That the Parliament recognises the work of the Borders writer and historian Walter Elliot who, in a long life of self-taught study, has heaped many stones on Scotland’s cairn; believes that his unparalleled knowledge of the hills and valleys of Ettrick and Yarrow, reflected in his magisterial, two-volume history of Selkirkshire will stand for generations; recognises that in the year of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Sir Walter Scott, Walter has gifted to Abbotsford the last few volumes of his New Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, which follows on from Scott in recording the very best of the Border ballads and poems composed between 1805 and 2005; commends Walter’s archaeological work, which has helped to uncover the fascinating history of the Romans in the Borders, reflected in Walter’s role as one of the founders of the Trimontium Trust; notes that a splendid new museum to house all that has been discovered will open this year in Melrose, and recognises that, generous with his vast archive of research, Walter Elliot has helped dozens of authors and historians, and is a Borderer to his bones, as well as a man of whom all Scotland can be proud.