Not Coldstream

Not the beach at Coldstream, but Portobello: 'Edinburgh's seaside'. 8.10am this morning. Nice.

Sandbag installation is preparation for Glasgow Fair holidaymakers.

Rain stops Play(ing)

In search of mendicantus bagpiperus this lunchtime. Clearly the rain keeps the roving pipers away. Will try again when rain stops - i.e. September.

Mendicantus Bagpiperus

Native caledonian, wild in origin but increasingly seen in urban and suburban settings.

Best seen: weekdays in city centres, weekends in hotel lobbies and banqueting suites. Thrives in tourist honeypots, laybyes, car parks, border posts, wedding receptions and corporate bashes.

Mates twice a season each January; 1st (Hogmanay) and 25th (Burns Night). Otherwise a loner. Tends to never leave the family nest, i.e. lives with mother.

Is approachable: mostly harmless.

Likes: cash.

Dislikes: stong winds and rain.

Is known to mate with sub-species: drummers, bass guitar players, singers. This is to be avoided.

Do say: How much for a photo?

Don't say: Hello, I'm from the Inland Revenue. (Also good advice when approaching farmers).

Mendicant musicians

Our great friend Huttonian (http://www.huttonian.blogspot.com/) makes frequent mention of Mendicant* Piper and his prodigous volume in the regions of Princes Street, Edinburgh. No photos yet, but we are working on it.

For those of you without the benefit of a classical education definitions are provided below.

Just to show that nowhere is immune from mendicant musicians we provide this sample from High Street, Inverness. Note passer-by studiously ignoring 'muso', obviouly a music lover/local. And is it/was it ever polo season in Inverness?

*Mendicant: a. begging (of friar) living solely on alms n. beggar: mendicant friar. From the Latin: mendicus: beggar. Oxford English Dictionary.

*Mendicant: pain in the a*se. From the Latin: getawaytaebuggeryustus. Scots Farmers Dictionary.

Google game

Ever needed to avoid working on a Monday morning but still need to look busy as perfected by cooncil workmen, polismen and comic singers the world over?

Our suggestion is to play the 'type Coldstream into Google' game.

Here are ten early results;

1. Booze
Just when you think Google has hit on a potential future sponsor, you realise ra-internet is a world wide thingy and not just a local thingy. http://www.coldstreambrewery.com.au/ Anyone spot the flaw in this potential new sponsor? Good tour though.

2. More booze
The Coldstream pub in Birmingham (England not Australia, but further away culturally) http://www.birminghamcamra.org.uk/Articles/Coldstream.htm

3. Dull history
A worthy-but-dull history of the town http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/gaztext_page.jsp?u_id=10090039&c_id=10107260 (mind it's probably the best history we're going to get).

4. Coldstream Ramblers
Like the French Foreign Legion, only harder http://www.lothian-borders-ramblers.org.uk/Coldstream.htm

5. Tourist stuff
Good piece here, placing us in the Jedburgh area, which is better than being in the Duns area http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/coldstream/coldstream/index.html

6. A good walk spoiled
A website with no shame. The Hirsel Golf Club 'the Augusta of the Borders', what!
http://www.hirselgc.co.uk/

7. Weather
For farmers: Pishing doon, freezing cald, f*ckn windy, ower hot, no hot enough, rain, no enough rain, no the right kind o' rain, it's all here...http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/dg/coldstream_forecast_weather.html

8. Avoiding mad muslims
Unless your Gran is the Queen this used to be the best way to be in the army, wear outlandish uniforms, but stay at home guarding Buckingham Palace and so avoid having to dodge the bullets fired at you by mad muslims. (Also known as 'working your ticket' or 'scarce as a Guardsman's **** east of Sueze'). However, in these times of equality for all and thanks to Tony Blair for fighting wars everywhere and anywhere this is no longer the case and our brave boys happily sweat it out in Iraq while polishing their trumpets. http://www.army.mod.uk/coldstreamguardsband/

9. Dressing up
Did you like dressing up and playing sodjers doon the woods? Maybe you would still like to! Maybe you like dressing up and playing with sodjers. These guys do both and seem quite happy about it. Who are we to argue: http://www.civilwardrobe.demon.co.uk/home.htm

10. Yet more booze
These Ozzies like their falling-doon water http://wineanorak.com/barossa/Yarra_Valley_part7_coldstreamhills.htm

So, that's ten sites, three of them about booze, one about history, one about golf, and one about dressing up, which sounds like an average Saturday night out in Coldstream.

