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:
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.
