WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?

The 3rd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
October 3rd 2005

was held in the Nelson Hall at the McDonald Road Library on Monday 3rd October at 7pm. Not very many Friends came to the AGM but those that did enjoyed the socialising at the beginning and at the end of the evening. The resignation of two committee members was announced at the AGM, Eileen Dickie because she felt new blood was need in the Chair and Jeannie, who made a substantial contribution as Treasurer over the past 3 years, because she has moved to the southside. It was a bit tricky forming a new Committee and there is room on it for volunteers.

The 2005 - 2006 Committee

Chair: Mitchell Manson
Vice-Chair: Julie Johnston
Secretary: Jane Ellis
Treasurer: Christine Savill
Members: Bill Chalmers,  Andrew Johnston

This formal part of the evening was followed by speakers from LEEL (Lothian & Edinburgh Environmental Partnership). Elizabeth McDowell and Andrea Elderfield gave us a very interesting presentation "Composting at Home - All you need to know and more" outlining Edinburgh's efforts to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill sites. We here in Edinburgh produce 200,000 tons of household waste annually and of this 21% is garden waste and 16% organic most of which still ends up in landfill sites. And yet, whether we have only a window box or a tiny garden, we can do our bit by composting - a wormery will fit into even a small kitchen!

September 25th Clean-Up

Thanks again to those who turned up to clear the Garden of the broken branches which the heavy winds had brought down and the general tidying up of the Garden. Without the volunteers the Garden would be near deep in litter!

KEEP EDINBURGH GROWING

We learnt we had kept up the high standards of last year and had again been awarded a Silver Gilt Certificate . Thanks to Karen Hay of Environemental and Consumer services who does a wonderful job of encouraging entries. One of our members, Julie Johnston, was awarded Second place and a Silver Gilt Certificate at a ceremony in the City Chambers for her Hanging Baskets.

August 28th Clean-Up

The usual suspects gathered to do their bit towards keeping the Garden a clean and pleasant green space;

THE PAKISTAN MILITARY BAND
20th August 2005

On August 20th locals were entertained by the Pakistan Military Pipe Band who had just won 2 awards at the recent World Pipe Band Competition. Mohammed Aslam, Community Leader at the Annandale Street Mosque, suggested to the Friends that the Pipe Band give a display in the Garden and thanks to support from the FHCG and speedy action by the Dept. of Leisure & