Lauderdale News Winter 2024 by lauderdalenews

The Lauderdale News

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS SWITCH ON

The Lauder Christmas lights switch on will be on Saturday 7th December at Market Place in front of the Town Hall. For the switch on of the Lauder Lights, there will be a Christmas market around the tree with stalls from many local suppliers, mulled wine, and food. Santas Grotto will be in the Library for those who want to make their case to the man himself to make sure their name is on the nice list.

The Christmas market will open at 4pm, with a special visit from the man in red at 5pm to do the all-important switch on of the lights. The market will remain open until 6pm.

And the festive celebrations don’t end there. This year the elves will be hosting a Hogmanay Family Ceilidh at the Lauder Public Hall. This will take place on 31st December from 1930 until Midnight and will be fun for all the family. Ticket prices are £10 per adult (and over 16s) with children under 16 free (but they must be accompanied by an adult). Please book via LauderCLF@hotmail.com or message us on Facebook.

The Christmas Lights committee get no financial help and are solely reliant on fundraising to make Lauder sparkle over the festive period. To support us and help us cover the costs of the electricity and year round daily standing charge along with the professional installation and maintenance of the lights visit our

Just Giving page www.justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/LauderLights2024 or visit our Facebook page.

If you would like to speak to the elves they can be contacted through Facebook; facebook.com/LauderChristmasLightsFestival

Making Lauder Blooming Lovely!

We wanted to take this opportunity to give a huge shout out to everyone who helped us in so many ways throughout the year and in the run up to our first ever Britain in Bloom judge's visit way back in August. We were over the moon to receive a GOLD award at the event in Manchester in October. Lauder’s community spirit has definitely shone extra brightly this year!

If you're looking for a wreath workshop this year why not join us in the Scout Hall on Saturday the 7th of December between 10 am and 12 noon. We'll be holding our popular drop-in, all-natural workshop, probably the cheapest wreath workshop around at just £10 a wreath (cash only). You're very welcome to bring along your own bits of ribbon and additional bling to make your creation truly unique. As this workshop can get busy you might want to bring along your own secateurs to use. Accompanied children very welcome.

Friends of Lauder in Bloom Supporter’s Scheme

For £10 a year you'll receive one of our shiny pin badges and know that you're helping us to keep Lauder looking lovely all year round, they make a great Christmas gift too! To apply simply pick up a form from our friends at The Spotty Dog or Weigh Greener or simply send us an email.

Banish the winter blues and come along to our Lauder in Bloom FUNdraising Quiz Night on Friday 28th February at the Lauderdale Hotel. Look out for posters and our Facebook event for more details soon.

Good news! Our popular Spring Plant Sale will be back next April. We would be very grateful for any labelled plant donations next spring, so if you’re digging and dividing or have a surplus of seedlings then look out for posters and our Facebook group for more details early in the year.

Thank you to everyone who continues to pop their spare change into our collection tins at Firebrick Bakery and Weigh Greener – it really does help!

Email us at LauderInBloom@Gmail.com or find us on Facebook and Instagram.

Tour de Lauder

Photo credits Walter Brotherstone

Save The Dates!

The Black Bull Hotel in Lauder

1st to 24th December 2024

Apple & Parsnip Soup

W ith homemade Rosemary & Garlic Croutons

Warm Halloumi & Beetroot Salad

Rocket leaves, Cous Cous, Beetroot, Warm Haloumi with caramelised onion dressing

North Atlantic Prawn & Crayfish Cocktail

Avocado, Lettuce, Tomato, Cucumber, Onion, an d Marie Rose sauce

Chicken Liver Pate with Cranberry Butter

Salad, Warm Bread, Red Onion Chutney

Traditional Christmas Dinner

Turkey, Sage & Onion Stuffing, Pigs in Blankets

Roasted Root Veg , Rich Gravy & Cranberry Sauce

Roasted Lamb Rump

Mash Potato, Sweet Potato Puree, Stem Broccoli, Chartreuse Carrots , Mint sauce & Rosemary & Redcurrant jus

Fillet of Beef Medallion (Served Medium Rare)

Dauphinoise Potatoes, Asparagus, Stem Broccoli, Chartreuse Carrots with a Red Wine Jus

Creamy Seafood Linguine

King Prawns, Scallops, Mussels, Crayfish Tails , topped with a Langoustine in a Creamy White Wine Sauce

Vegetarian Option Available

Christmas Pudding

Cream of Brandy Sauce

Raspberry & Vanilla Crème Brulée

Our Chef’s own Shortbread

Salted Caramel Profiteroles

Choux Buns filled with rich pastry cream topped with strawber ries and a hot toffee sauce on the side

2 Scoops Lucas Ice Cream

With a Cinnamon Xmas Cookie

Vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, salted caramel, passionfruit sorbet or fruit of the fo rest sorbet

£33 95 for 3 courses Dinner 5pm to 8pm

£29.95 for 3 courses Lunch 12pm to 2.30pm

Call 01578 722208 to boo k

NORTHERN LIGHTS

With the night skies in October being so spectacular we asked our Facebook followers for some of their photos. They were all amazing but these two from Isaac Black (left) and Sarah Girling particularly caught our eyes. All the photos can still be seen on our Facebook pages.

07706 04 88 22

info@tommytoyousweeps.co.uk www.tommytoyousweeps.co.uk

The team at Bird Gardens Scotland would like to jump straight-in with a huge thank you to the community for being so supportive of our endeavours this year. We've enjoyed hearing all the feedback about new developments and future ideas.

During Easter the new pathways opened and the wildflowers we sowed gave us the most fantastic display of summer colour on the disturbed soil created with path creation. Hopefully these have selfsown and next year the flowers will be even bigger. Over winter we will install posters throughout the grounds sharing the plans for each area. There are conversations with various studbooks happening in the background, which will bring yet more exciting birds, and animals, to Bird Gardens. It is always exciting to become involved with another breeding programme.

This year has witnessed many parrots arrive on site. These wee souls have been confiscated at various ports and arrived here to be cared for. Our team of volunteers have spent many hours rehabilitating these parrots, naturalising their behaviours and building aviaries to house them. Many of them are threatened species so we have the opportunity to take these confiscated parrots and incorporate them into breeding programmes within the zoo world.

In the visitor center we welcomed several school groups which were very good fun, and this is something we will be expanding into 2025. The visitor center is becoming more disability confident with wheelchair access / parking and hearing loops being installed. We're also delighted to be supporting more local producers and artists in the shop.

2025 is set to be another year of substantial growth with some big projects being measured and drawn-up. We look forward to sharing the journey with you.

LAUDERDALE LIBRARY

The library continues to operate from the Old Jail beneath the TownHall. We are open on Saturdays from 10am until noon, on Tuedays from 2-4pm and on Thursdays from 5-7pm. Do come and browse our large collection of fiction for adults and children as well as a number of nonfiction books for adults. We always welcome new users.

We need a volunteer to cover one in three Tuesday sessions. If you could help please contact Alison Macgregor by email to atmacg@gmail.com

We will be closed as usual over the festive period, our last opening before Christmas is Saturday, 21 December and we will reopen on Saturday, 4 January 2025. Look out on Lauder’s Community Facebook page for our annual Advent countdown of books in December!

We’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very happy book filled 2025!

LAUDER POST OFFICE

WE WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO THANK OUR WONDERFUL COMMUNITY AND CUSTOMERS FOR ALL OF THEIR SUPPORT OVER THE PAST 9 YEARS. IT IS A PERIOD OF CHANGE FOR BOTH THE COMMUNITY AND OUR FAMILY WHICH, AS CHANGE DOES, CAN BRING UNCERTAINTY BUT WE ARE HOPEFUL THIS WILL BE A POSTIVE CHANGE FOR ALL AND WISH WASIM AND THE STAFF AT THE KEY STORE ALL THE VERY BEST WITH THE POST OFFICE GOING FORWARD.

JASON, KATIE & FAMILY

Oxton Community Shop

These are exciting times for Oxton Community Shop. With the development work on the Oxton War Memorial Hall well underway we can begin to see the space that will be the new home for the shop. We are enormously grateful to the Hall Committee for incorporating the new shop into the hall developments. The new space will offer our customers a better shopping experience with more space and a wider range of produce. We have also just had a very successful fund raising strategy pay off with awards from Scottish Borders Council, The National Lottery, Toddleburn and Dun Law windfarm trusts, as well as investment from local people, helped us reach our target of £40k. This will pay for new equipment, improved marketing and signage and help towards the transition to the new premises. Making the case to the funders was made easy by the clear and growing support from the community we serve. Our recent community survey highlighted this. For example we scored 4.83 out of 5 when we asked how important is it to have the community shop and when asked about customer service scored 4.91 from 5! This is down to the remarkable group staff and volunteers working behind the counter and behind the scenes who make the shop viable and the loyalty and commitment of our customers. The shop is genuinely run by the community for the community. We are not here for profit. We are here to provide a service for the community, on your doorstep, a place to see a friendly and welcoming face, and have a blether while buying your shopping! We hope to be in the new premises early next year. Meanwhile the service continues with our opening hours weekdays 8.00am until 12 noon then 4.00pm until 6.00pm. Saturday 8.00pm until 12 noon Sundays 9.00pm until 12 noon. If you want to be kept up to date with developments then we can add you to our mailing list. Contact oxtonshop@gmail.com or call 07850604521 to register your interest.