Duns triomphe!

Many congratulations to Duns RBL pipe band for winning the Scottish G4 champs at Dumbarton.

Daredevil in sensible shoes

Is this how you felt on Saturday night?

A picture of Coldstream and one of nearby Heiton Mill. Pictures taken from 4,500ft from his paraglider by a Mr John Watson, the dare-devil in sensible footwear.

Heiton Mill, where the Scots army crossed the Till heading towards Flodden. James Bell to confirm/correct.

Both pictures from the excellent http://www.geograph.org.uk/ web site.

More images of our home area as we find them.

Sacre Bleu!

Can someone please explain?

Last night party

Kelso Square

Ooh La La!

The visit by the d'Origny-en-Thierache brass band was a great success. While the concert in Kelso square was the musical highlight there were many other great moments at various socials, dances and other gatherings.

Many congratulations to the organisers for putting on such a great week and all the bands involved for great fun.

The following posts contain some assorted memories courtesy of John Fulton; starting with the welcome party.

La France (2)

The d'Origny-en-Thierache brass band, from the Picardy region of France, will be in Coldstream from 23-30 of this month (April).

We are very pleased to host them after several years of pipers and drummers from Coldstream heading there for the annual cheese festival, which happens in September. See attached photo of church.

Dates for your diary are:

24 April @ 7pm: Concert in Coldstream Parish Church

28 April @ 1.30pm: Concert at the Guildhall in Berwick upon Tweed.

28 April @ 6pm: Concert at either the Besom or Gowanlea.

29 April @ 2pm: Concert in Kelso square.

Help, help, the French are coming!

We're such Francophiles at the Coldstream Pipe Band that we are hosting a French band at the end of the month. Expect more details tomorrow, when full details of gigs, etc will be announced.

But expect more French-type activities as demonstrated by Drum Major Bell, above and left.

Murrayfield Blues

Remember those happy days standing around freezing cold while camp TV 'boys' got a massed pipe band to stand around in stupid salture shapes where, when you played, you couldn't hear the rest of the band and the entire thing sounded hellish?

Well clearly the Scottish Rugby Union did. All the invites to the bands that previously played at Murrayfield have been cancelled in favour of Grade1 and Police bands, who are, allegedly, being paid £2,000 a pop. You'll remember we played for nowt and a ticket.

This from the Scotsman (A newspaper based in Edinburgh, which is a large town 40 miles from Coldstream).

Top piper defends school bands after Murrayfield axe

ONE of Edinburgh's most famous pipers has sprung to the defence of school pipe bands following the Scottish Rugby Union decision to replace them with professional bands before international matches at Murrayfield.
Rugby chiefs revealed last week that they took the decision after receiving complaints about the quality of performances.

But Major Gavin Stoddart, who used to be responsible for co-ordinating the pipes and drums at the Tattoo, today said the band members would be very disappointed by the move.
He said: "The SRU always booked military bands from the schools, including Fettes and Watson's, and I have no doubt the youngsters are bitterly disappointed at the new policy.
"Murrayfield has always been something to aim for, they were thrilled to bits to play on the sacred turf.
"They did a really good job considering the lack of rehearsal time and facilities.
"I saw them twice at Murrayfield and I was impressed, all things considered."

Major Stoddart retired in 2000 but was known to millions of television viewers around the world as the lone piper who played a lament from the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle to see in the New Year.
The former Firrhill High pupil co-ordinated the massed pipes and drums at 20 Edinburgh Military Tattoos.

Coldstream online

A fairly new (to me) web site features huge amounts of images of the UK all controlled by mapping and grid-references. A bit fiddly to use, but, nevertheless, there are some really good images of out of the way corners. Well worth a visit and, with some patience, an explore.

Coldstream and surrounds can be found at: http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=869062

The featured image is of Georgefield farm fields and was taken by Lisa Jarvis for the site. Can you feel the heat coming off that field?

