The Esk Valley Trust AGM for 2022 will be held by Zoom on Friday 27 May 2022 starting at 19.00hrs.
The Agenda for AGM 2022 and Minutes from the AGM of 2021 can be found here and the certified accounts for 2021 here.
The AGM will be followed by a talk by Emily Burton of the Scottish Seabird Centre on:
Marine Conservation and Community Engagement
Emily is the Conservation Officer at the Scottish Seabird Centre, North Berwick. The work of the Centre, a charity, covers marine and coastal habitats and the challenges that they face from pollution, climate change etc.. In her talk Emily will give a full picture of the charity and especially its education and community engagement activities.
As with the talk the AGM is open to everyone but only members can vote.
To register for the AGM and talk click here.
Survey of opinions about the future for Mavisbank House
Background
In February 2022 Pauline Megson and Tom Parnell of Historic Environment Scotland gave an excellent presentation on Mavisbank House as part of the year’s programme of Esk Valley Trust Zoom talks. They covered the history of the house and its policies up to the present and invited discussion on their future. The talk was very well attended with at least 76 people visible on screen (with Zoom, of course, it is difficult to know who else was watching and listening ‘off camera’).
With such a large audience, and in light of the recent bid for lottery funding to resecure the house and policies having failed, it was a great opportunity to use the talk as a platform to capture current opinions on what might now be done with the house and its policies.
So we organised a short online questionnaire (using AllCounted) to ask some simple questions about the house, the land around it (the policies) and access to it. Initially this was emailed to everyone who had registered for the talk including those who registered but did not attend. This amounted to 96 people many of whom are not (one hopes ‘yet’!) members of the Trust as the talks are open to all. After two weeks (when responses from that group appeared to be complete) the survey was also emailed to members of the Lasswade and District Civic Society (LDCS) – a further approximately 100 people (though there would, no doubt, be some double-counting) for a further week. The survey was then closed.
The responses to the survey are anonymous and no email address could answer more than once.
The Questions
The survey asked five questions with options and gave two opportunities for freestyle comments:
- The House: If nothing is done to Mavisbank House it will soon collapse or need to be demolished for safety reasons. What, if anything, should be done to prevent this happening?
- Freestyle comments about one of the options about the House
- Your visits to the Policies: Are you a regular user of the policies? If yes how often do you walk in the grounds?
- The Policies: The policies, or land around the house, are a natural haven. What degree of management of the policies is desirable?
- Visitors: Mavisbank House and its policies are probably best known to and visited by local residents. Should the future strategy for the House and its policies be to expand its attractiveness to other visitors?
- Access: If more people are to visit Mavisbank House access needs to be improved. What is your view on improving access to the House and its policies?
- Freestyle comments about: How well do you feel that the House and Policies are cared for at present?
Results
First, a caveat. In total this survey was sent to fewer than 200 email addresses. Overall there were 70 responses (58 from the initial emailing of the 96 people who registered for the talk). In terms of the percentage of people who responded the response rate is good (60% for the initial mailing and around 35% overall) but the number of responses, at 70, is still modest in the broader scheme of things. A large proportion of responses are self-selected (from people who voiced an interest in the talk by registering for it) and, almost by definition, respondents know about Mavisbank. The survey says nothing about what people might feel about Mavisbank ‘if only they knew that it existed’.
The great majority of respondents (Question 3;95%) have visited the policies at least once in the last year with around 30% visiting at least monthly.
In broad terms the expressed views about the different aspects questioned were:
The House: Very few people want nothing to be done to the house. Complete restoration (around 25%) is less popular than stabilisation with or without the creation of some kind of attraction. The most common view was simply stabilisation (36%) although, taken together, augmented stabilisation or complete restoration accounted for slightly more than 50% of views.
The Policies. Only 7% of views supported zero management and even less (4%) complete restoration of the policies. Enhanced management (54%) was the most popular choice.
Visitors: A sizeable minority (29%) would wish to keep the house and its policies for the existing range of visitors; the other 71% favour promoting Mavisbank more widely with or without any further developments. Very few favoured developing the house while doing nothing more to the policies. The most popular choice was to develop both the house and policies to attract more visitors (39%).
Access: A minority (20%) feel that current access is adequate. The two most sizeable views were to improve current pathways (29%) and to create off-site parking from the Waddingburn Road (36%).
49 comments were made in response to Question 2 and 57 to Question 7. They cover a broad range of opinion and with many suggestions. No attempt is made here to summarise those views but every comment and a summary of the detailed results can be seen by clicking on this link.
Only 12 additional responses were collected after emailing to LDCS members. This is a very small number to try to distinguish any particular feelings of people in what might be considered to be the nearest community to Mavisbank House. If anything the comments from this group were slightly more conservative as regards expanding access or making changes to the house and its policies.
