsmith 39, 102, 2; 5, S Eileen Bilby 36, 102, 3; 6, S Ev Craig 39, 92, 1; 7, E Elaine Smith 35, 90, 0; 8, E Helen Horsley 25, 69, 0; 9, E Christine Menanin 29, 58, 0; 10, S Liz Rogers 25, 57, 0; 11, S Kerry Holmes 17, 37, 0.

Juniors’ double clout round results: 1, S Kyle Fairbairn 37, 92, 2; 2, S Logan Fairbairn 7, 16, 0.

Gentlemen’s double clout round results: 1, S Jim Stillie 40, 81, 1; 2, S* Bosco Hazard 34, 80, 2; 3, S Doug Anderson 26, 65, 1; 4, S* Terry Dakin 26, 64, 2; 5, S* Ned O’Neil 26, 64, 0; 6, S Kevin Janiak 23, 56, 1; 7, E Alan Johnstone 28, 52, 0; 8, S Alex Blake 25, 48, 0; 9, S Jim Craig 16, 38, 1; 10, S* Trevor Austin 15 , 33, 0; 11, S Alan Lyndsay 18, 31, 0; 12, S Jim Bilby 11, 26, 0; 13, S Jason Fairbairn 12, 25, 0; 14, S William Good 13, 22, 0; 15 E John Morris 5, 10, 0; 16, E James Sharp 5, 9, 0.

S – Scotland.

E – England.

* – those who took part in the best ends shoot-off.

Police and fire officers believe a blaze which badly damaged business premises in Melrose was started deliberately.

The alarm was raised in St Dunstan’s Lane shortly after 10pm on Saturday.

Two crews from Galashiels had the fire under control by 11.20pm. There were no injuries but the building was badly damaged.

Inspector John Reid of Police Scotland confirmed the outbreak was being treated as suspicious.

He said ; “Early indications are that this fire was the result of a deliberate act and a full fire scene investigation will now take place between Police Scotland and the Fire and Rescue Service.

“I am appealing to anyone who may have been in the area of St Dunstan’s Lane last night to get in touch with Police Scotland at Melrose if they saw or heard anything which might help us in our enquiries.

Thankfully no-one was in the building at the time, however the building and contents have been seriously damaged as a result.”

Information can be passed on the non emergency 101 line, or anonymously, to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The Royal Scots Borderers have contributed soldiers to a team on its way to Gabon in West Africa to aid efforts to halt ivory poaching.

The troops are heading for Gabon after a request from the country’s president for help in battling ivory poaching which has brought forest elephants to the brink of extinction.

In the past decade over 15,000 of Gabon’s estimated 22,000 forest elephants in the huge Minkebe National Park alone have been slaughtered by poachers for a lucrative Asian market. The World Wildlife Fund regional director Pauwel De Wachter has declared it as a “big, big crisis” and Gabon president Ali Bongo has pledged war on poachers.

The Belfast-soldiers, who are all part of 38 (Irish) Brigade, will be working with Gabon Park Rangers at a military training centre at Mokekou – nine hours drive from the nearest centre of population.

There they will be sharing operational experience and training including surveillance and analysis as well as collection and use of criminal intelligence to support successful prosecution of gangs responsible for the slaughters.

As well as the Royal Scots Borderers (1 SCOTS, Royal Regiment of Scotland), the team comprises personnel from a range of other units, including 2 Rifles - based at Lisburn - plus specialist corps.

The team has been put together to provide a range of operational skills that can be shared with the Gabon Park Rangers.

With almost 90 per cent of Gabon being forested and highly sophisticated gangs operating across vast swathes under dense canopy the Parks Agency faces a huge task.

Major Mark Shercliff who heads up the team is under no illusions about the task. “It’s a challenging environment for the Park Agencies in Gabon and for ourselves as soldiers,” he said.

“With a range of forestation across a hilly environment it is not a straightforward task. We have junior soldiers with a range of tactical experience, we have strong and experienced instructors who work with troops deploying all over the globe.

“This allows us to focus on low level skills as well as building the teams that will be needed within the Park Agencies.”

He is also under no illusion that it will take a huge international and political effort to end the poaching and save the forest elephants from extinction.

“Military input cannot solve this alone, but it can help at the tactical level. There is a lot of work to be done above us all in the political sphere by getting countries around the world to combat poaching in a way that is joined up – this is not a phenomenon that belongs to the single country or single continent.”

