Category: Granton

Hope springs eternal at Walled Garden

PLAQUE UNVEILED TO COMMEMORATE FORMER CASTLE TENANT

On 28 March we had a gathering at the Walled Garden when John & Agnes Smith, the previous owners, unveiled Historic Environment Scotland’s plaque commemorating Sir Thomas Hope (writes LINDA GARCIA).

Thomas Hope was born around 1580. He studied with the intention of going into law and was admitted as an Advocate on 7 February 1605.

Hope gained prominence in 1606 when he defended John Forbes (c. 1568-1634), Minister of Alford, and others, at Linlithgow, on the charge of having committed treason when they declined to acknowledge the jurisdiction claimed by the Privy Council (of James VI of Scotland, James I of Great Britain and Ireland) over the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Although his clients were convicted, Hope had shown himself to be in the top rank at the Bar. He became a very successful lawyer and profits from his practices enabled him to build estates in Fife, Stirlingshire, Midlothian, East Lothian, and Berwickshire. In May 1626 he was appointed Lord Advocate and in 1628 he was granted a Nova Scotia baronetcy.

In 1634 he managed to secure the conviction of James Elphinstone, Lord Balmerino, for treason. These were difficult years of religious strife but Hope managed to avoid any participation in the preparation of the National Covenant, nor did he sign it. However, he did pronounce an opinion in favour of its legality.

Although his son, Sir Thomas Hope of Kerse, served with the army of the Covenanters, Hope neither declared the action of the Covenanters to be illegal, nor did he defend episcopacy, thus putting himself in a precarious position.

Indeed, when a Committee of the Estates (Scottish Parliament) required his official signature to Writs of Summons against opponents of the Covenant, he refused it because there was no authority for this from King Charles I.

In 1643 he opposed the proposal to summon the Estates without any warrant from Charles. Hope’s publications include the legal treatises Minor practicks and Major practicks, Carmen saeculare (1626) in honour of Charles, and a Latin translation of the Psalms and the Song of Solomon.

Sir Thomas Hope died on 1 October 1646. Of his four sons, three became Lords of Session and one of these became Lord Justice General. A fourth son was Cupbearer to Charles I.

Descendants of Sir Thomas Hope would become Earls of Hopetoun as a reward for supporting the Act of Union with England in 1707, and later on Marquises of Linlithgow.

LINDA GARCIA

Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden

Plaque unveiling at Granton Castle Walled Garden this afternoon

HISTORIC Environment Scotland (HES) will unveil a plaque to commemorate Sir Thomas Hope at Granton Castle Walled Garden this afternoon.

Sir Thomas Hope, one of Scotland’s leading legal minds in the 17th century, lived for a time in Granton Castle. The Baronet is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard.

To attend or for more information please contact grantongarden@gmail.com

Play together: Outdoor adventures at Granton Castle Walled Garden

Mums/carers and their under 5s are coming along to @grantoncastle to meet us and @trees_seas for more Play Together Outdoor Activities.

Lots of fun to be had – some of it’s messy but who cares !

BOOKING ESSENTIAL

#WomenSupportingWomen

Going Greener: Creative writing workshop at Granton Parish Church

GRANTON Goes Greener are very ecited to be hosting another CREATIVE WRITING workshop with an Edinburgh based climate activist and a writer-@KirstyLewin at @GrantonParish.

The workshop is part of #climatefestivalscot and sponsored by @KSBScotland

Gasometer lights up for Ukraine

Granton’s iconic gasholder was lit up in the colours of the Ukrainian national flag last night.

The Council in partnership with Edinburgh College hosted members of the local and Ukrainian communities to watch the switch on of the lights as a gesture of solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

This follows city leaders coming together at a summit held last week at the City Chambers to discuss Edinburgh’s ongoing response to the crisis in Ukraine.

Council Leader Adam McVey said: “Last week when we met at the City Chambers with the Ukrainian community, we made a commitment to offer support wherever we can. Lighting the gasholder is a symbol of our support and solidarity with the people of our twin city Kyiv and all of Ukraine.

“As the humanitarian crisis escalates in Ukraine, the people of Edinburgh have been extremely generous in offering support and donating to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal to help those facing terrifying circumstances as they defend their country.

“We’ll also continue to fly the Ukrainian flag at the City Chambers and take local actions to support Ukraine further and condemn Putin’s illegal war.

Depute Leader Cammy Day said: “There’s more people of Ukrainian descent living in the Capital than anywhere else in Scotland and so we’re lighting up the gasholder as a display of our support for them.

