Wednesday 27 January 2016

10,000 Page Views in 10 Months.

Thank you to all our readers.  
The Auld Earlston blog has achieved 
over 10.000 page views in 10 months.

What have been the ten most popular posts?

You can look back at other posts, by using the various  options on the right of the screen - by Topic, Date or Search Box.    


We Would Welcome More Reader Comments  
- and Here is How To Do It

  • Click on the highlighted word Comments at the foot of each post
  • A dialogue box opens up.   Type in your comment. 
  • You are asked to "Comment As"  from a small box where you have a choice of options.  (Many relate to people with their own blog or website).
  • Scroll down and click on "Name/URL".  Type in your name - Christian name only is fine.   Ignore the request for a URL (website address). Click continue.   
  • OR  scroll down to click on the bottom option "Anonymous". Click publish. 
  • You may be asked to prove you are not a robot - click the box.
  • Click Publish - Success!  Your comment appears.


 Do give it a try and give us your feedback on the blog,
 as we would like to hear from you. 

 Kidgate, Earlston
Copyright © A R Edwards and Son,  Selkirk.    (Cathy Chick Collection).   All Rights Reserved
*******************

Thursday 21 January 2016

On Ice - The History of Earlston Curling Club

 

Members of the Earlston Curling Club playing outdoors at Lauder, December 1995.  

Earlston Curling Club today plays at the Borders Ice Rink in Kelso from  September to March each year and currently has thirty nine members.   But how did it all start?   


In the beginning…….      
Rev John Kerr, that authority on all matters curling in Scotland prior to 1890, states in “The History of Curling” that there was curling in Earlston (Berwick) before 1756. No other source has been unearthed as to the playing of curling in Earlston at that time but with such an authoritative voice as Kerr, who can argue?   So the story of curling in Earlston or as it was then known, Ersiltou began before 1756.

The club however, was affiliated to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club in 1870.





Ye Olde Sports Reports 
From the Border Advertiser, 31 December 1869: 
“Earlstoun – The want of the suitable requisites for a game of curling has oft in times past caused the short days of winter to hang heavily on the hands of a number of townspeople. A week or two back, a few gentlemen met and agreed to form a curling club and a paper was sent round to collect the names of parties willing to become members.  Names were got sufficient to warrant a commencement, and Mr Bayne, farmer at Georgefield, at once with the concurrence of his landlord the Earl of Haddington placed at the disposal of the club and at a very moderate rent, a small field situated at the east end of the town which is very suitable for the purpose. Plans and specifications were soon prepared by Mr Rodger, builder. The work was let on Tuesday, operations commenced on Wednesday and in a very short time all will be ready for the next ice fit for curling”
And again from the Border Advertiser, 4 February 1870:
“Earlstoun – Curling – The members of the newly formed club enjoyed their first game on Thursday last week. The playing as might have been expected, was not first-rate, seeing that not one of the players had ever thrown a stone before, but though lacking in skill there was no want of spirit, and the roaring game was kept up as long as daylight lasted. Friday and Saturday were also devoted to the sport, some of the members getting so enthusiastic as to remain on the ice during the whole day.”


The First Pond

The 1869 report in the Border Advertiser  refers to Mr Bayne’s field at the east end of Earlston which is now on Georgefield Farm and the Border Advertiser of 15 December 1871 reports “the first game of the season” on Grizzlefield pond” which is located between Huntshaw and Grizzlefield.  The Minutes of the Club do not record when curling moved to the Black Hill pond (on the lane running east from Cowdenknowes Mains) but in 1897, the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, a Clubhouse was erected.  The bulk of the cost of the construction was raised from a Prize Draw which raised £73.19.9d. There was some haggling over the estimates and work was “curtailed to the amount of funds on hand to proceed with the building”. The clubhouse was insured for £100 against destruction by fire.

The Artificial Pond

In July 1907 the Club built an artificial three rink pond “to cost £100 or thereabout, with a house for the storage of stones, etc in addition”. The land was granted by Lord Binning and was on the site vacated by the Bowling Club when they relocated to Station Road in 1906. Gas was piped from the Gas Works at the East Green and this allowed evening curling for the first time at a charge of 3d (1p) per night for each player.

