Nine-year-old Melrose Primary School pupil Gavin Blackledge came up with a cutting plan for raising money for Syrian refugees.

And while it is surprising enough that one so young has the empathy and worldly awareness for such a charitable idea, the fact that his mother Kate agreed to it is simply hair-raising.

Gavin’s dad Philip, rector of Holy Trinity Church in Melrose, explained: “Gavin and Kate were seeking ways of raising money for the Refugees from Syria, when Gavin decided to try out his hairdressing skills on his mother.

“It started off as a joke, but Kate was really keen to raise money for the refugees, and when Gavin suggested cutting her hair, she was very sporting about it.

“We had hoped to raise a couple of hundred pounds, but so far the total stands at well over £800.

“She said the more we raised, the shorter we would cut it.”

There were some shaky fingers holding the scissors as the job began, with Philip lending a helping hand.

Philip admitted: “Gavin and I were far more nervous than she was.

“In the end, we cut it quite short, and dyed it purple just for good measure.

“Gavin and I were quite proud of our work, but far more proud of Kate for her courage, and very proud of our church for the amount we raised for such an important cause.

“My own hair is getting quite sparse these days, so it is nice to have a short period of time when I have more hair than my wife.”

If you want to contribute to Kate’s fundraising – and perhaps force an even shorter cut – you can find her on the just Giving website, by searching katehaircut

Sandy the Squirrel, the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels mascot, will take part in this weekend’s Scottish Conker Championships against Festival Fox at the Tweed Valley Forest Festival to raise awareness for the project.

The Tweed Valley Forest Festival has been running since 2006 and has been attracting over 5,000 people each year from far and near to celebrate the area’s customs and growing forest culture. It is also an opportunity for the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels project to call on locals to volunteer and protect the future of the red squirrel.

The red squirrel is the UK’s only native squirrel and numbers have declined rapidly since the introduction of grey squirrels from North America in the 19th Century. Greys have replaced the native reds in much of the UK because they compete for food and habitat, and transmit the deadly Squirrel pox virus.

Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels Project Officer for the Borders, Alexa Seagrave, said: “Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels will be on hand at the Tweed Valley Forest Festival hoping to get more people in the area involved in red squirrel conservation. Please come and see us at our stand to learn about the project and the challenges of protecting red squirrels, and find out how you can help us.

“Sandy the Squirrel just couldn’t resist a conker face-off with Festival Fox, so make sure you come along to the event to cheer Sandy on.”

Coordinator of the Tweed Valley Forest Festival, Chris Sawers, said: “Everyone at the Tweed Valley Forest Festival will be very interested to find out who will win the conker battle between Festival Fox and Sandy the Squirrel.

“We are hoping this year’s festival will be bigger than ever. With so much going on there is something for everybody.”

Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels is a partnership project between the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Land and Estates, RSPB Scotland and the Red Squirrel Survival Trust.

Since 1900, 95% of red squirrels in England and Wales have been wiped out. Today, 75% of the UK’s remaining population is found in Scotland.

waste

Commercial confidentiality barrier

I notice that yet another attempt to shed light on Scottish Borders Council’s financially-disastrous liaison with waste management company New Earth Solutions (NES), which has cost council taxpayers well over £2million, has been blocked by local authority leaders on grounds of commercial confidentiality.

How much longer do those in charge at Newtown St Boswells intend to cling to this rapidly-sinking lifeboat following the devastating news that the company’s £60million energy recovery facility (ERF) at Avonmouth, near Bristol, has been offloaded to the project’s lenders with no money changing hands? This was the treatment plant which so impressed a council delegation during a two-day trip to south-west England only a year ago.

An identical ERF at Easter Langlee, Galashiels, had been sanctioned by all elected members [in private, naturally] in October 2012 long before Avonmouth had a chance to prove it was a complete dud.

The Isle of Man-based parent company of NES, which was supposed to bankroll the Borders waste plant under a Public-Private Partnership agreement, informed shareholders and investors last week: “Ultimately, the development of the energy business at a cost of nearly £60million with its ambition to provide an integrated waste and energy solution for the UK market has not worked and has been a very costly and disappointing exercise.”

It appears that shareholders from the UK and overseas, who between them ploughed more than £30million into the Avonmouth ERF, stand little or no chance of getting their money back. And NES and its backers could not even afford the extra millions needed to sort out the plant’s catalogue of technological issues.

No wonder the council wants to keep all of the potentially embarrassing information it holds on this matter firmly under wraps. It would never do if one or more individuals responsible for such a huge loss of public money was actually identified and ordered to offer a public explanation for their actions.

I am led to believe the add-on energy recovery facility at Easter Langlee would have cost £8-£10million. But expensive experts commissioned by the council are said to have expressed misgivings about the fledgling NES technology before councillors signed the amended deal to include it as part of the contract.

Few if any private businesses would be allowed to write off losses running into millions of pounds without full disclosure to their shareholders. So why should the council be any different when it comes to explaining its lack of diligence and sheer carelessness to local taxpayers?

I notified several Borders councillors and politicians that the flagship Avonmouth facility had been sold for peanuts, and that an investigation was required into the council’s involvement.

So far I have not had a reply from any of them.