South Scotland MSP Claudia Beamish has called on government ministers to heed the calls of dairy farmers and act to help the industry.

Her call echoes the warnings which have been made by the industry in recent months which has led to farmers seeing the price they receive for their milk fall.

Ms Beamish said: “Just five months ago, the Scottish Government brought forward its dairy action plan which included 25 points which were supposed to help the industry. Yet during the time the situation which the industry is facing is becoming more and more serious.

“The government need to heed the warnings coming from farmers some of whom have reported that they are having to sell cattle in order to stay afloat. I hope that Richard Lochhead will come forward with greater clarity on how his action plan is being implemented.”

Berwick’s season hit what many fans thought was a new low when they were over-run by Somerset at home on Saturday.

The Bandits lost their sixth successive home meeting 37-56 to the Rebels in a performance which seemed to lack any fight and it was a display which raised many questions through social media.

Considering the club’s current plight - the management have indicated they are looking for help running the sport on Tweedside or a new buyer . . . or face possible closure - some even suggested it was a case of throwing in the towel.

But promoter John Anderson responded by stipulating that he hopes his side can get back to winning ways again “before the shutters come down on the 2015 season.”

In what proved to be another difficult week for the Borderers, they went down 60-30 at Ipswich on Thursday before taking a losing bonus point from a 49-44 reverse at Scunthorpe on Friday, when guest rider Ryan Fisher won five of his six races in a 17-point haul.

Mathias Thomblom, who had been injured the week previous at Shielfield, missed the Ipswich meeting but returned to the side at Scunthorpe.

Unfortunately he fell and aggravated his shoulder and neck and was forced to sit out meeting against the Rebels.

Bandits now hope the Swede will be able to return to the saddle this weekend when Berwick face another three meetings in three days.

On Friday they travel to Edinburgh, for what will be another very difficult fixture. And on Saturday and Sunday they face successive home and away meetings against Workington.

BERWICK BANDITS 37

SOMERSET REBELS 56

Struggling Berwick went down to their sixth successive home defeat as Somerset picked up maximum points in their march to another play-off place at Shielfield on Saturday.

In truth, this was another toothless performance from the Bandits, who in effect were only a three man team.

Already using rider replacement for Claus Vissing, Coty Garcia and reserves Alex Edberg and Richard Hall only beat one opposition rider in 13 starts between them, and this put the home side at a distinct disadvantage.

They were 2-10 down after the first two races, 12 down at 6-18 after four and it was obvious at this early stage a heavy defeat was on the cards.

Somerset, with five of their six riders all ramming in paid double figure returns, went on to record no fewer than ten race winners, and ten heat advantages, which made their eventual 19-point victory seem oh so comfortable.

This was another night when Berwick were simply beaten out of the starts, and on a track which produced fast, smooth racing, but little in way of passing, the visitors just gated and powered their way to an emphatic win.

Thomas Jorgensen, who has been a shining light for Berwick for most of the season, won three of his six starts, including one as a double-pointed tactical ride in heat six, and with guest Theo Pijper backing him up with two wins, and skipper Kevin Doolan scoring every time he was out without taking the chequered flag, at least some of the Bandits tried to make a fight of it.

But against a Rebels side who appeared to be firing on all cylinders, this just wasn’t enough.

The closest Berwick got was to close the gap to seven points at 16-23 after heat six, but with only one other home heat advantage after that, in nine, it wasn’t enough to prevent a near complete capitulation’ with Somerset providing four of the last five race winners, the exception being Jorgensen in heat 15.

Residents and interest groups in the Borders are being invited to share their views on how to shape the future of the region as part of a public consultation being carried out by South East Scotland Strategic Planning Authority (SESplan).

The public consultation on the Main Issues Report (MIR) was launched last month and will conclude on September 30. The MIR will be used to develop plans to accommodate the area’s future growth.

Over the next two decades the population of the SESplan area (which covers Scottish Borders, City of Edinburgh, Midlothian, West Lothian, East Lothian and Fife council areas) is expected to grow by 18 per cent and the number of households by 25 per cent.

The events aim to gather views on how to respond to the need for more housing and infrastructure, as well as the potential impact this could have on green belt areas. Feedback through the consultation will help identify the key issues and priorities of people living in the south east of Scotland. Councillor Stuart Bell, SBC’s member for economic development, and vice convener of the SESplan committee, said: “All the local authorities involved in SESplan face serious challenges as a result of population changes and projected future growth, therefore it is important that we start to address these to ensure that we have the necessary infrastructure and housing in place, while also protecting the environment.

