Dad's prize walking sticks

These sticks were made by my dad. In the times before internet and before working people had access to cars, the shepherds who lived in the remote border valleys would make their sticks during the long dark winter nights. The craft had almost died out when dad went to learn at an evening class.

He soon discovered a new skill, and began to win prizes in the shows all over the south of Scotland and Northumberland. Eventually he judged the sticks of others in the shows. From what I remember, the criteria for judging sticks was complex but I know it involved the balance and weight of the stick as well as the straightness and quality of the workmanship on the horn.

The sticks are made of hazel which he preferred as it was straight and strong - though he spent hours working on them to get them perfect. The horn is of course, sheep. He would go out around the area in search of suitable hazel, and shepherd friends would supply horns in return for a stick.

Some sticks were left plain and others carved. His preferred carvings were adders (our only poisonous snake and local to the area), the Border collie, (the shepherds' dog), pheasant heads and the Scottish thistle. He made many as gifts and also got commissions. He was asked by the local town to make a pair as a wedding gift to Prince Charles and Princess Diana, an 'honour' he refused on the grounds that his workmanship would not be appreciated.

I keep his sticks in the hall, where I can see them all the time, and I feel honoured to have them to remember him by.