Bill Chisholm

Honeyfield Road

Jedburgh

A complete own goal

I was amused, but not surprised, to read that the ending of green waste collections has been a complete own goal for Scottish Borders Council (SBC), with the much vaunted annual “savings” being consumed by increased landfill tax payments as residents fill black bins with garden waste (“Councillor refuses to bin kerbside claims”, last week’s issue, October 15).

I wonder what towering genius among our elected members and council officers failed to think through the inevitability of this outcome, which was widely predicted by many ordinary Borders folk.

It would be good to think that for once the incompetent arrogance of those who claim to know best would be softened by David Parker admitting the whole thing was a disastrous mistake that saved nothing and apologising. I think the sky will be full of flying pigs afore that happens.

To be moving backwards from an already abysmally low recycling target is utterly pathetic.

Many European countries routinely recycle 90% plus of domestic waste.

It’s not rocket science – although it’s clearly beyond the whit of SBC councillors and officers.

We go from the sublime of wasting £2.4million on useless untested technology to the ridiculous of claiming that we cannot fund green bin uplifts.

Perhaps councillors need a foreign junket to see how others do it? We could fund that by scrapping blue bin collections, perhaps.

Richard West

Inch Park

Kelso

tapestry

Economic case doesn’t add up

Over the past months, any unbiased Scot aspiring to attain the venerable wisdom of the traveller on the Clapham omnibus may have been perplexed by the degree of political capital expended by Scottish Borders Council to justify the sitting of a permanent museum for the Great Tapestry of Scotland at Tweedbank station, the temporary terminus of the recently-reopened Waverley railway line.

Regardless of the inevitable unforeseen costs attendant on such enterprises, such is the scale of the predicted budget that any peripatetic sage might deduce that the views of those responsible for funding the majority of the anticipated expenditure (for a generation) have not been given sufficient consideration, particularly when so much under-investment in the Borders infrastructure, health and educational areas remains pressing.

Since no independent authority appears to have adjudicated on the merit of the tapestry design, the omnibus understudy could reasonably conclude that Andrew Crummy’s design is not inherently of any “great” artistic merit or historic authenticity. Any “greatness” the tapestry possesses appears to have been thrust upon it at the inception of the enterprise, not by the judgement of experts in decorative arts retrospectively or by popular acclaim, but via a small panel of writers, politicians and enthusiasts less concerned with the tapestry’s intrinsic value than its political or economic utility.

Even the model for this work, the Bayeux tapestry, has no adjective before its name.

In these straightened times a disinterested observer might wonder if any artwork, let alone one created by the goodwill and skill of a community of voluntary embroiderers, authorises the expenditure of more than £6million-plus by a seemingly unresponsive authority that adopted less than orthodox development procedures, when other alternative and potentially more cost-effective sites in the Galashiels/Melrose area could have been considered.

In the event that a purpose-built museum at Tweedbank proceeds in accordance with SBC’s peremptory procedures, is the design and procurement of this artefact also to be imposed on the ratepayers of the Borders without any more evaluation of its architectural merit, public and stakeholder involvement, or financial accountability than the exhibit it contains?

Regrettably, the controversy surrounding the final destination in the embroidery’s peregrination has become the story in the media rather than the central narrative it purports to convey.

In the interim, visitors to the Tweedbank interchange may wonder why when such largess is available to SBC, appropriate parking and toilet facilities seem to have been denied at this facility to the residents it was intended to serve.

Jonathon Avery Mann

Kirkton

POLITICS

Rise of the Left in Tweeddale

Tweeddale, with other areas in the Borders, was represented last weekend at an all-Scotland Edinburgh meeting of RISE (Respect, Independence, Socialism, Environmentalism).

It was unanimously agreed that we could start tackling the jobs crisis in the steel industry by taking it back into public ownership.

A full report back will be made at the open meeting in Peebles Drill Hall on October 29 at 7pm.

An important part of this gathering will also be deciding our core election policies and campaigning over the next few months, like banning all fracking as well as fighting austerity.

Local RISE circles want to include your local concerns, so you can also get in touch with the electoral alliance in Tweeddale by texting your details to 07443 461024 or emaling rise.tweeddale@gmail.com.

Norman Lockhart

Waverley Road

Innerleithen

thanks

On behalf of the Rotary Club of Melrose, could I thank those who attended our fashion show in the town’s Corn Exchange and helped us raise the sum of £2,190 for our designated charities.

This meant that after expenses, we were able to send each of our designated charities – Borders Samaritans, Children’s Hospice Association Scotland and Help for Heroes – £500 each, the remaining surplus will help to support Rotary charities such as Water Aid, Shelter Box and our local youth work.

All this would not have been possible without the exceptional generosity of Muriel from @Twelve in Melrose who not only organised the models, but gave some extremely handsome prizes and refused to take any expenses. Our thanks to Malcolm from Abbey Wines and his team who donated the wine tasting and to Michael Wares for supplying the glasses, and all the businesses who donated prizes.

David J. Dalglish

(treasurer)

On behalf of Arthritis Research UK, I would like to thank everyone who shared their stories of living with arthritis with us during National Arthritis Week (October 12-18), and urge people who haven’t already done so that it’s not too late.

I’m a trustee of Arthritis Research UK and have rheumatoid arthritis, so I understand what it’s like to live with a painful, “invisible” condition. Arthritis affects over 10 million people in the UK, across all ages, with excruciating daily pain. It’s sometimes hard for other people to understand the pain and impact it can have on your day-to-day life – even simple things like making a cup of tea or going to the shops can feel like a mission.

