Borders Saddler Celebrates 25 Year Tradition
Borders Saddler Celebrates 25 Year Tradition
A SADDLER is set to go down in history as he celebrates 25 years of keeping an ancient Scottish tradition alive.
Rodger Hart, a traditional saddler from the Borders, has been making the small leather balls used in the centuries-old Hand Ba’ game in Jedburgh
He is believed to be the only saddler in the area who can make the moss-filled balls using time-old traditional methods.
Mr Hart, 39, who works as a saddler for vet pharmacy and animal health specialists Borthwick Burn, hand-sews around 10 special balls which are used in the centuries-old custom.
The father-of-two said he was proud to have helped keep the tradition alive.
He said: “I’ve been making them since I was about 15 years old. A saddler in Denholm used to make them and he taught me.
“They have to be made to last as they go through a lot so I hand-stitch them all using ordinary thread.
“I have to make at least 10 at a time as quite a few are kept as souvenirs along the way.”
The Hand Ba' game was believed to have originally been played with the heads of English raiders but players now use a less messy leather ball.
A series of 10 to 15 games, open to all, is played over the course of a day at the start of March.
The Uppies, who live on one side of the town score by throwing the ball over Jedburgh Castle wall, the Downies by getting the ball into Skiprunning Burn.
Mr Hart, whose employers have donated the materials to make the crucial spheres said he would pass on the tricks of the trade to another sadller when the time was right.
He said: “I hope to be making them for a long time to come yet but the time will come when someone else will have to take over.
“I’m more than happy to show someone what to- but hopefully not for good few years yet.”
Mr Hart started as a trainee saddler more than 20 years ago at McNab Saddlers in Melrose before becoming self-employed.
He started work as a saddler for Borders-based Borthwick Burn last year who appointed him in response to a shortage of skilled saddlers in the area.
The firm is part of the Buccleuch Group; a Scottish-based company with interests in commercial and rural property, food and animal health and nutrition.
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