08:00 – 12:00 | 16:00 – 18:00

HAIR RAZORS

UNISEX HAIR SALON

01578 722 999

1 West High Street, Lauder TD2 6TF

Now open 6 days a week, Monday to Saturday

Facebook: HairRazorsLauder

HAIR RAZORS

Since moving premises there have been lots of changes at Hair Razors!

We are now open every day except Sunday. As well as all aspects of hairdressing, we now have a fully qualified makeup artist in the salon, able to offer makeup appointments as well as wedding packages for hair and makeup, either in the salon or at your venue. Brow and lash technician coming soon!

We will be offering lash and brow services including brow artistry, brow lamination plus lash lifting/tinting and eyelash extensions.

We also offer ear piercing.

Gift vouchers available.

Pop in to discuss your needs or telephone 01578 722999 for an appointment!

https://www.facebook.com/HairRazorsLauder

Lauder Scottish Women’s Institute

Lauder SWI held their first meeting of 2023-24 in Lauderdale Scout Hall on Tuesday 10th September at 2pm. Kirsti Hampson from Sustainable Selkirk shared really helpful advice on practical and cost-effective ways to reduce energy and resource consumption. She demonstrated items to use and offered bookings for free home energy visits which several members have taken up and talked about enthusiastically afterwards.

At the October meeting Janet Donaldson from Duns showed us the materials used to make fascinators and demonstrated making a beautiful one which she kindly donated to the raffle. The November speaker is Deborah McKinnon from St John Scotland delivering a CPR and defibrillator awareness session, and December demonstrator is Nicole Cockburn making candle table decorations. (letter D)

Competitions this year require members to bring quirky, tasty, attractive, useful items beginning with specific letters. We started with L. then A, then U etc. This is generating many unusual items and giving us lots of fun. Committee members are also asked to wear something representing the meetings topic which again is causing much hilarity.

Visitors are invited to attend our monthly meetings £5 admission. In February Ronald Drummond will talk about Manderston, and the Channel 4 programme The Edwardian Country House bringing it to life. (letter R) In March Mary Craig will talk about Witches (letter S) and an outing is planned for April.

Heating Engineer & Plumber 01578 722636 (24 hour Call Out)

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

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Walk your way to health and happiness.

To all people who are less than fit we would welcome you to a short socially pleasant walking group suitable for those with varying disabilities.

We meet at the Lauder Leisure Centre for 10am each Wednesday morning.

Tuesday - Friday: 8am-2:30pm Saturday: 8am-1pm

Tuesday - Friday: 7:30am-2:30pm

Saturday: 8am-1pm

Do not feel your disability will hold us back as our objective is to get you fit and well enough to go on longer walks. We also welcome people without disabilities who wish to find out more about Lauder.

bread, hot/cold filled rolls, savouries, cakes, traybakes, tea/coffee & Christmas treats!

Bread, hot/cold filled rolls, savouries, cakes, traybakes & tea/coffee!

Following the walk, we stop for tea and or coffee at the Lauderdale Hotel, provided by Scottish Borders Council / NHS Borders.

For further information please call Dr John Crombie Smith on 07711 610287

Orders taken call 01578 722233

“Coffee, Company & Chat”

Oxton's Community Coffee Morning

Grateful thanks to all who have supported our “Coffee, Company & Chat” Coffee Mornings. Since we opened the doors of Oxton's War Memorial Hall for the very first one on 8th November 2022, the response has been very much appreciated. This is very much a community event with all ages attending - from tiny babies and toddlers right through to our most regular customers, both in their nineties. Over the 38 Sessions to 3rd October 2024 there has been an average attendance of 35. In September 2023 and again in 2024 we held two additional joint coffee Mornings with Oxton's Macmillan Cancer Support Team. These events were so busy we lost count of the attendance! Delighted to report that “Coffee, Company & Chat” provided and donated the refreshments on both occasions and in 2024 the owners of the Tower Hotel waived the hire fee and gave full use of all three public areas for Macmillan. The home baking, raffle, christmas card and craft stalls were very popular and over £1,200 was raised at this year's event for Macmillan Cancer Support.

“Coffee, Company & Chat” takes place every second Tuesday outwith school holidays and is widely promoted in local newspapers, social media and with posters around Oxton.

All are most welcome from 10 -11.30am. There is no official charge. Donations are welcome but not essential. Since opening, the generosity of donations has covered all catering costs and provided essential equipment and crockery together with necessary storage boxes. The cost of simple bud vases of fresh flowers is also covered, appreciated by all and the flowers are then gifted to anyone in Oxton or surrounding area unable to attend.

The Probus Club of Lauderdale

After our AGM in September, the Probus Club is looking forward for another year of monthly lunches in the Lauderdale Hotel with guest speakers on a variety of interesting subjects. Attendance is 12;30 for 12;45 but members normally gather from midday onwards for general discussion.

Syllabus 2024-2025

Tuesday 8th October MDO Piper Archie Anderson

Tuesday 12th November Remembrance Rev. John Shields

Tuesday 10th December Christmas Lunch

Tuesday 14thJanuary Burns Lunch John Nichol

Tuesday 11th February The Road Not Taken Finlay Calder

Tuesday 12th March The Border Forestry Trust Charles Dundas

Tuesday 15th April Presidents Talk John Duffield

Tuesday 13th May TBC Duncan Sutherland

Tuesday 10th June TBC

Anyone interested, please contact any member or through the Lauderdale Hotel.

From the first coffee morning in 2022 to March 2024, each one was held in Oxton War Memorial Hall, which since mid-March '24 has not been available due to extensive alterations and the building of an extension for the Village Shop. Fortunately, the new owners of the Tower Hotel have kindly provided the Bar area and there have been some cosy Tuesday mornings! The use of the Tower Hotel is much appreciated.

Whilst still using the HaIl, in June the links with Channelkirk Primary School continued with all 45 pupils providing entertainment for 2023's Christmas Special and in early March this year pupils joined the coffee morning and shared their reading skills and stories. A most enjoyable morning.

In June, a Strawberry coffee morning was held with a delicious spread of scones, shortcakes, brownies and other goodies – all with a strawberry theme. The organisers are very grateful and thank all who volunteer, so willingly, for catering team duties. Also all participants are very much appreciative of all who help, in true community spirit, to set up the tables, provide tea/coffee and biscuits and undertake all the many tasks that are quietly carried out to enable each session to go ahead for the enjoyment of a warming cuppa with a biscuit or two whilst giving all the opportunity to meet new folk, old friends and neighbours, enjoy company and have a chat. It is hoped “Coffee, Company & Chat” will continue on every second Tuesday outwith school holidays.The completion of the newly refurbished “all singing, all dancing” War Memorial Hall is very much awaited as is use of the new kitchen and toilet facilities.

The dates planned for December are Tuesday 3rd and Tuesday 17th will be a Christmas Special – look for details in local papers etc. All welcome. If you would like to volunteer or want further information - please contact Marie on 07855 181728.

Lauderdale Woolly Crafts

If you like to knit, crochet or other woolly crafts come and join us every Monday from 6 till 9 at the Lauderdale Hotel. If you’d like further info contact Liz on 07506515793.

If you have any questions phone Liz on 07506 515 793

Lauderdale Community Choir

Lauderdale Community Choir continue to meet at Lauder Public Hall on a Thursday evening at 7.30pm. We welcome new members from Lauderdale and beyond. We sing a variety of music including classical, folk, sacred and pop. Everyone is welcome; you do not need to be able to read music and there are no auditions. You just need to love to sing! Singing with others is a great way to meet new people, be part of a friendly community and is increasingly recognised as benefitting our physical and mental health. Earlier this year we

joined with another community choir and two singing for lung health choirs to perform a concert in Edinburgh. We received feedback from the other choirs and the audience that the concert was both beneficial and moving.

We are currently actively seeking a new Musical Director. Our current Musical Director, James Robertson is leaving after 10 years of excellent input.

Some of our members are going to join Distinguished Concerts International in New York in November to sing at the Carnegie Hall.

Our next concert will be held at

Earlston High School on Saturday 14th December at 6 for 6.30pm and we are delighted that we will be joined by some of the pupils from Lauder Primary School.

For more information please email our Chairperson Debbie Dunn on debbiedunn.laudercommunitychoir@gmail.com

Lauderdale Curling Club

The season started with President’s select defeating the Vice President in our opening bonspiel. The Mathieson Trophy is now well under way with the curlers enjoying good ice from the new plant at Kelso Ice Rink. If anyone would like to try curling please contact Kelso Ice Rink or Colin Stirling.

Office Bearers for this year are President Colin Stirling, Vice President Nicola Neill. Secretary Irene Allinson and Treasurer Janene Moffat.

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Lauder Amateur Dramatic Society

It’s time to save the date for LADS’ next production!

