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It is often said that there are no longer characters in life and, while this is clearly not true, there is certainly one less with the death of Robbie Tullie. What a man. ‘Live this day as it were the last’ was his motto and he always tried to do just that. He had a deep knowledge of nature and the countryside and this helped him to excel at all country sports. While he got great enjoyment from shooting and fishing, hunting was undoubtedly his favourite past time. For ten years he was Joint Master and Field Master of the Berwickshire Foxhounds and he was in no small way responsible for the great sport enjoyed by the Hunt at this time. He controlled the ‘Field’ while seldom having to raise his voice and when hounds ran he took a bit of following. On days when sport was not so good, he was often surrounded by young ladies who he would entertain with stories and reminiscences.
Being a farmer and a shooting man himself made it especially easy for him to liaise with all the people over whose land the hunt rode and to whom the hunt owed so much. He had a wonderful way with horses and rode successfully in point-to-points and on the racecourse under NH rules. In partnership with his wife Liz and her brother, Willie Thyne, he owned Quick Reply, who, trained by Harry Bell, won the Scottish National at Ayr and the Kim Muir at the Cheltenham Festival. First and foremost, however, he was an able and successful farmer, particularly with sheep.
Robbie was born in 1932 at Bowanhill, in the hill country above Hawick, and there he developed his love of sheep and horses. He started hunting at a young age with the Ewes Valley and then with the Liddesdale. In 1961 he married Liz Thyne and they set up home at Millheugh where they hunted with the Jedforest and the Duke of Buccleuch’s. In 1971 they moved to West Blanerne in the Berwickshire county and Robbie was able to say that he had hunted regularly all the way from Mosspaul to Berwick-upon-Tweed. Robbie and Liz had three children, Mark, David and Vanessa, all were born when they were at Millheugh. Sadly, however, the marriage broke up and in 1979 Robbie married Ailie Nisbet. They spent eight years farming in South Africa and on returning to this country they eventually settled at Whitemire. There Ailie trained racehorses with great success while Robbie kept the place spick and span.
Robbie was a great raconteur and he was immensely popular in all company and in all walks of life. He will be missed by a great many people, but especially by his wife Ailie, his three children and his seven grandchildren.
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