It reads:
“I’m writing on behalf of Bill Wise’s family and the overwhelming response from Pencaitland.
This has been a tremendous support to us knowing that our beloved Dad also meant so much to many others. Please pass on our thanks.
My Dad used to say ‘who would be bothered when I pass away’? He would be surprised by ‘all the fuss’ for him.”
This has been the picture in the Pencaitland Community Council area for many years, with no elections ever having taken place for seats in this ward.
In all there are fifteen seats on Pencaitland’s Community Council with twelve taken up for the next session. Sadly, this means that we are under-represented.
We really want local representation for other parts of this ward including Peastonbank/Glenkinchie, New Winton, Boggs Holdings, Fountainhall and everywhere in-between. Equally, for a rural area we have no-one from the farming community nor anyone in their teens or 20s. Did you know you can be 16 and sit on the Community Council?
We are searching for new blood to join the team. We need more voices on issues which directly affect you and your local environment. If you care about local matters then take the next step – come along to your local community council and see if you’d like to become a co-opted member.
Want to know more? Contact the current Community Council Chair, Ralph Averbuch, on 01875 340 641 or 07920 094 923 to discuss how you can get involved. Or you can email chair@pencaitland.org.
This is your chance to represent your local community and directly affect the way it develops in the future. Come along and be part of the team.
Pencaitland Community Council represents the local community, seeking to liaise with other local bodies and East Lothian Council. This includes ten Community Council meetings a year which usually take place on the last Wednesday evening of the month.
The role involves minuting the Community Council’s ten meetings and managing and re-distributing correspondence. This is increasingly delivered via email. You can see a recent example of the Community Council’s minutes here.
In the last year the Community Council has made much greater use of the web and social media to update the local population of news and events. As well as this website, the Community Council can be found on both Facebook and Twitter. Whilst not part of the post, training will be given to any Secretary interested in this area.
If you would like to know more about what’s involved please contact the current Secretary Nicky Neighbour. Nicky steps down on the 4th of October but would be delighted to tell those interested in the post about what’s involved. She can be contacted on 01875 340 115 or by emailing secretary@pencaitland.org.
And finally, we’d like to say a big thank you to Nicky for her many years of involvement both as a community council member and, in the last year, as our Secretary. She will be sorely missed.
Pencaitland Community Council
The funeral will be held on Monday 1 October at 10am at the Borders Crematorium in Melrose. Family flowers only, donations can be made to Marie Curie please.
Following the service, Emma invites everyone to Pencaitland Bowling Club for Daz’s After Party and refreshments.
There will be a Memory Book available at both the Crematorium and the Bowling Club for you to write a message to Emma, Aimee, Olly and family.
Daz chose an eco-friendly cardboard coffin and asked for everyone to have a chance to either write a message or draw a picture on it. You can do so today, Friday, until 4pm, or tomorrow, Saturday, between 9am and 5pm, at the Co-operative Funeral Care, 96-98 High Street, Tranent.
Please try and make the time to do this over the next two days, as it was one of Daz’s last wishes.
Daz requested that people wear what makes them happy, for Daz’s colleagues, the wearing of police uniform to the Service is entirely optional.
Borders Crematorium, Melrose, TD6 9HA
Pencaitland Bowling Club 29 Vinefields, Pencaitland, EH34 5HD
Co-operative Funeral Services 96-98 High Street, Tranent, EH33 1HH
If an indication were needed of how well liked Bill was, then the packed church, with people standing in every available space, spoke volumes.
A number of Pencaitlanders made it along to pay their respects as well as Bill’s large family and many friends from Ormiston, where he lived most of his life.
Would you like to see Scouting start-up in Pencaitland for young people aged 6-14? Then come to a parents’ information night at the Trevelyan Hall on Tuesday 25th September, 7.30-8.30pm.
South East Scotland Scouts will be hosting an info night for parents to find out more about Scouting and how Scouting can get started in Pencaitland. To register your interest in Scouting starting up, email development@sesscouts.org.uk.
For more info on Scouting, view this video:
http://youtu.be/WT6No8lDSBI
In just a few hours the river went from a gentle and shallow meandering stream into a swollen muddy mass of water. This has become a fairly regular occurrence in recent years leaving parts of the river pathway annually inundated and weakening the river bank.
However, it is Haddington, further downstream which is currently under threat from the swelling waters of the Tyne. Further details on the situation can be found by checking the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s updates page for the Lothians.
Having trouble viewing the video? See it on the Pencaitland channel on Youtube.
We can now report that his funeral will take place this coming Wednesday at Ormiston Parish Church. Minister David Torrance will be taking the service which begins at 10am.
You can read earlier messages of condolence on our previous story under comments.
It will go direct from Meadowbank to Princes St via Regent Road which means it will go past the old St. Andrews House and into Waterloo Place. In practice this will mean hat it will no longer serve the stops along London Road between Easter Road and the Elm Row roundabout.
Coming back to Pencaitland, it will stop outside Jenners and then at a new stop on Waterloo Place. After that it will go directly towards Meadowbank.
Remember to keep updated by checking the East Lothian Buses website. You can view a PDF of the timetable for the 113 route here.
Our thanks to local man and self professed ‘bus nerd’ Barry Hutton for the information.
These plans were the culmination of 18 months of negotiations between members of the church, ELC transport and planning officials, ELC councillors, the Community Council and the Fatal Footpath campaign. These talks came about at the direct request of ELC councillors keen to find a workable solution after rejecting the case for widening the main road pavement and extending the lights between the bridge and the church.
Last Tuesday (4th Sep) locally elected councillor Jim Gillies (LAB), who now sits on the Planning Committee, argued that the new parallel footpath plans lodged had not been given sufficient scrutiny by residents of Pencaitland. Donald Grant (LAB), another local councillor said that this had been going on too long arguing that planning consent should be granted. At the vote Grant lost.
This means that work previously carried out on the site in preparation remains in limbo with no likelihood of the footpath being completed until further community consultations on both this existing parallel footpath plan and any varations or alternatives deemed viable. Crucially, anything presented to the community must be deemed acceptable to both transport and planning officials in East Lothian Council to avoid plans being voted down once again at Council. This is a task now being championed by recently elected councillor Shamin Akhtar (LAB).
Once it is clear what, if any, alternative options may be viable, these, along with the current plans for a parallel footpath or variants of it, will be presented to the community. This will most likely be achieved with a public viewing in Trevelyan Hall and promoted via an information campaign to each household, as well as through this website and social media.
Long time footpath campaigner and mum Sheila Averbuch said, “Last year the ELC failed to widen the main road footpath despite well over 300 village signatures demanding they do so. The half finished parallel footpath through the churchyard was acceptable to the Fatal Footpath campaign as an alternative. I’m astonished that Planning Committee hasn’t yet approved it. I hope supporters of pedestrian safety will tell the Council clearly that they want the parallel footpath completed.”