This is set to be another fantastic evening, with three farcical comedies, full of clever word play, hysterical one liners and outrageous puns.

Production 2025 runs from 19th to 22nd March, in Lauder Public Hall.

Look forward to seeing you then.

Images from Production 2024

E-Bikes

Coming soon to Lauder

Stow Cycle Hub has secured funding for 2 e- bikes, storage and charging facilities to be located in Lauder for hire by the community and visitors to the Town. These will be located next to the Leisure Centre. Further details and booking arrangements will be publicised in due course.

Lauderdale Community Shed

We have more than completed our first full year of operation, and we have welcomed several new members with varied interests, which will show in our expanding variety of products.

Robin Jeffs stood down as Chairman and Andrew Wilson has stepped into the fray. David Budd has reached 90 and relinquished the post of Secretary to be replaced by Sharon Sansom.

We have continued to upgrade and replace machine tools, with a new lathe, pillar drill and mitre saw. We have just completed installing a vacuum dust control system to deal with sawdust. Even the cabin has been upgraded with racking installed to enhance storage space.

We would like to provide woodworking training for our members and have woodturning and pen turning courses identified at reasonable costs. Another potential course is a weekend of box making.

Throughout the year we could not have done without the café at the Leisure Centre who kept us supplied with hot drinks and bacon rolls. Thanks to Sharon and Susan for your contributions.

I’m sure you have seen many of the items we have produced like planters, Christmas trees, items for the Lauder Parish celebrations. Photos of projects like garden bench refurbishment and other repairs often appear on Facebook.

We now have our own post-box, so please post any requests, with your contact details, and we will try to fulfil your needs. Alternatively, send us an email to Lauderdale.Community.Shed@gmail.com.

If you are passing nearby, please feel free to drop in and see what we’re up to. We are open from 9am to 12 noon Monday to Friday, and Saturdays on demand unless we are having our coffee break next door!

Market Place, Lauder

Tel: 01578 722302

For all your healthcare needs

Monday-Friday: 9am-1pm & 2pm-6pm Saturday: 9am-1pm

SCOTTISH POULTRY

KEEPERS

Anyone who keeps birds, even a single bird, must register on the Scottish Kept Birds Register (SKBR) by 1 December 2024. This is a legal requirement".

You will need to register if you keep any type of bird, including:

• pet birds – there are exceptions for certain types that are kept indoors only (see below)

• poultry

• game birds

• racing pigeons

• birds of prey

• waterfowl

This applies to anyone who keeps birds, as well as wild bird rehabilitation centres and zoos.

Who doesn’t need to register

You do not need to register psittaciformes (such as budgies, parrots and cockatiels) or passeriformes (such as jays and finches), which are:

• fully housed indoors with no outdoor access, or

• housed outdoors in a fully enclosed structure

Any birds that are taken outdoors at any time, for example to be exercised or trained, must be registered.

Further information and Registration details can be found at https://keptbirdregister.service.gov.scot/

If you need help registering -

Telephone the SKBR helpline on 01466 405101 (office hours only), or email skbr@scoteid.com

Lauder Community and Leisure Centre

The Leader Community and Leisure Centre with its gym, fitness classes and meeting place for groups of all ages as well as soft-play and a welcoming cafe is a facility for all the community in your community...

LCLC is run by a volunteer committee currently of three people. We cannot continue with so few people on our committee so we desperately need new members. All current committee members are looking to step down as we feel we have reached saturation point and we need more support/new

outlook! Anyone who is interested please let us know.

We did recently get awarded some funding from National Lottery which we used to replace lights in the main hall and will be moving the softplay area to create a larger fitness/ multipurpose room.

None of us want the Centre to close but without community support this is very much likely to happen.

Your Leader Community and Leisure Centre needs YOUR help!

It’s been a busy early Autumn for all of us at Lauderdale YFC. If you follow us on Facebook, you will have seen that we have been busy taking part in the Cash4Kids Sports Challenge. We’ve held raffles, and sponsored events, as well as our fave challenge “Sheep Poo Bingo” to try to raise money for the club to see us through the winter training period, and to invest in new equipment and kit.

We raised over £4500 in total, with our U12 & U14 boys and our U16 girls winning “best group fundraisers” for their Cash4Goals for Cash4kids. An extra £500 award to add to our total. We are truly grateful to all the businesses and people in our local community who donated and supported. It’s incredibly humbling to have your support.

As the 11 aside season draws to an end, and the winter nights draw in, our focus is turning to completing fundraising for our next improvement – floodlight repair and replacement to low energy, more efficient LED lights. We are delighted to announce a significant donation has been provided by the Landfill FCC community fund, and we are working on securing the balance needed to finalise work on our improvements.

We’ve welcomed the 2019 kids into our club this year, and now have over 160 kids who take part in training and games on a regular basis. We’re especially proud to be fielding two 11 aside girls’ teams, which provide access to the game for girls across the Borders region. Our small committee work hard to keep the lights on, and our coaches continue to create an environment of teamwork, support and confidence in our players. We’re also delighted to provide facilities and support for some of our local friends such as the Limpers, Scouts and Common Riding.

None of this could be done without the support of the community and without our fantastic kids. Thanks once again!

If you are interested in getting involved, you can contact us at lauderdaleyfc@gmail.com

COMMON RIDING 2024

Photo credits Morven Peace

Photo credits Walter Brotherstone

What goes on At Birkhill House?

We have been so busy At Birkhill House CIC, welcoming groups and individuals for crafting, animal assisted activities and gardening opportunities. If you are curious about what goes on here, there are lots of ways to come along for a taster session and help support our not-for-profit social enterprise. Here are some FREE ways to be involved:

Volunteering, Mondays 9am-1pm: There are so many jobs! From helping with the animals to preparing crafting materials for our workshops and kits, there is something for everyone. Application form available on our website.

Open crafting sessions, Tuesdays 6-8pm & Fridays 10am-12noon: Grab a project and come along! Creativity loves company. No booking necessary - just drop in. Makers Group, Wednesdays 10am-12.30pm: Learn new skills and help us stock our shelves along the way. Nine-week pilot finishes at the end of March but we have applied for funding to carry on. Enquire via email if you are interested in a slot.

Wooly Wednesdays, Wednesdays 2-4pm: Help us sort through donated sheep's fleeces in preparation for the raw fleece market we

are managing at Tangled Galashiels at the end of May. No booking necessary - just drop in. Gardening sessions, Fridays 1.30-4pm: Gardening season is nearly upon us! Come help tend our veggie beds and natural dye garden. Enquire via email if you are interested in helping.

We also host all sort of paid-for workshops, welcoming local makers and artisans who are keen to share their skills with visitors. We are soon to host a four-week doodle workshop series, which will be great fun (see advert for more details). What would you like to see on our schedule? Or we can put together a bespoke session specifically designed for you or your group. Just give us a shout!

We have a wee shop on-site, where we stock all sorts of fibre-based products, including beautiful yarns made from own homegrown alpaca fibre. Alongside specialist equipment, like hand-turned drop spindles courtesy of local craftsman Tony Nelson, and other specialist artisanal items, we also have loads of crafting materials and items, including a huge selection of donated yarns and other destash items. Bear us in mind for locally-sourced, independently produced gifts that support a good cause. The shop is open during open

crafting hours or we are happy for you to fire us a text or email to name a time that suits you to come and browse. If you don't have much time, you could always swing by our honesty stall, where we put out all kinds of seasonal produce and products. There is a QR code for ease of payment and a good old fashioned honesty box, too. All revenue generated goes right back into running the programme here, which focusses on our mission to help improve mental health in the Scottish Borders through caring, creativity and collaboration.

Whatever way you choose to be involved, we are looking forward to welcoming you! Save the date for our annual open day: Saturday 18th May.

EASTER BUNNY WEDDING

Unfortunately, The Lauderdale News didn’t receive the wedding photograph from the Easter Bunny wedding in time for the last issue but the ‘Aw factor’ was too good to miss so…

Thank you to everyone who bought a raffle ticket for this Easter bunny wedding that I knitted. It was to raise money in aid of cash for kids in the Scottish Borders. It is supported by greatest hits radio (formerly known as Radio Borders). With your kind donations we raised £30.00. It was kindly displayed at the Trough Cafe/ Leisure Centre by Sharon who does a fabulous job. Thank you again - Debbie Griffiths Lauder art group.

Book Club

Lauder Book Club is coming up for its second birthday in January.

We are still using Galashiels Library’s book scheme as there are over a hundred titles to choose from. So far we have read and discussed twenty books. Some have been universally loved, the odd one loathed but there is always lively discussion over a hot or a cold drink. We continue to meet on the first Thursday afternoon of the month 2pm at The Lauderdale Hotel.

If you are happy to source your own copies of our chosen books and would like to join us then do please get in touch.

Diane Mitchell pdianemitchell@msn.com

South Garden

The tenants of South Garden had an afternoon tea and raffle on the 12th October to raise funds for the Resident Tenants Association. We raised £265 which was great. This will help towards our Christmas Lunch which the tenants are looking forward to, at The Lauderdale Hotel in December. We are also going to the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh to see the pantomime Cinderella. Oh! Yes We Are!

