Berwickshire News June 1st

This week's Berwickshire News front page carries the story that the petition to keep Coldstream Cottage Hospital open is to be delivered to Scottish Health Minister Andy Kerr tomorrow (Friday 2nd June). A slight confusion creeps in at the end of the article where it states "The petition was delivered to the petitions committee of the Scottish Parliament in time for its visit to the Borders" which is due to take place in the glamorous venue of Jedburgh Town Hall on June 26th.

The Italian Job apparently came to Eyemouth on Sunday last - no sign of Michael Caine nor any 'bloody doors' blown off though - just 140 Minis (it's not mentioned if they mean proper Issigonis-designed examples, or the new-fangled BMW-produced type) on the "Mini Clan Thistle Run". The minis are actually off to Italy next according to the article - due back in Eyemouth in four years time (anyone that's ever travelled in an original Mini will know that every journey feels like it's a year long - even Sir Alec Issigonis said the Mini was a "spartan mode of conveyance with everything cut to the bone").

The River Tweed Commissioners and the Tweed Foundation (The Paper Boy didn't know such bodies existed) have called upon Scottish Rural Development Minister Ross Finnie to give greater protection to wild salmon in the Tweed. The Association of Salmon Fishery Boards (ASFB) supported by all 42 fishery boards, 18 fishery trusts and 7 national management and angling associations in its opposition to the import of live salmon from Norway. For those that aren't aware Scottish and Irish Salmon fisheries and fish farms are relatively disease free - much more so than their Norwegian counterparts - ASFB et al would like to keep it that way.

"Beaches in Berwickshire are Top" screams the headline on page 2. Beaches at Pease Bay, Coldingham & St. Abbs are singled out as being the best in Berwickshire & East Lothian.

In a much more important story, it seems that the Saltires flying at the border on the A1 are attracting a lot of flak. Upsetting the English ? Nope - they're apparently not the correct shade of blue. The Paper Boy has seen Saltires in many shades from a wishy-washy blue to almost black, but apparently the Scottish Parliament decided some time ago that Pantone® Blue 300 is the correct blue for Saltires, although that decision is not compulsory because the chosen blue is lighter than the 'Unionist' version in the Union Flag of which the Saltire forms an integral part. The defence of the flags "operator" (which is ultimately the Scottish Executive - that's to say the largest party grouping within the Scottish Parliament) is that in the exposed position that they fly in the flags don't last long, are regularly changed and will be changed in due course - once they run out of stock of the wrong colour flags.

As mentioned in a previous article in the Paper Shop - The Local Berwickshire lad from London has left the Big Brother house, after deciding that it wasn't for him. Local interest is over now.

Prentice Butchers in Duns has scooped four awards at the Scottish Speciality Sausage Evaluation (you couldn't make this stuff up) held at Selkirk Rugby Club. The recipes have trounced those of 256 other entries from all over Scotland. The awards were: Gold for Pork & Black Pudding, Gold for Pork & Mango Chutney, Silver for Chicken Curry Sausage and Silver for a Wild Boar Sausage. The Paper Boy will have to investigate the claims of 50 varieties for sale at the shop in Duns and report back.

The search is on for the "Best Borderer". The competition aims to find the person who goes out of their way to be helpful, gives back to their community and is proud to be a Borderer. A monthly Best Borderer will be chosen each month from now until September when a run-off between them will decide the overall winner.

There's also a World Cup Wallchart on page 4, as long as your wall will look ok with an A4-sized chart on it.

A machine for cleaning chewing gum from the streets is pictured in use in Kelso (which is in Roxburghshire) last week. Apparently the machine hiccupped when a valve failed and stranded it. It's on a 6-month trial with SBLocal who will decide if it's worth buying one themselves after trying it out in most Border towns.

Not sure where the news element is in the next story - "SBLocal keeping busy" - apparently SBLocal squads have been doing various jobs over the last month as a result of requests from SBC members, community councils and members of the public. One would hope as a council tax payer that they "do various jobs" without being prompted if the requests dry up - that is not clear from the article, nor is it entirely clear that they worked outside the last month.

Four Berwickshire men appeared in Sheriff Kevin's court before an unnamed Sheriff on petition charged with assault. The article then goes on to name five men from Berwickshire.

On the Letters page, there is a long letter from an Eyemouth-based Professor about the impending switchover to Digital TV, in which the Professor reiterates the concerns of Michael Moore MP and the House of Commons Committee report. Estimates given for the cost of switchover by the committee are quoted as being £26 to £153 although the Sunday Times quoted as high as £955 allowing for more sophisticated services, new cabling and more electricity for more devices. He rightly points out that averages are meaningless - it doesn't matter to me that my neighbour paid £200 if I only paid £20 - A more pertinent point he makes is that as switchover gathers pace and more digital TV products are sold, the price should come down - therefore those switching over first (the Borders) will pay more for the privelidge. The Paper Boy is well aware of much of the misinformation out there and does his best to help out the confused - but sadly those that understand the issue seem to be few and far between, and the most vulnerable may fall prey to the unscrupulous.


Picture of Duns Sheriff Court courtesy of the Scottish Courts website