It’s a beautiful late afternoon in August as I walk along Berwick’s Elizabethan walls. The sea is calm. The tide is out.
In the estuary, where the Tweed meets the North Sea, a colony of mute swans gather beneath a perfect blue sky. Other people are also enjoying the path, the dog walkers and runners and those just taking a stroll, making the most of the sunshine and the view. It’s hard to imagine that these walls mark centuries of turbulence as the English fought to keep out the Scots who, in response, fought back to reclaim their territory…
Today Berwick, in the county of Northumberland, is the northernmost town in England and no longer the subject of conflict. Looking out across the North Sea I reflect that over the expanse of water that stretches beyond the horizon, hundreds of miles away on another continent geopolitical boundaries are still the source of constant battles…
Recently I discovered a song by Dick Gaughan written in response to the 1979 referendum, “ Both Sides the Tweed”. Gaughan explains “The verses call for the recognition of Scotland’s right to sovereignty and the choruses argue against prejudice between our peoples”.
The river Tweed, which forms part of the Scots-English border, is a symbol of both the need to maintain independence and cultural identity with fairness, friendship and co-existence between nations.
The lyrics are attributed to a ballad written in the early 1800s by James Hogg, also known as the Ettrick Shepherd; penned as an attack on the Treaty of Union of 1707, abolishing the independent Scots and English Parliaments and establishing the government of United Kingdom.
Turning to look inland I picture the river twisting and turning through the peace and tranquility of the Scottish Borders. Dick Gaughan’s anthem plays in my mind as I think of the swimmers, fishermen, children paddling, hikers and picnickers enjoying the last days of summer on both sides of the Tweed.
Both Sides the Tweed
Dick Gaughan
What’s the spring-breathing jasmine and rose?
What’s the summer with all its gay train
Or the splendour of autumn to those
Who’ve bartered their freedom for gain?
Chorus
Let the love of our land’s sacred rights
To the love of our people succeed
Let friendship and honour unite
And flourish on both sides the Tweed.
No sweetness the senses can cheer
Which corruption and bribery bind
No brightness that gloom can e’er clear
For honour’s the sun of the mind
Let virtue distinguish the brave
Place riches in lowest degree
Think them poorest who can be a slave
Them richest who dare to be free
