The Lauderdale News (Scottish Borders) Winter edition

Lauderdale Historical Society
History covers everybody in Lauderdale!
Your Society has been in existence since 2003.
We have monthly meetings on the third Wednesday of the
month in the Scout Hall opposite the Lauderdale Hotel and
enjoy hearing and discussing a wide range of topics. The
Society covers the whole of Lauderdale including the villages
of Oxton, Blainslie and surrounding areas and membership
or visitation is open to everyone, resident or non-resident.
It is really quite extraordinary the width and depth of local
history knowledge.
Society News
The Society would like to express its deep appreciation to
all of the speakers who gave their time and imparted their
knowledge of their subject matter.
We kicked off the Michaelmas term on the 18th September
2019 when Charlie Robertson covered the history of the
Border Union and Border Show, originally conceived in 1811
as a means of improving farming and livestock in the Borders.
The next talk in the series about farming and rural life will be
on the 19th February given by David Waldie.
On 16th October, Henry Borthwick followed up his original
talk in 2018 with a highly entertaining and informative
presentation in part 2 of The Soutra Plateau. He covered
the east side of the A68 with a wide variety of subjects and
people including Lourie’s Den, Margaret the Witch, The
Herring Way, Midside Maggie, the Dalkeith and Lauder Light
Railway scheme, Cold War Defences, Kate’s Cauldron and
other topics.
On 20th November, John Findlay, Professor of Scots Law at
Glasgow University, gave an interesting and enlightening talk
on Border Lawyers between 1700 and 1850, embracing law
agents as well as advocates and judges. This period covered
times of intense change in Scottish as well as British history.
Forthcoming Events
The Society’s Christmas dinner for members and partners
and friends will be on Wednesday, 4th December at the
Lauderdale Hotel, Lauder.
The Society is open to all so why not become a member?
The Lauderdale Historical Society was delighted to attract a
number of new members during the year and now has over
65 members but we are very keen to attract others either
as additional members or as one-off visitors. You will find a
warm welcome and as well as hearing about topics relevant
to Lauderdale and beyond and there is always tea or coffee
and a biscuit afterwards as well as the opportunity to meet
the speakers.
Families can join for the very reasonable annual fee of £20;
Single Adult £15. Junior member under 17, £15. Senior
citizens and disabled £10. Entry for visitors is only £3 with
tea/coffee and biscuits for £1 which is very good value for
an evening’s entertainment.
If you are interested in becoming a member you can do so
by coming to one of our meetings which are held on the
third Wednesday of the month in the Scout Hall, Lauder or
by getting in touch with the Secretary, Mike Scott, on 01578
722974 or by email at hausscott@btinternet.com or with the
Treasurer, Elma Middlemiss, on 01578 750223.
Finally, we would like to thank the Lauderdale Scouts for the
continuing use of their much refurbished and now much
more comfortable Scout Hall.
Mike Scott
Q: What can you make that can’t be seen?
A: A noise!
Q: What is a frog’s favourite drink?
A: Croaka Cola!
Lauder Footpath Upgrade
The Lauder Paths Group have been doing excellent work
upgrading and improving footpaths in our area.
SBC tries to help out where it can, and it was as a result
of representation by the Paths Group at a Community
Council meeting that saw the path which runs behind
Thirlestane Drive to the Piggery Field upgraded. The
work to upgrade the path was carried out by the Criminal
Justice team and community offenders and the materials
were paid for by SBC.
The Paths Group have once again made a suggestion
to improve paths in the Burn Mill. The plan shows the
network of paths in red which are going to be upgraded.
The upgrade will involve wooden edging with Type 1
materials being laid, and once again the work will be
done by Criminal Justice and community offenders with
SBC paying the cost of the materials.
As yet, we don’t have a start date for the work and
the path upgrades often take some time because it
depends how many community offenders are available.
The total cost of the materials is £6,700 but if these
works were to be paid for and delivered by a contractor,
the upgrade would be considerably more expensive.
Thanks to Lauder Paths Group for highlighting this
scheme.
From COUNCILLLORS D. Parker, T. Miers & K. Drum
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