The detailed responses have also been sent to the Mavisbank Trust and to Historic Environment Scotland. If you haven’t responded to the survey but want to express an opinion on Mavisbank House Pauline Megson at Historic Environment Scotland would be delighted to hear from you at pauline.megson@hes.scot.
Welcome to a new season of Zoom talks for 2022
The 2022 programme of talks is open to everyone, whether members of the Trust or not and is completely free of charge.
The talks will be given via Zoom. To register for a talk please click on the link associated with the talk that you want to join below. You will then be sent an email with details of how to join the Zoom session for the talk. You are welcome to register for as many of the talks as you want to.
Talk 1: Thursday February 10th at 19.30 hrs
Pauline Megson and Tom Parnell will talk about:
Mavisbank House; Then and Now
Pauline Megson is Sustainable Place Manager at Historic Environment Scotland and among other things works to support community benefit from the Properties in Care, of which Mavisbank Policies is one of 336. She was part of the team involved in the recent bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for Mavisbank. Tom, an architectural historian with experience across the public, private and voluntary sectors, enjoys sharing his enthusiasm for many aspects of the historic environment. He currently works with Historic Environment Scotland as a Senior Ancient Monuments Officer.
This talk will trace the history of Mavisbank house to the present and open opportunity to discuss its possible future.
To register for this talk click here.
Talk 2: Thursday 28 April at 19.30 hrs
Dr Iain Reid will discuss:
Fish of the Midlothian Esks placed within the wider context of the Forth district: present challenges and future potential
Iain is a well-known aquatic ecologist who has been involved in a number of projects at the Forth Rivers Trust. He enjoys any opportunity to get involved in environmental education and to help people learn more about the rivers around them.
To register for this talk click here.
Talk 3: Friday 27 May 2022 Annual General Meeting and talk
The Esk Valley Trust AGM will start at 19.00 hrs and will be followed by a talk the details of which will be confirmed shortly.
As with the talk the AGM is open to everyone but only members can vote.
To register for the AGM and talk click here.
Talk 4:Thursday 23 June at 19.30 hrs
Conor Price will discuss:
Protecting Musselburgh from flooding .
Conor is the Managing Director of CPE Consultancy, and the project manager appointed by East Lothian Council to lead the Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme’s project management team from Turner & Townsend. In this talk Conor will outline the progress to date with this major project, and specifically address the approach taken to incorporating natural and catchment flood risk reduction options located in the Esk Catchment above Musselburgh.
To register for this talk click on
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcqf-GgqDwsG9WCYu73eZjXfYAcdzpiYIPi
Talk 5: As in previous years we will arrange a talk as part of the Midlothian Outdoor Festival
The timing for this year’s Festival has yet to be fixed so watch this space for further details and a date.
Talk 6: Thursday 8 September at 19.30 hrs
Scott Hall will discuss
Future plans for the Penicuik Estate
Scott Hall is the Business Director at the Penicuik Estate. Penicuik House and its estate have a long and rich history. The Clerk family, have guided its development for centuries and continue to plan for the future. Scott will outline the plans for the next stage in the development of this significant part of Scotland’s heritage.
To register for this talk click here.
Talk 7: Thursday 10 November at 19.30 hrs
Peter Raine will introduce:
William Fergusson, surgeon extraordinaire
Born within a couple of miles of the mouth of the Esk River William Fergusson rose to be perhaps the most celebrated surgeon of his time. Peter, himself a paediatric surgeon, will describe the life and achievements of this extraordinary man.
To register for this talk click here.
Rennie Frazer - A Tribute
A Tribute to Rennie Frazer, who died so tragically in October 2021, can be found by clicking this link.
'Fisherrow - a wee bit of its story' 9th December 2021
Simon Fairnie is the son of a fishing family whose ancestry can be traced back to the early 1700’s. He was born and brought up in Fisherrow where he has lived all his life, has an intimate knowledge of Fisherrow and its fishing connections and is always pleased to be asked to speak about his rich heritage. His special interest is ensuring that the history of Fisherrow and its people is preserved and recorded. Simon is currently Treasurer of Musselburgh Museum and Heritage Group and Co-ordinator of Musselburgh Museum.
A recording of this talk by Simon Fairnie can be seen:
Artists & Photographers along the River Esk - Friday 8 October 2021
A recording of this talk by Joanna Soden can be seen:
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Tackling Pollution in the Esk Rivers
Sadly pollution has been a recurring feature of the Esk Rivers for many years. In recent times discharge of contaminated water from old mine workings is a big problem. In particular discharge from Junkies Adit in Dalkeith, which has links to the now closed Bilston Glen mines, is having significant impact on the health of the river.
