Turnbulls/Borders (continued from page 1)

In the early seventies, I joined Braemar Knitwear as a designer of luxury cashmere and lambs wool.  A large portion of the business was conducted overseas and during my eight years with the company, I traveled extesively through Europe, Scandinavia, the East Coast of the United States of America and the Far East.  The influence of Scots abroad was everywhere in the world of commerce.

My wife, Lynda, is of another Border family, the Elliots.  We married in 1976 and a year later built a house five miles from the English Scottish Border at Carter Bar.  Southdean was part of the traditional Turnbull strongholds of Bedrule and Minto.  It is a wild and beautiful stretch of horse riding countryside which easily stirs up stories of reiving days when families would group together and ride into England and steal cattle to feed the family.  Of course, return visits from English reivers were almost inevitable and reiving became a necessary part of life in the Borders and is one of the reasons why we have so many castles and keeps all over the landscape.

Carter Bar, where in one direction you look upon Scotland and the other, England

Lynda is keen on local history and introduced me to many books and novels which added to my knowledge and interest.  Books including Steel Bonnets and Rulewater and Its People sit on our bookshelves today alongside a load of Nigel Tranter’s historical stories of Scotland.  The Borderland was the threshold for every army and band of marauders traveling south or north. They lived off the land.  A scorched earth policy was not uncommon and the Borders suffered.

From our kitchen window we looked towards Carter Bar with Southdean Hill in the foreground.  It was a Saturday morning.  Lynda announced that in 1512 over 5000 horses and 7000 foot soldiers mustered on the hill ready to ride into England to make amends for heavy raiding from the English side.  You could almost hear the jangle and commotion and hairs rose on the back of my neck as I imagined the scene.  Turnbulls, Douglases, Elliots, Scotts would be among the many Border families called to arms.

The Scottish and English Borders were governed locally by March Wardens. There were three Marches either side of the border.  Their job was to settle disputes and hand out punishment in attempt to defuse arguments before they escalated

into all out local war.  These trysts were chronicled to tell what happened in those far off, fairly lawless days and are remembered in stories and ballads which are still read and sung today.  The same is true of the later times when Scots families took advantage of British sorties into the Americas, Australia and South Africa in particular.  It is hard to image the boats sailing from places like Annan in the south west of Scotland bound for lands of opportunity in Canada and the Eastern coast of America.

speaks with an English tongue but she loves Scotland and we love to have her here on holiday.  Jason, our second son is best described as a rover.  Currently he is living in the south of France but we also get communiques from Holland, Belgium and Spain.  Kerry is the older of our two daughters.  She met her husband, Colin, in France and after a time staying in England moved back to Hawick two years ago to work with a major supermarket chain, Safeway.  Amy, our youngest is just completing her final year at Stirling University where she is reading Psychology.

In finishing, there are two items I would like to round off with.  I’m sure at times our President Wally despairs of the long delays in my reply to his e mails but life is still hectic for us.  I started a design and marketing business in 1980.  In 2000, I launched a new personal and business development programme which has proven to be very effective.  The process gives a structure to help people define their goals and plan a new way ahead.  The process and consultancy support is marketed under the name, Turn The Bull To Your Advantage. The website will be launched in the middle of the year and I hope you will remember to take a look at it in due course.

Finally, I wish to pay tribute to two people, John (Guttie) Turnbull (of Hawick) the pioneer and first President of the Turnbull Clan Association, without whom the whole movement would never have started. And to Wally Turnbull, the current President, whose enthusiasm and energy has rekindled the concept of worldwide networking for Turnbulls.

I hope, in the not too distant future, to visit Wally and his family in the States and simultaneously meet up with many of the others who have kept the flame alive in recent years.  I hope to increase my contribution, give greater support and enjoy the fruits of the work these two most notable Turnbulls have started.

 From Scotland, with best wishes to Turnbulls all.

Yours Aye, George B Turnbull