Friends of Corstorphine Hill

The Friends is a group of people who have joined together to help look after the Corstorphine Hill area, for the benefit of people, animals, plants and the landscape. We organise practical activities such as tidying-up and planting, improving paths and signs; we run guided walks and evening talks. Our longer-term aims include developing the old walled garden at Hillwood, and the old nursery at Beechhill, and raising funds for an education centre.

LATEST NEWS

Ten Years and Celebrating

On August 8th, this year, we were very lucky to have picked one of the few perfectly sunny days this summer, to celebrate our 10th Anniversay 'Open Day' in the Walled Garden and on the Hill. I think some one up above very kindly answered our prayers. Our President, Councillor Paul Edie, led by our piper, pro

udly unveiled the Green Pennant and started the festivities. The Walled Garden is the first and only garden to have the Green Pennant which is a national award that recognises high quality green spaces managed by voluntary and community groups.

Our entertainment for the day was the fabulous Forth Valley Ladies Chorus who were brilliant and judging by the audience they were much appreciated. The ponies had a busy time taking the the children for short rides and judging by the smiles on the children’s faces they had a great time. Other young children stood patiently in a line to have their faces painted by Caroline and Jennifer, little girls waiting to be turned into fairies and butterflies and the boys to spider man or have the Scottish saltire painted on their faces, they all looked lovely. The bus to the Tower was well used and Jim and Jamie transported many people up the Hill where directed by Martin and his crew they saw the beautiful views of Edinburgh and the horizons.

All the gazebos were kept busy. The Friends' table was manned by Fred and Irene who sold our books and gave out brochures and encouraged new members to join us. Two of our committee members, Les and Brian, gave information on problems of plants and trees on the hill and garden. The rangers service was represented by our friend David Kyles and the Corstorphine Historical Trust also told us about their services. The tombola ably manned by Margaret and Mairi had many happy people winning some nice prizes, and there were not many people who did not sample an ice cream from Mr & Mrs "LUCAS", alias Pete and Sally. Cool bottles of water, orange juice and/or a glass of wine were also much appreciated on such a nice warm day and Jennifer, Anne and William made excellent bar staff.

It was lovely to see people relaxing in the Walled Garden listening to the chorus or the background skirl of the pipes, a good day enjoyed by all captured on video by our photographer Eddie MacLennan for posterity. The following evening we held a dinner in The Best Western Capitol Hotel which with the excellent help from the hotel staff and the entertainers, was enjoyed by all. A very successful raffle was run by Gordon, from which we donated £320 to the Carricknowe Dementia Jubilee Club.

Over all the weekend went well, so much so that we received many letters of thanks for the celebrations; I would like to share one of them with you.

"I am writing to thank you all for a wonderful week-end , even the weather was kind on Saturday. Ten years and you have achieved so much with all your hard work and enthusiasm. We are all so lucky having the hill on our door step and becoming a friend gives us a sense of belonging to and being part of something really special, you should all be so proud, not for all the accolades you have received but the legacy you will leave to the residents of Corstorphine to enjoy the hill and the peace and tranquillity of the walled garden just as so many do just now."

As you all know, the Friends group is very much a community group and will continue to bring all our members together as often as possible. Although the Hill has improved over the years, we still have a long way to go and look forward to your continued dialogue in the future.

On the Situation Regarding the Zoo and Local Plan

May I remind you about the whole story of the Zoo’s proposals for building 100 plus houses on a strip of their ground parallel to Kaimes Road. After first accepting this plan, the Council responded to the strong local feeling against a housing estate on the Zoo’s land and deleted it from the Local Plan. The Zoo naturally objected. The issue went to a day’s Hearing by the two Reporters appointed to report on the controversial points in the Local Plan. The Friends of Corstorphine Hill co-ordinated a combined response by the local organisations – Corstorphine and Murrayfield Community Councils, the Corstorphine Trust, the Friends and the Kaimes Road residents’ group.

At the Hearing, the Council relied heavily on our arguments. In due course the Reporters produced their Report to the Council on the Local Plan. The Council does not have to accept the Reporters’ recommendations, but has to pay a lot of attention to them. In the section on HSG 15 – the Zoo’s proposals – the Reporters said that the Zoo should not be allowed the flats they proposed along their Corstorphine Road frontage or the houses on the upper part of the Hill, because both of these parts of the plan would have been very harmful to the appearance of the area. They also opposed the Zoo’s proposed major road junction on Corstorphine Road with one road carrying the in and out traffic of the Zoo, the hotel and the 100 houses. However, they were sympathetic to the Zoo’s financial problems and agreed to a “more limited housing allocation on surplus Zoo land with substantially fewer houses” and “strictly limited to only the middle part of the objection site” around the entrance from Kaimes Road.

