Glamour beneath the shadow of the Lammermuirs

near Duns, for the Berwickshire Hunt Ball, organised by Lady Palmer.

Always one of Scotland's most glamorous occasions, it was never more so

than when it was held at Marchmont in those long ago days when the

McEwen family were in residence.

Although I was just a young slip of a thing, I vividly remember the

excitement of seeing Princess Margaret for the first time, not to

mention Terence Stamp, the actor with those piercing blue eyes. We all

thought the McEwen brothers terribly good-looking then, very exciting

and modern; a glimpse of sophisticated sixties' London nightlife on the

very edge of the Lammermuir Hills.

Marchmont House was built in the mid-eighteenth century by John and

Robert Adam from designs drawn up by William, their father. The McEwen

family, of course, derived their fortune from beer, but Sir John McEwen,

first baronet of Marchmont, reaped the benefits and married a niece of

the 13th Lord Lovat.

Sir John sat as Conservative Member of Parliament for Berwick and

Haddington for 14 years, and was, for a time, Parliamentary

Under-Secretary of State for Scotland. For a year he was even Chairman

of the House of Commons 1922 Committee.

That was in an age when people stood for Parliament out of conviction,

having made money. Nowadays, according to Camperdown, ''virtually

everybody in politics is on the make''.

Of Sir John's six sons, two -- Rory and Alex -- became rather famous

as folk singers back in the 1950s. Rory was also rather artistically

gifted and painted flowers; Alex went on to become a newsagent

executive, working for their near neighbour, John Menzies.

Their older brother, Sir Robin, once stood against Sir David Steel

when he contested Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peeblesshire for the Liberals,

and with John Sebastian, the youngest brother, did some of the

black-and-white illustrations for Ring of Bright Water -- that wonderful

book about otters in the West Highlands, written by their friend Mr

Gavin Maxwell.

Christian, Sir John's only daughter, married the second Lord Hesketh

and, last heard of, was collaborating with that nice former editor chap,

Mr Magnus Linklater, on a book about either Charles I or II, one forgets

which.

Nowadays Marchmont House has been taken over by the Sue Ryder

Foundation and is a residential home complete with matron and nursing

staff. I was wondering what on earth they would do with the patients on

the night of the ball, but I'm assured all of them will be cosily tucked

up in their beds and we will only have access to part of the house, the

main living room and that incredibly long passage which leads to the

great ballroom where the dancing will take place.

* YET another centenary celebration, this time the bicentenary of the

building of James Craig's New Town of Edinburgh. Next weekend, in

Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms in George Street, which date, I believe, from

1787, a Burns' Supper and Rout is to take place in the presence of the

Rt Hon Norman and Anne Irons, the city's Lord and Lady Provost.

The Master of Ceremonies will be Lord Cameron of Lochbroom, scion of a

distinguished Scottish legal dynasty, and prior to a traditional toast

to the Bard being delivered by the Rev Andrew McLellan, the haggis will

be piped in by Hugh Grey Cheape.

Hugh is that talented young chap who works for the Royal Museum of

Scotland and writes fascinatingly authoritative books on tartan, even if

he does insist on wearing his Scottish Gas kilt on such occasions.

Robert Burns, indeed, read many of his own poems in these very rooms

and should he be looking on he might be a trifle puzzled to see Iain

Brown of the National Library of Scotland declaiming him on such an

occasion.

Guests are invited to wear eighteenth-century costumes and there will

be demonstrations of Scottish dancing from the Edinburgh Early Dancers.

Camperdown suspects this is all part and parcel of Edinburgh's

campaign to get back at Glasgow for being appointed City of Architecture

and Design 1999.

* A DIARY date for February 2 -- Moira Shearer, who all those years

ago thrilled me into taking ballet lessons when I saw her dancing in The

Red Shoes, that film produced by Michael Powell, is to unveil a

stained-glass window for the Abbot House in Dunfermline.

I have to admit I had forgotten she was born in Dunfermline, and it

should prove a fascinating homecoming for her, especially when she sees

what the Dunfermline Heritage Trust, under the chairmanship of Margaret

Deans, has achieved.

It seems ages since I have seen Moira, or Lady Kennedy as one should

call her now since her husband, Ludovic Kennedy, the writer, was

knighted last year. They had the most wonderfully pretty house over the

Dean Bridge in Edinburgh, but I always felt they left for London in a

bit of a huff when he was not only turned down for membership of the New

Club and Muirfield, but failed to be elected rector of Edinburgh

University.