Headlines for September 2008

• Local youngsters in national reading challenge - Thursday, Sep 25 2008
  Youngsters across the Borders were busy over the summer holidays reading a range of books as part of the national summer reading challenge, Team Read.
• Transforming Children Services – postponement of public meetings on community services - Wednesday, Sep 24 2008
  Scottish Borders Council's Education & Lifelong Learning Department has decided to postpone for the time being the public consultations on the community services element of the Transforming Children's Services (TCS) project.
• Local winners in National Awards - Wednesday, Sep 24 2008
  Two Scottish Borders communities collected three awards between them at the Beautiful Scotland (formerly Beautiful Scotland in Bloom) national award ceremony recently.
• New training programme for future school leaders - Monday, Sep 22 2008
  Scottish Borders Council has launched a development programme to strengthen the leadership capacity across the region’s schools.
• New look contact centre is unveiled in Duns - Monday, Sep 22 2008
  Scottish Borders Council has modernised the way it deals with customers at its Contact Centre in Newtown Street in Duns
• United call for global Borderers to ’Return to the Ridings’ - Monday, Sep 22 2008
  For the first time, the historic Border Common Ridings & Festivals are uniting to launch a major initiative as part of Scotland’s first Homecoming celebrations.
• Grass cutting problems caused by the bad weather - Monday, Sep 22 2008
  This year’s weather has made cutting the lawn a challenge. Lawnmowers have come out of garden sheds regularly, only to go straight back in when the next downpour starts.
• A fitting tribute to serving soldier killed in action - Monday, Sep 22 2008
  A ceremony was held in Eyemouth on Friday (19 September) in memory of Corporal David Williams, who lost his life while serving his country in Iraq in 2005
• Post-flooding repairs progress in Bowmont and Kale valleys - Tuesday, Sep 16 2008
  Following the torrential rain in the Bowmont and Kale valleys last weekend, Council staff have been working hard to restore vehicle and pedestrian access to the affected areas.
• Weather does not dampen spirits at St James Fair exhibitions - Monday, Sep 15 2008
  Despite the annual St James Fair being cancelled due to the weather, more than 500 visitors flocked to the Kelso Town House last weekend (6/7 September) to visit the various exhibitions and workshops held as part of the event.
• EU funding brings £11.5 million to Scottish Borders - Friday, Sep 12 2008
  Between September 2006 and March 2008, more than 120 events in the Scottish Borders were supported by European funding. This helped to bring an estimated £11.5million in revenue to the Scottish Borders.
• Borders residents urged to make their mark in history - Friday, Sep 12 2008
  Scottish Borders Council’s Museum Service is encouraging people to make their mark in history by submitting photographs taken in Berwickshire from the start of the millennium, to create the first ever ‘Archive for the 21st century’ in the Borders.
• Young traditional music award finalists to perform at Heart of Hawick - Friday, Sep 12 2008
  Fresh from their success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Traditional Music and Song Association’s (TMSA) ‘Young Trad Tour’ rolls into the Heart of Hawick for a concert on Thursday 18 September at 8pm.
• Teacher refresher courses on offer from SBC - Friday, Sep 12 2008
  Teachers looking to return to work or supply teachers looking for updates can take advantage of some new courses on offer.
• LEADER Funding for Rural Communities - Second Funding Round - Friday, Sep 12 2008
  The Scottish Borders LEADER Programme is now taking applications for a second round of funding.
• Borders towns and villages are blooming marvellous! - Wednesday, Sep 10 2008
  The keenly awaited results of this year’s Scottish Borders Council (SBC) Floral Gateway Competition were announced at an awards ceremony in Newtown St Boswells on Tuesday evening.
• Borderers urged to open up about suicide - Monday, Sep 8 2008
  To mark Suicide Prevention Week (8–14 September), Choose Life, Scotland’s national strategy to prevent suicide, is calling on people in the Borders to help save lives by bringing suicide out into the open with the national campaign ‘Don’t hide it. Talk about it.’
• Rain affects Borders roads - Monday, Sep 8 2008
  Following a period of prolonged heavy rainfall between Friday 5 and Sunday 7 September a number of areas in the Scottish Borders experienced problems with flooding and a number of rivers reached warning level during Saturday.
• Scottish Borders school pupils take part in nationwide school travel survey - Monday, Sep 8 2008
  Borders pupils are being encouraged to ensure their opinions are recorded in the first ever nationwide school travel survey.
• SBC responds to Government stance against rural school closures - Friday, Sep 5 2008
  Scottish Borders Council (SBC) Executive Member for Education, Councillor Catriona Bhatia, has responded to the First Minister’s proposals for legislation to ensure a presumption against rural school closures.
• A welcome boost for Borders coaching - Thursday, Sep 4 2008
  Scottish Borders Council has appointed a new coaching network development officer to boost the workforce of sports coaches, leaders and volunteers across the Borders.
• Teacher redundancies - Tuesday, Sep 2 2008
  Director of Education and Lifelong Learning Glenn Rodger confirmed that there have been three redundancies in the Outdoor Education Service and a further three teaching posts across the secondary sector. This has come as a result of the recent budget process as well as specific requirements such as changes in school rolls and subject uptake.
• Youngsters enjoy Border Sports Academy 2008 - Monday, Sep 1 2008
  More than 100 young local athletes have enjoyed the annual Scottish Borders Sports Academy, which took place at the National Sports Centre at Largs.