RAISING THE WIND

Ardent bloggees who have been following the progress of the Berwickshire Poetry Anthology will be delighted to hear that the slim volume is at the Printers in Tweeddale and will soon be published with the title of "Spectres on the Landscape" Perhaps its appearance will coincide with the reopening of the public inquiry on the Wind Farm proposed for Fallago Rig as now demanded (belatedly) by the Scottish Borders Council. If you can tear yourselves away from the poetry read the Berwickshire News main story here.

The image of Duns Castle in the Frost (no not earlier this month) by a local photographer will be the front cover picture and the spectres as seen on Harden's Hill above Duns will grace the back together with the eponymous poem from within the anthology. No, you will have to buy a copy to read the verse in question plus the 57 others by 27 different poets from (mainly) the Merse.

No need for a mad rush to buy. The Anthology is to be launched at a musical/poetry reading event in Christchurch Duns on the evening of Sunday 18th October. Three prize winning poets (best under 11, best High School and best previously unpublished Adult 'virgin')will receive their prizes at the launch when they and some other contributors will read some of their poems. A Brass Ensemble will provide the backing. The anthology will be on sale amidst the wine and nibbles

Tickets will be available from early October. Look out for touts in the Market Square
and at the usual spots in the Park.

Labels: Fallago Rig, Spectres on the Landscape, Wind Turbines

  ¶ 10:21 AM (3) comments

 
Rig Rigged?

The news that the Fallago Rig wind farm is likely to go ahead despite very strong local opposition and without the re-opening of a public enquiry has proved a confetti storm of letters to the Berwickshire as below:

Sir, - My anger at the abuse of the democratic process by the Scottish Government over the Fallago Rig wind farm has now turned to dismay as Scottish Borders Council are not seemingly pushing for the re-opening of the public inquiry.
Such are the changes in circumstances in the Lammermuir Hills with new wind farms now on line and new applications granted that it is a travesty that the chief executive’s office is apparently more concerned about cost than due processes of democracy.
As Returning Officer for local elections across all levels of government the chief executive, David Hume, is very well aware of the huge costs involved in elections.
Recommending against the relatively tiny costs of representation in a reopened public inquiry would be an insult to the democracy that he has a duty to protect.
CHRISTINE HAVERS,

The MOD has now apparently dropped its objection to the new set of Turbines despite previously anxious and apparently well documented claims that they could interfere with the air defence radar system; always remembering that the area is one used by low flying aircraft So what has happened to change minds amongst the Top RAF Brass? Have the developers offered some inducements and /or some Mr Big is leaning on them in the interest of increased corporate profits;

The chairman of the local community council as angry as Mrs H, has commented in another letter:

The news that the MoD is dropping its objection to the Fallago Rig wind farm development is a devastating blow to the Cranshaws, Ellemford and Longformacus Community Council.
When British soldiers and Afghani civilians are being killed on the premise of protecting national security it seems ludicrous to compromise national security at home on the basis of an unproven and untested solution to the problems of radar interference to the national air defence system.
The evidence presented by the MoD at the Inquiry in objection to the development was incontrovertible and sustained under detailed cross-examination

Mr Big? Or Duke of Big? Cherchez le Laird I hear you cry-as indeed does a third correspondent:

Duke of Roxburghe is seeking to impose a massive 144MW wind farm development of 48 125m high wind turbines on the local community at Fallago Rig in the Lammermuir Hills.
Not only would this be contrary to the views of the local community, the findings of a Public Local Inquiry, and against the views of both affected local authorities, but it has been the subject of secretive discussions between the developers, their lobbyists, the MOD and the turbine-mad Scottish Government ever since the Public Inquiry closed.
This Duke’s development would irreparably blight area of great landscape value so dramatic that it inspired Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermuir. As in the opera, there is much madness in the Lammermuirs at present.

This is fast becoming an opera indeed. Not comic but darkly tragic. Come on Mr Gilbert and Mr Sullivan we have the plot

how about the music?

Labels: Fallago Rig, Rigging Rigs, Wind Turbines

  ¶ 12:47 PM (11) comments

 

Very rarely does the letter column of the Berwick Advertiser produce anything that is not to do with Wind Turbines; last week's issue is an exception and worth reproducing for that reason alone







ODE TO MPs**




SIR,-An MPs lot:

I am such a lowly MP
I make to odd mistake,
Doing what other MPs do
You say I’m on the take.
We follow a set of strictest rules
by appointed scrutineers,
For their tireless work to MPs
we made them lifelong Peers.
I live just two miles from the house
not far for me to roam,
Bought a castle north of Inverness
To call my second home.
The ducks need a new duck house
the moat it needs a clean,
Blue movies are much better watched
on a giant TV screen.
All my claims are essential
I can't see why all the fuss,
I can produce a signed receipt
from receiptsRus!

DEREK GOGGIN
Lowick

Thankyou Mr Goggin-its worthy of insertion in 'Spectres on the Scene'-but it is not a Berwickshire Ditty so out it stays.