Our “Share your Day, Shape our Future” campaign is asking people to share their day-to-day experiences of arthritis, to guide the pain research funded by Arthritis Research UK in 2016.

Stories need to be submitted on the campaign website – www.nationalarthritisweek.org. You can also read other people’s experiences and access expert patient information about managing arthritis and joint pain.

Sylvie Jackson

As I write, the last vestiges of summer are still clinging on, with a few butterflies still appearing on the Michaelmas daisies in my garden.

They are now all Red Admirals, the other species having now given up.

A favourite autumnal walk of mine is along the banks of the Leader, along either the Jubilee Path or the Leader Walk, both starting at Leaderfoot, but following opposite sides of the river.

If you feel energetic, you can go all the way to Earlston and return by the opposite path – a distance of about six miles, or you can shorten it by crossing the river by the footbridge at Cowdenknowes. Both routes are well maintained by the Earlston Paths Group and well worth a visit.

Last week I only did a part of the walk, but it was as lovely as ever. Since my last visit, a large area of coniferous woodland has been felled, but thankfully, if anything, it has opened up the pathway to allow more light in, thus increasing the natural biodiversity.

It was here that I paused to photograph a late small tortoiseshell butterfly, resting on a piece of wood – probably the last one I will see this year.

Birds noted in this area were noisy jays feeding on acorns and on the water were heron, dipper and mallard.

Sunday was my monthly wildfowl count day, when I visit three local lochs to record all the water birds present. So far, the whooper swans have not yet put in an appearance, but they will arrive any time now.

The mutes are still with their brown youngsters, some having had more successful breeding years than others.

At Whitmuir only one cygnet still survives, while at Lindean Reservoir, the proud parents still have five offspring in tow.

At the smallest of the lochs, I recorded a group of nine wigeon for the first time this season.

The wigeon is a medium-sized duck with a round head and small bill. The head and neck of the male are chestnut, with a yellow forehead, pink breast and grey body.

In-flight birds show white bellies and males have a large white wing patch. Many birds visit the UK in winter from Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia and are unusual in the duck world in that they whistle rather than quack.

Another dabbling duck proved to be the most numerous of the day. No, it wasn’t the mallard as expected, but the diminutive teal – our smallest native duck – only noted at one location, but almost 50 individuals were recorded.

Thank you to all those who have been in touch by e-mail during the past week. If you have a wildlife query that you think I may help you with or an unusual photo you would like to share with our readers, contact me at corbie@homecall.co.uk

The decorative railings around Leyden’s Monument in Denholm have been damaged to the tune of several hundred pounds, writes
Lorna Robertson.

Police can’t pinpoint exactly when the incident took place but it is thought the damage was inflicted from mid-September onwards resulting in the structure missing a finial and coming loose.

The cast-iron railings around the memorial, which was erected in 1861 in honour of Dr John Leyden, the poet, antiquarian and orientalist, are brittle and easily damaged.

Their maintenance comes under the auspices of the Denholm Feuars’ and Householders’ Association which will have to fork out for the repairs.

It is thought the damage will cost around £800.

Feuars chairman Scott Tait commented: “[Hawick blacksmith] Alan Telfer has assessed the extent of the work and removed items that are best repaired in the workshop and is confident that replacements can be sourced.

“The railings were obviously subjected to a sustained attack and I appeal to anyone who may have witnessed any abnormal activity in the vicinity of the monument to contact the police.

PC Alex Cain said: “We have conducted house-to-house enquiries, letter-dropped local businesses and residents, and posters have been displayed in the primary school.

Also, the area will be patrolled by community officers during the school holidays.”

Community inspector Carol Wood of Police Scotland said: “The Leyden Monument is a much treasured local landmark and it goes without saying that we are very keen to trace whoever was involved in what appears to be an act of vandalism.

“I ask anyone who can help with this investigation to call police immediately on 101 or, alternatively the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”

No Big Brother-style Geordie accent this week. Thought I’d give everyone a rest from Hell’s Kitchen. Which is sooooo close to being finished, by the way.

Apart from the splashbacks. Oh, and the painting. And the flooring. And the lighting. And the steel wall racks. And last – but by no means least – there’s the hob and oven to be connected.

And that takes me back to the very beginning of all of this, when my solution to a malfunctioning oven was to completely rip out the whole kitchen. Doh.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Given the amount of cock-ups and missing and broken stuff, would I do it all again? Probably, because I didn’t have to actually do it, Mr E did. And he is now fully entitled to crow about it. He has earned his Advanced Ikea Kitchen-fitting badge, and in time I will sew it onto his Good Husband uniform.

Anyhoo, enough flippin’ kitchen. Feeling unable to stick my oar into Mr E’s project, and faced with school half-term hold, I whisked the YMs off in Georgina the caravan for a few days at Haggerston Castle Holiday Park, as I believe it’s Sunday name to be.

Georgina is proving a bit hit, after surviving a long weekend on Mull and not bursting into flames or rolling off down the road, or succumbing to any other caravanner’s nightmare, such as a wheel flying off on the motorway or leaking like a sieve on a rainy weekend away.

She took ferry travel and schlepping from the ferry terminal half-way round the island on what can only be described as Rough Tracks Formerly Known as Roads in her stride, and made it back in one piece too.

