The Peeblean: Friday 6 June 2025
Three Fishes Fountain, School's Out event (venue change), Pipe Band Champs, Miss Adventures biking day for girls, Graham Garvie interview, Come and Sing Faure Requiem.
Welcome to Issue 22 of The Peeblean.
The Peeblean launched on 10 January 2025 and has published every week since to bring a free news round up and events guide to the community. Our current readership is 1,265 and in the month of May we registered 23,000 views of our content with the vast majority (15,000) coming from email subscriptions.
It is a really busy weekend as Whipman activities commence in West Linton and with Beltane preparations well underway. If you turn your ear eastwards you might just hear the skirl of the pipes today from the Innerleithen Pipe Band championships . There are lots of free family events as well, in Peebles this afternoon and in Eddleston on Sunday.
If you are heading to Eddleston on Sunday for the Polish/Scottish celebration event, the local community council are asking attendees to consider taking the X62 bus. The village bus stop is significantly closer to the Barony than the overspill parking and there was gridlock in the village due to parked cars last year blocking access for residents and for farm and emergency vehicles. As well as the bus service, there is also the traffic-free walking, wheeling and cycling route via the multi-use path.
The SBC/Live Borders consultation on the future of sports, leisure and cultural venues (have you responded yet?) made the BBC News this week with the situation in Kelso featured.
Peebles Common Good Sub-Committee meets on Wednesday and will discuss Kingsmeadows Toilets, the Tweed Green Pavilion, the return of the Wood Festival later this year, the Three Fishes Fountain (see below) and income generation for common good funds. View the agenda here.
Congratulations to Save the Children Peebles who won the charity’s Volunteer Team of the Year Award, with Jane Lord also announced as Volunteer of the Year.
This is Volunteers Week and there are simply too many volunteer-run organisations locally to thank individually but to all our local volunteers, working to make our community better, THANK YOU!
Graham Garvie has written extensively about the common good in his self-published autobiography that charts his early years and extensive career in Scotland in local government, as a councillor representing Peebles and working internationally as an adviser on democracy and elections. On Tuesday afternoon (14:00) he will be in conversation with The Peeblean at the U3A monthly meeting at St Joseph’s Neighbourhood Centre. If you are interested in U3A you can come along as a guest initially. U3A is for anyone no longer in full time employment with an interest in education, cultural and recreational activities. They are organising a trip to New Lanark in July.
This is our first live interview and we’re keen to do more. Like most journalists we’re much happier asking the questions than having to answer them!
TOWN CHAT
The Three Fishes Fountain situated in front of the Eastgate Theatre has been an ongoing topic of discussion at recent meetings of the Common Good committee and Peebles Community Council.
Here’s a brief summary:
The sculpture was commissioned as a Millennium project and funded by Peebles Common Good and the Rotary Club of Peebles. It is a Common Good Asset and was designed and manufactured by Beltane Studios.
It was repaired in 2021 by volunteers who cleared coins and other debris out of the fountain mechanism but it has fallen into disrepair again and isn’t currently operating as a fountain. One of the fish has also been removed for safe keeping as it had come loose.
The quote for refurbishment and repair of the sculpture is estimated to be £4,000 then ongoing costs of £200/year. These figures were quoted in meeting minutes and are on a not-for-profit basis, covering costs and time only. We are sourcing more details on what work is required directly from Beltane Studios.
Due to an overspend caused by essential repairs to other Common Good assets, the Common Good Committee is not approving any funding until balances recover.
That means there are very limited local sources of funding for the repairs and no funding has been identified by either the CG Committee or Peebles CC.
This Wednesday, the Peebles Common Good Committee will consider a proposal from Floral Peebles to relocate the sculpture (not the stonework) to the swimming pool.
Floral Peebles say the sculpture could be ‘planted’ in the triangular flower bed near the pool or mounted on a plinth in the cobbled area of the scented garden.
If relocated, the costs would be minimal as there would be no requirement for the fountain mechanism to be replaced or repaired.
Today, we’re launching a poll to ask what you’d like to see happen to the sculpture, bearing in mind that option 1 may not lead to any immediate action as funding isn’t currently available. The poll isn’t official but we know that decision-makers read the blog, so this will offer a sense of what the community would like to see happen. A Peebles CC social media post from 2024 generated calls for a crowd funder so we’ve included that as an option. To hear the discussion in person, come along to Wednesday’s meeting at the Burgh Hall at 5pm
UPDATE: After we published, Ruaraig McIver of Beltane Studios updated the situation via our FB page, saying “I am putting together a rescue plan to make sure it is properly restored and kept where it is. This will involve me offering many hours of my own time at no cost. I’m aware of the well meaning plan to stick it in a hole in the ground by the swimming pool. This will not happen. I have copyright as the sculptor and I have control over how my work is presented. This sculpture was funded by public subscription as noted on the bronze plaques on the wall near by. I think we have a duty to honour their wishes and have the fountain properly installed and functioning as it was designed to. Sadly and inexplicably this was never done and has led to the problem we now have.”
