Left to right: Julie Mair, Becky Stewart, BBC's Judith Ralston who presented the award and Rebecca McCosh.
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Luke Jackson
Newtongrange train station has undergone a transformation this year, and it’s not just local commuters that have praised the makeover. The Newtongrange Guerrilla Gardeners, responsible for the eco takeover, have now been recognised and rewarded at a national level, as they scooped the Community Project of the Year title at the ScotRail in the Community Awards.
From the moment passengers alight from the train, visitors to the Midlothian village are greeted by a wide variety of butterfly and bee friendly plants and flowers in planters and beds around the platform, car park and surrounding areas. It’s all down to the hard work of the Newtongrange Guerrilla Gardeners who for the past year have been litter-picking, digging, weeding, planting, watering, sowing and growing.
According to volunteer Rebecca McCosh, taking over Newtongrange train station as part of ScotRail’s Adopt a Station initiative wasn’t just about the physical transformation of the station, it was also about transforming people’s attitudes.
“Neighbours who have never spoken before have come together and new friendships have been forged. Some have learned new skills, some have grown in confidence and some have enjoyed a real boost to their mental health by connecting with nature. Others have benefited from the feelgood factor that comes from giving back to your local community, and many have been inspired and empowered by the fact they can make a real difference to their local area and to the environment” she said.
Today, Newtongrange train station is a shining example of what happens when locals take pride in their community. Their key strength is their diversity – the Newtongrange Guerrilla Gardeners consist of volunteers of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. Commuters, home workers, retired pensioners and young school children work together to water the flowers and maintain the area. And it was this intergenerational collaboration that stood out to the judges. Not only did it earn them the crown for Community Project of the Year, they also took home the silver award in the Station of the Year category.
“We’re delighted to take home these awards – it’s testament to the hard work that all the volunteers have put in this year” said volunteer Becky Stewart. And their hard work won’t stop there. “We’re excited to add yet more colour and interest to the station in spring 2025” added volunteer Julie Mair. So commuters keep your eyes peeled!
The Newtongrange Guerrilla Gardeners is a voluntary group established in 2021. Volunteers were united by a vision of brightening up the Midlothian village, making it a greener and more welcoming place for all. Their aim is to provide an opportunity for locals to work together to transform public spaces and boost the well-being of all villagers. Today, the Newtongrange Guerrilla Gardeners maintain a number of areas around the village, including a thriving community garden which provides fresh produce to residents free of charge, provides valuable educational opportunities for local children, and plays host to a calendar of inclusive community events.
For further information, follow the Newtongrange Guerrilla Gardeners on Facebook.
This article has been written by Midlothian View reader Hazel Thomson with memories from Barbara Dickson, now in her 90s living in Australia.
A hundred years after forming, Borthwick & District Pipe Band played in Gorebridge to celebrate the switch on of the Christmas lights.
The band originally started as a Fushiebridge Band but later became Borthwick. Memories from the bands early days have been shared by Barbara Dickson, now in her 90s living in Australia. Her father, Alex Hennessey was one of the original members led by Pipe Major Halliday who was ex Army trained and a strict disciplinarian. Alex later went on to become Pipe Major. When the band started, Alex, his brother Angus, brother-in-law William Duncan, also two cousins, Jock and Andrew Pearson, were all members so it was quite a family affair.
The population of Fushiebridge, Middleton and Gorebridge was very small in 1924 so it was a hard task to raise money for their uniforms so lots of activities were arranged and collections continued until they were finally paid. Eventually, on a bright summer’s day in 1924, the band paraded in Gorebridge in their splendid new uniforms of Royal Stewart tartan. Borthwick Pipe Band has been well known in Gorebridge and area, playing at Gorebridge Galadays for many years, flower shows, fetes, also Sale of Work days at Borthwick Church – lots more too numerous to mention, although there was one very special occasion at Dirleton to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation in 1953.
Borthwick Band had many loyal members from the local area over the years. As time went on, Alex’s three sons joined the band. Drew taught the drummers, Dave and Stewart the pipers. At one stage in the band, Alex’s three sons, two nephews, two cousins were in the band – all Hennesseys. Dave Hennessey was Pipe Major until he died.
The band was originally supported by local miners so the loss of the mining industry was also a huge loss to the pipe band. Despite that the band continued and in the 1980s the band formed a firm bond with the Trommler Pfeifer und FanfarenCorps from Hoengen in Germany and the two bands enjoyed regular exchange visits.
Sadly, when Covid hit, it decimated the band and it was effectively mothballed. However, against all the odds, they have now reformed under the leadership of new Pipe Major, Chris Crawford who played in the band from the age of 10 years. As well as him, other players who played in the band as children are also on board – Alistair McNeil (previous pipe major), his daughter Vicky McLean, Lead Drummer Lee Noon along with Callum Murdoch.
Chris recently commented: “We are progressing at quite a rate with 40 members already between learners and players. We practice every Wednesday in Gorebridge Church Hall from 18:30-21:00. We are so excited about the future and are very confident we can guide the band to be bigger and better than ever before. The future is looking good for Borthwick & District Pipe Band.”
Just as they did in the early days, the band are currently fundraising so that they can provide uniforms. They have a proud history and over the years have taught the art of playing pipes and drums to many people of all ages.
You can donate on their Just Giving page HERE
The ROC Bunker, beside the shale bing at West Calder
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
As the bleak BBC Nuclear drama Threads marks it’s 40th anniversary, the Local Democracy Reporting Service looks at details of West Lothian’s response to the terrors of the Cold War and the possibility of a nuclear war – including a secret nuclear panic room under the then county council offices, and a terrifying recruitment drive at the local cinema.
