About the Flodden 1513 Club

LATEST NEWS - AUGUST 2010 1. Annual Commemoration 2010 The annual commemoration of the Scots dead at Flodden is to be carried out by club members, and members of the Ex Standard Bearers' Association of Selkirk, on Thursday 9 September at 7pm. Those involved are invited to muster at the Besom Inn from 6pm; thereafter a bus will be leaving for Branxton at 6:40pm. 2. Annual Dinner 2010 This is programmed for Friday 10 September 2010 when the speakers will be ex rugby coach, Arthur Hastie, 'The Scotsman' rugby writer, David Ferguson, and Coldstream exile Billy Rutherford. 3. Invitation to Club Members and Associate Members Regarding the commemoration and dinner, the Secretary is planning to distribute invitations to club members in week commencing 9 August. Replies need to be with the Club Treasurer, Richard Melvin, by 30 August to book places at the dinner. 4. Coldstream Priory Stone The club has in its possession a stone purportedly from the now demolished, and long-gone, Coldstream Priory and plans to install it at the Tweed Green monument. This is likely to happen before September. 5. Associate Membership The Club is proud to have eight associate members from as far away as Brisbane and Adelaide in Australia. The Secretary receives about four enquiries each year about this type of membership but more recently enquirers have not filled in the application form and sent us the form and a one-off £10 subscription. The meassage is, please don't be shy. We welcome Associate Members on board.

NEWSLETTER - MARCH 2010 Click on this link to read the latest newsletter.

INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS Annual subscriptions are due and should be paid by 31 March 2010. Subscriptions are now £10 - please make arrangements to update your bank standing orders or send your cash payments to Richard Melvin, Treasurer.

LATEST NEWS - JANUARY 2010 Alex Thomson has been admitted as a full voting member of the club.

PROGRESS WITH THE FLODDEN 500 PROJECT (LORD JOICEY) 1. I was asked in the autumn of 2009 if I would join the Flodden 500 Project Steering Group and I received clearance from the 1513 Club to do so. 2. Since then Lord Joicey has asked if I would be a liaison person for all the Coldstream-based groups namely the Community Council, ‘Presenting Coldstream’, the Riders’ Association, the Ex Coldstreamers’ Club, the 1513 Club and Coldstream and District Local History Society. I think Lord Joicey wrote to all these organisations to see if my representation was acceptable. I have heard nothing to the contrary, so I am assuming that I will be a source of information, and a link between the project and Coldstream organisations. 3. I should say the other Scottish representative is Jane Warcup of Scottish Borders Council. 4. This is the first update. By far the biggest source of information is the project website and you can find this on http://www.iflodden.info/. 5. At a meeting at Etal on 12 December it was pointed out that an Initiators’ Group had researched the availability of grants, of large sums. The meeting seemed to indicate three possible grant sources - Heritage Lottery Fund Landscaping Partnership (unwieldy deadline dates and if we don’t get the grant, it may be too late for 2013); Heritage Lottery Fund Natural Heritage Fund (could be a possibility) and a multi-source bid to eg Regional HLF, OneNE, Leader + etc 6. The advice was that the multi-source avenue would be the ‘safest’ as it doesn’t depend on one source. 7. Before these grants are officially applied for there is the matter of tapping into a Leader + grant to fund a Project Development Officer for a year. This is being carried out and the officer should be in post by the spring. He/she will be tasked with developing a business case to attract the bigger funding. 8. The project website refers to the central theme of an eco-museum. This is not a building but a computer network, which will cover all the Flodden sites and be a comprehensive source of information on Flodden. 9. Eco-museums are relatively new and grant funders like them. Apparently there is a world authority on eco museums at Newcastle University and he is willing to help with this. Eco-museums are deemed to be sustainable, they preserve the community heritage, there is no building, instead it takes the local attractions and links them, it acts as a hub of information, it would be the first in England, it ‘captures’ visitors and tells them about the battle, bridleways, monuments, walkways, cycleways and it is thoroughly modern. It needn’t be called the ‘Flodden eco-museum’; it can be called something else, as long as it is an eco-museum. 10. The Initiators’ Group is to be replaced in February by a Steering Group made up of Lord Joicey, a representative from Leader +, Rob Horne from Northumberland County Council Regeneration, Jane Warcup from Scottish Borders Council, Clive Hallam-Baker from Remembering Flodden, Chris Burgess, County Archaeologist and me. 11. In relation to Coldstream organisations, there will be opportunities to tap into grants under the overall grant funding ie a local awards scheme. 12. Finally the Flodden 500 Project is not here to hinder local groups; it is here to encourage them, note what activities they are planning in 2013 and help to coordinate these events. 13. I will circulate groups as soon as there is any further news. Gerald Tait Hon Secretary

