Category: Newhaven

Heart of Newhaven April Newsletter

From Holyrood to the Heart

Last month we told you about a ministerial visit by Baron Cameron of Lochiel. Only a few weeks after that visit, we hosted another, this time from MSP Mairi Gougeon. Ms Gougeon, who is Holyrood’s Cabinet Minister for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, was visiting us in part to find out how smoothly or otherwise the process of acquiring the Heart for the community had been and also to announce that there would be a review into the Community Right To Buy process which will begin this summer.

During her visit she spoke to several of the Heart partners, including Chair of HEC (History of Education Centre), Alice Bacciarelli and potter Borja Moronta.

“It was wonderful to meet so many of the team and visitors at Heart of Newhaven and hear how they are offering a hub for the community,” said Ms Gougeon. “To see how much they have achieved is remarkable, especially when so much of it had to be done in the face of all the additional difficulties caused by the pandemic.

“Their dedication to offering space to artists and looking at so many different ways to bring people together is really impressive and I look forward to hearing about their future plans.”

Staffing changes

We have recently welcomed a new caretaking team of three to the Heart; Mike, Johnrobert and Emmanuel. They can be found beavering busily round and about the buildings at all hours.

Please make them welcome.

By having three members in the team, we hope to be able to eventually enable full access to the site as well as ensure added security.

Thanks to further funding, from Age Scotland and the Heritage Lottery Fund, we have also been able to appoint two new project staff, both of whom started in March.

A new Dementia Meeting Centre Manager, Jan Bee Brown, started working three days per week from March 6. Jan is a well known local story teller and was with us at the start of our Heart journey and so we are pleased to welcome her back after three years working in Shetland. She has plenty of relevant experience resulting from her role as a part-time Dementia Advisor with Alzheimer Scotland.

Alongside this new team, we are happy to announce that our staff members Roger Walpole and Kim Thomson have been confirmed in their positions as Centre Manager and Centre Administrator respectively following the initial transition period of the Heart. We hope they will both be with us for some time to come.

Meeting Centre activities

The Meeting Centre at Heart of Newhaven is excited to be partnering with Healing Arts Scotland to take part in their ITAC Healing Arts Week Relay. Meeting Centre Artist in Residence, Willy Gilder, will be hosting three playful creative workshops together with Fenella Kerr and Jan Brown on: Wednesday 10th, 17th & 24th April at Heart of Newhaven 1.30pm – 3.30 pm.

Come along and get creative with like minds, all materials will be provided plus tea and cake to help get the creative juices flowing.

Session 1. Wednesday 10th April – ‘Mapping the Mind’ with Fenella Kerr

Session 2. Wednesday 17th April – ‘Creating with Clay’ with Jan Brown

Session 3. Wednesday 21st April – ‘Drawn to the Dance’ with Jan Brown

All sessions are free and dementia inclusive. If you would more information contact Jan Brown at jan.brown@heartofnewhaven.co.uk

Our response will be part of Scottish Ballet’s partnership with Healing Arts Week in partnership with The Edinburgh International Festival this summer.

Our ‘Schooldays’ Heritage Lottery Fund coordinator, Simone Kenyon also started two days per week from the end of March.

Simone will be leading the community team’s latest project, which will bring together pupils from the local schools in the area, together with older residents and Heart partners, to share memories of their schooldays and leave a lasting legacy for generations to come. More details in the weeks to come.

Gardening group update

Funding has arrived in our bank account for the Community Garden project which began in March and Hayley, our sessional worker, is organising a number of intergenerational sessions on Monday afternoons and Thursday mornings. Do come and admire the continuing developments in the garden.

These include: new high, easily accessed planters and new compost bins, all kindly built by Leith Mens Shed; a beautifully woven willow screen to hide the road, created and donated by Judy Gray, seen at work in the photo; a “dead hedge”, also part of the screening process; lots of seedlings sprouting and potatoes chitting by the Anchor Building windows.

With the Lottery funding we have bought lots of new tools for volunteers and visiting groups to use, and other immediate plans include raising the height of the existing beds, surrounding them with wood chip paths, siting and filling the high planters and acquiring more shrubs and climbers to grow along the north fence.

New volunteers, experienced gardeners or those keen to learn, are always very welcome at Hayley’s sessions. Ask for details in The Heart or contact her directly to learn more: bloomyogaedinburgh@gmail.com.

Our Christmas Tree project has really taken off and we now have an army of knitters handing in squares as well as those people who have joined our knit and natter sessions.

Primary school children, church groups, line dancers, knitting circles, knitters from London, Inverness, Sleaford and Lancashire are just some of the knitters who are contributing to our growing bundles of squares.

