WEST Pilton & West Granton Community Council meets tonight at 7pm in West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre.
Among the items on the agenda is the future of The Prentice Centre, West Granton Community Trust’s building in Granton Mains, which will close at the end of September.
All welcome.
AGENDA
Welcome & introductions
Nomination and election of new community councillors (3 vacancies)
West Granton Community Trust Management Committee Decision
WGCT has issued the following statement:
At a meeting of the West Granton Community Trust Management Committee on Monday 18th June, the decision made on 27th June to wind up the Trust was confirmed. This will mean the permanent closure of the Prentice Centre.
It has been reported in the press that the City of Edinburgh Council were considering providing us with a one off grant of £50,000, however with no confirmation of the process to secure this funding nor the timescales involved, the Trust has been left with no alternative but to proceed with the winding up of the Trust.
This is to ensure the orderly transfer of the premises to another charitable organisation and to meet our responsibilities to our tenants, staff and the community.
This is in line with the Constitution of the Trust and the legal requirements associated with the closure of an organisation with charitable status.
The Management Committee would like to thank our loyal members for their support over the years and assure them that we have done everything within our power to avoid this situation.
Given our current financial situation and with no guarantee of long-term funding for staff and overheads, we can no longer operate as a Trust.
Following the suspension of activities at the Prentice Centre on 1 July, there will be no further access for community use. Staff will remain on site until mid-October to care for the building and to manage the process of winding up the Trust.
A sad day indeed for staff, management committee, members, patrons and the wider North Edinburgh community …
TWO North Edinburgh community centres were saved from closure following a last-ditch intervention by councillors at a marathon council meeting yesterday.
Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre was braced for closure this summer following months of uncertainty over funding, while the voluntary management board of West Granton Community Trust announced on Monday that the Prentice Centre also faced closure due to spiralling running costs.
Councillors unanimously agreed a composite motion after three similar motions were submitted on Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre:
Noting that there are three motions tabled on Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre, this amendment is to composite motion 8.3 by Councillor Day (Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre) with motion 8.4 by Councillor Osler (Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre) and motion 8.12 by Councillor Nicolson (Save Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre). Amends the text of motion 8.3 as follows:
“Council;
notes the work towards a model of 20-minute neighbourhoods across the city which requires the development of strong local community facilities that are locally and easily accessible for all residents.
recognises the critical role that neighbourhood and community centres play in our communities, not only providing services to those of all ages, but also in maintaining safe places for people to meet and spend time.
notes the board of Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre have made clear that the centre is not going to survive financially beyond summer without one-off funding support from the council.
thanks officers for their actions so far in offering advice and some practical support to the organisation but regrets this has not managed to help the centre reach a positive outcome.
agrees that officers should work with Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre’s Management Committee to create a sound and sustainable financial arrangement that allows the Centre to continue over the long term.
Yesterday’s marathon full council meeting also agreed the following Addendum, which was moved by new Forth SNP councillor Stuart Dobbin and seconded by his SNP collague, Invereleith’s Vicky Nicholson, who was also elected in May.
The Addendum reads:
Notes the decision by West Granton Community Trust (announced on June 27th) to close the Prentice Centre in a matter of months unless immediate action is taken.
Recognises the critical role that the Prentice Centre plays in the community it serves, not only providing services to those of all ages, but also in maintaining safe places for people to meet and spend time.
Agrees therefore to also delegate to the Director of Education and Children Services to award £50,000 from Council Unallocated Reserves for the Prentice Centre to ensure the Centre can remain open and continue serving the community in the short term. The award of grant is subject to appropriate due diligence, including grant conditions on expenditure and assurances from the Centre on additional funding being secure.
Agrees that due to the number of community-run centres facing closure due to financial strain, that a report is brought to Council in one cycle identifying those under financial strain and where additional resources can be made available to keep valuable community resources open. This report should also consider the state of management in the community-run centre sector and recommend principles for the relationship between CEC and centres on financial matters.
The eleventh hour funding agreement does not guarantee that either Centre will remain open long term, but it does at least give both of these valuable community resources some time and support to explore other options to ensure their survival.
The council decision of short-term financial support will come as a huge relief to staff and management committees in particular but also the hundreds of residents of all ages who support their local community centres.
The work must begin now to ensure that both Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre and The Prentice Centre can look forward to sustainable futures.
