St Boswells Fair/Gypsy Fair Exhibition - First Day (18 July)

This exhibition is in St Boswells Village Hall.

I'm happy to say that we were busy.

Though it wasn't meant to be open in the morning, people drifted in because the doors were open to receive exhibitors, and we were busy all day.
The organisers counted just under 200 visitors, including as we hoped, lots of gypsies.

Lots of interest in John McKale's books and paintings.

The children's table, where there is a competition in 3 age groups to win book tokens, was often crowded.


3 members of the gypsy Royal Family talked to us, and Davina took the family tree on display home to update it.

I met people who had come from south Yorkshire, Berwick, Glasgow, Fife, as well as various places in the Scottish Borders: Eyemouth, Gordon, Kelso, Lauder, Westruther, West Linton as well as St Boswells.

I was also introduced to Mary Hanson (and her husband, Keith) who has done a lot research into the gypsies and into Napoleonic prisoners of war in the Scottish Borders.

Unfortunately, we are limited by table space in the number of items we can display for sale and as luck would have it, there were a number of things we could have sold had we bought them with us.

Lots of the gypsies were interested in the Hawick Heritage Hub's photographs, some wanted copies, others identified family members.

If you come today (1pm to 7pm) or tomorrow (1pm to 4pm), make sure to fill in a feedback form to win a bunch of carved wooden flowers.

Talk - Local Families of Ancient Origin by Gregory Lauder-Frost, FSA (Scot)

This is the first talk on the Society's syllabus of talks held in 2010/2011, and will be held at Foulden Village Hall, Foulden, Berwickshire, TD15 1UH, Scotland on Sunday, 26 September 2010.

When the Foulden Mordington and Lamberton Community Council were granted Arms by Scotland's Lord Lyon, three of the quarters contained armorial bearings representing those families with the most ancient connexions with those parishes: Ramsay, Lauder, and Renton, and who had the longest periods of unbroken tenure. Gregory will look at this history as well as touching upon other longstanding families such as the Arnot, Wilkie, and Jeffrey families.

Doors open at 2pm. Talk starts at 2.30pm.

We warmly invite you to attend the talk whether you are a member or not. There is no admission charge.

We'll have a range of family history publications available to buy.

Light refreshments available after the talk.

If you have a problem with your family history, please discuss it (no charge) with one of our volunteers.

Book a seat.