March is Women’s History Month where a light is shone on the contribution made by women in history and contemporary society. In honour of this I wanted to do a piece to highlight women who have made or do make a difference to my town of Innerleithen, and the surrounding Tweed Valley area. It’s struck me down the years that women have been missed out when it comes to lasting memorials in Innerleithen. To demonstrate the point, a list of the men commemorated by street names, plaques, statues etc in the area is lengthy indeed. The list of women with similar permanent memorials is very short. Now, before I get any letters, all of these men are worthy of their memorials and indeed many of them have featured on this blog and will do so again. It does seem however that the balance needs a wee bit of redressing! So here is a blog with a handful of those women who have made their mark in the area in positive ways - I’d love to hear of more, please get in touch if there’s someone you feel I’ve missed. This blog is, as ever, my own personal view and designed as a conversation starter - not a definitive list!

Miss Robertson

One woman who does have a permanent memorial to her is Mary Elizabeth Robertson, or Miss Robertson as she was widely known. Her memorial, which can be found in the foyer of the Innerleithen Memorial Hall, refers to her as such and confirms her home was Roxanstones which is now better known as Tighnuilt, the large house sitting above the A72 just before Caerlee Corner. Miss Robertson was Secretary of the Innerleithen War Pensions Committee during World War One. She was made an MBE by King George V in his First World War honours in 1919. She served as a Justice of the Peace (J.P.) in the town and must have provided a memorable service to the families of the 80 Innerleithen men killed in the Great War, as well as the wider community.

Provost Jane Buchan

Before the 1970’s Local Government re-organisation Burghs like Innerleithen were run by a Town Council. This group were powerful and respected within the Community and were headed up by a Provost, supported by a Baillie and Councillors. Innerleithen has had several provosts, all now deceased, but only one woman ever held the role - the first and last female Provost of Innerleithen, Jane W. Buchan. Provost Buchan ran the Council between 1955 and 1958, before handing over to Provost Blyth, who held the position until it was abolished. One of the duties of the Provost was to act as President of St Ronan’s Border Games so Provost Buchan installed several Duxes and Standard Bearers during the town’s annual Border festival week. As an aside, the role of President of The Games has, to date, only been filled by one other lady since - Baillie Pamela Miller Thomas of The Ley stood in for The Provost in the early 1970’s. As another aside, it was Pamela Miller Thomas’ father who knew Al Capone, leading to the dynamite anecdote that the famous gangsters car is buried in the grounds of the Ley as previously reported on my Leithen Water blog! Getting vaguely back to the plot, Provost Buchan is remembered in the town via Buchan Place, the road which runs towards Innerleithen Health Centre. Other former Provosts are similarly remembered - Ballantyne, Mathieson and Walker have streets and Blyth has a square!

Mollie McIntosh MBE

Mollie was Mrs Walkerburn. She lived in the village her whole life, and dedicated herself to her community. She worked in the Mill and following its devastating closure in 1988 sat on the steering group to support those who had lost their jobs. She undertook scores of volunteering roles in her long life, including during World War Two, and the list of Committees she served on would fill this page. Suffice to say Tweeddale District Council, Walkerburn Community Council and Walkerburn Festival was the tip of the iceberg. One of her most touching contributions to Walkerburn life was the introduction of the Festival Essay competition, encouraging youngsters to write about the history and beauty of their home. She was awarded the MBE in 1990 and was also Tweeddale Citizen of the Year. A lifelong supporter of the Scottish Conservative Party, she never allowed partisan feelings to get in the way of helping anyone who asked and was admired for her energy and pawky sense of humour. A true ‘Burn legend, Mollie died in March 2019, a few months short of her 100th birthday.