“We have to think creatively to find solutions that will help ensure the continued success and growth of the area.”

Events have been set up to encourage public participation and discussions on a range of issues. They take place on Tuesday September 8 at the Council Chamber in Newtown St Boswells, and

Thursday September 10 at the Council Chamber, Peebles. Both run from 6.30-8.30pm.

A brand new DVD with unique appeal to Berwick Speedway followers will be launched at the Bandits’ home Premier League match against Workington on Saturday, August 29.

Retro Speedway has produced a six-hour DVD set titled ‘Memories of Berwick Speedway.’.

The triple disc set costs just £16 – and Berwick Speedway will benefit by £6 from every copy sold at Shielfield Park, so by buying the DVD you will be directly helping the club.

From Shielfield Park to Berrington Lough and back . . . this nostalgic triple disc package captures the history of the Bandits’ first 30 years of racing – from the track’s grand opening in 1968, through their British League Second Division days, the successful National League era that brought the first major honours to the club, the ill-fated top flight experiment in the early 90s, right up to the start of the millennium at Premier League level.

It features a host of riders from throughout the clubs history, with racing clips and interviews, controversial moments and spectacular crashes. There are also interviews with promoters, management and staff.

Retro Speedway publisher Tony McDonald said: “It has been a pleasure working with Berwick Speedway on this and we thank them for getting totally behind the project. As everyone knows, the club is enduring tough times and we hope that in some small way sales of the DVD will help to boost Bandits’ coffers.”

Langlee residents are being encouraged to get involved in Growing Stronger, a new project that aims to renovate and cultivate planters.

As well as producing food to harvest, eat and share, participants will benefit from increased self-esteem and wellbeing.

The project got off to a good start recently when a group of 12 adults and 15 children gathered at the community centre with a supply of gardening tools and a great deal of enthusiasm.

Plans were made for what they would like to achieve over the next few months, including overwintering crops during the autumn and winter.

Local volunteer, Melanie Turnbull said: “It was good to see so many people in a community, literally, pulling together to achieve something good.”

Councillor Vicky Davidson, executive member for culture, sport, youth and communities at Scottish Borders Council (SBC) added: “This is an excellent example of a community working together and not only experiencing a number of benefits but having a great deal of fun as well. I am sure there is plenty to do over the coming weeks and months and that the results will be very worthwhile.”

The project is being funded by SBC’s Community Learning and Development service and will continue to develop over the next few months.

Anyone wishing to get involved should contact Amanda Dempsey at the Langlee Community Centre at: amanda.dempsey@scotborders.gov.uk

A £50 cash prize is up for grabs for the winner of this year’s Alastair Watson Memorial Award.

The award, for a photograph by a primary school pupil, was launched in Alastair’s memory last year by colleagues of the Borders photographer, who died in 2013.

Alastair, who was 60 and lived in Coldstream, worked for the Tweeddale Press Group, publishers of The Southern Reporter and Berwickshire News, for almost four decades. He was head of the Tweeddale Press Group branch of the National Union of Journalists at the time of his death from cancer.

Covering Borders common ridings and festivals was a major part of his work and colleagues felt this topic should be the subject of the award, which is aimed at recognising the work of young photographers.

It is open to anyone who was at primary school at the end of summer term this year and who lives in the Borders.

Entries (one photograph per entrant), including caption, should be of a 2015 common riding or festival activity and emailed, in Jpeg format, to watsonaward@jpress.co.uk no later than September 25. The entrant’s name, full address, contact telephone number and date of birth must also be submitted.

Entries will be judged by a panel of Borders-based union members and Alastair’s wife, Meg.

As well as the cash prize, the winner gets the award trophy to keep for a year.

An elderly man has been rescued by firefighters after falling into a deep excavation site in Eshiels near Peebles.

He was found lying in a newly dug excavation approximately six metres below the ground on Monday afternoon.

Working with ambulance service colleagues, firefighters used a combination of ropes and ladders to provide first aid to the casualty.

Other firefighters made sure that the excavation was as stable as possible to prevent any possibility of a collapse.

Group manager Alan Horbury, who was at the scene, said: “The crews did an excellent job because had this collapsed then it could have caused further injuries and even trapped the casualty and firefighters.”

A specialist fire service rescue team raised the man to the surface before he was taken to Borders General Hospital by ambulance.