There will be a Borgue area litter picking session between 1 and 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 8th. Meet at the Borgue Public Hall at 1 p.m. and you will be provided with gloves, pickers and bags. If you can’t make it at that time, please contact the organisers at: borguelitter@icloud.com and let them know when you will be available and which road section you would like to work on.
The footpath from Borness down to the coast (D&G Core Path 173) has been cleared and now provides an accessible route from the Borness road down to the coast. Many thanks to Robbie Cowan, D&G Council’s Countryside Access Officer.
FROM KIRKCUDBRIGHT HISTORY SOCIETY
‘Dinna Forget – Memoirs of the Kirkcudbright District and Beyond by John McKie RN (1821-1915)’
A fascinating, personal account of life in the Kirkcudbright District in the 19th century has recently been published by Kirkcudbright History Society. The author, John McKie, was born in 1821 and grew up on High Nunton Farm in Twynholm parish, not far from the Dhoon on Kirkcudbright Bay. He went to school at Borgue Academy until 1839, and then followed a career as a millwright and then as a mechanical engineer in Dundee, Liverpool, Manchester and Crewe. But his ambition was to join the Royal Navy as a marine engineer at a time when the navy’s ships were transitioning from sail to steam power.
He achieved his ambition and served for 25 years in the navy, rising to the rank of Chief Engineer, in charge of the engines and mechanics of some of the most advanced ironclad battleships in the fleet. In his time, he also served as an engineer on the royal yacht, HMY Victoria and Albert and in the West Africa Squadron, which was charged with intercepting slave ships and freeing the slaves on board.
He returned to Kirkcudbright when he retired in the early 1870s and became involved in local community initiatives, in particular the establishment of The Stewartry Museum, which was first housed in Kirkcudbright Town Hall (now Kirkcudbright Galleries), before moving to its present building in 1892. He was the first curator of the new museum and his portrait, by the Castle Douglas artist, W. S. MacGeorge, is on display there.
Written personal accounts of our area in the 1800s are relatively rare, so John McKie’s memoirs of growing up in the Twynholm / Borgue / Kirkcudbright area in the 1820s and 1830s are of particular historical value, as are his later experiences up to the year 1905, when he wrote them up for the interest of his son, Norman, a medical doctor in Newton Stewart.
Kirkcudbright History Society received a copy of the memoirs from Mrs Bud Gordon, who kindly donated them from her late husband Jimmy Gordon’s extensive local history library. The Society took the decision to publish them, because of their local history interest. The reminiscences on local life are reproduced in full, and his experiences in the navy in a more abridged form. The publication of the 112-page book would not have been possible without the financial assistance generously given by the Galloway Association of Glasgow and two private donors, and the Society is very pleased to acknowledge their support.
Copies of the booklet are available in Gallovidia Books, Kirkcudbright; Kirkcudbright Post Office; and Barry Smart Stationer and Bookseller in Castle Douglas, and can also be ordered direct from the Society by emailing sales@kirkcudbrighthistorysociety.org.uk price £6.00+ postage/packing
David Devereux
Kirkcudbright History Society
Please come along to the “Wee Kirk” on Wednesday, 4th December between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. for a Christmas selection of local arts and craft items.
The Borgue Coffee Mornings are starting up again in the Public Hall, every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to noon. Please come along for a community chat and delicious baked treats!
There are 13 valid nominations for the 11 places on Borgue Community Council. This therefore means an Election will be held in the Borgue Public Hall between 3 and 7 p.m. on Thursday, 3rd October 2024. Click here for details of candidates/venue/times on the attached ‘Notice of Poll’.
As the majority of the grass verges have been cut recently we are planning on having a Litter Picking Day on Sunday 1st September 2024 between 1pm to 3pm, meeting at the Borgue Hall at 1pm to collect the hi vis, gloves, pickers and green bags along with the new’ish handihoops. All welcome. If anyone beforehand is interested in covering a specific area/road then contact me at the number below and I’ll make sure there are no doublers. If you’re not fussed where you go then that would be fine as well, just turn up and we’ll find a ‘gap’ for you!! The Council will collect the green bags from the Borgue cemetery bin store but if your bag is too heavy to carry it back to the Borgue cemetery then just leave it at the roadside letting us know of its exact location (‘what3words’ App is quite handy but no probs if you haven’t got it) and we’ll organise a pick up. Please let anyone who wants to come along to ‘pick’ know that they are most welcome. The more the merrier. And if they want to join the WhatsApp group then just give them my number – 07455 168282. Many Thanks. All the best, Annemarie
Please come along to Kirkandrews Kirk on Sunday, 1st September for a special event of contemplative worship hosted by Andrew Duncalf from Church Without Walls in Wigtown.