I am surprised that anyone would take a car, let alone a caravan, to Mull. This is my fourth trip to that wondrous isle now, and the roads just get worse and worse. In fact, residents should receive a government contribution to their annual servicing and MOT.

And the DVLA is having a right old laugh asking them to fork out for road tax. I think the definition of road tax is that it’s a tax paid for using the roads, not having your car shaken to bits on them. Perhaps to DVLA should pay the good folk of Mull.

So, yet again, back to the subject in hand, Haggerston Castle. I am so glad it was one of the participants in The Sun’s ‘Camping for £1’ promotion, in which you could stay on certain parks for the princely sum of £1 per night. If you can get over having to buy The Sun to col!ect the qualifying tokens, this is a great promo. If I had paid full price for the pitch, we would have had to sit in the caravan all day playing Uno, as the activities for the YMs were many and varied – and quite expensive.

Nothing lasted more than about half an hour and cost between £4 and £10. Apart from the ‘Aerial Adventure’on the high ropes through the woods, which was a whopping £16, although it did last almost an hour. However, this longevity was mostly due to the fact that it was very high, very tricky and required nerves of steel. Clinging on to a tree half-way round and yelling: “I want to get down! I want to get down!” whilst refusing to budge does tend to clock up the minutes.

But for a kid-tastic time, you can’t beat the allure of the arcade, the draw of an indoor pool and a clutch of fast food takeaways. You can even have a pizza delivered to your caravan door. The perfect antidote to the dust, sweat, tears and tape measuring back home. As you may imagine, dear reader, my guilt at abandoning the menfolk soon melted away.

A well-known photojournalist has been granted planning consent to install an array of 16 solar panels on the roof of his Selkirk home.

The local review body (LRB) of Scottish Borders Council unanimously agreed on Monday that Gethin Chamberlain should be given the go-ahead for the installation at Raebank in Chapel Street

In so doing, the five councillors overturned the decision of a council planning officer who rejected Mr Chamberlain’s bid back in July.

Using delegated powers, that officer had deemed the panels would, as a result of their prominent siting, have an “adverse impact on the character and appearance of the Selkirk Conservation Area”.

Mr Chamberlain, who moved into the 19th century property last year, disagreed and lodged an appeal with the LRB.

In his submission, he said that before coming to Selkirk he had been based in India for six years as a foreign correspondent specialising in human rights and environmental investigations.

“It is important for me to demonstrate that I do not merely criticise poor practice but I take practical steps to set an example,” wrote Mr Chamberlain. “I care about the environment”.

Noting there had been no objections to his application, he cited the 40 solar panels which had been installed at Selkirk Parish Church and were clearly visible from half of High Street.

This, he claimed, set a precedent for such a development in the Conservation Area.

“I would argue these must have a more significant visual impact than 16 panels on the rear roof of a private dwelling in a back road,” said Mr Chamberlain.

And he said the planning officer’s rejection, based on a subjective view of what constituted an unacceptable impact, did not give sufficient weight to local and national policies on the importance of renewable energy and the merits of micro-generation schemes.

A former chief reporter with The Scotsman, Mr Chamberlain works for a range of international publications including The Observer, the Sunday People and the China Morning Post.

As a foreign affairs journalist, he was shortlisted in the 2014 British Jounalism Awards.

Tourism figures published this week show that while Scotland as a whole has experienced a massive rise in tourism following last year’s independence referendum, the Borders has not benefitted as much as other areas.

Holiday Lettings, a TripAdvisor company, ranked Scottish regions by the increase in bookings made since the referendum in September 2014.

A spokesperson said: “We’ve noticed a big increase in the number of rental bookings for Scotland since the referendum last year.”

Top of the table of areas wit the greatest increase in bookings are Orkney and Dundee, with a 354% and 247% increase respectively.

While there was an increase in the Borders area, it was only a 54% increase in bookings.

That was the twentieth highest increase among the Scottish regions.

Borders MP Calum Kerr is backing a campaign by the charity Action on Hearing Loss Scotland calling for more and better subtitles for viewers who are deaf or have hearing loss.

These problems affect one in six people in Mr Kerr’s Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency. Accurate and well timed subtitles are vital to help deaf or hard of hearing people follow what is being said on television programmes and movies as well as public information videos.

The charity’s Subtitle It! campaigners want to achieve equal access to television and movies – whether through digital, on-demand or new media services – for these viewers.

Mr Kerr said: “The way TV is watched has transformed over recent years – but far too many viewers who are deaf or have hearing loss are missing out on enjoying the latest shows because so few programmes on Video on Demand services and digital channels in Scotland are subtitled.

“I’m backing the Subtitle It! campaign which is encouraging broadcasters and Video On Demand providers to ensure people who are deaf or hard of hearing can use accurate subtitles, which are synchronised with speech, on everything that they watch.”

Delia Henry, Director of Action on Hearing Loss Scotland, said: “The lack of subtitles is a major issue for our members. As technology has advanced, the ways in which we watch television programmes has changed, but, unfortunately, people who are deaf or have hearing loss are being left behind.

“We’re delighted to have Calum’s backing for our campaign. Just a fraction of on-demand content is subtitled and some local digital television channels don’t provide them at all.

“We want a substantial improvement in the provision of subtitles to enable people who are deaf or hard of hearing to have equal access to their favourite shows like everyone else.”

For information about Action on Hearing Loss’s Subtitle It! campaign, visit www.actionhearingloss.org.uk/subtitleit

If you can’t get children to come and see the books and meet the authors, take the books – and the authors – to the children.

That’s the philosophy behind a new project launched this week by St Boswells bookshop The Mainstreet Trading Company, with the blessing and cooperation of Scottish Borders Council.

And enthusiastically lending his support to the initiative was acclaimed storyteller and bestselling author Michael Morpurgo.

The creator of many children’s books, notably the blockbusting War Horse, was the first guest passenger on Tuesday’s inaugural journey of the Bookshop Van to Hawick High School.

Either side of his inspiring talk to more than 300 pupils from the Teviot and Liddesdale learning community, a steady stream of youngsters paid a visit to the mobile facility – a lovingly restored vintage fire engine – in which the author was happy to chat about his life and work.

“We’ve always found it difficult in the past to attract schools to come to our shop for our special children’s events due to transport costs,” explained Mainstreet’s Rosamund De La Hey.

“That’s why we’ve created the Bookshop Van to bring the best children’s authors into our local schools.

“The interior has been customised so that children can meet the visiting author and experience a pop-up bookshop.

“The project’s big ambition is for every child in the Borders to meet an author during their school life.”

Mainstreet restored and adapted the vehicle with the help of a grant from bestselling American author James Patterson, who has committed £500,000 to support the independent bookshop sector in the UK and Ireland.

And Rosumand has been working with SBC so that schools can maximise the benefit from the venture.

To that end, a special teachers book group has been set up in each of the region’s learning communities.

“Reading is a fundamental skill and entitlement for all our pupils and it is a real bonus to be able to offer access to books and authors in such a live and motivating way,” said Councillor Sandy Aitchison, executive member for education.

“We’re delighted to be working with Mainstreet to offer our pupils this exciting opportunity.”

Property consultancy CKD Galbraith has launched a Galashiels sales department to handle high levels of interest from commuters looking for homes following the reopening of the Borders railway.

Polly Cregan, of CKD Galbraith, said: “The Borders railway has made the region an even more desirable residential location where property remains affordable.”

The prediction by Scotrail for the number of passengers using the Borders railway was about half of what has actually happened.

That’s why there has been problems caused by not having enough carriages – and the extra ones have been pinched from other lines.

Once the early and welcome popularity has settled, let’s see how the numbers pan out. Additionally, the steam train – though great stuff – did cause delays to the regular timetable, but now that trial run has ended and let’s see if that early issue of overcrowding disappears.

Please let me know your travel problems as I can take them straight to Scotrail.

I also have breaking news. I met the MD of Scotrail recently and he told me there will be a prize for the 250,000th, 500,000th and millionth passengers. I tried to prise (no pun intended) further information out of him – but to no avail.

Halloween

I’m a bit of a stickler for Scottish traditions and so I’m no fan of “Trick or Treat”, wholly imported from the U S of A.

I will give way to pumpkins instead of neeps, just because they were so hard to carve. It used to take me a few attempts to get it right. Then there was the aroma of the candle burning into turnip flesh. Ah – brings it all back to me.

But we’re even moving on from real pumpkins to plastic with built-in lights! I give in.

Budgets

This is a bit of advanced warning because in the coming months the Scottish Government will be handed its budget from Westminster.

As you know, this is a fixed amount and cannot be overspent – our Cabinet Secretary for Finance has to balance the books. No bad thing, you quite rightly say, but it comes at a cost to public service which, of course, is what the Scottish Parliament funds.

Some 85%-plus of the cost of services – health, justice, education and so on – is fixed costs.

For example, in the health service in the Borders, it goes towards salaries, pension contributions, upkeep of hospitals, utilities such as gas and electricity and so on. No one wants a reduction in nurses, ambulances or police for that matter, but somehow savings will have to be made.

Add to that the money the Scottish Government has put towards preventing folk having to pay up or get out because of the Bedroom Tax running into millions, cash that could be spent other than mitigating crude Westminster decisions, and there are tough times ahead.

Folk say to me when I raise this that this is the “there’s no money” excuse. It’s nae excuse, I’m afraid, but a fact.

Leaves

My acer drummondii is busy casting its copious leaves into every nook and cranny.

Paths, shrubs, pavement and nearby cars carry the leaves far and beyond.

Now talking of leaves, do you remember apologies for train delays elsewhere due to “the wrong type of leaves on the line?”

It seems that this is not a myth – in fact this is far more troublesome than snow. If this does happen – and fingers crossed it doesn’t – two things to remember: at least we have trains to be cancelled and these are not the leaves of my acer drummondii!

A recent careers event highlighted the importance of language skills to Galashiels Academy pupils.

S3 pupils participated in the event held in the school on September 23.

It aimed to demonstrate the value of language skills for Scotland’s future workforce and to encourage pupils to consider the relevance of languages for their personal development as well as for further study and future career opportunities.

The event was organised by Galashiels Academy modern languages department, with support from SCILT, Scotland’s National Centre for Languages.

Fhiona Fisher, director of SCILT said: “Events such as these are valuable because they allow young people to receive careers advice directly from employers.

