Congratulations Gavinton

CONGRATULATIONS to the village of Gavinton on its 250th anniversary. It was great to see such a small village take great pride in its history and staging a colourful event to mark this great occasion. Well done to all involved and here's to the next 250 years!

Duns Volunteer Hall row

THE row over Scottish Borders Council not renewing their lease of the Volunteer Hall in Duns rumbles on, but the hall users will be glad to see light at the end of the tunnel. Councillor Frances Renton is to table a motion asking the council to overturn their decision not to renew the lease and this will come as great news to the community of Duns. The hall users would like to see the council taking a five year lease for the hall thus enabling them some time for further negotiations regarding its future. Hopefully France's fellow councillors will do the right thing.

Congratulations to Cockburnspath

WELL done the community of Cockburnspath and district on winning the Keep Berwickshire Tidy Award. Litter is an ongoing problem and it is up to us to educate the younger generation to keep our streets and roads etc tidy and dispose of litter sensibly. High standards of cleanliness have been reported throughout Berwickshire by the competition judges so hopefully the message is getting through. If you know of any litter blackspots let us know and we will highlight them in our newspaper.

Have you seen the 'Beast of Berwickshire'

THE mysterious creature sighted by a motorist crossing the A1 near Reston makes you wonder just how many other people may have seen the 'beast' but thought nothing more of it. Over the years we have had reported sightings of a puma in the Lammermuirs, a capybara near Ayton, a wildcat on Greenlaw Moor and many more. If you have any recollections of seeing strange animals on your travels we would love to hear from you. E-mail me at sandybrydon@tweeddalepress.co.uk and we will investigate!

Toasting tea bag investment

THERE was some good news on the jobs front for Berwickshire this week when First Minister Alex Salmond officially opened a new production line at Ahlstrom's Chirnside mill.
The £23m investment will create a total of 30 jobs and help to safeguard another 180 posts.
The new production line has the ability to make enough tea bags in one year to cover the pitch at Hampden Park nearly 40,000 times over!
During his visit the first minister met with machine operators at the factory and said the investment was particularly welcome at a time of "economic difficulties".