We have had some lovely days out over the past few months. We went to Ratho and had a trip on the barge with Sea Gull Cruises which was fun. Another nice trip was when we visited Roslyn Chaple which was good and visited Paxton House to go to their pop-up market, followed by lunch, then a little trip to Spittal for a short walk along the promenade for coffee and ice-cream.

HERDS SUPPER

Plans are now under way to get the 2025 supper organised!

Lauderdale Hotel Friday 14th Feb 2025

For ticket enquiries contact

Dougie Scott07756861554

Keith Robertson07920747057

Derek Taylor07857292609

Mon-Sat 6.30am-8pm

About our Salon:

Meishu Hair & Beauty

55

AM Garden and Pet Services

Call Aileen on 0745 401 9011

Email: aileenmclaren@yahoo.com Fully Insured for Public Liability

Wishing You All a Merry Christmas

We are an Aveda Salon. Aveda creates high performance products that are responsibly sourced, 100% Vegan and not tested on animals. Our friendly professional team look forward to welcoming you for all your hair and beauty needs. Our services include styling, cutting, colouring, wedding/special occasion hair and make-up, waxing, tinting and facials. We also offer an express beauty menu that you can enjoy whilst your colour is developing or if you are short of time. Available Wednesday (open until late), Thursday, Friday & Saturdays.

Nails by Becky uses The Gel Bottle products, polishes are rich, highly pigmented, chip-resistant and offer extremely long-lasting shine. The good news doesn’t end there because we are also VEGAN, CRUELTY FREE. Available Wednesday and Thursday evenings and Saturdays.

Meishu Hair and Beauty:

Address: 3 Mid Row, Lauder, TD2 6TB Phone: 01578 717284

Email:

info@meishusalon.com

Book Online at: www.meishusalon.com

Sunny Smith is a massage therapist with 20 years of experience, who can offer authenticity in her treatments and has a deep understanding of the spiritual and cultural element of the Thai massage. Available Monday evenings, Wednesday mornings. Other days available on request.

Nails by Becky:

Address: 3 Mid Row, Lauder, TD2 6TB Phone: 07590 436221

Instagram: _ _ nails.by.becky_

Facebook: Nails By Becky

Book Online at: www.meishusalon.com

Sunny Smith Massage

Therapist:

Address: 3 Mid Row, Lauder, TD2 6TB Phone: 07767 432940

Email: sunnysmith0871@gmail.c om

Book Online at: www.meishusalon.com.

TOWARDS A COMMUNITY ACTION PLAN FOR LAUDERDALE, BLAINSLIE,

AND SURROUNDING AREAS

Lauderdale Community Council hosted an open public meeting in Lauder Public Hall on 8th October to begin the process of creating a Community Action Plan/Place Plan. The CAP will list the priorities for improvement that local people want and the key actions that will enable these. Many of our desired improvements will require significant funding. Our CAP will help make our funding applications more robust because funders will have more confidence that what we want to do has the backing of the community and is part of a well-thought through strategic plan. We are very grateful for the support of Catherine Francis of South of Scotland Enterprise who helped us to plan and facilitate the meeting. This meeting is just a start though! We need more of you to get involved. See below for ideas on how we could take this forward. 27 folk were willing to brave the dreadful weather and turn out to share their views, including people from Oxton, Carfrae and Stow. We even had to put up with leaks in the Public Hall! Joanne Dryburgh made a lovely introduction, emphasising how friendly local people are, and how lovely Lauder is as a place to live. People then shared how they use the local area (with the help of a map drawn by Emma Herdman), and suggested improvements they would like. We then had more in-depth small group conversations around 4 main areas (the most important ones identified in our survey last year): the leisure centre; greener community; transport; and walking/cycling/running paths. What has emerged so far?

Feedback about the evening has been really positive, and 24 of the 27 who came along want the report and further information. Main points: 1. LEISURE CENTRE What do we want to do with the Leisure Centre? The soft play area and cafe is well used; various activities take place. But people feel it is not fit for purpose. The internal environment is unsuitable; insulation is poor; it is cold and has sound issues; and it could be better used and events better communicated. A key dilemma is: do we knock it down and start again? if so where? will people use it? or do we refurbish it? Both options require significant funding, so whatever we decide will need a strong case to present to funders (including evidence of widespread community support). We also learned that Janet Thomas manages the leisure centre entirely voluntarily as there is no funding for paid management! Janet, you are a star!!

2. TRANSPORT Well, we all know local public transport is very poor. The group identified ways in which this disadvantages us all --young people can't get to work easily without great costs (own car; costly insurance); people stranded as links poor; lack of bus shelters and lighting; no bus through Blainslie; no connecting links to Stow for station. The bus is Oxton's only lifeline, but they don't run late.

Various suggestions for improvement were proposed - e.g. a bookable mini-bus system; express service to Berwick station; improved bus stops. These and other ideas you have all need thinking through and how much community support there is for them identified.

3. GREENER COMMUNITY We have some things in place already and we want to do more. Many ideas were raised. This area deserves far more discussion. We have a recycling centre, we have EV chargers (Lauder x3; Stow; Carfraemill); Weigh Greener refill shop; Lauder in Bloom; the Common; Golf Course and Park. What more do we want to do? Suggestions included championing good farming practices, greener land use (concerns raised include shooting, heather burning, livestock, food security, windfarms, pollution e.g. rivers polluted by run off from farmland, improved biodiversity). How do we plan for climate change? How do we educate and disseminate? A Greener Lauder group has started. Meeting information will be posted in Weigh Greener. Everyone welcome.

4. WALKING/RUNNING/CYCLING A lot of detailed suggestions were proposed. A key priority is to link up paths and cycle routes between local towns and villages e.g. Oxton-Lauder; Lauder-Earlston; Lauder-Blainslie; Lauder-Stow; Stow-Oxton. More leaflets mapping local paths (one is being prepared for Blainslie) would be helpful (these cost money). Making paths and cycle routes safe for everyone including children (e.g. entrance from A68 to the Tennis Court is dangerous). Eibhlin McHugh from Stow has been very helpful in bringing e-bikes to Lauder. Can book via the Stow Cycle Hub online. NEXT STEPS IN CREATING OUR COMMUNITY

ACTION PLAN

We are conscious that we need to hear many more local voices. Please do get involved. Here are some initial thoughts:

1. Events at the school (dates tbc) -- voices of children and their parents very important

2. Community Drop-In sessions -- everyone is welcome; come along and share your ideas:

DATE TIME PLACE

11/12/24 11am Lauderdale Hotel

11/12/24 7pm Lauderdale Hotel 12/12/24 11am Leisure Centre

We can offer more dates and times if this is helpful.

3. We have been advised that we should conduct an in-depth survey. We hope to do this in the New Year.

4. Discussions with members of local clubs and other organisations?

5. Creating a group to progress this further.

6. Raising funds to hire help with the local consultation process.

7. Any other suggestions? Do consider getting involved and sharing your views. Let us know what you think. Send your ideas/comments/ suggestions to Marilyn Aitkenhead (marilyn.seachange@gmail.com) or direct to LCC via our website (admin@lauderdalecommunitycouncil.org.uk).

Lauder Flower Show

This year’s annual Lauder Flower Show took place on a lovely sunny day on the last Saturday of August. We had lots of great entries for all the classes from the children’s section to floral art, vegetables to handicrafts and of course flowers! Although we had many entries, especially vegetables and preserves! It would be lovely to see more flowers in the show next year.

It was great to see so many entries from the younger members of the community including children from ‘The High Street Nursery’ but it is also a pleasure to see entries from people who have been supporting the Flower Show for many years. Congratulations to Kelvin Clark, who won the ‘Best in Show’ prize for his last-minute entry of a beautiful vase of perennial flowers from his garden. Mrs Skully, acting headteacher of Lauder Primary School, did an amazing job of

officially opening the show and presented the eighteen show cups! Yet again, the pupils and staff from the school created some beautiful Flower Show artwork, which was so difficult to judge! For the first time this year, short films were created to display all the great work from the children. These can still be viewed on our Facebook page. The committee would like to thank everyone who took the time to grow, bake or create entries; everyone who came to support the show; the judges and our sponsors. Without you all the Flower Show would not be possible!

We are still a small and relatively new committee, and keen to keep the Flower Show an event in the Lauderdale calendar. If you have any ideas, please feel free to contact our Facebook page or join the committee!

Lauder Larder

The Byre, Lauder Leisure Centre

Lauder Larder, your local community foodbank, open to all.

Open Wednesday 2-4pm and Sunday 10.30-12.30pm

Open To All, No Means Testing

Lauder Larder @ The Byre, next to Lauder Leisure Centre continues to provide a vital resource for many people in our local community and as you can imagine we have seen a huge increase in the volume of customers. We are an entirely volunteer led team and feel very privileged to be supporting those people in need of some help.

