A visual legacy celebrating a project aimed at restoring seagrass and oysters to the Firth of Forth has been unveiled.
The mural in the grounds of the Heart of Newhaven Community Centre celebrates the innovative Restoration Forth initiative which aims to bring back seagrass meadows and European flat oysters to the waterway.
Edinburgh based mural artist and illustrator Natasha Russell was commissioned by the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh to bring to life the restoration activities across the Forth.
Local residents, alongside pupils from Victoria Primary School, attended workshops to explore what the themes and design of the artwork would be.
Artist Natasha Russell said: “It’s been an absolute pleasure to work with the local community and Restoration Forth, RBGE and Heart of Newhaven in order to design this mural.
“Through creating the artwork we wanted to celebrate and help to spark interest in the return of oysters to the Firth of Forth and the ways that they can benefit local communities once again by enhancing water quality and supporting biodiversity. The mural also looks to capture the story of how the oysters in the Forth used to support fishing communities in Newhaven and highlights how our relationship with this species has changed over time.
“Through painting the mural at the Heart of Newhaven we hope to support the lively environment of this community space and to make an artwork that is accessible to the wide range of people who pass this wall.”
Workshop participant Beth Cockerline said: “It was so lovely to come together to discuss the mural , the local community and learn about the beauty and importance of the oysters.
“I’ve been telling everyone how cool and vital they are.”
Workshop participant Lucy Neville said: “I have loved the opportunity to be involved in the mural workshops. The Forth was once such a biodiverse estuary filled with life that supported us communities.
“Volunteering with Restoration Forth has given me the faith that it can be that way again. And the mural will be a daily reminder of our history, present and potential future, as a community that is part of the river and sea.”
Heart of Newhaven is a community hub for the Restoration Forth project, aiming to engage local people with efforts to restore and enhance the Firth of Forth.
Judy Crabb, Chair of Heart of Newhaven said: “It is a great privilege for us to be the location for a beautiful mural that represents such an important part of the heritage of this area. We can’t wait to share it with everyone that visits the Heart for years to come.”
The oyster beds around the Firth of Forth were some of the most famous in Scotland over the 17th and 18th centuries. Oysters were significant for jobs, the economy and diet in the local Newhaven and Leith areas.
The ‘Newhaven Fishwives’ would sell oysters around Edinburgh and were a prominent part of the community. Some records show that nearly 30 million oysters were fished from the Firth of Forth annually. Unfortunately, overfishing and industrial development led to the local extinction of oysters in the area.
We now understand a lot more about the benefits of oysters within an ecosystem. Where there are oyster reefs, you can also find juvenile fish, crabs, sea snails, sponges and more! By reintroducing European flat oysters to the Firth of Forth, we’re creating a sanctuary for a vast array of marine life. Recent research suggests that by restoring healthy oyster beds, biodiversity could potentially double over a 10-year period.
Restoration Forth was recently announced as a finalist at the Nature of Scotland Awards.
The aim of Restoration Forth, a partnership with communities and organisations, is to restore 4 hectares of seagrass meadows and European flat oyster beds in the Firth of Forth. Partners delivering Restoration Forth include WWF, Edinburgh Shoreline, Fife Coast & Countryside Trust, Heriot Watt University, Marine Conservation Society, Project Seagrass, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scottish Seabird Centre, The Ecology Centre, and The Heart of Newhaven Community.
This three-year programme has been made possible by funding from Aviva, the Moondance Foundation, the ScottishPower Foundation, and Sky; this project is also supported by the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund, facilitated by the Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund, and managed by NatureScot.
PICTURE: ANDREW PERRY
Victoria Primary School Head Teacher Rhian Chapman cuts the ribbon with some of the pupils that were involved in the mural design workshops
We are excited to invite you to our Doors Open Day
on Saturday 28th September & Sunday 29th September 10am – 4pm
Join us for a day filled with fun activities, delicious food and music. Explore our vibrant community, tour the building and grounds and dabble in some of the workshops on offer.
Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to celebrate with us and be sure to arrive in time for the Unveiling of our new Oyster Mural at 11:00 on Saturday !
We will be open from 10am – 4pm on both Saturday 28th September and Sunday 29th September 2024.