Lady Angela Buchan-Hepburn

Lady Angela Buchan Hepburn was for decades owner of Kailzie Gardens, just outside Peebles. Under her careful stewardship the Gardens were transformed back to their former glories with regular trips to the nurseries of the Clyde Valley, the car returning heaving with seeds and plants to regenerate the formal and woodland gardens of this tranquil Peeblesshire estate. Lady Buchan Hepburn was keen to grow Kailzie as a tourist attraction, and worked hard to upgrade facilities, including installing the popular fishing pond and hosting the Osprey viewing facility on the return of the magnificent raptors to the Tweed Valley some twenty years ago. Kailzie became established on the tourist scene, complementing the work done by neighbouring estates such as Peter and Flora Maxwell-Stuart (and later Catherine) at Traquair as well as the Gardens at Dawyck, donated to the nation by the Balfour family in the late 1970’s. My view is that every visitor to any part of the Tweed Valley East or West of Peebles has to be earned and the drive of people like Angela Buchan Hepburn have helped this enormously. Well liked in the community, Lady Buchan Hepburn was a regular at Traquair Parish Church and still keeps in touch with goings on in and around Peebles. Her daughter Lady Jane Percy was responsible for a garden project on an even grander scale, at Alnwick Castle, which has to be seen to be believed. Angela now resides in Jane’s home near Lauder in the Lammermuir Hills, but still regularly visits the Tweed Valley. Through a mutual friend I was fortunate to meet her recently and was struck by the passion and knowledge she has for this area - as well as her sharp wit!

Lady Buchan Hepburn and me recently in Peebles

Aneela McKenna

Aneela is a native of Glasgow and has that west coast wicked sense of humour that is famous the world over - you’ll hear her laugh before you see her. A champion of diversity and inclusion, she has used her love of Mountain Biking and her passion to encourage more women, disabled people and people of colour to get into cycling and the outdoors, both areas which have glaring issues with lack of diversity. Aneela and husband Andy moved to The Borders almost 20 year ago, originally living in Innerleithen before deciding it was too Metropolitan and hot footing it to Clovenfords. They have since founded Mor Diversity, helping organisations unlock the massive potential of diversity. They also run a Cycle Tour business and Aneela is a leading figure in the FNY Collective, a female lead group of Mountain Bikers in the Tweed Valley, inspiring future generations to get into the sport and have fun. I believe it’s due to people like Aneela and others in the FNY collective that it’s so common to see women out on the trails - it feels like we punch above our weight compared to other areas, which encourages me massively, raising two girls here. Aneela will not shy away from the fact that she has faced racism due to her Pakistani background, and this week an extremely powerful movie her, Andy and Andy McCadlish made was released on YouTube - it’s a strong recommendation to watch it. You can read my review of the film here, and I’ve linked to the film below.

And finally, my mum…

In an outrageous and frankly scandalous display of nepotism I am going to end with my mum, Jean Wilson. Well, I did say it was a personal list! Mum was Dux of the School in 1968, and has had a life long involvement in Games Week since, through various guises. Today she sets the Car Treasure Hunt, so no prizes for guessing where the tweed valley blogger got his love of obscure local facts from... She was made Principal Guest of St Ronan’s Games in 2005, becoming the first Innerleithen lady to do it since the wonderfully eccentric Miss Bertram over 30 years earlier. Thankfully we’ve had three more local women do this important role since - Catherine Maxwell Stuart, Gen Harrison and last year Aileen Borthwick. Mum has also for several decades now been Chair of the Civic Association, developing Innerleithen’s Christmas Lights into the wonder they are today, as well as overseeing a number of regular and ad hoc tasks. She also does wee things that probably go unnoticed such as repairing and painting benches at the top of Princes Street last year or getting a metal railing installed to hold up the wreaths on the town War Memorial. So as well as being my beloved mum and her various worthy achievements in the public eye, she represents the women out there who do wee jobs for their community which add to the richness of the area, but mostly go unheralded.

There you have it, my attempt to say thank you to just some of the women who have, and do make the Tweed Valley a better place to live. I have of course missed out loads of worthy people, I apologise for this, but hope the spirit of the blog overrides any omissions - get in touch if you want to suggest others, perhaps there will be a sequel. Sincere thanks and credit to KJB and Ted McKie for the Provost/Town Council info, the research they have done down the years is invaluable and hugely appreciated. Thanks also to the Walkerburn village newsletter who were able to confirm a few dates relating to Mollie.

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Women’s History Month