Robin Forrest was born at the village of Preston outside Duns in 1939 where his family farmed at Preston Farm. The farm is now in the hands of the fourth generation of 'Forrests'. Robin has given the History Society several stories of the changing face of farming during his lifetime. Here he talks about his memories of the snow storms of 1947 and 1963 and his father using a horse drawn sledge.

In 1948 in the two weeks preceding 12th. August four inches of rain had fallen each week saturating the soil, overflowing the streams and filling the rivers causing them to rise in minor spate. On the 12th. four to six inches fell and the streams and rivers rose to unprecedented heights causing flooding beyond memory. The flood water rose to eight feet high around the houses. Immense damage was done to the mill building and machinery as the flood swept through, twisting heavy machinery and leaving a devastation of silt and debris everywhere. In this recording Isabel Allan remembers her family coping with the event.