Snow on the Road - Sepia Saturday

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt photograph shows a delivery driver working in snow to deliver his goods.  Cue for me to show more snowy scenes,  past and present. 

 

The view from my window of a postman, adding  a spash  of colour as he trudged through snow to deliver the post.

 

Hawick in the Scottish Borders, 2001   

This was the hill down from our home to the High Street  and the supermarket.  Resourceful people were trudging down with rucksacks on their back and pulling sledges to load their shopping bags on to pull back home.    

1947 was  one of the worst winters that Britain had experienced.  The country was still suffering in the aftermath of war, with food rationing, power cuts, coal shortages - and no central heating in those days.  

 I do recall  my mother saying how hard it was to keep  my baby brother warm - he was only a few months old and the only heating in the  house  was the coal fire in the living room.  I remember waking up  to frost on the inside of the bedroom windows creating lovely  patterns on the glass.  

Below - photographs from  Earlston where we now live, courtesy of my local heritage group Auld Earlston.  

 1947   and in fine weather,  this is the main A68 road through the central Borders, linking Edinburgh  with England. 

 

 

Earlston Square,  1947 

 

Another view of Earlston Square in 1947

 looking across to the White  Swan pub.  

 

 

A farm lane under snow. 

In more recent times  

                                         Station Road  in Earlston 

 

 

Earlston Square  

If you shun taking your car out,  there are other means of travel.   

 

 

There is no date identified on this old photograph of the Red Lion Hotel in the Earlston Square.  The driver of this unusual sledge seems to be dressed very formally in a top hat and is not particularly well  wrapped up against the elements.  And who was he waiting for?  There does not seem to be any path cleared through the snow from  the hotel.   Or was it a promotional photograph? 

 

What about taking the train?   Or perhaps not!    

  Digging out the train in Earlston Station, 1947 

So why not get  out your walking boots  and enjoy a winter walk? 

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? J. B. Priestley
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/snow.html

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? J. B. Priestley
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/snow.h 

 

 The snow topped Black Hill in Earlston 

 

 A country scene in Earlston 

 

 

 

A riverside walk by the frozen River Teviot in Hawick. 

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jbpriest159615.html?src=t_snow

 

A picturesque woodland walk. 

 

On the  hill in Hawick with our dog 
 

 

A photo opportunity and a study  in blue and white  

 

 With thanks to Auld Earlston for the vintage images of Earlston 

 

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Sepia Saturday give bloggers an opportunity 

to share their family history through photographs

 

 

 

Look HERE to see more contributions 

from Sepia Saturday bloggers. 

 

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Up in the Air - Sepia Saturday

Aeroplanes feature in this week's prompt photograph from Sepia Saturday.  Take a look att how the early days of flight were regarded in a small  rural village in Earlston in the Scottish Borders. 

 

This 1930s poster   is in the collection of my local heritage group Auld Earlston.  Printed in the nearby town of Galashiels, it appears to be a "shell" poster, with space to fill in the details of date and venue.  

The event promised

"Famous pilots, aerobatics, stunts, looping, rolling, upside down flying,  crazy flying and  walking the wings at 100m.p.h. by Daredevil Draycott - the man who rides the winds" - plus passenger flights from  5 shillings a time.

"The Berwickshire News" of 28th July 1931  gave a fuller account, with the revelation that the local firm of Messrs Wm Rodger & Sons owned the plane. 

"Earlston is very fortunate in being the first town in Berwickshire to witness an aeronautic display.  On Monday evening a large number of Earlstonians were entertained to a succession of thrills by the advent of an aeroplane, the property of Messrs W. Rodger  & Sons which gave several aerial exhibitions at a newly constructed aerodrome at Purveshaugh, Earlston.  The enterprising firm is lucky to have secured the services of an skilled aviator and pilot   in the person of Mr J. Hinklin of Hornchurch and late of the Royal Air Force.  They have also secured the services of a competent ground engineer  viz Mr. J. Hellon  of the Scarborough Aero Club.  The pilot gave a thrilling exhibition of  flying in the presence of a crowd of nearly 400 spectators, many of whom were desirous of "getting up".  Messrs Rodgers gave a couple of free flights which were greatly enjoyed and appreciated.  It is understood that operations are to commence immediately".  

The next week's paper of  4th August 1931 noted that

"A considerable number of spectators...visited the Purveshaugh Aerodrome , near Earlston...when about 100 persons of both sexes, mainly young people, booked flights  and were taken up in   Messers Rodgers aeroplane.  The plane had also been in commission the previous evening when 50 passengers went up. All seemed to enjoy the novel and enthralling sensation".

What was the background to this event?
Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first powered flight on December 17th  1903. 

 

 

 

 

 The aeroplane came of age in World War One.   But, despite there being hundreds of sites used by fixed-wing aircraft across the UK, most British people had never been close to an aircraft and it appears that a quite large proportion of the population still hadn't actually seen one.

 

  

Photograph courtesy of Pixabay 

On 24th July 1924, local newspaper  "The Southern Reporter" thought it noteworthy to write that:  

"Three aeroplanes  passed over the west end of Earlston about 8.30 a.m  but were observed by comparatively few persons."