“It’s important that Scottish youngsters enter the workforce with a wide range of skills and attributes; those who have learned a language can offer enhanced communication skills, a greater level of inter-cultural sensitivity and highly developed literacy.

“These competencies are valued by the business community and this event has demonstrated how ability in languages other than English can give a competitive edge in an increasingly globalised job market.”

Beth Tope from local business ProStrakan demonstrated the importance of language and cultural understanding to the success of a business with an international client base.

Rugby star Gregor Townsend shared how useful being able to communicate in another language can be for sportsmen playing at an international level.

And Professor Nik Gisborne from the University of Edinburgh introduced pupils to the world of linguistics.

Modern languages principal teacher, Cedric Raffier, said: “It was a very worthwhile experience for all the pupils who took part.

“They went away from it with a broader understanding of the importance that languages play in communication, both at a personal and professional level.”

Freshly-squeezed apple juice was used to toast the success of an eco cafe organised by Greener Melrose, Fair Trade Melrose and the Eco Congregations in the town’s Corn Exchange.

On display was the Seeds of Hope exhibition, complete with pledge tree. On stage was live apple pressing, including an experiment to see if the volume and taste of apple juice is affected by freezing the apples first. Earlston Orchard Town made summer fruits cordial.

There were stalls manned by a number of green Borders groups, including information on the Paris Climate Summit in December and a march in Edinburgh on December 28. Bread was sold by Breadworks and a raffle was held.

Apart from his irrepressible urge to play with big boys’ toys such as a combine and a sugar beet harvester I thought that presenter Gregg Wallace and his colleague Philippa Forester made a good job of ‘Harvest 2015’ on TV last week.

As several other recent TV programmes have shown the most impressive parts of much modern farming are the scale of operation, the size of machinery and the skill of management, plus constant innovation and marketing expertise in supplying to supermarket specifications or niche markets.

These were exemplified by farmer Peter Barfoot, Britain’s sweetcorn supremo, producing one million cobs a day, sugar beet growers getting 80 tonnes per hectare and the innovative grower whose strip-planting method has stream-lined even further the serial production of millions of Iceberg lettuce!

On more traditional lines the Hay family in Perthshire were shown, and talked about, growing and harvesting thousands of acres of cereals two to three weeks later than usual after a largely sun-free August. That included oats, helping meet a national increase in demand for porridge.

David Hay also gave an example of the hard-headed decisions farmers have to make. The family has grown potatoes, more recently on a large scale, since 1909. This year they stopped because low prices don’t make it worthwhile. A tough decision, he said, but sentiment can’t trump economics.

There was much more on blueberries, apples, quinoa, carrots of a different colour, rasps, vegetables and milk. Some of it esoteric, but most of it interesting and bringing the nuts and bolts of producing food to a wider public that those of us confined to the written word can only envy.

Official estimates for this year’s grain harvest confirm local anecdotal evidence in the Borders that yields are up, but that does not compensate for the slump in prices. Scottish figures indicate a 5% total increase on last year at 3.3 million tonnes, with spring barley average yield put at 6.2 tonnes per hectare, wheat 9.7 tonnes and oilseed rape at 4.2.

For those who hanker for the past and like to think of how we used to farm instead of this new-fangled nonsense of innovation, maximum use of technology and always thinking ahead, there are still the autumn ram and bull sales to go to. As always, these provide a contrast between farming reality – lamb and beef prices in the doldrums and consumption down, the NFU agonising about lower subsidy payments, farmers saying they’re going out of business – and the fantasy world of six-figure prices for ‘good looking’ sheep. Bulls at least have some recorded evidence of what they might do. This year’s tops are £160,000 for a Blackface ram and £130,000 for a bull.

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, ‘Harvest 2015’ was a welcome antidote to this annual pantomime.

A firm of Melrose property developers has, for a second time, been refused planning consent to erect four flagpoles outside a well-known building in the town.

The proposal was part of a facelift planned by Rural Renaissance Ltd (RRL) which wants to market the former NHS offices at West Grove in Waverley Road for commercial lettings.

The company, which owns the property, intends creating commercial offices, conference facilities and a wellness centre on the site.

But in July, the planning bid, which attracted three objections, was rejected by Scottish Borders Council planning officer Stuart Herkes.

Using delegated powers, he deemed that the flagpoles at the front of the building would be “disrespectful” to the character of the surrounding area and have an adverse impact on the nearby conservation area.

RRL boss Michael Crawford sought a review of that decision, contending that the poles, which would not be used for advertising purposes and would fly national flags, were necessary to generate “a welcoming and inclusive” image and would make the building appear “international and cosmopolitan”.

He noted that Mr Herkes had no problem with other parts of the renovation, including window replacements. He cited the recent decision of the council to fly flags outside its Newtown headquarters and said his proposal would, similarly, help positively promote the Borders.

Mr Crawford said his company had flown international flags from its main office at Priorwood for many years, with photographs reaching thousands of people worldwide when posted on social media.

But on Monday, after councillors on SBC’s local review body (LRB) had visited the site, they voted 3-2 to uphold Mr Herkes’ decision.

Mr Crawford told The Southern he was “disappointed” at the ruling.

“It’s a pity the opportunity for economic development within the Borders has been delayed,” he said.

