IT’S OFFICAL: We now own our Community Garden at 10 Wardieburn Road!
Our Community Asset Transfer is now complete, and we received money from the Scottish Land Fund (Scottish Government) to help enable us to purchase the land from the Council. The process has taken a wee while, but now it’s done. Thanks to everyone who’s helped along the way!
As a local community charity, we’re aiming to benefit our community as much as we can, and you’re all invited to get involved – and anyone living within our defined local area who supports our aims can become a voting member!
Today (and every Wednesday) there’s a free community lunch open to all at 2pm.
Wednesday Gardening club is an open drop-in session every week 1-3pm (winter hours).
The Action Group have taken ownership of The Prentice Centre from the West Granton Community Trust (WGCT), following a Community Asset Transfer after the WGCT announced their closure in June 2022.
With almost 50 years supporting people across Edinburgh, the Lothians and Falkirk with disabilities, and their families and carers, The Action Group have a many of long standing connections with people across North Edinburgh, and have been based in Leith since 1976.
Stephen Oliver, Chair of the Board for The Action Group, said: “This is an exciting change for us as an organisation, and we hope to develop an inclusive community hub, for those we support, and our staff, now and in the future.
“We are looking forward to a positive future at The Prentice Centre, and are privileged to be able to build on the connections and partnerships, forged by WGCT over many years. We are so grateful to their members, staff and Management committee for working with us so positively on this transfer. We are proud to go forward with their blessing.”
Community Hub Manager for the Prentice Centre, Moira Fenning, said: “It was an extremely difficult decision taken by the West Granton Community Trust, to wind down the charity after serving the local community for 30 years.
“However, the transition of finding new owners for the building, was made much easier by seeing the amazing work carried out by the Action Group, and the exciting future plans they have for the Prentice Centre.
“We would like to take this opportunity to wish them every success in their future work within the community.”
Lisa Williamson, Development Manager for The Action Group, said: ‘The possibilities and opportunities that this move will give us are very exciting.
“We are looking forward to forming new partnerships within the local community, and working on collaborative projects with organisations both locally and across the city, to provide services and spaces for people with additional support needs, their families, and carers.”
The Action Group intend to have the centre up and running within a few months and will initially retain the name The Prentice Centre.
CEO of The Action Group, Linda Tuthill, said: “The Prentice Centre was named after Walter Prentice, a longstanding local activist.
“It was an easy decision for us to choose to continue his legacy for the time being and retain his name on the building, together with our own name: The Action Group @ The Prentice Centre.”
The Action Group ownership was finalised on February 6th.
The Heart of Newhaven Community (HoNC) has finally received the keys to the front door!
The charity, formed four years ago to purchase Newhaven’s old Victoria Primary School for use as a community hub, has faced a long battle to get all the legal documentation with the City of Edinburgh Council signed, sealed and delivered but has finally been given legal possession of the site.
The original Steering Group was set up after public consultation and eventually converted into a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO), registered with OSCR the charity overseer in 2020.
They won the right to purchase the site under the Community Asset Transfer scheme in July 2020 and secured funding for the purchase from the Scottish Land Fund in June 2021.
The school pupils and teachers moved out of what was then the oldest working primary school in the city in December 2021, but delays originally caused by Covid 19 and last minute legal hurdles meant that the final transfer could not take place until this week.
Current HoNC Chair Judy Crabb and former, and very first Chair, Rodney Matthews led the way in and now it’s all systems go, with volunteers tidying and cleaning and potential users and tenants queuing up to move in and get started.
First though, there are some necessary health and safety measures to install, IT equipment and communications must be set up and the most urgent repairs to the structure need to be completed.
Once open to the public, the community hub will be offering spaces for intergenerational activities of all kinds, including space for such as theatre groups, choirs and performances, rooms for rent for meetings or parties, artists’ studios and small business rooms for rent, a Heritage Suite including the Victorian Schoolroom run by the History of Education Centre, much needed early years’ provision in the modern Anchor Building, rooms for the Men’s Shed to carry on their activities in the Creel Building and of course a community cafe.
Current Chair, Judy Crabb has been involved since even before the first public consultations and is now celebrating with the rest of the Board.
“It’s a well known phrase ‘ If it is worth having, it is worth waiting for’ and how true that is as of today,” she says. “Finally, we are thrilled to announce that HoNC now owns the former Victoria Primary School that from now on will be known as ‘The Heart’.
