Superb rally weekend

CONGRATULATIONS to the organisers of this year's Jim Clark Rally - what a tremendous success the special street stage in Duns was.
The town was bursting at the seams on the Friday evening as over 4,000 motorsport fans converged on the town centre to witness what was a spectacular start to this year's rally. And there was a similar huge support for the Saturday night stage.
This was, without doubt, one of the best sporting moments Berwickshire has witnessed for many, many years and one can only hope that it will be repeated next year - PLEASE!
The huge amount of organisation which went into this certainly paid off as it seemed to go without a hitch. There are sure to be a few people who were inconvenienced but the advantages to the town far outweighed the disadvantages.
I am not sure if the continental market added anything to the weekend and perhaps it would have been better to either situate it elsewhere or forget about it and keep Currie Street open for longer.
The Market Square could also have accommodated more spectators had it not been for the funfair so perhaps it could be moved to another location next time.
So well done Colin Pagan and your army of helpers and marshalls - a job well done!

Hey! It's the Fonz

HAPPY Days came to the Borders last week when Henry Winkler - better known as The Fonz - visited for a day's fishing on the River Tweed. He is the latest celebrity to visit our region and take advantage of the excellent sport which is available. Others have recently included Ian Botham, Eric Clapton and Chris Tarrant. We have also had TV soap stars golfing at Duns in recent months. Does anyone know of any other visits by celebrities to Berwickshire and the Borders for one reason or another?

General Election?

THERE was probably a lot of back-slapping in David Cameron's office last week. The Tory leader has struggled to get much attention for his call for a general election to elect a new Parliament to go along with a new Speaker but last week Gordon Brown changed all that by warning that an election could cause "chaos". What did he mean by that, Mr Cameron demanded to know at Prime Minister's Questions. The prime minister's reply was that he was referring to the chaos caused by a Conservative victory - thus appearing to suggest that he will not permit the electorate a vote because they might choose to change governments.
Mr Brown did go on to spell out the reasons he should have given for not going to the polls: namely, that this Parliament should sort out the current political and economic mess - but it was too late to stop the Tories claiming that he's running scared of the voters.

Congratulations to Coldstream Burns Club

IT was like a who's who of the Burns scene at Coldstream last weekend when the Coldstream Burns Club staged their annual bridge ceremony marking the bard's first venture onto English soil back in 1787. The club did the town proud by making this event part of Scotland's Homecoming celebrations. Anyone who is anyone in the world of Burns was there and all agreed that it was an outstanding event.

Jim Clark Rally spectacular

THE rally circus is coming to town!
Duns is preparing for a massive influx of visitors when the Jim Clark Rally is held next weekend (May 22-24). A bumper entry of almost 300 cars will take part in this year's event which also includes a spectacular street stage in Duns. I may be wrong, but I don't know if Duns will cope with such a massive event. The people of Duns will have to put up with a bit of inconvenience for a couple of days but I am sure it will be worth it and the local traders are bound to benefit. Let us all embrace what can seriously become a world class event.

Greenlaw Festival

IT'S time the people of Greenlaw got their act together and sorted out this petty quarrel about the funfair at this year's Greenlaw Festival. After 100 years of entertaining the youngsters in the village surely Slater's funfair can be accommodated in some way. It's time to stop the quarrelling and bitter mudslinging and sort it out.

Fallago Rig

THE fact that two local authorities have expressed their "growing consternation" that Scottish Ministers may be acting outwith their powers and, as some have suggested, acted 'illegally', in their dealings over the Fallago Rig wind farm public inquiry, is worrying to say the least. It is now 15 months since the official public inquiry and we still have no results from it - this certainly rings alarm bells. It is time for the Scottish Government to come clean and tell the truth about just what is going on!