Following the First World War, experienced fighter pilots were eager to show off their new skills, flying into towns across the country, as well as taking paying passengers for rides. It was men like Alan Cobham who promoted air tours to raise awareness of the importance of aviation. To attract the crowds  he included displays of not just aerobatics, but stunt' flying too. 

 

 Not all sections of society were in agreement with this intensive event schedule.   in Berwick, the Lord's Day Observance Society  objected to Commercial Air Displays and Pageants being held on a Sunday - but the council decided to take no action. on the complaint. (Reported in "The Southern Reporter": 3rd December 1931.)

 
"The Berwickshire News" of August  1932 reflected the interest in this new form of transport with reports:  

"Considerable interest  was evinced....by several Earlstonians of the younger generation, especially when one of Messrs Rodger's aeroplanes landed in a field adjacent to the local football pitch owned by Mr Alexander Brownlie, The machine which had just arrived from Blairgowrie after a successful series of flights, under the pilotage of Mr Wells, made  a convenient landing preparatory to being overhauled  for further service. " 

An optimistic  writer in "The  Berwickshire News" of 9th September 1930 expressed the hope that: 

"We must concern ourselves  with the laying out of aerodromes. I thoroughly believe that it will not be long before every town planning scheme will include provision for aeroplane traffic."  

1939 of course changed the face of air travel, as war became the focus.  

Never again was Earlston  to be at the forefront of the aeroplane age in the Sottish Borders.

 

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Onto more modern times:

 

 My brother Chris in the 1980s had a half  share in a small plane and gained his pilot’s licence.  Chris flew the plane from his home on the English south coast to the small airport at the seaside resort of Blackpool in north west England for a family gathering,  

 

  

Daughter sitting at the controls! 

 

 

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 And if you feel like being more adventurous,  - but definitely not my idea of fun   - a para glider - a photograph taken from our hotel balcony near Innsbruck Austria.

 

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 Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share 
their family history and memories through photographs.  

  

 

 

Click HERE To see more posts from Sepia Saturday bloggers.

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"We Must Go down to the Wood Today" - Sepia Saturday

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt features a vintage car in the distance against a scenic backdrop of trees and mountain.  

I focussed o.n the trees -  We have no shortage of trees  and woods in the Scottish Borders where I live - so enjoy these  calming scenes of nature at its best, whatever the season. 

 

 

  SPRING

 

 

 Woodland lane with the Black Hill in the background.

 

 

 

 Not a woodland, but one of my favourite Tree photographs.  On an April walk around Earlston looking east across to the Lammermuir Hills.

 

 

SUMMER

 

Having fun at Wolfcleuchhead Waterfall in Craik Forest, near Hawick. 
 

 

Looking across to the wooded White Hill, Earlston 

 

 

Trees over the Leader Water, Earlston 

  

 

 

  

 Two views of sunlight in Cowdenknowes Wood,  close to where I live and a regular favourite walk. 

 

 

AUTUMN

 

An array of Autumn colours 
 

 

 A carpet of Autumn leaves, with the Leader Water a streak of blue below.

Little  granddaughter enjoying a walk through the woods at Earlston. 

 

 Looking up at the colours of Autumn gold. 

 

 

Late Autumn in Millbank Woods, Earlston 

 

 

A woodland gateway in late autumn 

 

 

 

Autumn colours at Dawyk Gardens, near Peebles.   

 

 

 

 WINTER 

 2012 - my husband lending a touch of colour  to the winter woodland scene.

2012 - Little granddaughter trudging home in the snow, 

with the trees on the appropriately named  White  Hill ahead.  

 

 

 A winter wonderland by the Leader Water, Earlston 

 

                    

Daughter on the hill above our homer in Hawick. 

 

 

We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful  part of the country 

the Scottish  Borders  

 

Copyright © 2025  Susan Donaldson.  All Rights Reserved 

 

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And finally  - not  forgetting  the prompt picture  with that vintage car , here is a misty photograph from my cousin's collection 

 

 

 

 My cousin's first ever car - a 1932 Morris Mino. 

 

The photograph was taken near Inverary in the west of Scotland on the "Rest and Be Thankful Road"  -  It gets its name as it was once a place where people  would stop, rest and be thankful that they have reached the top of their climb through the hilly pass between two glens (valleys).    

 

It's a very popular viewpoint which follows the line of the old military road built in 1753 by General Wade and his soldiers after the unsuccessful  1745 Jacobite Rebellion to put Bonnie Prince Charlie on the throne.   Now notorious for landslips, heavy snowfalls in winter   and road closure  warnings, involving a long detour to get to the coast and the ferries to the islands.  

 

 

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Sepia Saturday give bloggers an opportunity to share 
their family history and memories through photographs.

Click  HERE to see how cars, trees and mountains  this week have inspired  other bloggers

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Christmas Greetings to all my blog readers and thank you so much for your support over the year.

Christmas Greetings to all my blog readers and thank you so much for your support over the year.

With photographs of Christmas Lights in Earlston and Edinburgh

 

 

A First World War Greetings Card 

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