We are approaching our first 1,000 and 150 decorations but we need many more and it will be you, who by knitting and spreading the word, will keep the momentum going.

Knit and natter groups meet in the Heart on Tuesdays at 7.15 till 8.30 and on Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 10 till 12.

Happy knitting!

13th April – Scran and a Song

As well as our Open For Coffee morning on Saturday 13th April, the Scran Van will be rolling up to provide some free lunches from 12.30. There will be a limited number, so get there early.

The food will be accompanied by performances from the Mens’ Shed and there will also be bicycle maintenance from Euan from EZ Bike Tours.

Bring your bike along for a wee tune up and advice. More details online or on our social media.

Remember to check our website and social media regularly.

For example have you seen the latest addition to the Culture & Heritage blog page? It features an interview with Cassandra Baron, one of the Heart’s resident creative Partners. (We featured Borja Moronta a few months ago: all you need to do is scroll down till you find it.)

All our Partners produce a lot of wonderful work and we don’t have space to feature them all in our regular newsletters, but we hope to include more about them on the website. So remember, check it out regularly.

Congratulations

Talking of Partners, we’d like to congratulate Neil Smith our Partner and resident composer, who had a piece of his work premiered recently in the Reid Concert Hall. We didn’t know about it in time for the March newsletter’ belated congratulations, Neil.

He shared a stage with three other premiered pieces of music, with his contribution – Regular Music, a piece for piano and nine-piece ensemble. He’s pictured with the ensemble along with conductor Oliver Cope.

Ssh!

Finally, don’t tell anyone, but the Heart has been chosen as the setting for some scenes in a new film currently under production. We are thrilled to be part of something so exciting but we can’t tell you too many details yet.

All we can say is that someone famous will be on set! You’ll have to watch this space. Meanwhile, we have to apologise in advance to anyone using the building on Monday 15th April when filming will be happening on the ground floor of the Victoria Building and in the playground.

There will also be preparatory work and then reinstating afterwards so be prepared!

Become an Oyster Volunteer

Would you like to contribute to the restoration of oysters in the Firth of Forth? Become an Oyster Volunteer!

Oyster Volunteers will get involved in oyster biosecurity, develop skills in citizen science and oyster monitoring and raise awareness of the cultural and environmental importance of oysters in the Firth of Forth.

If you would be interested in finding out more about the opportunities available, drop by the Heart of Newhaven (Anchor East 2 room) on 21st March any time between 12 – 2pm for a chat.

Community Right to Buy review

Review of powers of communities to acquire land or buildings

A review of Community Rights to Buy will begin this summer to look at how effective current powers are.

Community Right to Buy has now been in use for 20 years. During that time, there have been several additions and amendments to the original rights in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, and various reports and recommendations on how to improve and amend them further.

Speaking during a visit to the Heart of Newhaven, a community facility which was bought by the community in 2021 through the Asset Transfer process, Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “Ownership or control of land and buildings – both urban and rural – is a powerful tool for communities to drive change and achieve their goals. It can help to develop the local economy, provide activities and services, and boost community identity.

“We want to increase community ownership as an important way of delivering our vision for Scotland and our three central missions of equality, opportunity and community.

“This review will begin in Summer 2024, following introduction of the Land Reform Bill and report at the end of 2025 and will cover all the current rights to buy and will look at legislative and procedural aspects of the rights to see if new legislation is needed.”

Background

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 introduced the first two community rights to buy.  The Community Right to Buy (Part 2) gave rural communities the right to register an interest in assets.  Should the owner choose to sell, the community could then be granted the right to buy that asset without it being offered to anyone else.  The Crofting Community Right to Buy (Part 3) gave communities in crofting areas a right to compulsory purchase of assets, whether or not the owner wishes to sell.

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 then amended the Community Right to Buy to widen the rights to urban communities.  It also introduced the Community Right to Buy Abandoned, Neglected or Detrimental Land (Part 3A).  This is a compulsory purchase right for land that is abandoned, neglected or detrimental to the environmental wellbeing of communities.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2018 introduced a further compulsory right, the Right to Buy Land to Further Sustainable Development (Part 5).  This compulsory right does not need land to be in a certain condition and allows communities to nominate a third party purchase on their behalf.

News from Heart of Newhaven

Welcome to your March newsletter

The Heart welcomes Lord Cameron of Lochiel

New Scotland Office minister Donald Cameron included the Heart in his first official visit on Thursday 22nd February.

Mr Cameron, now Lord Cameron of Lochiel, has sat in Holyrood since 2016 but quit the Scottish Parliament in February for the House of Lords and a position in the Scottish Office at Westminster.

