Hello, let me Introduce myself.
I am Suzane and I am very pleased to meet you. I curated this collection with love in remembrance of love lost, grief changes you.
I was struck with the memory of the railways in the landscapes, old bridges, magnificent viaducts, walks along rail beds and the wonderful Whitrope Heritage Centre https://wrha.org.uk/the-association/whitrope-heritage-centre/ .Riccarton Junction is a very special place for me as is Wills Bothy. Wills Bothy is cared for by the Mountain Bothies Association https://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/ ,whose volunteers protect and maintain remote shelters across Britain, the mistreatment of that beautiful monument saddens me enormously.
The closure of the railways ended not only the movement of people and goods, but access to Carlisle and Edinburgh, and from there, anywhere. It also made the Scottish Borders a quieter place at a time when car ownership was a luxury, forcing many people to move away as many of the families from Riccarton did, emigrating for a better life.
I was inspired to write towards the end of 2025 and there is now a collection of poetry to be published and a novel on the way. “The poem below, ‘Riccarton’, is from the Nebula series in my forthcoming collection, Travelling.”
Riccarton
There is a curve and a sweep to the path we are on,
And a view down the valley to Newcastleton,
We stand at a carriage faded with time,
And listen for whistles and steam down the line.
There’s an echo of movement as we walk in step,
The world we are leaving to a place we are met,
By the remnants of community in platform and scrub,
We hunt for the station and find nature instead.
Suzane Donaldson, (2026)
