Creetown stalwart Eric Houston tells his story in Galloway People
17.03.2023 - 11:45
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
He’s a Creetown stalwart who’s planted and harvested thousands of trees with the Forestry Commission.And Eric Houston is old enough – he admits that himself – to see great logs cut from trees he grew from seed half a century ago being shipped along the A75.
These days Galloway’s vast forests, almost entirely man-made, have become Scotland’s biggest source of supply for its wood products industries.
It’s a matter of some pride to Eric that he’s a dyed-in-the-wool forester.
And sitting in his Creetown home we have barely begun his story when his wife Betty comes through from the kitchen.
She sets down a steaming mug of tea and an ashet of cakes, which I offer to Eric.
“No thanks mate, they are all for you,” he smiles.
They treat their guests well in the Houston household.Eric tells me he is 72 and 12 years retired, his pension hard earned after a tough 45-years in the woods.And it seems he was cut out for life as a forester right from the start.
“From the womb to the tomb,” he smiles, describing the title of the book about his forestry years he has yet to write.“Aye, I was even born in the middle of a forest – outside of Laurieston on the Gatehouse road,” he laughs.
“Summerhill was a gamekeeper’s cottage and was owned by the Forestry Commission. My step-dad Tam Ferguson was a shepherd and my mum Ina Houston was a nurse at Laurieston Hall, which was a TB hospital in the 1950s.
“TB was still quite common back in those days and I have never been down to Laurieston Hall, even as a child.
“I supposed I would not be allowed to mix with the folk that were ill.”
Eric was the middle child of three and had sisters Elaine and Elizabeth for company, with the forest their playground.
“I loved going into the woods with this