“A huge thank you to everybody who has helped over the years to bring about this day, volunteers, supporters, members of the community, our funders, trustees and consultants. Every contribution, big and small, has made a difference.
“Over the next few months we will begin to open up the buildings to all the services and activities that support our themes of culture and heritage, learning and enterprise and improvement in well being.
“Watch this space as we offer opportunities for people of all ages, from all walks of life and interests, to come together in an accessible and welcoming environment and The Heart comes to life.”
Cara Gillespie, Chair of the Scottish Land Fund, said: “The Scottish Land Fund is committed to helping urban and rural communities across the country to unlock assets on their doorstep and to put them to work for local people, so we are delighted that Heart of Newhaven Community has now taken ownership of Victoria Primary School.
“We wish them every success with their plans to turn the school into a thriving community hub.”
The community of Newhaven is celebrating this week after the Scottish Land Fund announced that it was awarding an exciting new community-led project the funds to purchase an old Victorian school and turn it into a vibrant new community hub.
The Heart of Newhaven Community, (HoNC) a recently-formed local charity, can now go ahead with the purchase of Victoria Primary School, currently the oldest working primary school in Edinburgh but due to move to new premises in the autumn.
The charity had previously won the right to purchase the building from the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) under the Community Asset Transfer scheme, on the back of its “robust business plan”, but plans were delayed as Covid hit the construction works at the new school.
The award of £792,000 in the latest round of SLF grants will now enable the purchase to go ahead although the buildings themselves will not be available until the pupils move.
The local community has been the prime mover in the whole project, ever since it was announced that the school would be relocating.
Public meetings and consultations were held to find out what could be done with the site, a Newhaven landmark since 1844, and it was decided that as the area had no central focal point, the buildings could be converted into just such a hub, serving the needs of the community while also saving the iconic building from conversion into flats or even demolition.
Following the first public meetings, a steering group of local volunteers was set up and this eventually converted into the board of HoNC, the Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SC049919) in February 2020. They were responsible for the application to CEC, the business plan, and all the other necessary documents and applications, including that to the SLF.
HoNC Chairman, Rodney Matthews was delighted when the news of the funding was announced.“This news is even better than we hoped at the time of our original application long before the set-backs we have experienced over the past 18 months,” he said.
“We have been granted a total of £792,000 which will cover the purchase price agreed with CEC and help cover some initial developmental costs.
“This will enable us to sign a contract with the City of Edinburgh Councilto give us vacant possession of the site as soon as the children have moved into their new school in Western Harbour. While that date is still unknown we are now able to move confidently forward with plans for what can now safely be called The Heart.
“Watch this space will now really apply to a much loved icon of Newhaven,” he added.
The Gothic style listed building includes a relatively unchanged interior including original dado panelling, cast iron banisters and stone stairs and a double height hall, but the playground contains a modern, purpose-built addition in the form of the Anchor Building which opened in 2014 after the exciting discovery under the playground of the skeleton of someone who may have been a 16th century pirate.
The new community hub will provide much needed pre-school childcare facilities, work spaces for local artists, a heritage suite and various rooms for the use of community groups.
The threefold theme of Culture & Heritage and Learning & Enterprise uniting in contributing to Health & Wellbeing, aims to encourage various local partnership organisations and other charities to collaborate together on projects and activities which will create a safe centre for all generations to enjoy the space together.
During lockdown and while awaiting the SLF decision, the charity has moved forward with various community projects.
“Partnership working and collaboration with other local organisations is a critical element of our approach,” says Project Coordinator Judy Crabb.
“We have already started to build important relationships with like-minded organisations through a series of small intergenerational projects including working with Mens Shed of Leith, Pilmeny Development Project, and local artist Johnathan Elders to create Friendship Benches to go in the grounds of the Heart.
“Other initiatives include Pots of Newhaven kindness – pots sown with seeds to produce edible plants given by children from Victoria Primary School to local, housebound older people.”
As part of their campaign, the charity held a Crowdfunding appeal earlier this year and raised their initial target of £5,000 (match-funding for architect-led community workshops to decide the use of the various spaces within the buildings on the site,) in only three weeks.
“This is a brilliant project that will deliver huge community benefits. It’s well thought-out and is being impressively well-organised,” said one anonymous donor.