The pond measured 142 feet in length and 60 feet in breadth and required only “a quarter of an inch of water to afford the means of enjoying the roaring game” whereas the pond at Georgefield needed “a considerable degree of cold to render it fit for curling”.


The Georgefield Pond
A second Artificial Pond was built in the 1930s by R H Grant. The pond was located beside the Turfford Burn at the lane leading from Grizzlefield Loanend to Georgefield and was used regularly when frosts permitted. The floods of 1947 swept away the pipes which supplied the water from the Burn and the pond was not curled on again.  despite the valiant efforts of the ice master Matthew Wood, a retired policeman.

Indoor Curling
Haymarket Ice Rink, Edinburgh opened in 1912 and the following year Earlston curlers started indoor curling for the first time. Many of the Border competitions were played at Haymarket with Earlston joining other rinks in the Border Bonspiel.
 
In 1964 the Border Ice Rink at Kelso  opened and this has been the venue for the club to the present day.

With grateful thanks to John Burns of Earlston Curling Club for the information presented here and on the website of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. 

Tuesday 5 January 2016

Snowy Scenes in Earlston

What Memories do you have of Winters Past? 



There is no date identified on an old photograph of the Red Lion hotel in the Square.  The driver of this unusual sledge seems to be dressed very formally in a top hat and is not particularly well  wrapped up against the elements.  And who was he waiting for?  There does not seem to be any path cleared through the snow from  the hotel.   Or was it a promotional photograph?    From the collection of the Heritage Hub, Hawick.


1947 - A Notoriously Bad Winter.  
 
Named on the back of the photograph are: 
J. Blair, Jem Blaikie, T. Carruthers and  W. Bell. 

Thorn Street

Market Square

The Cauld, Mill Meadow


More Recent Winters

By Fans Farm

Market Square 

Arnot Place - winter 2010-11. 

Leader Water from Craigsford Bridge - winter 2010-11


 Cowdenknowes Wood - winter 2012-13


Thank you to everyone
who has  donated or loaned photographs for scanning. 
Auld Earlston welcomes all contributions on the village's past.
      Contact us on  auldearlston@aol.com or via the comments box below.

***************

Tuesday 22 December 2015

Christmas Greetings from Earlston

**************
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 
To All Our Blog Readers 







 


Photographs of Earlston Christmas Lights

Copyright N. F. Donaldson, 2015 - All Rights Reserved. 

**************

Friday 18 December 2015

A Photographic Celebration of Earlston's Railway

Auld Earlston is delighted to announce its

Borders Railway Celebration Project


Thanks to grant funding from Scottish Borders Council, A3 framed and  laminated photographs of the old railway through Earlston will be on show around the village from late March 2016.  A community event, open to all,  is  planned for early in the New Year to select 20 photographs to be turned into display pictures for venues throughout the village.



If you would like to display one of these railway photographs in your Earlston premises, be it a shop or business or other type of venue, (so long as it is open to the public),  please contact Auld Earlston - tel. 01896 848240 or e-mail auldearlston@aol.com.

If you have old photographs of the railway through Earlston, we would also be delighted to hear from you.  The photographs can be scanned and added to the Auld Earlston collection,  and returned to you. 


Earlston Station, c.1920
Stationmaster Mr, Kirkman (in frock coat) , Station Staff, and Visitors (in soft hats) 

  
*************

Tuesday 8 December 2015

Christmas Cards for Serving Soldiers

During the First World War, Earlston remembered its serving soldiers at Christmas time, by sending these cards, now in the collection of Auld Earlston. 

1918





1916

1915
 



*************


In the 1911 census,  Earlston's  population stood at 1749 with 801 male and 948 females.

Forty-eight soldiers from Earlston lost their lives in the First World War and are remembered on the War Memorial, unveiled in November 1921. 


Monday 23 November 2015

Wartime Air Crash near Earlston

A Poignant Wartime Tale

Earlier this year, the Auld Earlston Group  received an enquiry from the  Aircrew Remembrance Society, who,   on behalf of the grandson of the pilot Paul “Peter” Rogge (left),   was seeking information on the crash of a German bomber at Darlingfield, near Earlston in 1943.  