LATEST NEWS - NOVEMBER 2009 1. The Club held its AGM on 4 November 2009, which was attended by twenty-five members, and club officials were re-elected en bloc, George Miller OBE was selected as the Club's Standard Bearer for 2010. 2. The AGM also voted that the annual subscription should be raised from £5 to £10 and voting members were reminded to alert their bankers to the change, in terms of a standing order. Subscriptions are due now and must be paid by 31 March 2010, otherwise offenders would be placing their membership in jeopardy. 3. The AGM noted a wonderful annual dinner held in September 2009 with very learned and amusing speakers in Bob Burgess, Euan Robson and David Banks. 4. The AGM received a report on progress with the Flodden 500 Project, which is being organised by Lord Joicey, of Ford and Etal, and will be securing external funding for 2013, the 500th anniversary of the battle. Lord Joicey has invited, subject to approval, the 1513 Club to be represented on the Steering Committee. 5. A Joint Social between the 1513 Club and Branxton Village Hall Committee is being organised for Saturday 28 November at 7pm. Members wishing tickets should contact the Hon Secretary (Gerald Tait Tel 01890-882685).

SOCIAL EVENING - APRIL 2009 Members and wives of the Flodden 1513 Club enjoyed a wonderful Saturday evening social, in Branxton Village Hall, along with Village Hall Committee members and guests. This is the first of fund-raising events between the two bodies as the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden draws nearer. Village Hall Chairman, George Nolan, welcomed everyone and handed the evening over to MC, Gerald Tait. Entertainment, arranged by Rob Bell, included himself and Kenny Brodie, Kenny Hilsley, Willie Robson, Amy Anderson Law, Hamish Bell, Duncan Bell and Elspeth Bell. Flodden 1513 Chairman, James Bell, concluded the evening by thanking everyone for their attendance.

FLODDEN STAINED GLASS WINDOW The Flodden stained glass window in Coldstream Parish Church was officially dedicated on Sunday 22 March 2009 and the plaque on the church wall unveiled by Professor John Hume, formerly Convenor of the Art and Architecture Committee of the Church of Scotland. The church service was attended by several 1513 Club members and wives, representatives from the Selkirk Ex Standard Bearers' Club, The Hawick 1514 Club, representatives from local clubs and bodies and Lord Joicey. Accompanying Professor Hume at the Church Window were the Reverend Jim Watson, James Bell, 1513 Club Chairman, Eddie Park with the 1513 Club Standard, 1513 Club Piper, Duncan Bell, and Bugler, Peter Meikle. Afterwards in the Royal British Legion, a luncheon was had, thanks to lady volunteers of the Legion, and Chairman James Bell welcomed 1513 Club Members and guests, Professor Hume congratulated the Parish Church and the 1513 Club on their enterprise and Lord Joicey referred to an imminent meeting of all Flodden stakeholders with a view to consolidating all ideas about 2013.

THE BORE STONE Colin Johnson (1971 Coldstreamer) has spotted this stone in Edinburgh and thought that 1513 enthusiasts would like to hear about it.

The stone is on display just above a wall outside a church in Morningside and, according to the plaque below the stone, it was used before the Battle of Flodden to hold up the King's Standard on the Borough Muir in Edinburgh. It has a big hole in it to support the flag. Apparently the stone lay abandoned for about two hundred and fifty years in a nearby garden and was erected in 1862 or so in its present position.

COMMITTEE NEWS Founder member Iain J.Dickson has accepted the nomination to be Vice Chairman of the Club.

NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 2008 Click on this link to read the latest newsletter.

CORRESPONDENCE The Club has received a relatively anonymous postcard from a Bernard Elliott of no given address saying ' Tae the Flodden 1513 Club. Sir/Madam, Can I speak plainly tae yous. I found your website on the library computer when i was looking to pay my respects tae the fallen at Flodden. Would it not be mair respectful to call yoursels a commemorative society or something like that? Yours patriotically. Bernard Elliott' It is disappointing for Mr. Elliott not to have left a forwarding address or telephone number so that we could discuss this with him. At the end of the day the 1513 committee feels that we are very respectful of the fallen at Flodden and we are preserving the Flodden legacy, along with other interested parties, to significant degrees and the name of the Club is not important. So Mr.Elliott, if you are reading this, we haven't heard of you and if you would like to get in proper touch we would like to speak to you.