The background to, and what is being done and planned to monitor and resolve, the problems was covered in a talk to the Esk Valley Trust on 24 June 2021.
A recording of this talk can be seen:
The talk was given by Dr Anna Griffin of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), and her colleagues Paul Butler, SEPA Principal Hydrogeologist and Mining Sector Lead and Annette Lardeur, Principal Project Deliver Manager from the Coal Authority.
Anna has a background in ecological restoration and catchment working and has been part of a national team which co-ordinates the river basin planning process in Scotland since 2005. She develops river restoration projects and work to improve fish access on the catchment scale in partnership with others.
Paul has worked as a hydrogeologist for 30 years and has been involved in a range of coal and metal mining issues. As SEPA’s Mining Sector Lead, he is committed to working with partners to reduce the impacts of mining. He also hopes that the heat contained in the water in former mines of the Central Belt can play a key role in meeting Scotland’s future energy demands.
Annette has a civil engineering background with experience in renewable energy, river engineering/flood defence, mine water treatment and urban regeneration and has been with the Coal Authority since 2017, leading a team to deliver major new interventions and refurbish assets to prevent and alleviate the pollution from historic mine water treatment, both from legacy of coal mining and abandoned metal mines.
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ESK VALLEY TRUST AGM 2021 - Draft Minutes
Here are the draft Minutes from our recent AGM:
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ESK VALLEY TRUST AGM 2021 - Friday 28th May, 19:30
This AGM will be held via Zoom. You will need to register for the AGM via this link if you have not already registered for the EVT Zoom talk on 28 May below. Due to a last minute cancellation from our speaker on 22nd April John Oldham brought forward his talk on the Trust, so at the AGM our talk will be from Karen Inkster.
Karen Inkster will talk on 'Rights and responsibilities in maintaining access to the countryside'. Karen is a Field Officer with Scotways, The Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society. She has a wealth of experience in developing pathways and maintaining rights of access. She also has a passion for horses and recently won the International Equine Travel award for her book 'The Deaf, the Daft and the Dipsy' which records her adventures as she took her wayward horse (not forgetting her dog) on a journey through the Outer Hebrides.
Please click on the below documents for more AGM information:
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EVT Zoom talks 2021
The new programme of talks is open to everyone, whether members of the Trust or not and is completely free of charge.
The talks will be given via Zoom. To register for a talk please click on the link associated with the talk that you want to join below. You will then be sent an email with details of how to join the Zoom session for the talk. You are welcome to register for as many of the talks as you want to.
Talk 1: Thursday April 22nd at 19.30 pm
Dr Iain Reid will discuss:
Fish of the Midlothian Esks placed within the wider context of the Forth district: present challenges and future potential
Iain is a well-known aquatic ecologist who has been involved in a number of projects at the Forth Rivers Trust. He enjoys any opportunity to get involved in environmental education and to help people learn more about the rivers around them.
To register for this talk click on this link.
Talk 2: Friday 28 May at 19.30 pm
Karen Inkster will discuss:
Rights and responsibilities in maintaining access to the countryside
Karen is a Field Officer with Scotways, The Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society. She has a wealth of experience in developing pathways and maintaining rights of access. She also has a passion for horses and recently won the International Equine Travel award for her book 'The Deaf, the Daft and the Dipsy' which records her adventures as she took her wayward horse (not forgetting her dog) on a journey through the Outer Hebrides.This talk will be given alongside the 2021 Annual General Meeting of the Trust.
To register for this talk click on this link.
Talk 3: Thursday 24 June at 19.30 pm
Dr Anna Griffin (and colleagues) will discuss:
Managing river impacts in the Esk rivers
Anna is the river basin management coordinator for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) based in Dumfries. She has a very active involvement in all aspects of river basin management for the Esk rivers including pollution and flood management.
To register for this talk click on this link.
Talk 4: Thursday 26 August at 19.30 pm
Professor Roger Crofts will discuss:
The Esk valleys: working with nature for a better future
Roger is well known as a distinguished academic geographer with a career in many aspects of environmental and land management including having been the founding CEO of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). He is a Trustee of the Esk Valley Trust and enthusiastic about everything that he does.
To register for this talk click on this link.
Talk 5: Friday 8 October at 19.30 pm
Dr Joanna Soden will talk about:
Artists and Photographers along the river Esk
Joanna is a former Collections Curator at the Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture. As an independent art historian she has a special interest in Scottish art since 1900. Her previous talks hosted by the EVT as part of the 2018 and 2019 Midlothian Outdoor Festivals were ‘sellouts’. This talk is planned to be part of the 2021 Festival.
To register for this talk click on this link.