Open Wednesdays 2 -4pm & Sundays 10am-2pm

The shelves are stocked with food kindly donated by local people who are incredibly generous and we are extremely grateful for the food and cash donations we receive.

A huge heartfelt thanks goes out to all the local businesses, organisations and individuals that donate to us.

Again, we have joined forces with local young people completing their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award to offer opportunities to work with us as volunteers. They are a valuable asset in helping us.

Lauder Larder shopping bags are still available for £5 each. We are keen to find ways to run our service in a sustainable way and would encourage anyone to buy a lovely bag in support of the Larder.

We have a cash donation box in The Byre, it is not necessary to give, but very helpful for us to replenish stock when we are running low – This also includes our Rescue Table with food that has to be used rather than go to landfill.

We encourage all the community to use this produce and kindly swap for one of our core items – please also remember that we have a ‘surplus’ box situated outside where we add fresh items that haven't been taken.

accept donations from the local community and various charities to welcome anyone who may need food products, toiletries or pet food also take donations of fresh food and share to prevent waste

Lauder Art Group

The art group continue to meet every Thursday morning from 9.30-11.30 in the Church Centre. We have welcomed a few new members recently but always room for more!

The attached photos show a couple of the collaborative projects we have worked on in the past months.

The art group once again hosted the Macmillan coffee morning at the Lauderdale hotel and the excellent sum of £1100.31 was raised. The group thanks everyone who attended, made contributions to the various stalls, Bright Ideas and to the Lauderdale Hotel for providing the venue.

On September 7th and 8th an art group exhibition was on display during the Open Doors weekend at the church. Thanks to those who looked in. We appreciate your support.

We are also delighted to let you know we will again be in a position to provide Christmas hampers. Forms are available from the foodbank, alternatively you can print off a form from our facebook page where you can find all the details about how to order.

Many thanks to all our volunteers and to those who donate who make it all possible!

email us at lauderlarder@outlook.com

LASTLY - SANTA CLAUSE IS COMING TO TOWN Friday 20th December (Please keep your eyes peeled for more details)

1 One of our talented artists gave us an excellent demonstration on using chalk pastels on black paper. These are our first attempts.

2 Olympic inspired jigsaw! Olympic sports were depicted on individual jigsaw pieces.

ROYAL BURGH OF LAUDER GOLF CLUB

As we reflect on a summer of gale force winds and torrential rain, we acknowledge the stoicism of our members who braved the elements to support the Club. We also acknowledge the determination of Ronnie Malcolm and his supporters who kept the course open throughout thereby allowing a full calender of events to be successfully completed.

This year’s winners are as follows:

• Gents A Division Barry Nelson, Gents B Division Willie Clark, Gents C Division Jim Turner

• Ladies Silver Division Amy Halliday and Ladies Bronze Division Liz Bain (pictured)

• Lauderdale Gents Open 2024 Best Net Score & Overall Winner Alan White of Lauder Golf Club (pictured)

• Lauderdale Gents Open 2024 Lowest Gross Score Lyle Gillie of Torwoodlee Golf Club

The LEGGS (Lauder Elderly Gentlemen’s Golfing Society), open to players aged 55 and over, manged outings to seven other Borders courses during the year meeting old contemporaries and making new friends in the spirit of senior’s golf.

The Ladies and Juniors sections of the Club continue to flourish, and the Happy Hackers continue their twice weekly gatherings in a spirit of fun and camaraderie.

The Club has also enjoyed being a key location for visitors to the region many travelling from abroad as well as from other parts of the United Kingdom.

For further information on all aspects of Lauder Golf Club please visit our website at https://lauder.golf-club.website/

The 2025 BVAC classic will be held on Sunday, 8 June 2025.

The theme of the show has yet to be decided but as one of Scotlands premier classic vehicle shows it will be great as we build on past successes and continue to grow this major event.

Follow BVAC on Facebook and on our website for further details as they become available.

Memorial Gig, thank you

We would like to thank everyone who came along in September to support the musical evening in memory of "Mike Whellans". Thank you to the Lauderdale Hotel & staff for the use of the function room and setting it up. Thanks to my door helpers. Our heartfelt thanks to all the musicians who gave up their time to make the evening a fantastic success. We were blown away by the amount raised from ticket sales, collection on the night and various donations was £1534.80, which has been split between Alzheimer's Scotland and Kidney Research. Again our heartfelt thanks, our dad would have loved it.

Rachel, Martin and Daniel Whellans

Blainslie Village Hall is now open again and available for hire!

If you're looking for a party venue, regular hire or meeting place then please contact Jenny Erwin via the Blainslie Village Hall Facebook page or on 07766 497 876

Pheonix Accountancy £td

brian@pheonixaccountancy.co.uk www.pheonixaccountancy.co.uk

Windfarm Funds

Oxton & Channelkirk Community Groups are fortunate to be able to apply for funding from the three windfarms surrounding the village. They are namely Dunlaw, Dunlaw Extension & Toddleburn. In the last year Dunlaw received £6458.82, Toddleburn £26,000 & Dunlaw Extension £81,753.63 to support grants. Dunlaw Extension is shared with Heriot, Fala & Humbie Communities. Over the last 12 months the following Grants were granted: Dunlaw

Oxton After Dinner Club - £500 Hall rents for PiYo, Monday Yoga, Wednesday Yoga, Chair Yoga, Thursday Yoga(50%) , Coffee & Chat, Wednesday Club, up to May 2024 this was paid to Oxton War Memorial Hall and since then to Leader Leisure Centre, Scout Hall and SBC - £2687.40

Oxton & Channelkirk Community Council for Summer Fair - £520

Oxton & Channelkirk Community Council for replacement Defibrillator & 1 years support - £1458.00

We have also pledged to pay for replacement flooring in Oxton War Memorial Hall circa £12,000

Applications to Treasurer, Frances Dickmandickman.glencroft@btinternet.com

Toddleburn

Oxton War Memorial Hall- An additional £50,000 in addition to £100,000 already agreed

Oxton & Channelkirk Community Council- £720 to fund a

The Finest Dry Aged Meats Supporting

Local Farming Lowering Food Miles

Place your order online for delivery or collection

free-drop in participatory music making 2 day workshop, open to all ages. £1600 towards annual Oxton Community Fireworks Display

Bird Garden Scotland CIC - £5551 to assist in installation of a hearing induction loop; concrete for path work between the car park and the main door; grab rails on sections of the path network

Oxton Community Development Ltd - £7500 to help support the transition of the Community Shop to its new premises in Oxton War Memorial Hall

Next Application Deadlines are 6th December 2024 for Panel Meeting 22nd January 2025 & 27th June 2025 for Panel Meeting 13th August 2025.Applications Forms can be found on www.sse.com/community/funds

Dunlaw Extension

Each Community Hall was awarded £1350 energy grant & £3000 to help with Hall maintenance

Each Community Council was awarded £1750 for small grants in the Communities

Oxton War Memorial Hall - £50,000 in addition to £100,000 already granted.

Information on applying, deadline dates & to download application form please visit www.dunlaw.org

Results Short Story Competition

There were three writers who took up the challenge of writing a short story with exactly 101 words which had to include five distinct words- Madrid; taxidermy; groping; volcano; anthropology.

All three produced stories of such calibre it was difficult to choose a winner so we are printing all of them along with the original winning story by Bob Quilietti that inspired this competition.

Congratulations go to Dorothy Dickinson, Grant Leitch and Carolyn Poulter.

If you are inspired to have a go yourself we are repeating the challenge. Write a story of exactly 101 words (the title is not included).

This time the five words are: feathers; annoying; market; resilience; Spring

We will publish the best stories in the Easter issue of the Lauderdale News. Entries may be submitted by email to Alison Macgregor at editor@lauderdalenews.co.uk

Or by post to Short Story Competition, 14 The Loan, Lauder TD2 6TL

Closing date January 31st 2025

Happy writing!

Having a Ball

It may have been a cultural thing maybe a simple mistake but the chef from Madrid had blown it.

The kitchen was a volcano of hissing oils and popping peppercorns, so he’d chilled out by groping for inspiration among his recipe books. He’d met the challenge of the Anthropology Society dinner but the Taxidermy Ball was tricky. Get away from livers, kidneys and sweetbreads. Take their minds off work by skilful use of food.

Vegetables… his sunny Spanish mind opted for vegetables. Aubergines, courgettes, marrows, peppers red and peppers green.

So he served them all. Beautifully presented. But stuffed. Bob Q

Vacation

'Well?'

' It’s', I was groping for the right word, 'Amazing!' I was looking at Picasso’s masterpiece of man’s inhumanity. 'Keep up!'

Anthropology was not me, neither was zoology, the artfully designed taxidermy cases of animals left me cold. I shivered as they winked at me, under the lights. 'Here we are!'

The air tasted and smelt very musty, Now! What! Seismology!

Pieces of magma from a volcano were given out! What had I booked?

Heck! I've done it again, muddled the Spanish words 'old' and 'trip'!

Wow, luckily this Madrid museum has shops! Just time for some retail therapy, thank goodness.

