Here are this week's letters:

Clean energy 

I am pleased that East Lothian Council’s planning committee has approved plans by the owner of Staggs in Musselburgh to install solar panels on the pub’s roof.
I have lived in a listed building and support the idea of conservation. However, ever since the declaration of a climate emergency, I believe clean energy should take precedence over building conservation.
It is clear from your coverage of this application that the pub has been listed primarily for its interior and not its external appearance.
Rather than put obstacles in the way of people seeking clean energy, planners should applaud the applicant for seeking to decarbonise their business and being a role model to others. Any change to the visual appearance of the roof is insignificant compared with the consequences of climate change caused by a continued reliance on fossil fuels!
Jeremy Gass
Links Road
North Berwick


Traffic puzzle

I was intrigued by an item in the Courier on September 26 reporting that, following police speed checks on the A198 in Longniddry, “no offences were detected”.
On a quiet Saturday afternoon (October 5), I watched 50 consecutive vehicles (46 cars, two buses and two motorbikes) pass the speed-responsive sign on Haddington’s Station Road; 40 per cent of them triggered a flashing ‘Slow Down’, which I assume means they were exceeding the 20mph speed limit. 
Another 20 per cent approached the sign as part of a bunch of traffic that did not trigger the warning, the bunch presumably formed of vehicles inhibited from going faster by the leading vehicle.
The flashing sign is located just after a bend in an area that has several side junctions, as well as parked cars on both sides of the road – just the sort of place where paying attention to the 20mph limit might make the difference between a narrow escape and a serious accident. 
The 20mph restriction starts almost a mile up West Road near the retail park. Obeying the speed limit makes for a quieter, calmer and more pleasant town.
Donald Smith
Haddington


Save The Abbey

A unique property of huge historical significance in North Berwick is being quietly sold off by East Lothian Council (ELC). Many residents may be unaware of this cultural jewel in the public crown unless family or friends have benefited from its services.
The Abbey includes St Mary’s Priory, a medieval nunnery dating back about 900 years and a stopover for early Christians en route to St Andrews. This was North Berwick’s first stone building. Its walls still survive, yet you could easily pass by without noticing. The Abbey grounds are a designated scheduled monument of national significance with extensive burial grounds.
For the last 65 years, the site has been in local authority hands as a care home for elderly residents, allowing them to remain in their community. Peripheral areas have already been sold some years ago for private housing. 
The B-listed main building is surrounded by ancient walled gardens which, in a previous era, provided nuns with both food and medicinal herbs. Today, the gardens host North Berwick in Bloom and Herbspace, the latter offering vital wellbeing services to local young people.
ELC’s decision to close The Abbey care home and sell off this stunning site means the community is at risk of losing this asset for good. A closing date has just been set for October 23.
We are all aware of the budgetary situation ELC finds itself in and the resulting pressures to cut costs and generate revenue. Yet a strategy to dispose of such high-value community assets is both short-sighted and self-defeating. It offers enormous potential to create long-term value based on the very principles of community empowerment and wealth building that are central to the council’s latest policies.
As ELC is well aware, North Berwick Community Development Company has been working hard with local groups to develop a strategy based around The Abbey becoming a local hub for wellbeing. Any visitor will quickly sense its potential as a tranquil haven. However, the group needs time to engage with the wider community, refine its business plan and raise funds.
I would appeal to local politicians and ELC decision-makers, in particular the estates team, to reconsider their options for this property gem. 
I feel a strong duty to try and ensure such a historic and beautiful space, with its rich history of supporting public health services, is somehow retained for the benefit of future generations. Please support the campaign at nbabbeyfriends.org.uk
John Maslen
North Berwick


Kind person

I’d like to say ‘thank you’ to a kind, thoughtful person who lives in North Berwick. 
I was walking around the harbour area with my family on Friday, October 4 and tripped on uneven ground. 
I fell awkwardly and, in considerable pain and shock, I stayed on the ground until I felt able to stand up. 
A woman who lived nearby – having seen me fall – offered to bring a wheelchair from the Seabird Centre and tea or water while my husband brought the car from the car park. She came twice to check if there was anything she could do. 
I assured her that I was able to walk and thanked her very much. My injuries were minor cuts and grazes to hand and legs but also a broken rib which is still painful and will take some time to heal. 
I think the person who offered help lived at, or close to, the harbour and had young children playing nearby.
Liz Cunningham 
Haddington

Donors thanked

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who donated to my fundraising page for my recent cycle challenge from Marseille to Lyon in aid of St Columba’s Hospice, which I completed successfully. 
Four of the group also successfully reached the summit of Mont Ventoux but unfortunately I was not one of them, as the constant gradient of 8-10 per cent proved a challenge too far.
There were 12 of us cycling and, on arrival in Lyon, we had a celebratory final dinner in the evening, complete with Champagne, before making our way home the following day.
Together with additional donations from family and friends, I am on track to achieve my target of £2,000. I understand that my fundraising page will remain open for a few more weeks so if anyone still wishes to donate to this good cause, my fundraising page is at stcolumbashospicecare.enthuse.com/pf/paul-ince
Paul Ince
Links Road
Longniddry

Choir delight

I am writing to say how delighted I was to hear the Dutch Fishermen’s Choir singing in St Mary’s in Haddington.
They had been booked to sing in St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh but it was double-booked and St Mary’s accepted them.
After a difficult journey due to one-way streets and a massive bus with trailer, they arrived at St Mary’s.
In the meantime, we had a Scottish singsong with the congregation till they arrived and Provost McMillan introduced all 40 or thereabouts of them.
The volume of the singing and the organist who was an expert made it a great afternoon.
They wore their traditional costumes, with their wedding rings in a loop around their neck in case they were washed overboard and had to pay for their funerals if their bodies were found.
I wore a fisherman’s Gansey [jumper] as I was a researcher for the Scottish Fisheries Museum at Anstruther in the 1980s and 1990s and found out that some had purchased the ganseys from British knitters.
This year is the 200th anniversary of the RNLI and also the equivalent Dutch lifeboat service, the KNRM. I am a lifeboat governor and had both commemorations in book form photocopied to hand over to them before they returned to Holland at the weekend.
One story they told me (I’m ex-RAF) was that, in World War Two, when the RAF bombers flew over the Dutch coast, the Hook of Holland lighthouse man turned on the lights to let them know they had arrived but unfortunately the Germans found out and he was arrested and put in a PoW camp. All in all, it was St Mary’s gain and St Giles’ loss and is one event I am glad I didn’t miss!
Charlie Carruthers
Dunbar

 

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