It is a television drama that has gone down in history as perhaps the most terrifying programme ever created by the BBC. Made at a tie when the Cold War between the USA and Russia was escalating, Threads shocked British audiences with its stark portrayal of a nuclear attack on 1980s Britain, and the aftermath.
While the drama, recently re-screened for it’s 40th anniversary, has become the stuff of legend however, the very real, often alarming preparations for a nuclear attack have often been lost.
There’s very little left now of what was the former West Lothian County Council emergency bunker, built in 1935 at the County Buildings in Linlithgow.
The bomb-proof basement was the designated Area Control Room for civil defence. It had a separate air filtration system, so that in the event of a nuclear explosion, the county administration could continue.
In an emergency they would have housed wireless operators and telephonists to take and pass on messages, and been a base for the Scientific Sub-section which would monitor radiation and fall-out. There was also a training centre in Linlithgow.
The bunker itself has long been dismantled, lost to time – but remnants do remain, and were still kept in the County Buildings until the Tam Dalyell partnership opened in 2018.
These include a table of information on radiation doses. The Civil Defence map was also still on display in what was once the information room. This would have allowed damage and emergency services to be plotted.
The symbols to be used; severe fire, roadblocks – acute hospitals, emergency feeding centre, public or communal shelters (underground), nuclear burst fallout.
There was also the Nuclear Weapons Burst Board, a blackboard where information on bursts – the term used to describe nuclear blasts- were to be scribbled.
Now these pieces are all part of the council’s vast archive, most of which is never put on public display.
Managing the response was the job of the Civic Defence Corps, and they had a very interesting approach to recruitment at the start of the cold war.
Cinema audiences turning out on a Spring night in 1953 to see War of the Worlds, with Gene Barry and Ann Robinson at the Bathgate Regal would have been a little alarmed to be met by volunteers of the local Civil Defence Corps.
The volunteers were “armed” with Geiger counters – a noisy device with a high pitched squeal which warns of lethal radiation.
The Technicolor film version of HG Wells’ story shows the world almost destroyed by a Martian invasion force. At a time which had seen the Americans and Russians explode nuclear bombs launching an arms race which threatened the end of the world , it was a blunt recruiting stunt.
How successful it was is unknown, but public belief that a nuclear attack could be survived waned quickly and volunteers dried up within a decade.
They were only a part of West Lothian’s involvement in preparing Scotland for a nuclear attack however.
Of the 1,563 underground bunkers built throughout the UK, three were in West Lothian, including West Calder.
These monitoring posts were built to a standard design with a 14-foot access shaft leading to a concrete room with a chemical toilet and store, and a monitoring room. They were designed to hold 3-4 people and survive nuclear fallout.
Almost half of the monitoring posts were closed down during a restructuring of the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) in 1968 – including a post in Bathgate. Posts in Bo’ness and West Calder operated until the ROC was stood down in 1991.
You can still see the concrete “box” that was West Calder’s ROC post lying on its side in a field beside the remnants of the Hermand shale bing it had been buried in, in 1959.
The Hermand post was part of the ROC No.24 group, whose headquarters were in a bunker beneath RAF Turnhouse. Each monitoring post consisted of a small room within a reinforced concrete box, covered by at least three feet of soil and accessed through a manhole and a 19ft long vertical steel ladder.
This was to provide some protection against a nuclear blast and reduce exposure to radiation. Little showed above the surface other than filter equipment to cleanse incoming air and monitoring equipment. At times of threat, the posts were manned by part-time volunteers of the ROC.
Each post was equipped with bunk beds, a chemical toilet and had ration packs containing biscuits, steak and kidney pudding, tea, sugar, milk, etc, which would sustain three men without contact with the outside world for three days.
In the event of a nuclear attack, the monitoring post would report levels of radiation, other measurements, and readings from the Ground Zero Indicator (GZI).
This was a metal drum lined with photographic paper which sat atop the bunker. The developed photograph showed the intensity and direction of the blast.
The West Calder post was abandoned in 1991, and up until 2005 it was still possible to climb down into the bunker and survey a scatter of papers and furniture. A portrait of the Queen still hung on the wall.
Further along the A71, RAF Kirknewton also played an important role in the Cold War. In 1949 the Civil Defence Joint Planning Staff recommended the creation of “protected control rooms with signal communications at local authority, zone, region and central government level”.
One of these regional headquarters (Scottish Eastern Zone) was located in Kirknewton.
During the 1950s and Sixties the RAF station was also home to the US Air Force and, by extension, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as a communications tracking station focused on Russia and the Eastern bloc.
Kirknewton’s nuclear command centre was built in 1953, decommissioned in 1993, and after various other uses the building was demolished in 2003.
Today West Lothian Council may not have a nuclear panic room – but it still has an emergency planning officer.
Caroline Burton, told the LDRS: “The preparation and response to emergencies is underpinned by The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) (Scotland) Regulations 2005.
“The legislation seeks to minimise disruption in the event of an emergency and to ensure that the UK is better prepared to deal with a range of emergencies and their consequences.
“Resilience in Scotland takes an ‘all-risks’ approach and is based on the doctrine of Integrated Emergency Management (IEM). Whilst emergencies can be caused by a wide range of factors, the effects will often share similar consequences.
“The aim of IEM is to develop flexible and adaptable arrangements for dealing with emergencies, whether foreseen or unforeseen and regardless of cause.
“The council works with a wide range of agencies, including emergency services, utilities, the voluntary sector in preparing for emergencies and the multi-agency response to them.”
Don’t have nightmares.