“I’d like to offer my thanks again to the people of Edinburgh for their outpouring of support at this time of crisis for the people of Ukraine. We welcome Ukrainian citizens to Edinburgh and we will do whatever we can to support them.”

Edinburgh College Principal and CEO Audrey Cumberford MBE FRSE said: “By lighting the gasholder in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, we, together with council colleagues, are demonstrating our solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

“At Edinburgh College, we stand with all of those who are suffering as a result of this war and are providing direct support to staff and students who are affected. We will continue to do what we can to support the local Ukrainian community in the city and are proud to play our part in Edinburgh’s collective effort to help.”

Keep Scotland Beautiful Green Flag awards for Edinburgh schools

Environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful is delighted to award twelve schools in Edinburgh with an Eco-Schools Green Flag.

The international award recognises nurseries and schools which have demonstrated a commitment to the Eco-Schools Scotland programme and over two years have engaged their whole school community in local climate action.

The schools are: St David’s RC Primary School (which has held a Green Flag since 2010), Craiglockhart Primary School (which has held a Green Flag since 2016), Granton Primary School  (a Green Flag school since 2013), Drummond Community High (achieving its first Green Flag Award), St Cuthbert’s Primary School (a Green Flag school since 2014), Ratho Primary School (a Green Flag school since 2010), Blackhall Nursery (which has held a Green Flag since 2009), St Margaret’s RC Primary School (which has held a Green Flag since 2011), Arbor Green Nursery (a Green Flag school since 2012), Hermitage Park Primary School (which has held a Green Flag since 2007), Kirkliston Nursery School (since 2005) and St Mary’s RC Primary School (since 2012).

All the schools took part in a variety of fantastic litter-busting and climate action activities including litter picks, litter surveys, recycling and community clean ups. 

Pupils in the Eco Den at St David’s RC Primary School used their litter picking kit to tidy the playground. The nursery class also carried out a clean up. 

Craiglockhart Primary School’s Eco Committee carried out a litter survey and using the results, decided to modify or replace their outdoor bins to prevent the litter from blowing out. They also wrote to the council to ask them to reduce the amount of single use plastics in school lunch boxes. 

Granton Primary School’s Eco-Committee solved the problem of seagulls dragging litter out of the playground bins, by sourcing new seagull proof ones to replace them.

Drummond Community High introduced recycling bins to communal areas in the school, to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. St Cuthbert’s Primary School’s Eco-Committee purchased extra bins for the playground after finding there were not enough. 

Ratho Primary School started a weekly class litter picking rota, with the nursery children working with their P6 buddies. Blackhall Nursery children learned about the effects of plastics on the environment and wanted to make long term changes at nursery and at home, so the nursery no longer uses plastic glitter or wet wipes. They also filled two perspex boxes with littered items to see which materials decompose and which don’t.

St Margaret’s RC Primary School pupils made posters which were displayed around the school to promote the use of bins. Arbor Green Nursery introduced regular activities promoting the 3 Rs – reduce, reuse and recycle. At Hermitage Park Primary School there was already a minimal amount of litter in the playground, and pupils aimed to decrease it even more..

Kirkliston Nursery School children joined in with a local community spring walk, talked about the litter in the local community garden and why we shouldn’t drop litter, and did a litter pick, recycling the items they collected. St Mary’s RC Primary School adopted a local street and encouraged residents to join in and pledge to take action on the problem.

Through the Eco-Schools Scotland programme, Keep Scotland Beautiful aims to make action to tackle climate change and environmental awareness an intrinsic part of the life and ethos of schools, for both pupils and for staff.

The programme provides a framework to engage the wider school community in climate action aligned with the purposes of Curriculum for Excellence and Learning for Sustainability.

To complete the Green Flag journey each school has a choice of ten topics to engage with, from climate action, to food and the environment, to litter, to energy. The schools also choose one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to link their Eco-Schools work to.

Catherine Gee, Deputy Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “I’d like to congratulate the Eco-Committee, pupils and staff at each of these schools, who have worked so hard to play their part in combatting climate change and achieve their Green Flag Award. 

“This is particularly impressive during a time of unprecedented adjustment and change to education due to the pandemic and is testament to the resilience and creativity of both pupils and educators.

“Keep Scotland Beautiful is committed to supporting all our children, young people and educators through our climate action schools activities to develop the capacities, skills and attributes required to protect our planet and work towards our goal of a Net Zero future.”

More information about the world’s largest sustainable schools programme and Eco-Schools Scotland can be found at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/eco-schools