You can find our more details about the event and sign up to workshops here :
We’re so delighted to share that after a 100 year absence, native oysters have now returned to the Firth of Forth!
Restoration Forth is a major marine restoration programme working with communities to restore seagrass habitats and return 30,000 native oysters to the Firth of Forth
Caitlin Godfrey, Marine Conservation Society’s Shellfish Engagement Officer said: “It’s so exciting that the first native oysters are now in their new home.
“Alongside seagrass meadows, they will play a crucial role in bringing the estuary back to life.”
Read more about this exciting development over on our blog
It’s July: a year since we got the keys to the Heart, a year to celebrate!
Summer is well and truly with us, and of course summer often means there is less happening, as everyone takes advantage of the good weather and the school holidays. So things have gone a little quieter at the Heart too, but that doesn’t mean there’s no news at all.
We have splendid news on the childcare front.
Daddy Daycare Edinburgh are opening a new childcare service at the Heart in August. They are providing after-school care for Trinity and Victoria primary schools and will be providing holiday clubs for all school children starting in October.
They have an open afternoon on Tuesday 15th August so check out their website to find out more:
The Ecology Centre is running a seagrass seed survey on 8th July to investigate the reproductive state of the seagrass meadow on Burntisland Sands where participants can expect to further their seagrass knowledge and develop skills in ecological surveying. These events are limited to 12 people each, so register your space by visiting The Ecology Centre’s What’s On page.
For those of you who have been involved in the project so far, there will be a creative social event at the Royal Botanic Gardens on Sunday 9th July. Come along and meet others who have been taking part and create some Restoration Forth artwork together.
Where: The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh – Registration:Eventbrite
Contribute to Heart Events
We continually receive questions about what is happening at the Heart. Well, that may be one question that you can answer. Trustee Norma Johnston leads the community projects team and would like to hear from you. Get in touch with her and join her band of local volunteers who are brainstorming ideas and helping organise events. It’s your community hub, so have a say in what happens in it. Contact Norma at norma.johnston@heartofnewhaven.co.uk
Dementia-Friendly Tea & Blether
On Wednesday, 5th July we hosted a themed conversation over a cuppa to imagine and create the new Dementia Meeting Centre, set to open in The Heart.
Meeting Centres are local resources where people living with dementia, unpaid carers, and families can access friendly, community-based support designed around their needs. They provide a social space where people with dementia and their loved ones can meet others and participate in activities they enjoy, based on their interests.
The event was attended by a group of 12, including volunteers, HONC staff, people living with dementia, and family members. The chat focused on getting to know one another and interest was expressed in gardening, themed conversations with tea and cake, games like bingo, dominos, or walking football, music, dance, and arts activities.
We had some good laughs and enjoyed eating Lesley’s delicious, home-baked muffins. The suggestions from this will inform our next programme of dementia-friendly activities at The Heart.
We will meet again on Wednesday, 26th July, from 2 to 4 pm. If you have just received a diagnosis of dementia or are waiting for one, if you are a family member or a friend of a person living with dementia and would like to join, please get in touch!
We are also accepting donations to help purchase the games and art materials that would allow us to run our future dementia-friendly social activities. For any donations, expressions of interest, or questions, contact valeria.Lembo@heartofnewhaven.co.uk
Thank You Bright Green Environmental Solutions!
The Heart of Newhaven Community is incredibly grateful to Keirin Burns from BGE Solutions for the donation of 12 brilliant new chairs. They not only cater to the different access requirements of our visitors who attend our community activities but they are beautiful. We have already received positive feedback from those who have tried them out, and they find them very comfortable.
We would also like to extend ourgratitude to Fenella Kerr, a member of the Dementia Meeting Centre Advisory Group of The Heart of Newhaven, for connecting us with BGE Solutions.
With all the hot, sunny weather, our volunteer gardeners have been busy watering all the plant containers scattered about the grounds.
Here’s volunteer Judy Gray tending to some of the pots and lovely planters created by members of the Men’s Shed. You can order a planter for yourselves if you contact Men’s Shed in the Creel Building.
De-Cluttering
It may be summer, but some of our partners have been spring-cleaning. Some of them, notably the Men’s Shed and the History of Education Centre, will be holding a table top “sale” in the autumn when they will be offering up the gleanings from their tidying, but they are keen to start de-cluttering now, so get in touch with either of them and take the opportunity to pick up some excess tools, planters and other objects, old school scientific glassware perhaps suitable for vases or craftwork, or even illustrated books, all at bargain donation rates.
