Dunse Bowling Club Silver Prize Medal - Won by P. Robson, Duns, July 1882

This prize medal came up in a Google search for something on Sunday.
I've always wanted to find prize medals won by my ancestors but it's not happened yet though perhaps they didn't win anything that came with a medal.

This prize medal is made of silver and set in an ornate frame.
On one side it says "Presented to the Dunse Bowling Club by Messrs Farrington & Smith Edinr 1878".
on the other, "Won by P. Robson Duns July 1882." with some hallmarks.

He's not in the Duns Monumental Inscriptions volume and I wonder who he was and where he was buried.

Was he one of your ancestors ?

If you're interested in acquiring it, it's offered for sale by Alnwick British & Colonial Coins & Tokens at £50.

World Famous Gypsies

The 50p anagrams quiz sold at St Boswells post office in the weeks leading up to St Boswells Fair asked
'How many World Famous Gypsies you can identify by re-arranging the letters to spell their names' ?

Although it wasn't our quiz, we had a request via our Contacts page to find out the answers.

Mary S said "I tried to do the quiz from the post office but I only managed one, and I'm not sure it was right."
So here are the answers (provided by Euan Watt):

1.    leachmic inaec        michael caine
2.    reilhac panlich        charlie chaplin
3.    lilb nitlcno            bill clinton
4.    vaddi sexes            david essex
5.    obb sinksoh            bob hoskins
6.    mej came            jem mace
7.    derdeifr zipren        freddie prinze
8.    godjan dtharneinr    django reinhardt
9.    b b gkin            b b king
10.    slive sleyrep            elvis presley
11.    rotherm sateer        mother teresa
12.    yonhnj hacs            johnny cash
13.    uly ynbrner            yul brynner
14.    yonjnh markntha        johnny frankham
15.    aceyrt lanlmu        tracey ullman
16.    rice tonnaca        eric cantona
17.    tira rotywhha        rita hayworth
18.    vaa redragn            ava gardner
19.    nita lee            tina  lee
20.    anes yerncon        sean connery
21.    goerr roome        roger moore
22.    lobpa saposic        pablo picasso
23.    yonnr odow        ronny wood
24.    pygys soer ele        gypsy rose lee


The answers were displayed at the St Boswells Fair/Gypsy Fair Exhibition in the recently refurbished St Boswells Village Hall from 18 to 20 July and the winner won a voucher for a free palm reading.

Unearthing Coldstream Priory's Secrets

The Berwick Advertiser reports that from 22 to 25 August, the Flodden 1513 project is conducting an archaeological dig to unearth the history of Coldstream Priory, Coldstream, Berwickshire.

Canmore says 'St Mary's Priory of Cistercian Nuns, founded between 1136 and 1166. The last prioress had demitted office by 12th May, 1588, and the nunnery was secularised in 1621', however other websites give slightly later foundation dates.
Its prioress, Isabella Hoppringle is said to have provided information about the Scottish invasion force crossing the river at Coldstream on 22 August 1513. She may have acted as an informal conduit between the Scottish and English crowns and that she led her nuns to retrieve Scottish noblemen that fell at Flodden. In 1515, she gave refuge to Margaret Tudor, sister of king Henry VIII of England, and her second husband and son (the future king James V).

Much more Coldstream Priory history.