It was set up by Martin and Ruth Johnston, of Rutherford, after their 20-year-old son, Toby, died in a car crash 17 years ago. Like a number of other bereaved parents, they determined to do something positive in his memory.
The evening was held in the lovely rooms of Sunderland Hall, half-way between Selkirk and Gala.
Toby's Fund is a charity which benefits young people in the Borders, to help them to undertake "practical Christianity" either at home or overseas. The majority of its recipients have used their grants from it to help them undertake work in the Third World, in orphanages and on water projects in places like Cambodia and Bali, Sri Lanka and Ghana. Such work seems an almost obligatory rite of passage for many youngsters nowadays – and the way in which they organise themselves, raise the money for their fares, and when there get down to sheer hard physical work always impresses me.
However, Toby's Fund doesn't just help youngsters who seek to serve in the less fortunate parts of the world. One of the things it has been doing, locally, is to support the Baptist Church in Selkirk in its initiative in the Impact club at Connections for young people in the town.
One attendee was quoted: "When I just go out with my friends, I come back in a bad mood. But when I come back from Impact, I'm always cheerful." It's the difference, I suppose, between hanging around doing nothing and the effect of spending time doing something positive, even if it's no more than a game of pool.
Is it my imagination, or are there fewer youngsters hanging around the Selkirk streets these days? Have Rowlands and Impact had their desired effect? There is certainly no cause for teenage Souters to complain that there are no facilities for them. By the way, I saw a statistic published in a national daily recently that says something about how young Borderers spend their time. We have the lowest figures for childhood obesity in Scotland.
If the younger generation in Selkirk now have plenty of places to go, the older generation is certainly finding their choice limited with the closure of the Cross Keys and the Queen's Head. But why is it that they failed when Angus O'Malley's, in a markedly-less favourable position, thrives? It's significant that the closures were both owned by a large chain, Punch, which is notorious for greedy rents and lack of interest in the communities where it snaps up licensed properties.
Meantime, I'm told that the bowling clubs, rugby club and Tory club are taking up the slack from the closures.
For the Sunderland Hall event, I offered to do a couple of trays of fish pates on croutons. The knight caught his first trout of 2008 last Friday, so that took care of the trout pate, which I partnered with one made of kippers.

KIPPER PATE

2 pairs filleted kippers, ¼ pint soured cream, 1 packet (200g) Philadelphia cream cheese, 2oz butter, juice of 2 limes, croutons, chives.

Put the kippers in a dish and pour boiling water over them. Allow them to stand for about 10 minutes and then skin the fish and put the flesh, broken up, in a bowl with the soured cream. Whizz them with your blender and then add all the other ingredients. If you want to use the pate for canapés, serve them on one-inch squares of croutons that you have made by frying the squares in olive oil. You can make both the pate and the croutons well ahead and freeze them separately, and you will also find that the croutons, unlike other bases, will not go soggy. Garnish with chopped chives.