As well as the Heart, he also visited Granton’s historic gas holder, which is being restored as the centrepiece of a new public space in the regeneration of the waterfront and Portobello Town Hall, recently rescued for the community by a local charity much like ourselves here at the Heart.

All three projects have recently received much-welcomed funding from Westminster’s Levelling Up Fund.

Lord Cameron met many of the Heart’s Partners and users, including the Ukranian Spiders, Mwamba, Vintage Vibes, Robert Furze and some of the History of Education volunteers who were coincidentally hosting a visit from Primary 7 pupils from Victoria Primary School.

He also spoke to Alex Bird from Tortoise in a Nutshell, Charlie Traylor from Men of Leith’s Shed, volunteer Judy Gray hard at work on our knitted Christmas Tree project, and artist Jill Boualaxai, so he got a good overview of the many skeins bound up within the Heart.

Building work at the Heart

The emergency conservation works including roof and window repairs are being undertaken by a team from our contractors, Ashwood, led by site foreman, Findlay and should be finished by the end of March.

Ashwood will then return in April to fit a couple of stones and install some new windows that are being cut or made off site. (Did you know that when you need to replace stone, a stone “library” is brought to site so that the stone can be matched?)

Most of those repairs won’t be visible, but were very necessary to get the building wind and water tight, before we embark on future works to bring the building into the 21st century in terms of repair and energy efficiency for the comfort and use of all.

In the meantime, people might see safety scaffolding going up in the atrium for a few weeks, and our apologies in advance to our Partners and user groups who may experience some disruption as windows are repaired.

We must give a huge shout out to our funders without whom we couldn’t have done all this; The Department of Levelling Up, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic Environment Scotland and The Pilgrim Trust and of course there’s also the Design Team who specialise in the conservation of listed buildings in community use, led by John Gilbert Associates.

Hear About… talks

Our Hear About… talks taking place in the Heritage Suite on Friday afternoons have been proving very popular, with up to three dozen people attending each of the various events.

They will continue to run until the first Friday in April and then we will pause them over the summer and restart them in the autumn.

Here are the next scheduled talks …

Friday 8th March – Bill Hall on the Newhaven fishing industry

Friday 15th March – Kenneth Williamson on the old Caledonian Railway between Leith and Granton

Friday 22nd March – Niall Campbell on birds of the Isle of May

Friday 5th April – Anna Inman on the Restoration Forth project

More details on the website.

Volunteer to help and get a guaranteed place in the action! 

We are keen to recruit a team of volunteers to help with the logistics of the talks. We need to set up the chairs (and rearrange them again at the end) in the Heritage Suite as well as welcome attendees and then serve teas and coffees at the end.

Would you be willing to lend a hand? Contact christine.mcderment@heartofnewhaven.co.uk or admin@heartofnewhaven.co.uk if you’d like to help.

It may be the end of the Spring talks in April, but we already have talks lined up for the autumn, including one on the Hill & Adamson photographs of Newhaven fishwives, from Louise Pearson of the National Portrait Gallery and another on Celtic folklore and the mythical sea creatures of Newhaven. Watch this space!

Death Cafés at the Heart of Newhaven

A death cafe is described as a safe place where people can feel free to talk about anything they wish, to do with death and dying.

On Saturday morning, 27th January we held our very first death café when fourteen people attended and the feedback was very positive. The discussions were enjoyed by all and there was delicious cake.

There will be more death cafés at the Heart on Saturday mornings of April 27th, July 27th and October 19th, all 10.00 am to 12.00 noon. Please arrive around 9.45 for welcome and coffee.

Remember our regular Events

Monday lunch club

The Cyrenian Lunch Club takes place at the Heart every Monday from 12.30 until 2pm. The lunches are free and open to all (advise in advance if you have allergies)

They’ll be serving a nutritious two-course meal along with tea/coffee. Some weeks there will also be entertainment to enjoy!

Sharing the Past meetings at the Heart are now taking place on the last Thursday of every month and the next one will be on Thursday 28th March.

Come along and reminisce with our Reminiscence volunteers. The topic changes every time. All on a Thursday at 10.30 -1130 am.

Keep up to date with all the regular events and activities by checking our website or following us on social media.

Oyster Mural

Remember too to get involved in the Restoration Forth project to create a mural for one of the outside walls of the Anchor Building. There will be a get-together to discuss plans, with coffee and cake at the Heart on Saturday 23rd March at 10am.

You can find out more on our website or follow the link below:

Register on Eventbrite

The Friends of Western Harbour Ponds have asked us to help raise awareness of their fight to save the re-wilded space now home to numerous bird species and a precious haven for humans too.

