Blyth Bridge, Peeblesshire

Torwoodlee Lodge until we emigrated to Canada

I spent many summers at Torwoodlee Lodge with my Nanny (Jessie Scott Stewart) and a great uncle, Robert Brockie. As soon as school was out Mum, one of my brothers and myself would pack and catch the train to Glasgow, another to Edinburgh and finally board the bus headed for Galashiels. We'd get off at Torwoodlee Lodge which was within walking... [more]

A London Evacuee''s Memories of Midlem.

I was evacuated from London before the German bombs started falling. I think it was in 1939 or 1940 that I arrived at The Manse. I was evacuated to Midlem, Selkikshire TD7 4QE modern postcode, on the Scottish Borders. The address was:-
The Manse
Russell Place
Midlem
SELKIRK
TD7 4

I think that "Russell Place" and the modern postal code... [more]

A lovely and historical summer.

My wife and I spent two months living in Melrose the summer of 2001. It was our home base as we travelled throughout the borders and the rest of Scotland. We chose Melrose for it's charm and convenience and rented Bow Cottage off Abbey Street, from Louise Buchanan, Jimmy Johnston's daughter. The cottage was perfect. My paternal side of the family... [more]

I went to school here and grew up close by

I was born at Cothill Farm in 1947, about 4 miles from Duns. I attended Duns Primary School and Berwickshire High School. My father (James) retired in 1965 when he and my mother located to the west coast to Tighnabruaich, Argyll. My father died in 1981 and my mother in 2009. I emigrated to Canada in 1965 and have lived here... [more]

Fastest Ferret gets Guinness World Record

On 11 July 1999, At the North of England Ferret Racing Championships held in Blythe, Northumberland, UK, an Albino Ferret called 'WARHOL' owned by Jacqui Adams of CHIRNSIDE, Berwickshire, ran the 32ft Tube Race in a WORLD RECORD 12.59 seconds. It's now 2007 and the Record hasn't been beaten still. Warhol was nicknamed Berwickshire's White Lightening by the press. Sadly Warhol... [more]

'I lived there!'

My family lived at Horndean Bank from just before the Second World War until the late 1960s. My immediate family moved there in 1952 after the death of my fraternal grandmother. The total population when I left in 1966 was 18, of which 6 were from my family. We lived on a very small smallholding, for a time rearing pigs. There... [more]

RAF Base

I was born at the RAF base 2 Drone Hill where my father was based. I am now 54 years old and in July 2004 after losing my mother I came up to Coldingham to revisit the base, which to my surprise in now a caravan site, and the house that I was born in is still there. As you can... [more]