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Macmerry Christmas

Well a very Mac Merry Christmas to everyone.

The school is full of tinsel and glitter as the children prepare for December the 25th. Making decorations we talked about Christmas in times past.

So what was Christmas like before Gogo Hamsters and Nintendo Wii? Tangarines, boxes of dates, paper chains and Mums that made their own mince pies. Morecombe and Wise on the telly and Christmas Carols on the radio. Christmas in the olden days sounded like lots of fun and everyone went off to see what their Grannies and Granddads could remember.

So seasons greeting from everyone in Mcamerry and here's a Christmas puzzle for you all - whats a bubbly-jock?

The story continues

Sunday 29th November saw the Macmerry Lives project visit Gladsmuir church to talk about the Macmerry project and gather more volunteers.

The tiny church made us very welcome as we were interviewed by the Minister Robin Hill as part of the service. And we thought we were supposed to be the ones doing the interviewing! After the service some of the congregation looked at some old photos of Macmerry suggesting names for some of those even from the 1920s. We also had several folk putting us right about some of the tall tales told about the airfield during the second world war. New contacts were made, old memories were revived and everyone promised to look out their old photos.

Plans for the new year, including an "experts day" were discussed and lots of goodwill generated. We have promised to return and next time we'll interview the minister.

More Macmerry Lives

Well the Macmerry Lives project is proving to be even more exciting than any of us imagined. From award winning pottery to one of the first commercial airfields in Scotland Macmerry has seen it all. It was even the site of one of the safehouses for Edinburgh suffragettes hiding out from police harassment!

A village with more history packed into it than an episode of Time Team, the Primary School is leading the way with photos, stories, a timeline and who knows what else still to be uncovered.

Macmerry Lives!

The new Macmerry Lives oral history project, funded by Tyne-Esk LEADER, was launched at Macmerry Primary School on Friday the 25th Sept.

The pupils of Macmerry were holding their annual Macmillan Coffee Morning when the LMA turned up amidst the homebaking and choccy biccies. Some of which made their way back to the LMA offices.

Rooting about in the school's cupboards we found a fantastic stash of old photos and used them to advertise the event, interest the adults and amaze the kids.

One of the primary one boys got the day off to a cracking start by solemnly announcing that he didn't live in Macmerry but by the end of the day over a dozen people signed up to share their memories.

So as they say in all the best movies - watch this space over the next year folks for tales of excitement and daring do from Macmerry.

Settling in.

You can smell autumn in the air at the stables- well outside anyway! The leaves are yellowing and the ground is peppered with conker casings.We are pretty much organised now. Office up and running. Everything networked- even the staff!

The reminiscence area is ready for action. We will be starting an over 55 drama group on Wednesday, 30th Sept, 2pm. All welcome- just give us a phone or drop us an email.

We have a great meeting area now- comfortably seating 12. We want to utilise it as much as possible. We plan to start up a weekly open reminiscence session. If anyone is interested just let us know. If you have a group and are looking for a place to meet we could offer a suitable venue. Its homely and crammed full of interesting stuff!

Greetings! From The Stables - there was no room at the Inn. The Sheep Heid Inn is just across the road from us, which is almost too handy! Duddingston Village, nestling in the shadow of Arthur's Seat and with the loch on its doorstep, is lovely. We've been exploring and found Dr Neil's Garden, and it's smashing, the peace of the country in the city. So far, Village life suits us very well, indeed.

We've Moved

We've finished our move now. Most of the unpacking has been done and the new place is starting to look like a proper office and reminiscence centre instead of rooms full of boxes. Again lots of hard work by staff and volunteers has gone into getting everything organised and working again. We've already had a few visitors and look forward to greeting many more over the coming months. After a few teething troubles we now have our web acceess and email working again so we're now back in touch with the rest of the world!

On the Move

Today we made a start on our move to our new premises in Duddingston. A lot of hard work has gone on by staff and volunteers getting all our office and Reminiscence Centre packed up and ready to go. The first van loads were moved to the new place, mostly in the pouring rain, today.
The old office is looking pretty empty now but we are still operating from there for a few more days.

Early next week we will start the process of getting installed and unpacking before moving the rest of our office later on.

The Three and Sixpenny Doctor

The National Health Service was introduced on 5th July 1948. This exhibition looks at people's memories of health care before the NHS and what life was like after it's introduction. The exhibition celebrates people's experiences and stories about home remedies, paying for the doctor, visiting the dentist and childbirth amongst other topics.
In this current economic climate we sometimes forget just how radical the NHS was in postwar Britain and how central and important it is now in all our lives.

This exhibition will be on display at the Scottish Parliament, in the restricted area for MSP, from 5th May to 8th May 2009.

Edinburgh Memories

A wonderful new book containing local people’s stories from between the wars has just been published. It includes stories and photographs about childhood and schooldays, work and play, sport and leisure. It is available from all good bookshops and direct from the LMA


Sikh Sanjog

Sikh Sanjog offer services for sikh women in Edinburgh. The LMA is currently offering reminiscence training to help with their new Heritage Lottery Project which seeks to foster a greater understanding between the generations in the sikh community.

Gracemount Primary School

The LMA has been working with the teachers and pupils in the primary school on a variety of topics: Granny’s Kitchen, Recycling and Childhood Games. This involved bringing older people in the community into the school to share their memories and experiences with the pupils. The most recent session was on Scots Words with a primary 5 class.

Astley Ainslie Hospital

We’re currently running reminiscence sessions at the hospital for a group of people recovering from strokes. This has proved to be a lively wee group. We bring along memorabilia to stimulate memories or sometimes present a slide projection of photographs of Edinburgh.

Reminiscence Drama

Raa-Boh!

A drama production between the LMA and QMUC Drama Students was based on a series of reminiscence workshops with local older people's groups. The theme of the drama was childhood games from the past. In the play, the central character, a Rag and Bone man, keeps alive old games and stories. It successfully combined live action and puppetry.

Performances of, Raa-Boh! took place in six primary schools in East Lothian and these were complimented with workshops for the pupils on drama and puppet-making. The project culminated with a public performance at the Brunton Theatre on Friday 3rd April.

Thanks to Scottish Centre for Intergenerational Practice who provided the funding for the project.