A petition calling on The City of Edinburgh Council and The Scottish Government to “recognise the value of the self-willed wetland habitat for nature and for people, and to help save it from development” has so far gathered more than 3,000 signatures.

You can find out more about the campaign at Save Western Harbour Ponds

If you’re keen to help document the biodiversity of the Ponds and other spots in Edinburgh, pop 26 to 29 April in your diary!

The City Nature Challenge is an annual worldwide bioblitz to record wildlife and plant life in cities, with the Edinburgh project coordinated by RSPB Scotland.

Community invited to help redesign Pride Bridge

The Leith community is being called upon to help design a replacement for the Lindsay Road Bridge, also known as Pride Bridge.

The local landmark was a popular walking, wheeling, and cycling route over Hawthornvale Path and in 2021 was painted in rainbow colours, leading to it being named locally as the ‘Rainbow’ or ‘Pride’ Bridge.

the bridge, which is at the end of its lifespan, was closed due to concerns around health and safety, sparking a local ‘Save the Pride Bridge’ campaign. Council officers have since made a successful application for Transport Scotland funding through Sustrans for the design of a replacement bridge deck, with £232,700 awarded.

Now a designer, Mott McDonald, has been appointed and, along with the Council, they’re looking to work with the local community to develop proposed designs. Two information sessions and an online consultation will help the team to better understand everyone’s needs and gather feedback on proposed designs.

Councillor Scott Arthur, Transport and Environment Convener, said: “The Pride Bridge has been such a well-loved landmark and thoroughfare for the local community, it’s only right that we involve them to develop a replacement.

“I was delighted last year when we secured funding to design a new bridge deck, which would once again provide a safe and convenient walking and cycling route between North Fort Street and Newhaven area.

“The strength of feeling amongst local people for this bridge, and its celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride, has been inspiring. I’d like to thank those who campaigned to protect it.”

Kasper Schwartz, Grant Advisor for Sustrans, said: “We’re excited to see how designs for the new Pride Bridge come together over the next year, and are immensely grateful to the local community for their enthusiasm in seeing this vital active travel connection reinstated for North Edinburgh.

“The Pride Bridge is not only a key walking, wheeling and cycling link for communities surrounding the Hawthornvale Path, it is also as an iconic symbol of enduring support for LGBTQ+ people everywhere.”

Róisín Thérèse, who leads the Save the Pride Bridge campaign, said: “The Save The Pride Bridge campaign has worked closely with the Council and design team to communicate the wishes of the local residents in terms of preserving an accessible route, a community space, and an important LGBTQ+ landmark.

“We are excited to participate in the public consultations to reimagine this space and secure it as a valuable community asset for years to come.”

This process is expected to last a year and once it’s complete officers intend to apply to Transport Scotland for between 70 and 100% of the construction funding required to build the bridge.

The work will be delivered alongside the Leith Connections project which is making improvements to community spaces and providing better connections for anyone walking, wheeling or cycling through the streets of Leith.

Lindsay Road Bridge information sessions will take place at the following locations and times:

Thursday 7 March, 6pm – 8pm: Dreadnought Leith, 72 North Fort Street

Saturday 23 March, 11am – 1pm: The Heart of Newhaven Community, 4-6 Main Street

Take part in the online consultation, which will close on 4 April.

Have your say on Victoria Park’s bowling greens

🌿 Victoria Park’s Bowling Greens Consultation Workshop! 🌳

Come and talk with us at our in-person workshop at the Pollock Pavilion, The Boys’ Brigade, located at 227 Ferry Road, EH6 4SP, on Monday 26th February from 6pm to 8pm.

This is a fantastic opportunity to delve deeper into proposals discussed at our previous event, share your valuable ideas, and actively contribute to the thriving green spaces in Victoria Park.

Agenda:

🗒Review of previous proposals

💡Brainstorming and idea-sharing session

💬Comprehensive discussion

📧Confirm your attendance by sending an email to: thrivinggreenspaces@edinburgh.gov.uk.

The City of Edinburgh Council

St Columba’s: Supporting your child in grief

THURSDAY 8th FEBRUARY at 11am

Our next ‘Supporting your child in grief’ session takes place on Thursday 8th February at 11am.

The session offers an opportunity for you to join other parents and carers to talk, share feelings and connect with one another. You can simply say it how it is, seek advice and hopefully pick up some tips from each other.

Register for free today at https://bit.ly/48YWWf1

Afternoon Teas at St Columba’s

Our first Afternoon Tea was a resounding success last Friday, and spaces are filling up for the next one! So much so that we’ve added a new date on Saturday 17th February!