Carolyn Poulter

Taxidermista

It was the smell that hit me first. Earthy, dank and musty. Groping my way in the darkness I tried to discover where I was and more importantly how I had got there. A cellar?

Think! Think! I was in Madrid on a short course studying anthropology. I definitely remember being invited to a night club. The Volcano by name. After that. Nothing. As my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I could make out the shape of small animals – rabbits, foxes, squirrels. Stuffed exhibits in cages. A sign covered in dust said Señor José Lobo taxidermy

Was I to be next?

Someday?

Anthropology was Carla’s first love but being wheelchair bound ruled out field studies. She found hands-on solace in her second love; taxidermy. She concentrated on the young fox Pietro had found roadside in a Madrid suburb. Pietro thought her weird but, wistfully, she knew he loved her. Distractively groping for her workbox she dropped it, scattering threads across the floor.

Her renowned temper erupted volcano-like. She pounded her thigh with her clenched fist.

She screamed in pain.

Then, startled, she screamed in joy. The pain! In her legs Feeling was returning. As they said it would.

Field trips? Maybe yet? Someday?

G Leitch

D Dickinson

We Can Now Celebrate a New WayMarked Route in the Borders!

In 2017 Channelkirk and Lauder Church organised a supported Walk of 17miles from Channelkirk Church to Melrose to reflect the journey taken by the young shepherd, Cuthbert as he embarked on a life of spirituality which would culminate in his sainthood. Participants were encouraged to use the Walk as a means to raise money, through sponsorship, for their chosen good causes.

Following the success of this initial event, it was repeated in 2018, 2019 and 2022.

The legacy of these Four Walks is to be found in this new permanently WayMarked route, now known as ‘Walk with Cuthbert the Shepherd’.

The route is marked throughout with specially designed signage decals representing a shepherd’s crook.

Information Boards have been placed at Channelkirk Church in order to enhance the visitor experience and to inform not only about the ‘Walk with Cuthbert the Shepherd’, but also about the historic nature of this particular site and of Channelkirk Church.

On 31st August of this year, between 40 and 50 people took part celebrating the establishment of the new route by walking part, or all of the way and they were rewarded, not only with glorious walking weather and breath taking views but also, with well earned refreshments in Melrose.

Channelkirk and Lauder Church would like to thank all those organisations and individuals who, throughout the years, supported the four ‘Walk with St. Cuthbert’ days, whether through grant funding, sponsorship or volunteering.

Dear friends,

Christmas in the Lauderdale Churches

Services: 10am – Channelkirk, 11.30am - Lauder

1st December – 1st Sunday in Advent

8th December – 2nd Sunday in Advent

15th December – 3rd Sunday in Advent

22nd December – 4th Sunday in Advent

Christmas Carols and a Pint

Friday 20th December, 7pm in the Lauderdale

Christmas Eve

6pm in Channelkirk, a service for all the family

11.15pm in Lauder for the Watchnight Service

The involvement of the community in ensuring the enjoyment and safety of the Walkers was crucial to the success of these events.

With regard to the establishment of the new permanent route in 2024, rebranded ‘Walk with Cuthbert the Shepherd’, the Church and organising committee would like to pay tribute to all those who made it possible: - to DLX Windfarm Trust for supporting the funding of the design and production of the information boards and design of the way marker decals; to Lauderdale Engineering for providing the framework for the boards; and to Scottish Borders Council for the funding and installation of signage decals and many new way marker posts throughout; finally to designer Vivienne Seeley and artist Jack McGee for their much appreciated professional expertise.

Work is now ongoing to include the new walking route on the SBC website and on the website of the St. Cuthbert’s Walk Churches Together Group.

I am currently serving as Locum Minister for the Channelkirk & Lauder Churches.

My wife Adrienne and I are thoroughly enjoying being part of both congregations and everyone has been very friendly and encouraging.

I will serve as your Locum Minister until a new Minister is appointed sometime next year.

As we look forward to Christmas, I would like to encourage you to join us at our services in the run up to this special time of year - you will receive a warm welcome.

You are especially invited to our ‘Christmas Carols and a Pint’, which will be held in the Lauderdale Hotel on Friday 20th December at 7pm.

Let’s celebrate the baby born in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago.

The special baby, whose birth was announced by angels. Who was visited by shepherds and by wise men from afar who gave him precious gifts.

The Baby of Bethlehem, born for each one of us.

As the Christmas carol puts it:

See! in yonder manger low, Born for us on earth below This Christmas, let us celebrate together the birth of God’s Son and give thanks for the greatest Christmas gift of all! Have a wonderful Christmas,

Rev. Scott Guy

BRIGHT IDEAS

(CRAFT GROUP AT CHURCH CENTRE )

Our Craft Group has had another successful year knitting soft toys, baby cardigans, also hats, mitts, blankets, lavender hearts, etc. We are donating 100 knitted hats to the Baby Care Unit at the Borders General Hospital and

various other handmade items to the Marie Curie Shop.

We had an excellent response from our Sales Tables at the Oxton and Lauder Macmillan Coffee mornings raising a total amount of £184, from Bright Ideas.

Thank you once again to all who have donated wool, material, and all who have knitted different items. We do appreciate everyone’s efforts.

We continue meeting every Tuesday in the Church Centre at 1.30 p.m. If you would like to join us contact –Jackie on 0771470043 or Wendy on 07970609876

SHOWJUMPING

Amy has had another good year with her horses. She started off with the Royal Highland Show qualifiers with just the one horse. Let’s Hope as Lola was having a well earned rest after her trip to Spain.

Within three shows she had qualified for all her classes at the RHS, even managing a win in one of the qualifiers.

The Scottish extravaganza show followed on quickly and Amy took the win in the under 25 championship on Hope. Sadly Amy and Lola took a bad fall in the Grand Prix which resulted in a chipped bone in Lola’s knee which has sadly ended her jumping career, but after her surgery she has recovered well and is now in foal, so this is an exciting time as we are all hoping for the next super star!

Hope has continued her great form in the under 25s at Arena Uk Lincoln where she picked up a 5th and a second.

The Scottish Horse of the year show saw the pair coming 3rd in a very fast indoor championship. They then went on to the 2 fence challenge, this is where everyone jumps the 2 fences and all the clears goes into the next round of a bigger height. Amy and Hope were the only ones to clear the 1m 70 cm fence in the last round to secure the win for the third year running

Now we are focussing on the London international under 25 qualifiers which start in a month’s time.

AM Equestrian

Here at AM Equestrian we have the knowledge & experience to get the best out of your horse/pony.

BHSAI qualified & insured with over 40 years experience from new beginners up to daughters winning HOYS. Amy has all the jumping experience & will share her knowledge to help you get a step up over the winter, whether it’s improving your flatwork or jumping.

Good facilities with all weather arena. We also have a couple of stables available for livery this winter. Telephone - 07816 010556

Inchkeith Motors

KILN

KILN DRIED & SEASONED HARDWOOD

KILN DRIED & SEASONED HARDWOOD 1m &

SEASONED SOFTWOOD

Lauderdale Historical Society

The Lauderdale Historical Society (LHS) continues to thrive and meets at least eight times a year. The Society was formed to maintain an understanding of the history of Lauder and the surrounding districts. Since the last publication of this Newsletter the Society has held its AGM on 15th May which was then followed by a talk given by Dr Sandy Sutherland on “Lauderdale’s only Saint – Saint Cuthbert”. This was the first time that the AGM had been followed by a talk and judging by the reaction of those present it was well received.

The Autumn season started with a visit to New Hailes House, a one-time home of the Dalrymple family, on 7th August by twelve members of the Society. Subsequently on 18th September we heard a talk by Mrs Isobel Gordon on the rough wooing wars. On 16th October Mr David McLeans returned to talk about the role of Charterhall Estate during the second World War.

In the next few months, we can look forward to a talk on 20th November from Mrs Wendi Davidson on “The Lord Wardens of the Anglo-Scottish Borders”. On 18th December the Society will be holding its Christmas Dinner. More details will be published later.

As usual there will be no talk in January 2025 but activity will resume on 19th February with a talk by Kenneth McLean “In the footsteps of King Alfred the Great”. On 19th March Lindsay Errington will give a talk on “The Lay of the Lost Minstrel and what happened to Thomas the Rhymer”. Finally, Mr Bruce Keith will be speaking on “Scotland – Beneath the Surface” on 16th April. The next AGM will be held on 21st May 2025.

We strongly advise members and non-members to attend these talks and if you are not yet a member of the Society, we suggest you to join and contribute to the excellent work that the Society does in promoting the history of this area.

Email: hallhire.lauderdalescoutgroup@gmail.com

Contact Zoe Brown

LAUDER PARISH CHURCH

Who Owns ‘Lauder Kirk’?

Who says we cannot spend the Tosh Bequest on bringing the fabric of ‘oor church’ into the 21st Century? The Church of Scotland says so! – but does the national church own Lauder Parish Church?

As the national church reasserts its Mission Plan through the offices of a huge Presbytery which seeks to care for churches in East Lothian and the Borders; Presbytery has decreed that nothing of significance beyond attending to wind and water tight measures can be actioned; to be reviewed annually.

