Wednesday 20 March 2024

In Memory of a Good Friend John Glover

Over the years John has walked on many occasions with The Last of the Summer Wine Walkers. This was in April 2013 when we were invited to his home in Dumfries and did an 8 mile walk led by Bowman.
Enjoying a beer after the walk.
 
In October 2014 John was very much involved with a Rumanian charity he helped set up to help orphans from that country. He brought two people over from Rumania who were involved with the charity. he made several journeys to Rumania all at his own expense and managed to overcome the bureaucracy that was so difficult overcome at that time. 

In June 2017 The Last of the Summer Wine walkers had a holiday cottage for a week at Colvend near Dalbeattie and John and Marion joined us for a days walking.
In Langholm in October 2018 to do the 10 Langholm bridges walk
In November 2022 when John was having health problems Tom and I met him and Marion at Glencaple and had a lovely lunch in The Boathouse 
In September 2021 we met John and Marion at Threave and did a nice walk to the Castle. It was the last walk we would do with John.
His Memorial Service yesterday was attended by about 1000 people. The Kirk was absolutely packed and we heard many tributes to John from various people but the most moving was a wonderful tribute to her dad by his daughter Joanne. I have known John for over 60 years and my most memorable time with him was in 1984 when I took him to Wales for the Wales v Scotland Rugby International. It was a memorable weekend and of course Scotland won. In a pub on the Saturday evening after the match John stood up in front of loads of Welsh supporters and did his Max Boyce impersonation. He brought the house down and had the place rocking with laughter. 

Thursday 7 March 2024

A Visit to Peniel Heugh and The Waterloo Monument

I arranged to meet John and Ken from Edinburgh at Harestanes Visitor Centre near Ancrum at 10.30am and we arrived within a minute of each other. The walk was an almost 5 mile one to the top of Peniel Heugh, which is 237M high and on it sits the Waterloo Monument. The monument was built between 1817 and 1824 to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo. There is a projecting gallery at the top of the monument but the tower is not open to the public. The hill is the site of an iron age fort.

These trees appealed to me so I took a photo of them only to discover I had taken the same photo 8 years ago when we last visited.

Ken and John were good company. We missed Tom who was packing for his holiday to Barbados.

A wee pond on one of the many paths through the woods

The Waterloo Monument on the summit of Peniel Heugh

The locked gate stopping us from getting to the balcony


This is Ruberslaw in the distance and we have climbed that a couple of times.
 



Tuesday 5 March 2024

Old Photos from 1960 or 1961 with Billy Steele

This is an old photo from my early years in The Boys Brigade and was recently sent to me by my friend John Irving. L to R David Hogg, Billy Steele, Gavin Graham, Bobby Kyle. Billy of course went on to play  Rugby for Scotland and the famous 1974 British Lions who were unbeaten. He also introduced Flower of Scotland as the Lions favourite song and it has become the Scottish National Anthem. 
Myself with Johns Mum and Dad Nan and Archie Irving at their favourite picnic spot near Douglen Cleuch near Bentpath. 
 

Tuesday 13 February 2024

The Westerhall Snowdrops

I love a visit to Westerhall and this was my first one of 2024 to take photographs of the Snowdrops. They are almost at their peak and the next 2 weeks will be the best time to see them in all their glory. I will visit again in March for the Daffodils and in April and May for the Bluebells and Azaleas, although with a visit to California then I might miss them at their best. 
A lovely avenue of trees with loads of Snowdrops
This is the Westerhall Folly just opposite the big house.

The view of the Benty Bridge from the Westerhall road
Westerhall farmhouse

Westerhall House. While I was walking through the estate there I was passed several times by the gardeners who were busy cutting tree branches and doing various other works. Its so lovely to see an estate so well managed and in such beautiful condition. 


If anybody wishes to view these Snowdrops then park up at Benty Hall and walk through the estate but do not leave the road and keep any dogs on a lead as there are sheep about and will be lambing soon.
 

Saturday 2 December 2023

A Visit from John

John Irving arrived to spend a couple of days with us on Friday. Its a few months since he was last in Langholm so it was nice to see him and we planned a couple of walks. The first was a 4.5 mile circular walk round St. Bride's Hill which takes you up towards Arrisgill and then over into the next valley to Westwater. 
The start and finish of the walk at Wauchope School House.

