The Return from Flodden

I was lucky enough to be able to help out with Charlie's class to see one of the early legs of the reenactment of the return of the survivors from the Battle of Flodden in 1513.
It was a hugely important battle, the last in which a British king was killed in battle, as well as being the bloodiest fought on English soil, but receives so little official recognition that the information centre on the site of the battle is an old red telephone kiosk - purchased for £1 (£5million was given by the Scottish government to build a visitor centre at the site of the Battle of Bannockburn).

The new flag was brought to Kelso from the Branxton Memorial and then left to tour the Borders towns of Jedburgh, Hawick, Galashiels, Melrose, Lauder and Duns ending at Coldstream on 8th September, the day before the 500th anniversary. It was a beautiful ceremony and the enthusiasm of the children and their teachers was wonderful: I was worried that the schools, even here, are so bogged down by the national curriculum that we are in danger of forgetting our own local history. I needn't have been.

The Flodden flag has particular importance in Borders' history. Of the 80 men sent from Selkirk to fight for James IV, only one, Fletcher, returned. He was so overcome with grief, all he could do was to wave the flag about his head to tell the town all others had fallen, before he collapsed from exhaustion. The tradition of dipping the standard continues at the Common Ridings every year.