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Warden of Neidpath's Address

Published 24 Jun 2011 09:30 Mobiles Print Comments 6 Comments

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Warden John Campbell

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WELCOME to Neidpath Castle. It gives me great pleasure to welcome our Cornet and his Lass, the Beltane Queen and her court, also the Crowning Lady, to this very old keep. Thank you Mr Chairman for installing me as Warden of Neidpath.

I have been very fortunate to receive many honours during my lifetime; however, other than meeting the Queen, I consider this to be the most prestigious honour. That's because I've been recognised by the community that I and my family care about most deeply.

Two weeks ago, the Campbell clan notched up our half century in the beautiful Manor Valley. We've farmed land here since 1961, not long in farming terms.

To give you a rough idea how long ago that was, JFK was inaugurated, Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space and a dozen eggs cost around two bob, that's 10 pence. On that last point, I'm bound to say that was practically giving them away.

I consider that one could not find a better place to bring up four children and help to bring up our 11 grandchildren, some of whom are here this evening.

Also to create and grow our farming business with the help of Catherine, the family and of course our outstanding staff which now exceeds 200 employees (our best asset), all of whom are personal friends of mine except sometimes when we have minor differences of opinion.

Family businesses, of course, are not always a bed of roses but we have been lucky compared to many. Of course working together as a family has been the cornerstone of any little success we have achieved.

The Beltane Festival, like the beautiful Royal Wedding, shares many similar attributes including the pageantry, the court, and many great traditions. It is a time which makes the whole community proud.

The success of the Beltane only continues and flourishes with the commitment, dedication and enthusiasm of you Mr Chairman, and your hardworking committee, who generously give their time and effort freely in so many different ways to make it a memorable week for everyone concerned.

If I am allowed to highlight one section of the Beltane committee, it would be the ladies who spend time creating and making the costumes for the children. It is appropriate this year that the Crowning Lady on Saturday, Margaret Abbot, is one of these hard working individuals who gives so much of her time and effort to help create such a wonderful spectacle, my only wish is that you have a beautiful day on Saturday.

I always like asking my granddaughters what position they have in the festival. When I asked my youngest granddaughter what her part would be this year, she replied 'Dada, I am nothing!'

During our 50 years in Peebles, there have been many changes. Most for the better but with change comes challenge. Perhaps the immediate challenge to our authorities must be the transport infrastructure.

My mother, the first time she came to visit us, came on the train. Sadly, not long after we moved here, the rail link was closed by the now infamous Dr Beeching. We watch and note with interest the proposed construction of the new railway link to the central Borders.

I personally consider the whole concept a complete waste of money. It does nothing for Peeblesshire or for that matter Berwickshire. I am sure that our new Scottish Government will shelve this project quickly.

What we need urgently is to have our main roads infrastructure improved by adding a dual carriageway on the A703, a bypass at Eddleston to Edinburgh, of course a roundabout at Leadburn and also within the burgh a track to create parking at the back of the houses on the east side of the Edinburgh road. This would help the problem of single file traffic on our main artery at very little expense.

One thing Peebles certainly needs is another bridge over the Tweed. How can this be achieved? Tesco complains that its shop is not big enough; perhaps they could be persuaded to move across to Whitehaugh and contribute to a new bridge over the Tweed. This, in turn, might balance the population on both sides of the river. Look what a new bridge has done for Kelso.

I spend a lot of my time on the roads; and I am very concerned about the problems on Neidpath corner not 100 yards from this keep and the horrendous corners at Castle Craig on the A72.

Finally, on roads, we desperately need traffic lights at the pedestrian crossing on the High Street.

Congratulations to our new MSP, Christine Grahame on her and her party's outstanding success in the recent election.

However you certainly have a challenge ahead of you in balancing your budget. As a businessman one's first thought is always balancing the books. I would like to give you a little advice on how to save a lot of money. I spent nearly 20 enjoyable years in local government and during that time we experienced many changes.

