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Minnie’s Pool, Poachers and the Human Submarine

Mary Johnstone and Peggy Ferguson share their memories of Peebles in the 1920s and 30s which were recorded in the early 2000s and are reproduced here by kind permission of The Tweeddale Society from their 2005 publication ‘Peebles Remembered’. Whitie’s Books and Crafts in Peebles have copies. Mary, We swam in the Tweed. It was […]

Making memories beside the Tweed

Birgham. Lovely day on our wedding anniversary at Chain Bridge and Honey Farm. Stayed at Birgham. Moffat to Tweedswell. Summer solstice 2021, spectacular walk up from Moffat via the Devil’s Beeftub in search of the source. St Boswells. Lovely day spent with my daughter at the Donkey Sanctuary. These stories were shared anonymously as part […]

The Lost River Dog: Origins of the Tweed Water Spaniel

Among Britain’s many working dogs, few have a history as intriguing – and as short‑lived – as the Tweed Water Spaniel. This sturdy, tawny‑coated dog lived along the River Tweed and the nearby coastline, where salmon nets, cold surf, and rocky shores shaped it into a powerful and reliable water worker. One of the earliest […]

Soap and Water

Extract from an interview with Maurice Kukk who volunteers three days a week at the River Tweed Salmon Fishing Museum in Kelso. As part of the Tweed Stories project, oral historian, Harry Henderson recorded Maurice at the museum. Maurice was born in Coldstream in the early 1950s and brought up on a farm just over […]

Border Crossings

Extract from an interview with Maurice Kukk who volunteers three days a week at the River Tweed Salmon Fishing Museum in Kelso. As part of the Tweed Stories project, oral historian, Harry Henderson recorded Maurice at the museum. Maurice was born in Coldstream in the early 1950s and brought up on a farm just over […]

Conjunction

The sun had set. It was a perfect, calm, June evening, a few days before the solstice. In mid-stream, the river flexed and twisted as it flowed over unseen contours, but ahead of me, by the bank, was a still pool reflecting the evening sky. Under the Chainbridge, Swallows skimmed and hawked hunting for moths […]