** OWED TO MPs surely? Blog-ed

(image: a new bloggee has commented :' Gosh if I was an MP I would like such a big house with a wide moat like this'

Labels: Berwick Advertiser, MPs Expenses, Wind Turbines

  ¶ 9:26 PM (0) comments

  GETTING THE WIND UP

You can always rely on the Berwickshire News letter column to strike the right note on 'issues' of the moment

SIR, - There is currently a public enquiry into an appeal by three wind farm developers taking place south of the border at the Maltings, Berwick.
The wind farms would be sited at Moorsyde, Barmoor and Toft Hill. Various disruptions to views looking south from Scotland would result were permission for these installations to be granted, not only intruding into a unique landscape but also affecting views towards Flodden Field with a restless, moving and inappropriate industrial element.
Nobody north of the border was ever consulted during any stages of the planning process.
Members of the public will have the chance to present their views to the Inspector on May 27.
A visit to Berwick or a telephone call to Northumberland County Council should provide information about the correct procedure for those who wish to speak.
This is the one chance Scots will have to safeguard what is arguably a national shrine and an indelible part of the Scots psyche.
‘BRAVEHEART’,

So it is not just our own Pheonix Reiver (see post below) who deplores the connection between Flodden Field and a proposed wind farm. It is interesting that a defeat in a major (if totally unnecessary) battle is part of the Scottish psyche. Which disastrous military debacles have entered into the English soul, Huttonian wonders?. The Aussies have Gallipoli which they (rightly) blame on British (not all of them English) generals but from my schooldays I can only remember being taught about English or British victories from Agincourt to Alamein. Defeats, if any, were glamourised : 'A Bridge too Far' being a case in point-and Dunkirk is also remembered as a victory.

And who will Braveheart blame defeat at Flodden on? James IV. I doubt it. The Borderers? Unlikely. The English who out fought and out manoeuvred the Scots,

Certainly.

And now its English wind turbines which are desecrating a sacred site.

Me I am opening an appeal for a memorial to satisfy both sets of bruised nationalistic psyches.

Put it half way across Coldstream Bridge

To the Unknown Reiver

Labels: Flodden, Wind Turbines

  ¶ 9:37 AM (0) comments

 
Towers of Silence? Or Flodden a Dead Horse?

I know it is wrong of me, and as French diplomats put it, uncommunitaire,not to get the wind up, as it were, about the rash of Turbines breaking out all over the Lammermuirs.From Harden's Hill to Crystal Rig. Its probaly because they are invisible from the Small House in Duns and more important apparently-soundless. Some people living near these giants are driven to distraction by the noise they make. And they are not very bird friendly either. They have a certain grace which is appealing if you do not live right under them.

I am informed by our alternative energy, countryside watch dog and Scottish Heritage correspondent that the rash now is spreading across the wild frontier.

"Folk on our side of the border are totally unaware about the enormity of what is being planned by the 3 wind farm buccaneers/multinationals just across the border in Northumberland and whose appeal against the refusal of planning permission is the subject of the current public enquiry at Berwick. Not only would they spoil the view of a lovely bit of countryside but they would also desecrate the vicinity of Flodden , the Kosovo Field to my fellow Caledonians " (from Reiver Phoenix)

So is Flodden Field a factor in all this. If the threat of desecration is enough to have this important historical site treated with more respect by the custodians of such places, well and good. It saw one of the most significant engagements of the 16th century- but the history is almost impenetrable for the casual visitor. (Although the interpretation has improved recently as blogged previously (Scroll down )And I can never understand the Scottish obsession with this bit of England, a steadily diminishing bit at that, sods from which are carried ceremoniously to Scotland every year, by reincarnated Scottish Reivers, as part of the Coldstream Civic Week celebrations. The Flower of Scotland cut down as a result of a naked act of aggression just to do Les Frogs Sanglais a favour. And the Borderers, at least those led by the Earl of Home, have especially little to be proud of having deserted the field at half time loaded down with ill gained booty. Had the Scots won you can imagine the point of a hooley but a shamefully lost battle...

Bury it under Turbines, Jimmy, should be the cry?

Labels: Flodden, Wind Turbines

  ¶ 11:25 AM (0) comments

 
"Our countryside is being vandalised with these damned industrial machines because the administration in Holyrood does not have the guts to go down the nuclear route," blasted Jim Fullarton (East Berwickshire"

speaks the well known voice of moderation. (Full report here) Short and to the point which is not at all like Big Jim. My instinct after being subjected to blasts of long winded (npi)incoherent rhetoric by Jim F whilst serving a few years on the Hutton and Paxton Community Council is to support anything he is opposing. In this instance I have the unworthy thought that perhaps there is an element of a Border Collie in the rabbit hutch behind this vehemence, opposing turbines wherever they may wish to be. Some fellow landowners have done quite well renting out vast tracts of territory for wind farms. Damned industrial machines pay quite a nice lot of rent. Has anyone asked Jim for a slice of Coldingham?

Thought not.

(The image is of Hardens Hill Turbine farm-marching towards Coldingham so Big J could yet be lucky?)

Labels: Big Jim Fullarton, Wind Turbines

  ¶ 2:04 PM (4) comments