A NEW fishing museum is opening in the Borders next month.
The River Tweed Salmon Fishing Museum, set to be housed in Kelso Town Hall, will celebrate more than 200 years of rod and line salmon fishing.
Museum trustee Bill Quarry said: “This museum is a celebration of a sport whose techniques were developed right here in the Borders and which are now used and enjoyed all over the world.”
The museum is being created by a team of volunteer salmon fishing experts and enthusiasts, with the help of a £35,700 grant from the Fallago Environment Fund.
More than 2,000 objects will be exhibited, showcasing the history of salmon fishing on the Tweed.
Objects will include maps, models, books, illustrations, film and photographs, rods, reels, fishing flies and a replica 19th-century fishing bothy, complete with tweed-clad boatman.
The museum will also have on display a carving of a 69¾lb salmon caught on the Tweed by the Earl Home in about 1735. It is said to be the sport’s largest British salmon.
The museum has taken three years and more than £70,000 to create, with £35,700 of funding coming from the Fallago Environment Fund, which shares the benefits of the Fallago Rig Wind Farm in the Lammermuir Hills with projects across the Borders.
The museum also received a £10,000 grant from the Scottish Borders Council Communities Fund, as well as a number of private donations.
Mr Quarry said: “As well as highlighting the fascinating history of rod and line salmon fishing, we hope that the museum will also help to raise awareness and appreciation of the river, its heritage and fragility and of the need for all of us to help to play our part in its conservation.”
Fallago Environment Fund chairman Gareth Baird added: “The River Tweed is famous for its salmon fishing but many people are unaware of just how important the Borders is in the sport’s history.
“The Fallago Environment Fund is delighted that we can help to tell this important story through the creation of a museum that will inform, inspire and provide another great reason for people to visit the area.”
The River Tweed Salmon Fishing Museum opens on Friday, September 4.
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