Letters to the Editor
YOU tell us what's bothering you, who you're praising or what you want to change.
MY PATERNAL great-grandmother, Elizabeth Reid, was born at Barlauchlan Croft on December 24, 1861.
The 1881 census shows her as a domestic servant to Dr Robert Selby at Fairview Cottage, Mochrum, but we know that soon afterwards she came to South Wales as a domestic servant at a house called The Florence. She married the gardener, Henry George Jones, on September 1, 1884, raised 11 children and never returned to Scotland.
Sadly she passed away long before my birth and is buried in Tintern.
I am very proud of my Scottish heritage and every year my husband and I return to Dumfries and Galloway to contnue our research . We are so grateful for all of the help and support we have received over the years from the Douglas family at Barlauchlan Farm, Mrs Paton at Auchleand and Andrew and Hilary McConchie at the Mains of Penninghame.
John Pickin, of Stranraer Museum, suggested that a letter to the Galloway Gazette might elicit further information and so I purchased last week's edition in Port William.
Elizabeth's father, Peter Reid, died at Queen Street, Newton Stewart on October 8, 1909 and we have traced his line back to Alexander Reid, born January 3, 1740, at Torhouse Muir.
Peter Reid's wife Jessie was the daughter of David and Helen Ferguson, of the Wood of Auchleand.
We are fascinated to know the reason for my great-grandmother's migration south. We have visited Mochrum several times and located the grave of Dr Selby but we can find no record of a Fairview Cottage. Please could anyone offer any clues?
Of course we would very much like to locate living descendants of the family and we are aware that Elizabeth's brother , Ivie Reid, born June 15, 1858, at Kirkcowan, passed away at Edgefield Road, Provan, Glasgow on February 24, 1944. He had three sons - Alexander Reid was born in Glasserton 1895 and Peter Reid in Glasserton in 1897. The third , another Ivie Reid, was born near Mochrum on June 14, 1901 and died in Ayr on March 18, 1962.
Ivie is obviously a prominent family name but to us in South Wales it is an unusual name. Hopefully it has been carried on through the generations.
Please does anyone know of an Ivie Reid who may be from our line?
I thank you all for your time in reading what is really a list of dates but if anyone can help I would be so pleased if you could either email me at sue.bezani@btopenworld.com or write to me at the address at the end of this letter.
Sue Bezani
6 Hereford Road
Monmouth
South Wales
NP25 3PB
ON BEHALF of Creetown Gala committee I would like to say what a tremendous week we had.
The support from the community and visitors was very encouraging. Makes all the hard work worthwhile. We hope everyone enjoyed the gala.
There is a lot of work involved but we had a lot of help on Gala Day to help with setting up, we are very greatfull to these people who gave up their time. In the present economic climate people still gave genorously for out stalls.
There is a good community spirit in the village of Creetown.
Name and address supplied
IN RESPONSE to Anne Snell's rather snobby letter last week, may I refer her to the interesting topic of accents and dialect?
Most people are well aware that the pronunciation of various words entirely depends upon the origin of the speaker - their home setting, their place of birth, their social class etc.
Recent studies have shown that accents outside of London are hugely varied and that 'proper' English exists in very limited numbers - mainly in upper class circles in England.
The Scots language is a recognised form of speech and brings with it variations in pronunciation.
People the world over are incredibly proud of their accents and the identity they give them so perhaps a bit less preaching of the 'correct' way to speak would leave us with time to appreciate the many types of languages which keep the UK interesting.
Name and address supplied
I WAS disappointed to read the ltter in your paper of August 20 regarding RSPB's alleged inaction on protecting birds.
From time to time we receive complaints from the public about inappropriate muir and scrub burning, whereupon we immediately inform SGRPID, the relevant authority who have powers to deal with such breaches of the law and good agricultural practice.
We also liaise closely with SNH on these matters and only recently their Area Manager wrote to D&G newspapers about this subject.
Regarding windfarm applications, I can assure reader that we are heavily involved in a very high number of proposals across the region, though we are not necessarily consulted on individual turbine applications.
We were certainly unaware of red kites breeding in a wood in Mochrum and I only wish your anonymous correspondent had let us know. Whilst the red kite population is expanding, with 51 breeding pairs this year, we are not aware of any in Wigtownshire.
We would certainly strive to protect any woodland that had actively breeding kites, and so too in our experience would the owners of such woods.
Of course, the law also protects breeding birds in this way.
Chris Rollie
RSPB Scotland Area Manager
Dumfries & Galloway
l Letters continue on Page 12
write to: Letters, Galloway Gazette, Victoria Street, Newton Stewart, DG8 6NL. Email: editorial@gallowaygazette.com All letters must include the sender's name and address
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Weather for Newton Stewart
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -0 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 0 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: South