Get Creative
If you’re looking for something creative to do over the summer, then get in touch with our bookbinder Cass, who is running several workshops here at the Heart in July and August.
Choose from several different workshops – Bitesize Bookbinding: Exposed long stitch binding, Bitesize Bookbinding: Case binding, Botanical Bookbinding mini retreat, Bitesize Bookbinding: Japanese stab Binding and Screen Print & Bookbinding, a 2-day collaborative workshop with Lorna Brown of Ink on Mesh.
Finally, the next Leith folk club event is coming up on Tuesday 18 July, with young country singer Barbara Nesbitt swinging by as part of her UK tour.
The doors open at 7.30 for an 8pmstart. Advance booking isn’t usually necessary but it’s a good idea to drop a DM on the Leith Folk Club Facebook page to make sure they save you a seat.
Enjoy the rest of the summer and save the date: the 9th September will be our second AGM. What a year it’s been!
What do you think makes a strong community? How can we improve or change things for the better? Are you interested in climate and environmental issues?
You are warmly invited to come along to a relaxed and informal workshop and be part of a conversation about these questions. We’ll have free refreshments on offer and the discussion will be supported by a couple of facilitators who will help guide the discussion. No previous knowledge is required, we simply hope you will bring along your thoughts, opinion insights and hopes for your community’s future.
Please let me know if you’d like to take part in one of these sessions by emailing lynne.porteous@heartofnewhaven.co.uk and letting me know whether the morning or evening workshop works best for you. Please also let us know if you have any specific dietary requirements.
This event is organised by Restoration Forth, Heart of Newhaven and WWF (World Wildlife Fund) to gather information on community resilience. Your contribution is voluntary and confidential, but the anonymised results from discussions will be used to build a better picture of people’s perceptions, attitudes and practices around the Firth of Forth and the local community
For those of you expecting to hear more about the Friendship Benches project, and perhaps even see some of the finished benches, prepare to be disappointed. Bad weather on the chosen weekend meant the decorating work could not go ahead outside as planned and has had to be postponed.
We’ll keep you updated on a revised timetable and let you know when the results can be seen.
Talking of delays, yet more problems with getting the new Victoria Primary School building ready for pupils, has meant that the earliest the Heart can expect to be in possession of the keys to the old site is now January 2022. We will of course update you when we have a more concrete timeline to share.
In the meantime however, time does not stand still. There is always work going on behind the scenes with the Trustees and volunteers, and new Working Groups are being formed to help make the transition from community vision to community reality.
These groups will be dealing with practical working arrangements for the site, community projects, and communications and marketing. If you would like to help out in any way, please use the Volunteering page on the website to get in touch.
Projects of course are always underway, despite Covid, especially as we ease out of full lockdown.
We recently collaborated with an exhibition entitled Forth Reflections, which was held in Ocean Terminal. Collaborators were Edinburgh Wellbeing PACT and the Forth/Edinburgh Shoreline Project.
This was an exhibition of crafted calico squares made by local residents, who used the squares to highlight a particular stretch of the Forth coast that meant something special to them.
They were used creatively to highlight concerns about pollution but also to illustrate the importance of living near water and how it helps individual well-being. On hand to talk to visitors were some of the Heart’s Trustees and collaborators, who discussed what well-being, one of the Heart’s main community objectives, means and how it can be improved.
Here’s what some of the visitors said:
“Living near the sea, walking, wandering with that Scottish sea breeze, gives me life and energy and reminds me to breathe.”
“I love to look at the ocean because you can lose yourself there.”
“Such pleasure taken in lockdown walking by the sparkling sea, such sadness at the pollution.”
There was more support also, for the Heart of Newhaven Community project as a whole:
“I think the Heart of Newhaven is a very good idea for people to have somewhere to go after we have all been in isolation for so long and it will be very positive to move on.”
“There is a great need of places to go that are suitable for people with disabilities. During lockdown there was nowhere to go and it’s taking time for people to feel comfortable about going out again.”
“The Newhaven area needs a community centre – there is nothing like that here.”