UPDATE:
West Granton Community Hub Manager Moira Fanning has been in touch (Saturday 2 July) to say that the Prentice Centre “remains CLOSED as negotiations with the Council have not been finalised”.
I will post more information when it becomes available.
West Granton Community Trust is to close The Prentice Centre, it has been confirmed. The management committee made the heartbreaking decision at a board meeting on Monday evening, citing impossible economic challenges.
The popular community centre in Granton Mains will cease programme activities from this Friday and the building will close in three months. Three members of staff are affected.
The Prentice Centre was one of three new community centres built across North Edinburgh in the late 1990s thanks to European Poverty and Urban Aid funding through local agency The Pilton Partnership.
The others were Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre and Muirhouse Millennium Centre, and the new centres could offer new facilities and local programmes to complement those being provided by Craigroyston Community Centre (now closed), West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre and Royston Wardieburn Community Centre.
The Prentice Centre, which was named after longstanding local activist Walter Prentice, housed the local Community Education team and has been the base for a wide range of local groups with activities for local residents of all ages since it opened. Thousands of local folk have attended activities there.
External organisations have also used facilities at the Prentice Centre. Granton Information Centre currently has a satellite office there and the building was also home for North West Carers, among others. Dads Rock held Saturday sessions there and Tragic Carpet Theatre Company has also been running an over-50s drama group at the Centre.
Like other community organisations across the city, The Prentice Centre has found it difficult to attract sufficient external funding to compensate for shrinking council grants over recent years.
Finance, in particular or the lack of it, has always been a concern. I lost count of the number of AGMs I attended where former manager Elizabeth Campbell would catalogue the financial challenges. It was a running joke – we had a wee laugh about it every year. It doesn’t seem quite so funny now.
But this was the case year after year, and despite everything, the Centre worked minor miracles and managed to put on a pretty decent programme.
The Prentice Centre last fought a spirited – and ultimately successful – campaign back in 2016 to fight closure following savage funding cuts by the city council. Once again the Centre survived to fight again another day … then there was Covid.
The Covid pandemic hit the Centre particularly hard over the last two years, forcing shutdowns which meant that no income could be generated.
Costs have been cut to the bone, and staff have gone above and beyond to continue to provide a service, but now the soaring price of overheads – over which the Prentice Centre has no control – have finally made the Centre’s future untenable.
Dedicated staff Moira, Mary and Stuart are understandably devastated, but not surprised, by the news. Mary has been with The Prentice Centre for more than 24 years and Stuart has been there since it opened in 1997.
There’s no doubt that the centre’s closure will be a huge blow to the local area and it’s particularly cruel given that facilities are now slowly beginning to open up again after pandemic lockdowns.
A community event at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre last week saw large numbers of activists getting together once again after two years of virtual shutdown. The recovery has come just too late for the Prentice Centre, however.
Council leader Labour’s Cammy Day is a Forth councillor and he held surgeries in The Prentice Centre. In a statement, his office responded: “Cammy has met with the board and asked officers to engage with them to see if there is any support or advice we can provide.”
Manager Moira Fanning explained: “All avenues for accessing alternative funding have been explored, but there is just no money out there. We deeply regret that we will no longer be able to serve the West Granton community. We thank all our members for their support over the years”.
Thank you, too, Moira, Mary and Stuart. You really couldn’t have done any more.
The North Edinburgh Community Festival is THIS SATURDAY!
Saturday 7th May from 12noon to 6pm.
The main stage will be jam-packed from 12noon!
Make sure you catch your favourite act:
12.00pm – Fischy Music 12.50pm – Pulse of the Place 1.15pm – Ama-zing Harmonies 1.35pm – Granton Youth MixTape 2.00pm – Big Fish Little Fish Scotland 2.45pm – Tinderbox Hub 3.10pm – Broughton High School 3.35pm – Yer Local Bams 4.10pm – City of Edinburgh Music School Jazz Quartet 4.35pm – DJ Dynamite 5.00pm – Tinderbox Collective & Guests
Plus Children and Families marquee with lots of workshops
the Open Space area with lots of activities for young and old,
sport activities if you’re feeling energetic,
52 + stalls with local organisations providing information and activities,
food vans offering complimentary food and festival delights,
a sit down Community Lunch inside the WPNC.
Oh and don’t forget the UNDER THE SEA PARADE, from Millennium Centre to the Park!
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.
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.
main stage