(Taken from the school’s centenary pamphlet issued in 1944)
At an unknown date before 1800, a schoolmaster was employed by the Ancient Society of Free Fishermen to educate the boys of Newhaven. They met in a house belonging to this society. There was a weekly fee for each pupil, but orphans could attend for free.
In 1822 the Rev. Dr. Ireland (minister of North Leith Parish Church) formed a committee which became known as the Hillhousefield, Bonnington and Newhaven Local Sabbath Evening School Society. They were keen to promote religious instruction amongst children and made efforts to include girls in this as well as boys.
Not everyone in the area could afford the Free Fishermen’s fee-paying school and the illiteracy of the local children was problematic when it came time to employ them, so the Sabbath Evening School Society decided to open a Day School for boys, located in Newhaven. In 1823, the Free Fishermen handed the management of their school over to them, and the Sabbath Evening School Society changed their name to the Newhaven Education Society.
Within a year they had extended their school to accept girls and then infants. A Ladies’ Committee formed to oversee the running of these schools, but it soon merged with the main society.
In 1844, the Newhaven Education Society (then headed by Rev. Dr. Buchanan of North Leith) secured the feu of the ground where Victoria School was built. The original building was small and could not accommodate all of Newhaven’s children, and so four other schools sprang up in the area. Over the years Victoria School was extended until it could cater for all the children, and these other schools closed.
Victoria School, now known as Victoria Primary School, is Edinburgh’s oldest working school. The original building was built in 1844 and was extended in 1866, 1875, 1884 and 1897. The first headmaster was Alexander Ingram (1844 until 1876).
As well as being a school, it was used as a church for older parishioners who couldn’t walk as far as the North Leith Parish Church every week and was also used as a Sunday School. When its management was taken over by the Leith School Board in 1874 (Newhaven was part of the Burgh of Leith at this point), one of the conditions attached was that it would remain in service as a church.
N.B. (Not in the original pamphlet) – The school was in fact used as a church, as mentioned above, in much more recent times. When Newhaven Church on Craighhall Road was being redeveloped between 2004 and 2006 and the congregation was not able to use the buildings, Sunday morning worship took place regularly in the school.
As part of the ongoing regeneration programme around MacMillan Square, North Edinburgh Arts (NEA) has now been granted full community ownership in a community asset transfer from the City of Edinburgh Council, with the additional transfer of a plot of land to the north of the centre.
We are now working in partnership with the Council to create plans for an extended creative and community hub for the area, to be named the MacMillan Hub.
The objective is to create a community and neighbourhood hub promoting culture, learning, work and well-being in and around the town centre. Everyone at NEA is excited about the possibilities this will bring to our community.
The plans include:
a refurbished and redesigned North Edinburgh Arts venue promoting the highest quality culture, arts and meeting space
a new Muirhouse Library
a new Learning and Skills Hub
a new Early Years Centre
housing for rent
NEA is already a well loved destination for locals but has outgrown its building. To meet the needs for future generations we need to redevelop as part of this new Hub. To find out more about our plans view the film below.
You can download Draft Plans-October 2020 to see draft plans, building visualisations and more information about proposed plans.
The plans ensure the accessible, welcoming and much needed community space, using environment-friendly build and innovative design techniques. The community space will reflect current community aspirations, while being flexible enough to respond to unplanned future demand.
Award winning Richard Murphy Architects have been appointed by Robertson and with the Council and NEA to design the MacMillan Hub. Working together with a view to submitting a joint detailed planning permission in December 2020 to start the build in 2021 and open in the summer of 2022.
The City of Edinburgh Council has officially approved the Application by The Heart of Newhaven Community for the acquisition of Victoria Primary Schoolby Community Asset Transfer.
The necessary contract is about to be drawn up for the whole site to be owned by our registered charity on behalf of the Newhaven Community.
I hope we’ve got to you first with this wonderful news, but the speed of the modern media bandwagon is such that you may well have heard this somewhere else already! However the news is still wonderful.
The contract with CEC will happen no later than 31st March 2021, and will include a clause providing lease-back to the Council until the new school being built in Western Harbour is ready for occupation.
When we take possession of this “Asset”, the Anchor Building will primarily house assessed and much needed nursery care and the whole site developed according to the imaginative plans of The Heart of Newhaven Community that have now been approved.