While our local coalition welcomed the proposed reduction in the number of houses, we still felt very strongly that as a principle we opposed any houses being built on the Green Belt and Nature Reserve on Corstorphine Hill. In writing and as a deputation, we argued the case for no houses to the Planning Committee. Meanwhile the Planning officials had interpreted the Reporters’ Report as allowing 80 houses spread over about 80% of the original site. Unfortunately the majority of the Committee voted for the officials’ proposals.

We feel this is a serious distortion of the Reporters’ recommendations and will continue to argue, whenever the Council procedures permit, that there should be far fewer than 80 houses on the site, if we cannot achieve our goal of no houses at all.

Potential Problems Anticipated to Result from the Zoo Master Plan

The article (Newsletter No. 31) on the potential problems anticipated to result from the Zoo Master Plan can be found on this link, with the accompanying map on this link, both as pdf files (18kB and 473kB).

History Book

Since publication of our book in April, the sales have exceeded our expectations. To date we have sold over 400 copies. It is testament to the writing skills of our author Alison that every person who has read it has thoroughly enjoyed the journey. Local sales have been excellent thanks to the Corstorphine Library and the Dower House. Postal sales have also been good with a number of copies being sent down south and elsewhere in Scotland. With Christmas on the horizon, do you know someone who would like a copy?

Corstorphine Hill - The Finest Views The Eye Can Feast On
Published 4th April 2008 by 'The Friends of Corstorphine Hill'
48pp, 15 colour illustrations, 18 black & white.
Price £5 plus postage and packing £1-50 (UK) £2-80 overseas airmail.

Copies can be obtained from Fred Davies (old fashioned contact details in Newsletter No. 31) or ordered through any member of the committee.

Online Survey

City of Edinburgh Council would like to know what you think about your local park or greenspace. You can submit feedback using their on-line Parks and Greenspace Survey. It will be accessible throughout the next year, so please re-visit it whenever there is something about Corstorphine Hill that you would like to comment (or indeed any of Edinburgh's parks and greenspaces). For instance, is it a wildlife haven or a waste ground? Do you love it or loathe it? Is it litter-strewn or is it litter free? Would it be improved by restrictions on mountain bikers?

Countryside Ranger Service - Volunteers

The City of Edinburgh Council Countryside Ranger Service is also looking for volunteers. More details can be found on this link (26kB pdf).

EVENTS UPDATE

Evening talks

A winter programme of evening talks has been arranged for the season 2009/20109. Topics include 'History of Cramond', 'Houses of Corstorphine Hill', 'Medicinal Herbs' and a visit to 'Beechwood House' . Further details can be found at this link.

Guided walks

A summer programme of guided walks has been arranged for the season 2009. Guided walk topics include "Birds", "Natives, Naturalised and Nasties", "Medicinal Plants", "Badgers", "Storytelling in the Walled Garden", "Butterflies, Bees and Beasties" and "Fungal Foray". Further details can be found at this link.

The walks this year have been well attended and blessed with good weather. In early May we had a bird-watching walk when jays and buzzards were seen. In late May Brian Moffat took us for a comprehensive tour of the wildflowers of Corstorphine Hill, which he has been studying for the last 2 years. He hopes to produce a species list and eventually a pictorial guide on our web-site. In June, Sarah Clarkson gave us another informative tour, this time of medicinal herbs that grow on the Hill and their various uses in Herbal Medicine. In July, and again in August, because of demand, Trish Alderson of Edinburgh and Lothian Badger Watch led evening badger watches, and each time we were able to see wild badgers at close range as they emerged from the sett. Later in July, Kirsty Straughan led a storytelling afternoon for young children in the Walled Garden. In August, the day after the very successful Open Day, Gordon Swann led a hunt for bugs, butterflies and bees for children of all ages, in the Walled Garden. In September, David Adamson repeated his very popular Fungus Foray, to close our season.

Tower

The plan is to open the Tower on Sundays at fortnightly intervals throughout the summer. Further details at this link.

Our volunteers have opened the Tower every 2 weeks on Sundays from 2-4 pm, May until October. We had extra open days in July for Homecoming, in August for the Open Day, and in September for Edinburgh Doors Open Day. There have been many more visitors this year than last, more than 50 in an afternoon on several occasions.

GET INVOLVED...

Volunteers

please let us know ... many hands make light work ... and you will be made most welcome.

Friends membership renewal

The fee is £1 per member per year. Donations are also always very welcome! Please hand in your name(s) and fee(s) to any of the committee members.