NEWSLETTER - APRIL 2003

Spring Update

Our second Newsletter each year normally confirms the details of the Annual General Meeting and gives advance notice of any projects that are being arranged for the spring and summer months - information on both topics is included on these pages.

Since the previous issue, we have held an interesting Members' Evening at which Charles Summers of the Midlothian Camera Club gave a presentation of "Midlothian - old and new'. Archival photographs were directly compared with their modem equivalents - often a surprisingly encouraging comparison, with tranquil sylvan scenes along the clean-flowing River Esk widely replacing the heavy pollution from the 'dark, satanic mills' of yesteryears.

Then in March we had another enjoyable annual Wine and Cheese Party. Once again our thanks go to Maggie Brown who catered so well for us and transformed the starkness of St. Leonard's Church Hall into an attractive and welcoming ambience. Maggie is now standing down from her duties and we shall miss her very considerable skills at these popular events.

Mention above of the "clean-flowing River Esk" reminds us that it does not happen by chance, and a huge amount of litter is swept downstream during flood conditions. Our first project this year will be to repeat our 2000 river clean-up from Polton to Kevock, where again there is a "high tide-mark" of flotsam festooning the trees along the banks just like so much Monday washing.  

Hopefully the chosen date on Saturday, 10th May will still allow us to see this debris before it becomes obscured by leaf growth - and volunteers will no doubt greatly appreciate Claire Craig's helpful advice on page 3, which helps us to distinguish our indigenous valley flora from the highly-invasive and fast-growing Multi-Petalled Tesco Bag

Downriver in Lasswade Park, we are delighted by local Councillor Derek Milligan's personal initiative to refurbish the surroundings of the War Memorial, which for so long has been hidden from public view behind a holly hedge. Our location for the Jubilee Footbridge deliberately created the opportunity for a new viewpoint from the village and this has now been very tastefully accentuated by new paving and shrub plantings to give a pleasing visual environment for the monument.

Across the river on the village side, over the next couple of months there will also be a series of Society planting sessions in the new village Community Garden. These will be organised for small teams, and any gardening enthusiasts who would like to give a few hours of support for this venture should please contact Sarah Barron. As Sarah explains in her article overleaf, we are anxious that this garden should be an attractive focus for the village community and that its creation should widely involve our Members.

Finally your Committee would like to invite you to the 33rd Annual General Meeting, which this year is to be held on Tuesday, 29th April - details below and further information on page 4. 

B.D.

When you look at old photographs of Lasswade, you realise just how much it has changed over the years and how many buildings have been demolished. We are now down to our last shop and have a legacy of gaps sites which break the continuity of Main Street and Elm Row. The above gap site in the heart of the village is soon to become the Lasswade Community Garden. The site has been vacant for many years and is long overdue for improvement. Situated between the Post Office and the Laundry, which was once the Lasswade Town Hall, the proposed Community Garden will form a focal point in the centre of Lasswade. It is a vital link between the High Street, The Jubilee Footbridge leading to the War Memorial and Lasswade Public Park. In the longer term it will provide an important open space within the local path network along “The Esk Valley Way”.

The Community Garden will fulfill many roles, providing an attractive setting for travelers at the bus stop, a local information point, a seat in the sun, a stopping point for walkers, with a new pillar box and a brighter outlook for people using the Post Office or dining at the Laird and Dog, not to mention the visual benefits gained by the thousands of car users who will pass the Garden everyday. The sketch below illustrates the proposed garden layout.  The existing bus shelter will be removed and replaced with a new one, 

which will be stone built with a slate roof and repositioned against the neighbouring Post Office boundary. The new bus shelter will also provide a much needed information point. The current post box will be replaced with a genuine Victorian pillar box adjacent to the bus shelter and this whole area will be repaved with small unit paving blocks. The garden boundary along the road frontage will have a low stone built wall and railings to enclose the garden and safeguard children from the road traffic. The enclosed area will form a pleasing oval which will be set off by shrub beds around the garden edges. Other proposals include a special feature within the garden to celebrate the dedicated support of the late Peter Scola over more than twenty years of Society activities and burying a time capsule for future generations.

As many of you will have already spotted, much important work has already been undertaken by Midlothian Council on the opposite side of the Esk. The War Memorial has been realigned, its base repaved and it is now surrounded by a planting scheme which celebrates the work of the famous local plant collector George Forrest (1873-1932) who was born in Loanhead and lived in Lasswade. There will be an engraved stone set within the shrub bed to commemorate his life and work. It is a fantastic improvement and coupled with the Community Garden and new footbridge link it will revitalize the centre of Lasswade.