“We had a business that was keen to relocate its East of Scotland office to West Grove and this would have involved 10 jobs. Due to the delay and uncertainty which this refusal has created, that firm can no longer wait. I respect this week’s decision, however, we will be resubmitting fresh designs, although it’s unfortunate the building will remain undeveloped for at least another three months.”

Breast cancer survivor Linda Dick wanted to “give something back” to the two organisations which sustained and guided her through the dark days of her invasive treatments.

To show her gratitude, Linda and her family teamed up with Peeblesshire Junior Agricultural Club (JAC) to host an open charity stockjudging and auction at their farm at Hamildean near Peebles.

That event in August raised a staggering £35,610.10, which last week was split equally between the Macmillan Centre at the BGH, where she received chemotherapy, and the charity FACE (Fighting Against Cancer Edinburgh), which supports the Western General Hospital where Linda underwent a mastectomy and had radiotherapy.

Linda, who was diagnosed during a routine mammogram, but has now finished her treatment, recalled: “Throughout it all, the little extra comforts provided by the Macmillan volunteers and the charity made a huge difference, especially when you are sitting in your own private hell having noxious chemicals pumped into your veins.

“The little extras they provided during this most stressful time – plants, newspapers, tea, coffee, biscuits, tissues and even aromatherapy sessions – helped make it all a bit easier.”

Judith Smith OBE, nurse consultant for cancer and palliative care at NHS Borders, thanked Linda and the young farmers for their efforts.

“Donations enable us to do the things we cannot do with our core budget and this huge amount of money means we can do something huge for the Macmillan Centre and our patients,” she told us.

A poor first half performance cost Scotland their grip on Rugby League’s European Championship title after an agonising 24-22 defeat to Ireland, according to head coach Steve McCormack.

The Bravehearts conceded an early try to Luke Ambler and were 18-4 down at half-time at Galashiels, Danny Addy getting Scotland’s sole score, only to launch a stirring second half comeback to actually take the lead with less than 20 minutes to go.

A late try by Ireland’s Scott Grix levelled the scores and Wolfhounds’ skipper Liam Finn kicked the winning conversion.

“The first half killed us,” admitted McCormack, whose team won the European title for the first time last year.

“It was a case of déjà vu. We did that last week in Wales and last year at Gala against France. You can’t afford to start games like that in international rugby league.

“It was a very disappointing night. In the second half we played the way we had wanted to play from the start: good, vibrant, tough rugby. But we’d left ourselves too much to do.”

In a thrilling second half, a second try to Addy, a debut try for winger Shane Toal, and a solo effort by forward Dale Ferguson - all three converted by skipper Danny Brough - saw Scotland nudge 22-18 ahead. The Bravehearts, who had lost 18-12 to Wales last Friday, kept Ireland scoreless until eight minutes from time when Huddersfield full-back Grix broke away to score.

The Scots can pinpoint an incident a few minutes earlier which changed the game. London Broncos’ winger Alex Walker, on only his second appearance, reached out for the try-line through a clutch of defenders and touched the ball down. Referee Chris Kendall of England ruled no try, but video replays suggest the tip of the ball rolled onto the line and a try would have been given had the game been using the video official system.

Walker was one of eight Scotland players aged 21 or younger in the team, including local debutant Lewis Clarke, who plays union for Gala RFC and league for Edinburgh Eagles, as McCormack gave opportunities to youngsters emerging from the Scotland Under-19s squad.

“A lot of players who have come through the player pathway really stepped up, especially in the second half,” said McCormack, who coaches at Super League giants Wigan Warriors.

“That experience will be vital for them in years to come. There were an awful lot of positives to take from the game but we don’t want to be gallant losers – those days have gone for Scotland Rugby League.”

Scotland end their campaign in Avignon against France on 7 November. A victory on Friday would have kept Scotland in contention but now the winners of Wales v France - both unbeaten so far - at Cardiff Arms Park this Friday will be firm favourites to lift the cup.

Scotland: David Scott (Doncaster), Shane Toal (Barrow Raiders), Ben Hellewell (London Broncos), Richard Harris (Warrington Wolves), Alex Walker (London Broncos), Danny Brough (Huddersfield Giants) (capt), Oscar Thomas (London Broncos), Ben Kavanagh (Widnes Vikings), Liam Hood (Salford Red Devils), Jonny Walker (Leigh Centurions), Sonny Esslemont (Hull KR), Dale Ferguson (Bradford Bulls), Danny Addy (Bradford Bulls). Subs: Joe McClean (Gloucestershire Old Golds), Corbyn Kilday (Central Queensland Capras), Lewis Clarke (Edinburgh Eagles), Harvey Burnett (unattached).

Tries: Addy (2), Toal, Ferguson; Goals: Brough (3).

Ireland: Scott Grix (Huddersfield Giants), Brad Hargreaves (Rochdale Hornets), James Mendeika (Bradford Bulls), Elliot Cosgrove (Batley Bulldogs), Casey Dunne (Longhorns RL), Ben Johnston (Halifax), Liam Finn (Castleford Tigers) (capt), Matty Hadden (Rochdale Hornets), Bob Beswick (Leigh Centurions), Luke Ambler (Halifax), Danny Bridge (Rochdale Hornets), Will Hope (Oldham Roughyeds), Oliver Roberts (Bradford Bulls). Subs: Callum Mulkeen (Gloucestershire All Golds), Graham O’Keeffe (Oxford RL), Joe Keyes (London Broncos), Sean Hesketh (Batley Bulldogs).