Peebles Hydro are seeking permission to demolish the former stables building. Paul Kelly, Peeblesshire News
EVENTS THIS WEEKEND - - see our poster board for details
Saturday 7 June
Whipman Week activities commence
Ride Innerleithen Demo Weekend at the Traquair Arms Hotel
West Linton Market 09:30 - 12:30
Peebles MS Society coffee morning, Burgh Hall 10:00 - 12:00
Pipe Band Championships from 10:45 at Vale of Leithen Football Park
Summer Vintage Fair, Innerleithen Parish Church, 11:00 - 15:00
Shostakovich weekend with the Brodsky Quartet at the Eastgate Theatre
VENUE CHANGE: School’s Out celebration is now at the Drill Hall 14:00 - 16:00
Come and Sing Faure Requiem at Skirling Church at 15:00
Sunday 8 June
Annual Callants Street Clean on Sunday 8 June, 09:30
Day-long Polish/Scottish celebration at Barony Castle on Sunday 8 June from 11:00 - 19:00.
Broughton Choral Society summer concert of Gounod, Bartok and Donizetti at the village hall. Ticket (£20) includes prosecco and a buffet supper.
THIS WEEK - see our poster board for details
At the Eastgate Theatre this week: Tim Stead film (Tuesday), Make it to Munich film (Wednesday), Havisham theatre production (Friday) and Free Again tribute band (Saturday).
Tuesday 10 - Three Bridges Races
Wednesday 11 - Peebles Common Good Sub-Committee, 17:00, Burgh Hall
Thursday 12 - Peebles Community Council, 19:00, Burgh Hall
Thursday 12 - Borders Book Festival opens
Friday 13 - FNY Collective - The Hunt at Traquair (until Sunday 15)
Friday 13 - Peebles HS Model UN conference (until Saturday 14)
COMMUNITY NOTICEBOARD
The latest round of Destination Tweed grants closes for applications this coming Wednesday.
If you are interested in Gaelic-medium education for your children, there is an information day happening on Saturday 14 June at Peebles Scout Hall from 10:00 - 12:00. Find out about the local Gaelic playgroup and meet other families with an interest in the language.
On Tuesday 24 June, there’s a further opportunity to celebrate Shakepeare at Traquair as they mark 30 years of productions with a fundraiser for the Eastgate Theatre. Details on our poster board for June.
Tweeddale Youth Action have launched a crowdfunder to deal with their challenging financial situation. Support for a 10km sponsored walk exceeded the initial £1,000 appeal in the first day with the target now raised to £5,000.
BOOKING NOW
A Summer Day in Peebles is a biking, arts and crafts event for girls in P5 and up, organised by MissAdventures. It is happening on 30 August and tickets are just £5.
Wee Touro is a new addition to the Tour of the Borders weekend. On Saturday 6 September this is a 30km route to Walkerburn and back, mostly on the Tweed Valley Railway Path. Tickets are free and under 16s can ride with a parent or guardian.
Peebles-based author, Kerri Andrews, is introducing her latest book, Pathfinding, at the Borders Book Festival next weekend. Details here on this and all the BBF events.
AROUND AND ABOUT
A planning application has been lodged for a new camping site at St Mary’s Loch. Wemyss & March Estate have lodged an application to create space for four campervans and 20 car parking spaces at the site, south of Gillwood Cottage at Cappercleuch. Paul Kelly, Midlothian View
West Linton and Carlops Community Council have launched a survey on affordable housing in the villages. You can also complete the survey if you are looking to move back to the area or have had to leave due to housing issues.
Stitched with Pride is a free exhibition running at the Great Tapestry of Scotland this month. Led and created by young LGBTQ+ people living in the Borders sharing their experiences of what life is like for them in Scotland today. The exhibition launches on Wednesday 11 June from 15:00 - 17:00 and will feature artwork and personal items.
JOB VACANCIES
New roles at Haylodge Health Centre, Rosetta Stores, farm positions and labourer vacancy.
BENCH OF THE WEEK
The area around this bench will be busy on Tuesday evening as the Three Bridges Races take place for primary pupils. The bench in front of the wishing well has a plaque in memory of Isabella Cowan (1907-1981) and Alexander Cowan (1908-1984). “A Dear Mum and Dad - Who So Loved Peebles”
NEWS ROUND-UP
Families attending Walkerburn Nursery have won their battle to stay open in their current form this coming year - a real success story for community effort with councillor backing. BBC South of Scotland.
SBC has published a Scottish Borders Local Child Poverty Action Plan report.
Scottish Borders Design Awards for 2025 launched this week. The award categories are:
Building / Place of the Year
Small Project Award
Large Project Award
Regeneration and Conservation Award
Residential Project Award
Placemaking Award
Projects must have been completed between September 2021 and June 2025 and the deadline for applications is Sunday 31 August 2025.
Thanks for reading!
The Peeblean