Did the Earl own the new church, did he pass ownership to the Heritors then onto the Burgesses of the day or, did the Church of Scotland inherit/purchase the Church? If so, where did the money go?

The unusual form of the church; Sunday worshippers spread thinly across three of the wings, the balconies and the East Wing seldom occupied. There is no ‘body’ to the church...

When worshippers filled the four ground level wings of the church the Elders increased the capacity by adding balconies. Now that the congregation continues to decrease in number should the Elders consider how that building might be better designed to meet the needs of current worshippers and be of benefit to the residents of Lauder and visitors?

OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND?

Ongoing discussion between the Community Council, SBC Councillors and SBC staff, on the topic of improvements to the look and maintenance of Lauder Cemetery, has resulted in the following Plan of Action.

1. Cut back overgrown grass verge to roadside Path from Lauder at the entrance to Cemetery Car Park - plus improvements to path from Lauder to Cemetery.

2. Entrance to Cemetery/farm fields/dog walking; community request to identify what scope there is to extend the kerb and resurfacing to prevent water/mud gathering at the entrance to the cemetery.

3. Request for an assessment of Cemetery Road Surface. Need for some reinstatement of chippings?

4. Reversing Point/Turning Area – request to include a small extension to hardstanding at top of the existing road.

5. Grave Spoils/Soil Bay: Soil dumping area is needing cleared. Redesign of area for grave spoils and War Graves may be possible in due course.

6. Crop Ivy from cemetery wall next spring.

7. Request for Removal of Leylandii Tree (and shrubs) at top of cemetery by the west wall which obscures grave stone, on grounds of amenity to neighbouring headstones. Possible Landscaping Project to include provision of raised bench in front of shrub area. Consider possible funding sources.

8. The Bothy: SBC agreed work in 2008 SBC Lauder Cemetery Action Plan and in SBC 2013 review - none actioned. Now consider demolishing the building - recycling stone and slates; consider ground for additional graves.

Continued provision for the Worship of our Lord – yes! A registry for the history and heritage of the Royal Burgh of Lauder, linked to the Town Hall - possibly. Provide a covered link to the present church centre – by way of the East Wing of the church?

Why are we using offerings from the dwindling number of church members to maintain use of the costly, antiquated heating system for some forty folk once a week.

The future of the church as a place of worship may lie in the hands of any part time minister soon to be called to Lauder – but, perhaps, the future of the building lies in YOUR hands.

9. Reinstatement of Graves: There is now significant growth of weed on the surface of a number of graves requiring a ‘top up ‘of good soil.

10. Progress to Date:

• Main Gates - repainted by SBC – thank you!

• Grass cut to more acceptable level – thank you!

• Two benches repainted by volunteers plus related groundwork.

• Work begun by volunteers on repainting railings.

• Bushes pruned makes such a difference to expression of tidiness across the cemetery – to be continued bi-annually.

THIRLESTANE CASTLE UPDATE

Thirlestane Castle’s regular guided tours have drawn to a close for the year, however visitors are welcome to pre-book private or group tours year-round. It has been a wonderful summer with thousands of people visiting from across UK and the world. The team of exceptional guides and volunteers are a cornerstone to delivering a memorable experience to all who visit, as they enthusiastically share the Castle’s 400-year history. Celebrations have been plentiful in 2024, with some unforgettable weddings and private gatherings. Thirlestane has also been the backdrop to some wonderful public events this year including hosting the BBC Antiques Roadshow, and this episode can now be viewed on BBC iPlayer. The annual BVAC Classic – Festival of

REPORT FROM LAUDERDALE COMMUNITY COUNCIL (LCC)

Lauderdale residents are reminded that the main role of community councils is to:

• Represent their local area

• Consult with local residents

• Pass their views onto public sector organisations such as SBC, Police and NHS Borders.

Anyone who is resident in the community council area can become a temporary member to work on a specific project or to fill a vacancy. LCC would welcome more involvement from local residents.

All LCC meetings are open to the public and are advertised locally and on the LCC Facebook page along with agendas and notes of meetings.

ZOOM! – this technology has transformed meetings especially on a dark and snowy evening in January! LCC misses the faceto-face contact but members and local residents have the choice whether to leave their fireside to come out for meetings or whether to join via ZOOM.

There have been 6 meetings since February 2024 with discussion on :

• LCC has 3 new members who are concentrating on use of any community benefit from the burgeoning wind farm applications.

• Worry about speeding in Lauder and schoolchildren crossing the A68 at Thirlestane Drive to catch the Earlston High School bus.

• Concern has been expressed about the Penny on the Move shop.

• A68 walkthrough with BEAR - conclusions still to be decided.

• New development at Allanbank – concern expressed about water supply and drainage. The building will not commence

Motoring was another incredible family day out, keep an eye out for the 2025 date to be announced soon.

The Thirlestane team would like to thank the local community for their continued support in 2024, it is greatly appreciated that information about the Castle is shared by those living nearby. Volunteer at Thirlestane

Volunteers are incredibly important to Thirlestane Castle and are involved several areas, from leading guided tours to assisting with caring for the grounds. There is a real community feel and sense of belonging among our volunteers.

If you would like to be involved, please contact visitorcoordinator@thirlestanecastle.co.uk for further information.

until 2025 due to delays in the Section 75 agreement between the developer and SBC.

• Defibrillators – a Lauder resident has taken over the inspecting and maintenance of the AEDs and reports in every month that they are all in working order.

• The Community Shed at Leisure Centre is very productive.

• Consultation is ongoing about the bus timetable and how it can be improved.

• LCC was represented at the Antiques Roadshow at Thirlestane with the Town Pennant being valued at £5,000.

• Rural theft is particularly prevalent in Lauderdale as the A68 is a useful escape route.

• Cemetery site visit. A very productive meeting with SBC, Councillors and Lauder Kirk about improvements and maintenance

It was with regret that LCC has accepted the resignation of Steve Aitchison, Vice Chairman, due to increasing business time.

Lauder Over 60s

The summer outing to St Andrews was a great success. We had 42 people join us on the bus where everyone had free time to explore the town before heading to the Upper Largo Hotel for High Tea.

We also held a fund raising coffee afternoon in September where folk enjoyed a blether and some home baking whilst Eugene Brandeschi shared some photos from across the years. This raised £179 which will be used towards our Xmas Lunch. Xmas Lunch this year will be kindly held in the Lauderdale Hotel on Thursday 12th December, please see posters around Lauder for details - all over 60s welcome! There will be food, entertainment, Christmas carols and also a raffle.

LAUDER BOWLING CLUB

It was another good season for Lauder Bowling Club who held their Presentation Night at the Club on Saturday 26th October. The Gents and Ladies Champions this year were Greig McDonell and Gwenda Ainslie respectively. The Club held a number of open competitions throughout the season attracting bowlers from all over the Scottish Borders and beyond. Away from the green we were pleased to re-start, after a number of years, Bingo nights which will continue over the winter, generally on the last Friday of each calendar month. Our Bingo nights are open to all with dates being updated on the Club's Social media sites. Over the winter months we also run Whist Nights each Monday evening starting at 7pm. Over the festive period there will be our Annual Bowling Club Quiz night and a Darts and Dominoes Night. The Club are always on the lookout for new members and anyone interested in joining the Club, either as a playing or social member, can get in touch via email to lauderbowlingclub@gmail.com

Keep up to date with all the news and events from the Club by giving us a follow on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/lauderbowls and check out our website at https://lauderbowlingclub.teamapp.com

We wish all a Merry Christmas and best wishes for a prosperous 2025.

Lauderdale Cycling Club

It’s been an excellent year for the Lauderdale Cycling Club. Founded in 2016 with the aim to inspire children and young people in the Lauderdale area to cycle, the club has a total of 28 members aged five and above.

“I love having fun with my friends and learning new things and bike club,” says Ruaridh, 6, in his second year with LCC. During spring and summer, coaching sessions take place at the primary school grounds for the youngest club members. More advanced riders take part in led rides around Lauder, including a particularly favoured route heading up to Dabshead, to test what they have learned out on the trails in a relaxed and fun environment.

This year, Lauderdale Cycling Club need to increase the number of coaches and volunteers at the club in order to maintain the sessions which have been established over the years and continue to encourage young people in Lauder to cycle.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Moira, Stewart, Garry, Lee and Nikki

LAUDERDALE SCHOOL OF MOTORING

David Wilkinson ADI

Mob: 07917 385157

Home: 01578 722699

auder, Earlston, Gala, Melrose, St Boswells & surrounding areas

auder, Earlston, Gala, & surrounding areas

Thank you to all my pupils for their custom - wishing you all a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! www.bordersdrivinginstructor.co.uk

Lauder Primary School October 24

As the darker nights draw in and the leaves start to change, I cannot believe we have already come to the end of term one for this session at Lauder Primary. As ever, our children have settled well back into the way of school life and are very much enjoying getting stuck into learning and being back with their friends (and teachers!).

