THE Membership Flame – an NFU Scotland award to recognise outstanding efforts in recruitment and retention of members – has gone this year to the Borders West team of Richard Forsyth, Rory Murray, Laura Bell and Joyce Grigor, based at Newton St Boswells. 
Looking after 470 members and six different branches – Selkirk, Hawick and Jedburgh, Kelso and St Boswells, Peebles, Newcastleton and West Berwick – the Borders West group is the largest in the union.
In 2016, the office increased its membership and hit its subscription income target for the year. It has also taken the innovative step of hiring Joyce Grigor to assist the group secretaries one day a week with membership enquiries and subscriptions. 
Chairman of the Hawick and Jedburgh branch, Gavin Millar of Timpendean Farm, said: “It gives me great delight to congratulate the team at Borders west on receiving this award. I find that they provide a first-class service to the farming community.”