These delicious teas are made by our chefs in house, and as well as being a delicious treat to brighten up any weekend, they also raise funds for the Hospice!

You can book yours today by emailing iona@stcolumbashospice.org.uk , booking in person in the Iona Cafe, or by going to our online shop!

Heart of Newhaven: New Year News

Welcome to 2024 and to your January Newsletter.

Happy New Year to you all. We hope you celebrated in style.

Hear About…

We’re kicking off this year with a series of talks at the Heart.

“Hear About…” all sorts of things, will begin on Friday 26th January and run into the spring at 3pm on Friday afternoons. Come along, have a cup of tea or coffee, chat with old friends and make some new ones. The talks will be free but donations would be welcome for the tea/coffee.

They may take place in different areas of the Heart depending on how many people are interested and what the topic is.  Some for example, might take place in the hall, others in the Anchor Building and others upstairs in the Heritage Suite.

All we ask is that you register your interest in attending in advance with admin@heartofnewhaven.co.uk to give us an idea of numbers, and check with reception when you arrive to find out exactly where the talk will be.

Here are the first five talks, each starting at 3pm:

Friday 26th January –  our very own Chair, Judy Crabb will explain the ups and downs of how the Heart has come about and what we hope for from the future.

Friday 2nd February – John Lawson, Museums & Galleries Edinburgh’s archaeologist will talk about what came to light while the Newhaven tram extension was being built.

Friday 9th February – Heart volunteer, researcher and writer Jane Evans will tell us about the, perhaps not so famous, Newhaven witches.

Friday 16th February – From the Heart to hearts, Gillian Gray, Heart volunteer and recently retired Emeritus Professor of Cardiovascular Pharmacology at the University of Edinburgh, will talk about what the heart does, what commonly goes wrong and how current drugs are used to prevent and treat disease.

23rd February – Archaeologist Rob Engl of AOCArchaeology will tell us all about the excavation that took place in the school playground before the Anchor Building was built. Although the schoolchildren of the time like to refer to the skeleton found as a pirate, the reality may be a little more prosaic, but exciting nevertheless.

See you there, and watch out for more talks to be announced soon. If you would like to give a talk or have a topic to suggest for which we could find a speaker, then contact gillian.bannantyne@heartofnewhaven.co.uk

Keep the dates free

Watchout for our two forthcoming Coorie-in for Winter events, coming up on  the evening of Tuesday, January 16th from 7- 8.30 and again on the afternoon of Monday 5th February from 2- 3.30. More details nearer the time.

The Evening event will include some Ukrainian food tasting and a chance to meet and speak to some of our building creatives.

The afternoon will allow visitors into the different spaces and find out more about what is on at the Heart for you.  

Keeping green and beautiful

Hot on the heels of our Lottery funding for greening the Heart, announced in our December newsletter, we are proud to present our new certificate from Keep Scotland Beautiful.

Really great news!

We’re also thrilled to announce that we have secured a major new National Lottery Heritage Fund grant.

The £200,000 will be divided between further renovation and conservation work on the old Victoria building and an intergenerational community heritage project: Our schooldays – memories and legacies, Heritage tales from Newhaven, Trinity and Leith Harbour.

The project will involve some of our Heart Partners as well as the schools in our area of benefit and will leave a lasting legacy for the future. The news of the award arrived immediately before Christmas – what a great Christmas present!

Watch this space for more details in the coming months.

Dementia Meeting Centre

We have also secured 12 months funding for the further development of our Dementia Meeting Centre from Age Scotland.

From February, this will take place every Wednesday from 1.30 – 3.30 in the kitchen/lounge.

email: meetingcentre@heartofnewhaven.co.uk

Restoration Forth

has had an incredible year! You can watch a few special moments along the way, in their new Youtube video. Together with other participating hubs, we at The Heart are excited to share the highlights of 2023.

Thanks to everyone who has been involved so far in this truly important project. If you’d like to play a part in restoring marine habitats and coastal environments in the Firth of Forth, find out more and sign up to the Restoration Forth newsletter HERE.

Reminiscence

Remember when? Our reminiscence volunteers will be ready to welcome all-comers at their first session of the new year, on Thursday 18th January,10.30 – 11.30. Themes change at each meeting so what will it be this time? Come along and find out.

New logo

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that a new logo has appeared on our website. This is to signify that we are registered members of the recently formed Edinburgh Local Heritage Network.  

This is an umbrella organisation for all local heritage groups who can use it to exchange ideas, advice, information and even exhibitions and events.

There’s so much coming up this year. Why don’t you get involved? It’s your community, your Heart.

Remember to watch our website and social media for news of events and classes.
WHAT’S ON AT THE HEART