It is exciting to be able to report that the Heart is one of six designated community hubs along the banks of the Forth chosen to host exhibitions and activities associated with the wider Restoration Forth programme.
Restoration Forth has obtained a substantial grant for the many facets it involves, including the restoration of seagrass beds which provide the right habitat for, among other things, the oysters that used to be so plentiful in the Firth.
You can read more about the project and the new funding here:
Heart of Newhaven Community is happy to be actively collaborating with such exciting initiatives and even more will be taking place once we’re in our new home.
Remember as ever, to check the Heart of Newhaven Community website and social media for any updates or news.
Seagrass meadows and oysters are being put on the path to recovery in the Firth of Forth in a major marine restoration project – supported by the ScottishPower Foundation – that will enhance the local environment and help tackle climate change.
Announced days before the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference gets underway in Glasgow, ‘Restoration Forth’ will see up to £600,000 awarded over three years from the Foundation’s Marine Biodiversity Fund, which was created to mark the year of COP.
The first award from the fund – and the biggest-ever grant provided by the Foundation – Restoration Forth will be managed by WWF, the leading independent conservation organisation, in partnership with scientists, charities and local community groups. They will work together to design a blueprint to restore and sustainably manage seagrass and oyster habitats for a thriving Firth of Forth.
Often described as the ocean’s unsung hero, seagrass provides important habitat for marine life and is an incredible tool in the fight against climate change. Oyster reefs – which once flourished in the Forth – remove pollutants and provide sanctuary for a vast array of marine life.
Working closely with local communities, the restoration of these two species will enhance the coastal and marine environment of the Forth, support nature-based solutions to address climate change, and create opportunities for local people to reconnect with the sea.
ScottishPower Foundation’s grant is the first funding contribution towards the £2.4 million total cost of the project, which aims to restore up to four hectares of seagrass and 10,000 oysters per year by the end of 2024.
Ricardo Zanre, WWF’s Ocean Restoration Programme Managersaid:“Coastal habitats like seagrass meadows and oyster reefs are vital to a thriving marine environment but across the UK we’ve seen their steep decline over the last century.
“This is a concerning loss in so many ways – for the homes they provide for marine life, their value in absorbing carbon dioxide and improving water quality and their importance as heritage for coastal communities.
“The Forth is an amazing example of a place where local communities working to restore coastal habitats can not only help to bring back these benefits, but also to strengthen the connection between nature and community. We’re hugely grateful to the ScottishPower Foundation for sharing this vision and their support in helping to achieve it”
Melanie Hill, Executive Officer and Trustee of the ScottishPower Foundation, said:“We’re really excited that Restoration Forth is the first project supported by our Marine Biodiversity Fund. With COP26 about to get underway, the climate emergency is very much at the forefront of all our thoughts and there is no time to waste.
“This project – supported by the biggest-ever grant awarded by the Foundation – is a great example of how we can take action now to restore our coastal habitats. Thriving marine environments are crucial if we are to tackle the biodiversity and climate crises and Restoration Forth will allow us to make a positive impact in partnership with local people and communities, who are at the heart of the Foundation’s work.
“A large part of our funding will go towards developing a skills development programme for local communities to protect their restored coastal environment. This incredible work in the Firth of Forth will provide a blueprint for restoring ecosystems through a collaborative community approach.
“It has the potential to be used as a model for marine biodiversity restoration projects across Scotland and around the world, ensuring the Foundation will help create a positive climate legacy for years to come. That’s exactly what we wanted to achieve when we created our new fund and why we’re so proud to work with so many esteemed partners to help turn this project from a vision into a reality.”
Partners supporting WWF to deliver Restoration Forth include Edinburgh Shoreline Project, Fife Coast & Countryside Trust, Heriot Watt University, Marine Conservation Society, Project Seagrass, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scottish Seabird Centre, The Ecology Centre, The Heart of Newhaven Community and Wardie Bay Beachwatch.
The ScottishPower Foundation was established in 2013 to make a significant and lasting contribution to society, enhancing the lives of people living in communities throughout the UK. It provides funding to help support the advancement of education, environmental protection, arts and culture and citizenship. It also supports charities who aim to provide relief from poverty, disability, or other disadvantages.
Help us to restore native oysters to the Firth of Forth for the first time in 100 years!! 
