You can always count upon the Berwickshire for the odd unusual letter like this one:
,
For those who are under the wrong impression that me and my family slaughter baby lambs in our backyard I suggest that facts are checked before idle and malicious gossip is spread.In fact, the truth is that for the last three years we have taken in over 10 orphaned lambs from local farmers, and lovingly bottle-fed them every four hours for the first few months of their lives, until they were ready and able to graze and then taken up to a farm at Edington Hill Ñ feel free to go and look!During their time with us, in excess of £500 was spent on providing them with milk, pellets, bottles, bedding and vet bills. This can be confirmed by Border Farm Supplies (Duns), the Veterinary Practice in Duns and Pearsons Garden Centre from whom we even purchased a kennel so that they had shelter at night and during bad weather. Hardly the actions of someone about to eat a lamb.If we had wanted to slaughter our pets and eat them (which we DID NOT!) I am sure it could have been done in a less expensive way by just buying a fully reared one for a fraction of the cost from a farmer. No way am I saying that I dont eat meat the majority of the UKs population does but we have never on any occasion eaten what we consider as our pets.The letter was headed 'Don't Listen to Gossip' and quite right too. I have never known a place so riddled with gossip as parts of the Merse. The Hutton and Paxton area is no exception, unfortunately. Even after 8 years in these parts I remain astonished how often it appears that people are all too willing to believe the worst about their near neighbours and will accept all kinds of rubbish without bothering to check the facts. Huttonian and the Scotsman is a case in point and I am now glad to report that the Glascow Herald is following the example of its Edinburgh rival in publishing a correction to the inaccurate story about the Community Council in its edition on Saturday. And the free lance reporter who peddled the original tale has been given a rap over his knuckles
