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Bob Jefferson
Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Location: Planet Porty
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 Posted: 10/11/2007 14:12 Post subject: |
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Extract from a letter to the Evening Dispatch from Captain C W Lamb on 12 September 1934.
| Quote: | Portobello is known mostly on account of it being a seaside resort. It has, however, many other attractions which are apt to go unnoticed by the majority of the visitors. It may even be said that many of the residents are unaware of the somewhat out of the way amenities which surround them on almost every hand.
For Instance, I don’t think there is another district of Edinburgh so well provided with public parks and gardens. In a Sunday evening walk not long ago I counted four, all within a few minutes walk of each other. They are not large parks or gardens, but they are exceedingly well-cared for and attractive. The largest of them is also a golf course, and although somewhat flat and open, it is in many ways a pleasant course to play on.
Tucked away in an unfrequented corner at the end of Brighton Crescent there are the charming little gardens of Rosefield. A little burn runs through the north-west corner of the gardens and is crossed by a rustic bridge where lovers may have all the solitude and sylvan scenery they desire. The gardens lead to a fine group of tennis courts which are available for public use.
On regaining Brighton Place one comes on a most refreshing and pleasing sight. Stretched out in crescent shape are the beautiful gardens which border Brighton Place on one side and East Brighton Crescent on the other. Although these gardens are open daily to the public, they are so well cared for and trim that they might be part of some private mansion. The beautiful clusters of variegated blooms set off the brilliant green of the lawn which forms the centre of the park.
Turning into the Joppa Road, a short walk eastward brings the wayfarer to another pleasant little park with quiet walks and flowering borders. So that for the tired visitor or the resident who takes an afternoon or evening ‘constitutional,’ there are plenty of pleasant retreats all within a small area where they may sit down and take their ease in an atmosphere of beauty and seclusion. |
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Bob Jefferson
Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Location: Planet Porty
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| Posted: 10/11/2007 14:24 Post subject: |
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Along with the Clay Pits, the Corporation had also acquired Joppa Quarry in 1933. By 1938 most of the quarry had been filled with screened refuse and the Council granted an application from the Scottish Womens Hockey Union for a lease on the ground, with the prospect of international games being played there.
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Bob Jefferson
Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Location: Planet Porty
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| Posted: 10/11/2007 14:38 Post subject: |
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On Saturday, 30 April 1938 the new public park to be know as the Figgate Burn Recreation Area was officially opened by ex-Lord Provost Sir Thomas Whitson.
| Quote: | Sir Thomas Whitson recalled how, as Convener of the Housing and Town-Planning Committee, he had seen the devastation of the land caused by the clay-pit at Portobello and had suggested that it should be filled up and laid out with a view to enhancing the beauty of the place. He had further suggested that all the burns or water-ways within the city area should, so far as possible, have pathways alongside their whole length for the benefit of those who cared to take walks far removed from the danger and noise of motor cars.
A pathway the whole length of this burn could not be made at once, although large stretches of the burn were already in the hands of the Corporation and the State; but a very keen eye should be kept upon all the property through which the burn flowed, so that when there was a change of ownership the city should step in and acquire as much of the burn and its banks as would make such a beautiful walk possible. Indeed, under the powers conferred by the Town and County Planning Act 1932, it would be possible to insure that nearly the whole length of the burn would be kept open for all time. |
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Bob Jefferson
Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Location: Planet Porty
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| Posted: 10/11/2007 14:43 Post subject: |
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By October 1939 trench shelters had been constructed in Brighton Park and Abercorn Park, providing accomodation for a total of 800 persons.
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Bob Jefferson
Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Location: Planet Porty
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| Posted: 10/11/2007 14:47 Post subject: |
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In 1942 Scots papermaking businesses were experimenting with making paper from the common nettle.
| Quote: | | Mr John T, Jeffrey, Superintendent of Parks, Edinburgh, stated yesterday that an acre and a half of nettles are being planted in Joppa quarry, which was formerly used as a "loom" for city refuse. He emphasised that the ground is not suitable for food cultivation. "No one must think," he said, "that we are curtailing any area that might be used for the production of food." The nettles which are being planted have been obtained from some of the woodlands within the city and from places where they are growing wild. '"We are to be allowed the cost of production," Mr Jeffrey added. "and if we get that, with a little profit for the ratepayers, all the better." |
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