The old town councils and county councils were marvellous institutions run by councillors with no political affiliation, with genuine interest in improving the lot of their fellow citizens.

We then moved to regional and district councils before moving onto, in our case, Scottish Borders Council. In my opinion there is still one more reorganisation needed. We have too many tiers of government costing far too much money.

We all hate paying our council taxes, savings must be made and I do not believe the Scottish Parliament is anything like busy enough. I honestly think there is an argument to scrap every council in Scotland and bring all local functions under the roof of the Scottish Parliament. After all, Strathclyde region, perhaps the most successful local authority last century, represented half of Scotland's population. Clearly there is a duplication of staff between councils.

Local councils are fast losing their power and have already lost their housing function. Emergency services - fire, police, and ambulance are under threat, and now we are hearing a very good argument to bring education under the wing of the Scottish Parliament. You can apply the same logic to social work; this function could easily be incorporated with the health boards. I pose the question: If this all happens - and I believe it will - one asks, what is the role of the local councils? In my opinion if these changes take place, local councils will have outlived their usefulness.

Peebles is renowned for the quality of its independent shops but more widely, I think we can all be proud of the number of strong private businesses in and around our town. It is nice to see some of the old businesses still prospering and flourishing, in every case run by entrepreneurs.

As a farmer I cannot help but mention the revolution that our farming industry has experienced over the last fifty years. We have been challenged to meet the demands of keeping up with modern technology. Fifty years ago there were fifty dairy farms. Now, there are just three and they produce more milk than those fifty farms together. That is progress.

In the Manor Valley alone when we came to Peebles, there were 18 hill shepherds. Now all the shepherding is carried out by family labour. Fortunately the sheep industry, the strong arm of agriculture in Peeblesshire, is doing very well at present. We had a marvellous spring this year with one of the best lambings ever and certainly the best in the last 50 years.

Sadly in some of the more remote areas, like the Upper Tweed Valley, their sheep and their wool have given way to trees and heavy harvesting machinery which do no good for our roads and bridges. This in turn has contributed to the decline of our core Peebles industry, textiles. Much of that work has gone abroad, where cheaper labour is plentiful. One poses the question: Is this progress?

But our community is resourceful and there are many new businesses based in and around Peebles that we can be proud of. These businesses have been created by real entrepreneurs - individuals who are not afraid to take a risk and back their ideas.

One such organisation that stands out to me above all else is the Glentress mountain biking facility, perhaps the best in the UK. This concept was originally built up from small beginnings in 1986 by retired agricultural businessman, Mr Arthur Philips. At the weekends, practically every third car entering Peebles is heading for Glentress, spending money and building up our tourist industry.

Combined with facilities like Traquair and Kailizie with the osprey watch, these attractions make our High Street very busy - especially at weekends.

Not to mention Cardrona, a wonderful development with a new bridge and other businesses such as Stobo Castle and Castle Craig also deserve a mention too. They certainly keep our taxi drivers busy.

My final hobby horse of the evening is the loss of the Town Provost in 1975. In my book there was no need whatsoever. During my time as council leader I had the privilege of once being a guest of the local Rotary Club, on the day the International Rotary chairman was visiting. He said that Peebles struck him as a place where old people are happy and young people care. I like to think that observation still endures. I am sure it does.

Ladies and gentlemen. I have spoken for long enough. Being Warden of Neidpath is a real honour and I reiterate my plea to you, the people of Peebles and the shire, to offer to support the hardworking Beltane Committee in whichever way you can and let the ancient tradition and festival continue and expand for the next 100 years. We are all proud of the Beltane.

I take this opportunity to congratulate the Beltane Queen Amy and her court on being chosen as the Principals for this year's festival, a memory that will certainly live with you for the rest of your lives.

I would also like to offer a few words of comfort to all the children that were not fortunate to be part of the Beltane Court this year. I myself never passed an exam at school however, no matter what you choose to do, do it with endeavour and commitment. If you try as hard as you can at school and at home I am sure you will succeed in life's long journey. Thank you very much.

This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 24 Jun 11

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