Elliot Fine Fabrics is housed in part of Forest Mill, and Walkmill, which forms part of the property, is the oldest mill in Selkirk, having started production as long ago as 1718.

Elliot Fine Fabrics was started by Andy Elliot in 1973 and the firm is run by Andy, now aged 82, and his son, Robin.

But with tough times in the textiles trade and Andy's desire to retire, the mill is being wound down with a view to selling the property.

However, the company that is Elliot Fine Fabrics will continue, just in a different vein, with the mill production work being outsourced.

"We do a lot of specialist work," Andy explained to The Wee Paper this week. "We have worked with the likes of the Globe Theatre, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Kensington Palace and Glamis Castle, and will still be working with a number of customers."

Andy says he would love to see a textiles heritage centre housed in the mill, but has warned that if an offer is made to purchase the mill for another purpose it will have to be considered very seriously.

That means the clock is ticking for those keen on the heritage centre idea.

One of those is Dr Lindsay Neil, chairman of the town's Regeneration Group and vice-chairman of the local community council.

"We want to see how much public interest there is out there for this," he told us.

"This is one of the very few remaining mills in Selkirk – one that does the whole process from start to finish.

"All the machinery is still there and working. This is too good an opportunity to miss. We need to do something about it.

"But if we are to have any real chance of getting this up and running, it will have to be quick."

Dr Neil added: "It would be a sad, sad thing if an effort were not made to preserve this almost unique remnant of the once-thriving Borders textile industry."

The plan is to see if a trust can be set up, with volunteers to help run the centre and to seek funding from various sources to purchase the mill for the nation – which would act as a repository for Borders textile manufacturing expertise, the preservation of that expertise for its educational value. The centre's visitable potential as a tourist attraction, and whether it could be self-sustaining marketing the products it already makes, would also be looked into.

According to Dr Neil, the community council and the Regeneration group have both approved the idea, but recognise that they have neither funds nor expertise necessary to take such a project forward.