Tries: Ambler (2), Hargreaves, Grix; Goals: Finn (4)

Attendance 1197

One of the really great things about living in the Borders (apart from the beautiful landscapes and the human scale communities) is the way that people in the same sector tend to know each other.

I’m a forester/ ecologist and I regularly meet up with colleagues from public, private and community bodies. We can converse, argue, agree to disagree or agree and do it all face to face and in a good spirit. That is very healthy.

It gives me real hope for the future that the Borders will be able to weather the storm of approaching climate change better than some more industrialised and globalised parts of the UK and Europe.

We have land which can grow food in a variety of different ways, we have trees, both softwood and hardwood, to supply our timber and heating needs, we have wind and waves for energy, there are still fish in the sea. We have a resourcefulness and an ability to look out for each other.

All this adds up to resilience and we are going to need it in bucketfuls as global temperatures rise.

The danger point is a 2 degree rise which is predicted to trigger major negative consequences such as the complete loss of the arctic ice cap and sea level rise. We are on trend for a rise of between 3 and 5 degrees which would change the world as we know it, even here in the Borders.

This is the significance of the Paris Climate Summit in December. The governments of more than 190 nations will attend to try and reach agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the reason for these temperature rises. With agreement, it may yet be possible to nudge the figure back down to 3 or even 2 degrees rise and avoid the most dire consequences.

Governments have to take the lead and the current direction of travel by the Westminster Government, including cuts to subsidies for renewables, is not encouraging but we all have to do what we can, not least to egg our politicians on. Did you notice how environmental issues were barely mentioned during the election campaign ?

In the Borders, there are Transition style groups in Melrose, Peebles, Hawick and elsewhere, campaigning to reduce our personal carbon footprints and transitioning towards a more sustainable future. Actions are being taken on growing more local food, community energy, transport (hooray for the new train) and recycling.

It’s small steps for now, but it’s growing and it needs all Borderers to get behind it, like a mega-scrum, all pushing in the same direction!The more that get involved, the stronger it will be, and the braver the decisions which will be taken by our governments.

The Melrose Transition group, A Greener Melrose, https://www.facebook.com/AGreenerMelrose is currently linking up with seven other green Borders groups to run a series of Winter Talks being held once a month in the Ormiston Rooms in Melrose. They are Borders Forest Trust, Borders Organic Gardeners, Earlston Orchard Town, Eco Congregations, Fairtrade Melrose, John Muir Trust and Melrose Paths Group.

Four talks on diverse topics were held in the spring and the attendance is snowballing.

Many of the members of these Greener Borders groups will be going to a March in Edinburgh on November 28 to draw attention to the urgency of the Paris Summit.

Happily, there is now a low carbon train to take us there. We would like to have hundreds of Borderers join us for the day to stand up for the Borders, stand up for the planet.

Contact us through the Facebook page if you’d like to register an interest in going and we’ll book some extra train coaches.

Selkirk woman Evelyn Craig buried her Uncle George in Germany yesterday (Wednesday) – 72 years after he died.

Mrs Craig – born in 1946 – never knew her uncle, whose Lancaster bomber was shot down in November 1943 while on a bombing mission to Frankfurt, but on Wednesday, she and her husband Jim, who live in Back Row, laid to rest his remains, which were not uncovered until 2010.

Evelyn told The Southern that her mother Rose had never spoken to her of the war, but it was clear that she and her brother George were very close.

She said: “When we were told George’s remains had been found, all I could think of was my mum and how very upset she was when we went to Remembrance Day services.

“She had never had any information about his disappearance and bore it with a sore heart.”

Mrs Craig’s cousin Linda Ralph is a researcher who has quite extensively looked into her family history – so there is a lot known of the circumstances of George’s career and death.

George, one of four brothers from a fishing family in Buckie, was a flight engineer in the RAF, commissioned as an officer in October 1943 and the crew joined 97 (Pathfinder) Squadron in early November.

This was the height of the Battle of Berlin. They took off on their first operational flight with the squadron at 0030hrs on the night of November 25/26, and were shot down near Brandau by a night fighter ace called Von Bonnin, with loss of the whole crew.

Although some crew members were recovered immediately after the crash, four, including George, were never found and were commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

Linda had researched the crash and knew the general location where the Lancaster came down – one mile east of the village of Brandau.

In February 2010 Linda received a call to say that the crash site had been found, thanks to local student Felix Klingenbeck who had learned of the crash from an old local man who had witnessed the events as a child.

And yesterday, George was laid to rest with his three fellow crewmen at the Durnbach War Cemetery in Southern Germany. Evelyn and Jim travelled along with Linda and her husband and daughter.

Evelyn said: “I’m surprised to learn what the Ministry of Defence is doing to help families of servicemen who died all these years ago.

“It’s so respectful, what they are doing – contacting the families, arranging the service to be conducted by an RAF padre, with airmen carrying the coffin and organising the reception – it’s quite amazing.”

George – who was married only six months before he died and never had children – was the only one of his brothers not to survive the war.

His older brother Alec was attached to the Gurkhas. He lost a leg and was awarded the Military Cross. Another brother, Jim, was in the Gordon Highlanders. He escaped from PoW camps twice and became a hero of the French Resistance.