Rugby’s coming home

Chris Paterson with some of the items on display at the exhibition Credit: ITV Border

An exhibition celebrating the career of Bill McLaren, ‘The Voice of Rugby’, has been launched by Scottish Rugby ambassador Chris Paterson MBE at Bowhill House near Selkirk.

The exhibition has been unveiled to mark the 200th anniversary of the Carterhaugh Ba’ Game, a historic hand ball match of epic proportions organised in Selkirk by the 4th Duke of Buccleuch, Sir Walter Scott and James Hogg in December 1815.

It has been suggested that the famous Carterhaugh match could be the forebear of rugby, with one historical account of the game suggesting that the ball was at one point picked up and slung between teammates, eight years before rugby is said to have originated at Rugby School.

To mark the anniversary of the historic match, and the potential dawn of rugby as we know it today, a series of celebratory events are being arranged by Bowhill and the Bill McLaren Foundation, including the exhibition which will run until the end of the year.

There will also be a re-enactment of the original game involving the local community in the winter.

Speaking at the exhibition launch, Chris Paterson MBE said:

Linda Lawson, Bill’s daughter and Director of the Bill McLaren Foundation, said:

Chris Paterson with some of the items on display at the exhibition Credit: ITV Border

Helen Currie, House and Events Manager at Bowhill, said:

The exhibition is open to members of the public at the theatre foyer at Bowhill from 26 August until the end of September.

It will be open every day from 10- 4pm except for Tuesdays.Additional information about the exhibition can be found at the Bowhill website.