LATEST NEWS - DECEMBER 2008 Flodden Stained Glass Window The commission to design, make and install a Flodden Window in Coldstream Parish Church has been awarded to Artisan Stained Glass of Perth and the suppliers are currently making the glass in accordance with the design approved by the Church of Scotland. The window is likely to be installed in late January 2009 after which there will be an official opening service and ceremony, likely to be in March 2009. Strategy for 2013; the 500th Anniversary of the Battle The Committee has developed a strategy through consultation with Club Members, other Border Festivals, Branxton Parish Council and local community organisations within Coldstream and there appears at this stage, five years to go until 2013, to be consensus that the local community, either side of the border, should mark this occasion in the right way. There is a bit to go with the strategy and it cannot be published yet. However, by the spring we will have firmed up on the events to be included in September 2013 and we will be ready to publish it.

LATEST NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2008 The clock is ticking on the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden and enthusiasm for 'Flodden' is at an all-time high in Coldstream and District. A week past Tuesday the Flodden 1513 Club commemorated the Scots dead at Flodden with its usual ceremony at Branxton attended by members of the 1513 club and colleagues from the Ex Selkirk Standard Bearers' Association. The Coldstreamer, Gareth Watson, and John Beveridge of Selkirk while 1513 ex Standard Bearers laid sprigs of thistles. John Elliot toasted 'King James 1V', Iain Dickson toasted the 'Border Men Who Fell' and John Beveridge contributed a few poignant words from the Selkirk aspect. Last Friday, the Flodden 1513 club held its annual dinner in the clubrooms of the Royal British Legion in Coldstream. Chairman James Bell presided over a tremendous evening of speeches, song and recitation and the evening was attended by Club Members and Guests and representatives of The 1514 Club, Hawick, and the Ex Standard Bearers' Association of Selkirk. The Reverend James Watson said 'grace' before the company sat down to a delicious meal served by the volunteers of the British Legion. Between speeches there was some tremendous singing, guitar and piano work with the evergreen Rob Bell and chuckling Kenny Brodie presenting ' The Road and Miles to Dundee', 'If Wishes were Fishes', 'Bonnie Charlie's No' Awa'' and 'Rolling Hills O' the Borders'. John Tait of Hawick is an expert at 'Wail of Flodden' and beautifully sang 'And We Ride' with brother in law Michael Aitken. Michael Aitken and tremendous tickler of the ivories, Ken Pritchard, teamed up to produce captivating versions of 'Scotland Yet', 'Dark Island' and 'Road to Mandalay' while Ken delighted the company with his 'very own choice' of two beautiful piano tunes. The speeches were of a very high standard. David Banks of Crookham could not make it, which was disappointing for the company (see you next year Davie!), but John Elliot, his coolness shing through, stood in and gave a scintillating and humorous toast to 'James 1V'. Rector of Kelso High School, and local historian, Charlie Robertson's toast to the 'Border Men Who Fell' was one of the best heard yet and referred to the significant contribution, bravery and sacrifice made in warfare across the world by Border Men, and those left behind to pick up the pieces. Andrew Ford, Coldstreamer in 2005, toasted the 1513 Club in grand style, hitting the right buttons and complimenting the good work of the 1513 club. James Bell recited 'The Raiders' in fine style and was thanked for his good stewardship of the evening by Martin Johnstone.

SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscriptions are normally paid in March (£10) and I attach a standing order which you should deal direct with your bank on. Maybe choose a date in early March. We are encouraging members to pay this way rather than handing a fiver over in the pub. Subs are due by 31 March and any member not having paid will be reported to the committee for ratification of cessation of membership Click here to download standing order form

A good web link to Branxton www.Flodden.net

FLODDEN BOOK Circa 400 copies of ‘From Boroughmuir to Branxton Moor' – the story of Flodden’ by James D.Bell have been sold leaving about 600 still to be sold. The local Museums service has asked for 50, signed by the author, so this will help stocks. We are concerned that not every club member may have purchased a copy and is missing an opportunity to read a very readable book. Copies are on sale in shops in Coldstream (eg Pet Market/Coldstream Crafts & Moffat’s the Newsagents) and bookshops in other Border towns and they will shortly be available in shops south of the border.

CLUB SHIRTS AND SWEATERS Are still on sale at £14.50 for a sark and £15.50 for a sweater. SO ORDER YOUR SHIRT AND SWEATER NOW BY CONTACTING THE HON SEC (Size, crew or v neck, shirt size) and pop a cheque in the post made payable to Flodden 1513 Club and send to:- Gerald Tait, 25 Duns Road, Coldstream, Berwickshire, Scotland, TD12 4DW. Telephone: 01890 882685. Email: tait617@btinternet.com
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