Local residents recalled the event, with some children taken to see the crash site, but they were too young to know any details.  However Auld Earlston  referred the Society to the Scottish Borders Archive Service at the Heritage Hub, Hawick, who were known to hold police records relating to wartime air crashes.  

With sensitive sections omitted, the information from the Aircrew Remembrance Society website and the Heritage Hub, Hawick, forms  the basis of this tragic wartime story.

The police report read:  
 "At midnight on the night of Wednesday/Thursday 24th/25th March 1943, I received the air raid warning "Red".  At that time aircraft could be heard overhead of Earlston.   Immediately after receiving this warning and passing  it onto the Civil Defence Services,  I went out on duty with Special Constable XXXXAt about 0.10 hours,  when in the Market Place, I heard a burst of machine gun fire  right up overhead....... I heard a roar of aircraft  increasing to a high pitch.   I heard a second short burst of machine gun fire and   this was immediately followed by the abrupt cessation of the high pitch roar. ...there was a great flash of light, followed by a dull thud.     

At about 0.30 hours we received a report from XXXXX of Fans Farm, Earlston  that he could see a number of small fires in a  field  and described them as like a stick of incendiary bomb burning........We located  the site on the  farm of Darllngfield, Earlston and  reaching this field we discovered a German aircraft.  It had apparently dived  straight into the ground and parts of it were still burning in a deep crater with parts strewn over a wide area.............All the aircrew were killed.   

The bodies of the crew were  were removed by ambulance to the RAF station at  Charterthall;  personal property and documents were handed over intact to  to RAF Intelligence, Turnhouse,  Edinburgh

A report was received from  XXXX to the effect that he had discovered three bomb craters  in a plantation known as Racecourse  Plantation on the  farm of Yarlside....apparently made by heavy HE bombs....only partially detonated.  No unexploded bombs were found, and no damage had been done."  

The Aircrew Remembrance Society website relates:

 "On March 24th-25th 1943,  a German Junker plane was on a mission to attack Edinburgh.  "This aircraft crashed at 0030 hours on 25.03.43 at Earlston near Melrose, Berwickshire. Map Ref: U.0756. The cause of the crash is obscure.

The aircraft was heard flying fairly low and three witnesses stated that firing in the air was heard before It crashed and it was almost entirely destroyed or buried, the crew being killed. There are no reports of an interception in this area at the time of the crash. No bullet strikes can be found in the wreckage.

Engines; Jumo 211, these were buried but wooden propellers were traced.
 

Armament; Appears to be normal for this sub-series of aircraft and included a 20 mm Oerlikon gun.
 

Various equipment; Dive brakes were fitted and remains of a BZA 1 bombsight were located. There was evidence of a wireless FuG 10 but no opinion can be given as to whether a radio altimeter was carried or not. A Kutonase cable cutter of built in type was traced. It would appear from the wreckage examined that this aircraft was quite new."

On 2nd April 1943, "The Kelso Chronicle" featured a report headed  "Eight Bombers Down:  Enemy Attacks Parts of Scotland".  For reasons of security, the actual detail given was very vague, but includes a reference to:
Four miles from a small town in south east Scotland, where high explosives and incendary bombs fell, some damage was caused.........Not far away, the wreckage of a burned out German plane was found, as well as parts of a propeller, an oxygen breathing apparatus and a German helmet."     

                                                           ************
All four members of the crew were killed, with the body of the gunner never found.  Their initial burial place was at nearby Fogo Churchyard, before being transferred to the German Military Cemetery in Staffordshire. 
    

Amazingly this photo of baby Irmtrud pictured at eight weeks old was found in the tunic pocket of pilot Paul Rogge.   All personal items were returned to his family  via the German Red Cross.



Paul Rogge's  Family - daughters Siegrun and Irmtrud and his wife Gusti


In Autumn 2015 a small memorial to the victims of the crash was unveiled at Darlingfield in the  presence of the pilot's  grandson and daughter (the baby in the picture above) who had never known her father. The moving private ceremony was led by Earlston minister Rev. Julie Wood with representatives of the Earlston community present.  


May They Rest in Peace 

With grateful thanks to Henning Hiestermann. grandson of the plot Paul Rogge,
and also David King and Melvin Brownless of the Aircrew Remembrance Society
 for granting permission to feature information and photographs from its website.  

 

**********************************