This is the Forestry Road which takes you down into Westwater
The beautiful new house built up at Shaw by a young Langholm Businessman who has done so well in his contracting Forestry business. It is the perfect site with wonderful views.
The early part of the walk and the road up to Arresgill

This is a Falconry Breeding Centre established fairly recently at Westwater
The Forestry Road that takes you from the Logan water up the hill towards the Westwater Valley

This is the start of the last section of the walk which is on the B7068 road. We were fortunate in that this road is closed at the moment so there was no traffic at all on it. 

A view from the highest point up the valley towards Arresgill
The Logan Water on the way up towards Arresgill

The Farmhouse at Westwater
 
Saturday morning and another walk but this time it was not as clear and sunny as it had been on Friday. Tom joined us and we walked round The Pheasant pens and The Curly Snake

Taking it very carefully down the road from Pathead as the road was very icy underneath a light covering of snow. 
Tom and John on the Castleholm which hopefully will soon below to the community. It has been a hectic 36 hours and included dinner at the Eskdale on Friday evening and a visit to The Market at The Buccleuch Centre on Saturday morning. 

Saturday 25 November 2023

This one is for Irving Bell


 At Milntown this afternoon to see Langholm play Haddington I was given a telling off by Irving Bell about not posting any blogs recently so this hopefully will make up for it. On a cold frosty day but perfect conditions for open rugby Langholm took the field and by half time were 8-0 up. The second half saw Langholm pinned into their own half for 30 minutes during which Haddington scored a try, conversion and a penalty so were in the lead 8-10. Then in the last 15 minutes Langholm found their way and scored a lovely try a few minutes from the end and converted it to lead 15-10 until the final whistle 4 minutes later. These were some of my companions at the game and what a bunch they are. Irving, Tom, and Johnnie.
Haddington in red pressing the Langholm line early in the second half. 
This was half time
The final score
This was taken on Friday and shows them erecting Langholm's Christmas Tree and it must be one of the biggest ones in the country.
On Wednesday my daughter Fiona joined myself and Tom for our weekly walk and we did the 4.5 mile Kerr Triangle on a very damp and dour day but we enjoyed her company. She was over to see us to celebrate her 50th Birthday.  

To celebrate her birthday Fiona had fixed up a reunion with her 2 flatmates from Glasgow University days where she shared a flat with Helen and Graham for 2 years. Graham has spent most of his working life in Musical Theatre and appeared in many shows including Phantom and Les Miserable in the West End. His latest is a first time appearance as a Panto Dame in Newbury for a 6 week run. This is him on the left. Fiona and husband Mario flew to Bristol on Friday evening and then met Helen and her husband Matthew at Bristol airport on Saturday morning and they all went to Newbury for a 5.00pm show staring Graham as the Panto Dame. They then went for a meal after the show and will return to Newcastle and Edinburgh on Sunday morning.  
 
It's been an eventful week for the Graham family with our son Fraser starting a new job in USA. He has left Apple after 11 years and is now Director of Software Services at GM (General Motors). Its a change of industry but cars are now computers on wheels and GM are planning to go all EV in the future so this is the way forward and an interesting development in his exciting career. We are very proud of his achievements in USA. We are also very proud of our Fiona's achievements in her work at Newcastle University as a Lecturer in Speech Therapy. This photo was on Langholm Common Riding Day when he was over for a week with our grandson Tommy.

On a final note today I had great pleasure in messaging my grandson Tommy that Newcastle had beaten Chelsea today 4-1 at St James Park. This is Tommy in the visitors dressing room at the stadium during a special visit there in July. He loves his Football and plays regularly for a team in Silicon Valley where his full time coach is from Aberdeen and runs loads of Junior teams in the area. With this week being Thanksgiving in USA the family are up in the Sierra Nevada mountains and in about another month or so will be going on regular skiing trips up there. I think Tommy loves to Ski as much as he loves his Football. I deliberately say Football as of course in the US its Soccer but after his visit to Newcastle United in July Tommy announced its Football from now on.  

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