Our Nursery children have made a super start to their time in nursery-you would think they had been here for longer than just 2 months! They are becoming independent in their everyday routines and are loving exploring their learning environments, which includes our super woodland space ‘Lucky’s Wood’.

Our Primary 1-3 pupils have been busy bees so far this termfrom tasting foods, finding out about food journeys, going back in time to research the Vikings, creating new friendships and learning how to build their resilience toolkit-it’s all go!

Primary 4 are continuing to take on the responsibility of the school garden. It is always busy at this time of year, getting all the planters and grounds cleared and ready for planting in the warmer weather. Thanks always to Mrs Currie who goes above and beyond to keep our garden club going. This term we also had the launch of our Common Riding Community Champion Award, which will be presented to a P4 in May next year.

Primary 5 have been brushing up on their rugby skills over the last few weeks to take part in the annual rugby festival, run by Live Borders. It poured with rain on the day, but it certainly didn’t dampen their enthusiasm for just getting stuck in and going for it! They will also join our P4’s for an exciting block of work called ‘Stemvators’ which explores all things science, technology, engineering and maths.

A Rear View

Calling all (back) garden lovers!

The Lauderdale News in conjunction with Lauder in Bloom is inviting folk in and around Lauder who have a back garden they are proud of to offer people the chance to come and view it. Front gardens are visible but there will be many back gardens, hidden away and un-admired.

Here is the chance to get your back garden appreciated and raise much needed funds for Lauder in Bloom which does a terrific job making Lauder look blooming lovely.

presenting a wonderful Harvest Assembly. It was especially nice that Karen and Lizzy from the Lauder Larder came along to speak with everyone about the important role that the larder provides to families. They were overwhelmed with the generosity of our harvest collection. Thank you to everyone who donated items.

Our Primary 7’s continue to show themselves as being responsible and respectful, carrying out their ‘buddies’ role for our Primary 1’s, helping them find their way and build their independence. In mid-September, they demonstrated our school values of Ambition, Respect, Resilience and Compassion during their 3-day residential up at Dalguise, Perthshire. They were a credit to the school and enjoyed the chance to meet many of their cluster peers who will head up with them to Earlston High School next August.

Term 2 is just around the corner and with the mere mention of Nativity, Christmas and parties, it’s certainly going to be a busy one for sure!

We hope to have one or possibly two Sunday afternoons in late June next year when these gardens would be open to the public. There would be a donation tin for Lauder in Bloom at each venue and possibly plants for sale.

If you would like to be involved please email Alison Macgregor (editor@lauderdalenews.co.uk) as soon as possible but no later than the end of January 2025 with your name and address.

We do hope there will be sufficient interest to go ahead with this. If there is there will be a piece in the Easter issue of the Lauderdale News with locations, dates and times.

The gardening season is over for this year but Spring is not far away and back gardens will be coming back to life and hopefully view.

Mrs Louisa Scully, Acting Headteacher

Ginger Cake Recipe

Natalie from the Spotty Dog has kindly shared this warming seasonal recipe… A real winter warmer of a cake, perfect with a hot chocolate beside a cosy fire!

Ingredients

225g self raising flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g unsalted butter

100g golden syrup

Method

100g black treacle

100g light soft brown sugar

50g stem ginger, diced plus 2 tbsp of syrup from the jar

2 eggs

200ml milk

100g icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C, 160°C fan and grease and line a 23cm cake tin

1. In a food processor, whizz together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda and butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2. Place the golden syrup, black treacle, light soft brown sugar and diced stem ginger in a pan. Heat gently until all of the sugar has dissolved, then cook for a minute over a high heat and remove.

3. Beat the eggs and milk into the syrup mixture, then stir in the flour and butter. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 40- 45 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, stir the ginger syrup and 2 tbsp boiling water into the icing sugar until smooth. Remove the cake from the oven, pierce all over with a cocktail stick, pour over the icing and leave to set before serving.

ADVERTISING WITH THE LAUDERDALE NEWS

The Lauderdale News is a great way to advertise to every household in the local area. Our rates are very reasonable and we can adapt your business card or other material you may have already prepared.

43x48 mm - £10 92x43 mm - £20 92x92 mm - £40

92x190 mm - £70 Half page - £100 Full page - £160

Other sizes priced on request; contact us for more information at info@lauderdalenews.co.uk

COPY DEADLINE

The copy deadline for the next issue of The Lauderdale News is 2nd March 2025

NEWS FROM THE LAUDERDALE NEWS COMMITTEE

CHAIR’S REPORT

It has been a very difficult time for The Lauderdale News since the Easter issue was published. Several key people on the committee wished to stand down for various understandable reasons.

Shaun Fagan as Editor and Alison Macgregor as Sub Editor have done a wonderful joint job in magically producing a high quality magazine for us. Kate Farnsworth has been a trusted Treasurer keeping us in good monetary order. Kate is leaving us now but Alison and Shaun will kindly stay on until the Spring issue has been published. However, if replacements could not be found the News would be in grave danger of folding. That would have been such a shame as everyone locally seems to like and appreciate the News but sadly, were not able to come on board to help.

Fortunately at our AGM in October several people miraculously arrived to offer us hope! Laura Gilchrist has agreed to shadow Shaun before taking over the reins as Editor. Maggie Czajka will move from her role as Vice Chair to become Sub Editor replacing Alison next year and Anne Lillico will be our new Treasurer replacing Kate with immediate effect. In addition we have two new faces on the committee, Christine Boynton and Eileen Blackie. Eileen has agreed to be Vice Chair replacing Maggie. A warm welcome to them all!

Many thanks go, as always, to Wendy Perry our super Secretary and to committee members Judi Gunn and Walter Brotherstone for their continued stalwart support. Also grateful thanks to all our local business advertisers without whom the Lauderdale News would not exist.

The new committee

Diane Mitchell, Chair; Eileen Blackie, Vice Chair; Wendy Perry, Secretary; Anne Lillico, Treasurer; Editor, Laura Gilchrist; Sub Editor Maggie Czajka; Committee members, Christine Boynton, Walter Brotherstone and Judi Gunn

IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT OUR EMAIL ADDRESS

With immediate effect contributors will no longer receive communications from the two lauderdalenews.co.uk email addresses but you can still contact us by emailing info@lauderdalenews.co.uk We have made this change because too many email hosts treat emails from these addresses as spam so important information from us isn’t being seen by recipients. An auto-forward will mean that email can still be sent to the addresses but replies will come from the email accounts of individual committee members. Hopefully this will result in fewer lost communications!

APPEAL TO ALL CONTRIBUTORS

Please remember to add our submission dates to your diary to ensure you send us your articles and reports in good time. The deadline for inclusion in the Easter edition is 2nd March 2025 – the onus is on you to send us the content for the magazine! Thank you!

Wordsearch

Christmas is a time for board games, usually after eating too much!

Christmas is a time for board games, usually after eating too much! Find 10 games hidden up, down, forwards, backwards or diagonally.

Find 10 games hidden up, down, forwards, backwards or diagonally.

• Monopoly

Monopoly Risk

• Draughts

• Chess

• Risk

Scrabble Pictionary

• Jenga

Draughts Jenga

• Scrabble

• Cluedo

• Ludo

Ludo Backgammon

• Pictionary

Chess Cluedo

• Backgammon

Maths

Christmas Quiz

This quiz focuses on popular car brands in the UK over the years, from the posh to the practical, the big to the small, the expensive to the cheaper.

Maybe you drove some of them? So get yourself revved up and solve the quiz. Vroom, vroom!

Answers can be found below.

Anagrams

1. Neutral (7)

2. Her cops (7)

3. Rare fir (7)

4. Oh bring mail (11)

5. Do ask (5)

6. Is it his bum (10)

7. Yea lies haunt (6,6)

8. Mansion tart (5,6)

9. Lo cry - loser (5 -5)

10. Ze crème bends (8,4)

Cryptic

1. Fast feline (6)

2. The people’s car (10)

3. Jane Fonda’s rhyming car (5)

4. Cross the river via this (4)

5. Applaud inside (4)

6. Explore the earth (4,5)

7. French flight with voice over (5)

8. Famous London bridge (8)

9. Very small (4)

10. Initially bring me water (3)

Quiz

Christmas Quiz

Answers Anagrams 1. Neutral (7) Renault 2. Her cops (7) Porsche 3. Rare fir (7) Ferrari 4. Oh bring mail (11) Lamborghini 5. Do ask (5) Skoda 6. Is it his bum (10) Mitsubishi 7. Yea lies haunt (6,6) Austin Healey 8. Mansion tart (5,6) Aston Martin 9. Lo cry -

loser (5-5) Rolls-Royce 10. Ze crème bends (8,4)

Mercedes Benz

Cryptic

1. Fast feline (6) Jaguar 2. The people’s car (10) Volkswagen 3. Jane Fonda’s rhyming car (5) Honda 4. Cross the river via this (4) Ford 5. Applaud inside (4) Audi 6. Explore the earth (4,5) Land Rover 7. French flight with voice over (5) Volvo 8. Famous London bridge (8) Vauxhall 9. Very small (4) Mini

10. Initially bring me water (3) BMW