Deaf as a Pipe Band

The BBC is today running a news item on loud pipe bands. Read it here and note that the drummers were louder than pipers! The band reported was the Wick British Legion Band at http://www.wickpipeband.org/index.htm.

** Pipes drumming up jet engine roar **A Highland pipe band is given a health warning after it was found to be making more noise than a jet engine.< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6402701.stm >

Eildon Hills

The Eildon Hills, right of picture, seen here from Smailholm, are a source of much myth and legend. Merlin the Magician is said to sleep under one and a roman fort was built on another.

Proper stuff here, from the http://www.aboutscotland.com/trim.html website:

Like Edinburgh's Castle Rock, and Arthur's Seat, the great craggy hill which marks the East end of Edinburgh, the Eildon Hills were once volcanic cores; hard rock which has survived while the surrounding has worn slowly away.
About 7000BC the earliest settlers arrived in this area; some of their flint tools have been found near Dryburgh Abbey. Nobody knows when people first began to live on top of the North hill of the Eildons, but by time the Romans had pushed this far North in about 80 AD, there was already established a town of about 300 huts with fortifications surrounding and area of 39 acres. It may have been the headquarters of the Celtic tribe of the Selgovae.
At the foot of this town, and controlling the best ford across the river Tweed, the Romans built an important fortified garrison, and named it after the three peaks of the Eildons: Trimontium. What relationship did the native Celts have with the Roman army? It may not have been such a clash of cultures as one might expect; much of the Roman army itself consisted of members of various other Celtic tribes from Britain, Gaul and Germany. In past years the Department of Archaeology from Bradford University has been excavating in the area, trying to find out more about this relationship. The Newstead Research Project
An unmistakable landmark in the Borders and only a mile's walk out of Melrose, the Eildon Hills are fascinating for Botanists, Ornithologists, Geologists and Archaeologists alike.

Leaderfoot Viaduct

Pictures of the Leaderfoot Viaduct near St Boswells.

This from http://www.scottishbordersheritage.co.uk/heritage/lastdetails.jsp?id=211 Three bridges cross the Tweed at Leaderfoot and these are best seen from the viewpoint at the south end of the oldest, central bridge. The first structure at this point, now long gone, would have carried the Roman road, Dere Street on its way from the nearby fort of Trimontium to the northern frontier of the Empire on the edge of the Highlands. Alexander Stevens built the old road bridge in 1779-80 to carry a new Turnpike between Jedburgh and Edinburgh. This bridge is now closed to motor vehicles and carries part of the Tweed Cycle Way. In 1865 the magnificent Leaderfoot Viaduct of thirteen arches was constructed for the St Boswells Junction to Reston section of the Berwickshire Railway, a line which closed in 1948. The most recent bridge carries the A68 trunk road and was built in 1971-73. Please note there is no public access to the Leaderfoot Viaduct, which may be viewed from the roadside only.

Note that the railway line ran from St Boswells to Reston, via Duns. Duns is a small village near Coldstream.

Careful drivers

Berwickshire welcomes careful drivers

Practice night

The first 'full-band' practice of 2007 was a success, so much so that the camera fails to capture everyone who was there. Next night for everyone to attend will be 5th March.

Kelso Abbey

Kelso is a small village near Coldstream. It once had an Abbey, but the Earl of Hereford knocked it down because Henry VIII told him to. Henry was an old perv, riddled with the pox, a complaint not unfamiliar to the health authorities in modern-day Kelso.

The Abbey and its surrounds seem to be a great place for the pet dogs of Kelso to vent their bowels.

Here's some pictures of the Abbey and the night sky lit up by locals burning stuff.

Smailholm Tower

Along the same ridge of rocky outcrops as Hume Castle, see previous entry, sits Smailholm Tower. In the top picture you can see Hume Castle just along to the left of the tower. Smailholm is an almost perfectly preserved peel tower and is the standard issue image of a Border keep.

There's a great sense of the Hume's sitting in Hume watching the Pringle's at Smailholm waiting to nick out and steal each others cattle.

Smailholm also has strong connections to Sir Walter Scott.

Bonny views all over the Borders too.