Eildon Hills, Scottish BordersThe Scottish Snippets Newsletter in its original format began in April 1997 and continued in an unbroken series for 591 issues. Although no longer produced in that style, there is now this regular page on the new and updated pages on the Rampant Scotland site including "Scottie's Photo Diary From Scotland" and Tam's Tall Tales.
To receive a text version of this newsletter as a reminder to look at these Web pages when they are published, just send an e-mail to Scottie@RampantScotland.com with "Subscribe Newsletter" in the subject line.
Tour of the Scottish Borders
A section in the "Places to Visit" in touring the main tourist locations in the Scottish Borders was added to Rampant Scotland a number of years ago. But last year I had the opportunity to visit that area a couple of times.So here's an expanded tour of the Scottish Borders, an area that is getting more attention these days because of the re-introduction of a train service from Edinburgh. See: Places to Visit - Tour of the Scottish Borders
Places to Visit - Branxholme Castle
Branxholme Castle (pronounced locally as "brank-sum") was the home of the Dukes of Buccleuch, the head of the Scott family, for many hundreds of years. They had moved there from Buccleuch Castle in the late 15th century (supposedly to be nearer the English cattle to steal!). Although the Buccleuch family has been based at Bowhill House since the 1830s, they still own this castle overlooking the river Teviot. See: Places to Visit - Places to Visit - Branxholme Castle
Winter Storms Being Named
The UK Met Office has begun to name all the winter storms (those where wind speeds are forecast to exceed 40mph, for example). It is claimed that names help raise awareness of severe weather before it strikes and promotes greater safety of the public. Since many of the storms that reach the UK are from the North Atlantic, such information is of particular interest to people living in Scotland. Since November, the Met Office has (so far) gone through nine names from Abigail to Imogen. Since the new system was introduced it has seemed that we are having more storms than usual - but the Met Office say this is not the case. For more details see Winter Storms Being Named
Scottish Newspapers
The online versions of newspapers and magazines can allow those abroad (or maybe just moved to another part of the country) to keep up to date with local news. The links listed on the Rampant Scotland Newspapers and Magazines sections have recently been revised and expanded - the number of local newspapers especially has been increased. See Scottish Newspapers and Scottish Magazines
Clan Chiefs
The page of addresses for Clan Chiefs in Rampant Scotland was obtained some years ago and while some of the addresses may be out of date many (castles for example) are residences which get passed on to successors. While looking into this recently I came across a page on the Web site of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs. It provides no addresses although there is a pro forma "enquiry" option which may (or may not) provide such information . Their site also has some links to clan societies but there is a more comprehensive listing (including clans not represented on the Standing Council) at Rampant Scotland. For the Clan Chiefs list see Clan Chiefs and for the list of clan societies see Clan Societies and Associations
5th Duke of Buccleuch Statue
I have passed the imposing statue of the 5th Duke of Buccleuch in Edinburgh's Parliament Square, in front of St Giles Cathedral, on many occasions. But like many folk who pass by, I had not stopped to look in detail at the two rows of bronze reliefs which encircle the tall base. The lowest tier illustrates episodes in early Scott family history, many showing violent battles with invading English armies. Another tier has scenes from the Duke's life and allegorical figures at the corners. The Clan Scott Scotland Web site photo gallery has illustrations of all the panels at 5th Duke of Buccleuch Statue
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Memory Lane - Organisations - "The Parade"
Alistair recalls being one of 30,000 members of the Boys Brigade at an International assembly at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow in 1933 which marked the 50th anniversary of its founding. See: Memory Lane - Organisations - "The Parade"
Memory Lane - Organisations - "Second Sight?"
On his first trip to he island of Arran David was on a forestry camp. On a walk in the hills he suddenly had a premonition of what was round the corner and told his pals what was there. They stopped laughing at him when they rounded the corner - to find exactly what he had described - including a collie dog. Second sight? Or some lucky guesses?. See: Memory Lane - Organisations - "Second Sight?" (The item follows the one above)
Memory Lane - Genealogy - A Broken Branch - the Memory of a Failure
Alistair's genealogical search revealed that his grandfather had emigrated to New Zealand - but had then returned to Scotland three years later. He can't find out why, despite searching. If they had not returned, he would have been born in New Zealand instead of Scotland. See Memory Lane - Genealogy - A Broken Branch - the Memory of a Failure
Next Newsletter
The next newsletter is scheduled for three weeks from now on 12 March and will be mainly current news items from Tam O'Ranter.
Of course, if you have any Scottish memories which you would like to contribute to "Memory Lane" please send them in!
Yours aye
Scottie
Previous editions of this Newsletter are available in an Archive. The Index to the other pages of the Rampant Scotland site is available here.
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