These include the layout of the Victorian Building to house a comprehensive heritage suite in which we hope Newhaven Heritage and other organisations devoted to interpreting local history will have a share and include a Victorian Schoolroom and Wee Museum.
At the beginning of last year we launched The Heart of Newhaven Community when it was clear that a wish to turn the school into an enhanced museum did not qualify to meet Council requirements for such a transfer.
The Council looked for an organisation that would represent the interests of what is technically called “the area of benefit”, which embraces the increasing population of Newhaven far greater than the traditional village: we know how big because we have delivered over 7,000 postcards to every household and business.
The Council is required to address many social needs, from the youngest to the oldest and including the marginalised. From the outset we consulted widely and produced a Business Plan with local partners, organisations and charities, to help meet the Council’s obligatory targets.
In the last Update I indicated that the Councillors representing the Wards in our catchment area unanimously approved our plans and recommended to the Policy and Sustainability Committee that our Application be approved. That was done at a meeting held on 20thAugust.
Well done and thank you to everyone for helping get this Application across the line.
The next stage, for which we are prepared, is to apply to the Scottish Land Fund for a major grant to help our capital commitment.
SLF has already awarded funding that enabled us to employ a professional Business Consultant, SKS Scotland, to draw up a Business Plan that would be sustainable even in the event of the kind of challenge we are now meeting because of Covid 19.
We have now demonstrated that our figures are still viable over the next five years. But the SLF also need to know that what we are proposing is supported not merely by key interest groups but by the whole community across the entire “area of benefit”.
That is why it is important to increase the number of people prepared to sign up to say, “Yes please, this is what we need for the future”.
The key is the development of a vibrant Community Hub, or as we put it, the beating Heart of Newhaven Community.
Please keep building up numbers by spreading the word of success, developing plans for a Better Normal with an emphasis on care within the community leading to the well-being of all, and especially those most in need.
And continue to volunteer your own services – some particular expertise or flair, a bit of time, an idea you think will help, either now or at some stage in the future as plans develop.
This is your Community. You are included.
The first task is accomplished and the next beginning. The show is on the road.It will be as good as you make it.
North Edinburgh Arts (NEA) has been granted full community ownership in a community asset transfer from the City of Edinburgh Council. With the additional transfer of a plot of land to the north of the organisation’s venue, NEA is now in a position to lead on the development of an extended creative and community hub for the area, working in partnership with the Council.
Bringing the organisation, established in 1998, into community ownership and working to extend the facilities will make sure this dynamic community venue is fit for purpose for the next two decades.
New enterprise, workshop, learning space and creative studios are planned, alongside a dedicated youth area, expanded café, and shared atrium all working to complement the Council’s adjoining library and early year’s provision.
NEA carried out extensive consultation to gauge support for the project with 96% of respondents in favour. The organisation offers local residents a place to relax, explore, learn, meet, share, volunteer and have fun in. Last year over 40,000 visits were made to the venue once described by STV as ‘a bright bubble behind Muirhouse shopping centre.’
NEA is based in the heart of Muirhouse and their current venue incorporates two studios, a 96 seat theatre, recording studio, gallery, offices and the pop in community café with children’s play area leading onto a large garden. NEA offers a safe, comfortable and creative space for people of all ages to develop within.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic over 30 hours of creative workshops were on offer each week, most with a family focus, alongside a wide range of other events from singing groups to circus skills workshops, exhibitions, community theatre, film clubs, and festival events.
The venue is also home to Muirhouse Link Up, Firstport Social Enterprise, North Edinburgh Drug and Alcohol Centre, and the Tinderbox Orchestra, all working to serve the most disadvantaged children, families and individuals in the North Edinburgh area.
Chair of NEA, Lesley Hinds, said: “NEA has won five national awards in the last six years for place making and creative projects. This new capital project will allow the organisation to flourish, alongside Council provision, and bring a first class facility to Macmillan Square.
“NEA is a special place for the community of North Edinburgh and has been a trusted community anchor providing emergency food and support throughout the COVID lockdown. The granting of the Community Asset Transfer from the Council is the first step on our next exciting journey.”
Director Kate Wimpress added: “The bright blue NEA building has been a beacon of hope for many throughout the lockdown. Alongside our COVID activity of the last four months we have been working closely with Council colleagues to share and establish our vision of a world class creative hub for the next generation of North Edinburgh residents.
“Today’s endorsement from the Council takes us one step closer to this vision becoming a reality.”
