Books - the old-fashioned sort

Where are we? 'Beyond the Garden Gate' and looking ahead to lots of exciting book-based entertainment in the months ahead. There is Russian story telling in July, at Moffat's Old Well Theatre, a Moffalump adventure at The Moffat Gallery, where a pirate ship is moored, in early September for literacy weekend, and our international conference 'Russia: Lessons and Legacy' in mid-September. Experts are looking back through the annals as we speak, to discover why the young (21 years of age) Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia - later to preside, as Tsar Nicholas I, over the golden age of Russian literature -  came to Moffat in 1817. Did he stay at the King's Arms (now known as The Annandale Arms) or at the Black Bull Inn? Was he given the window pane inscribed with a couplet by Robert Burns, and is that pane of glass now in St Petersburg? All these mysteries and more will be explored and resolved in the weeks to come - watch this space.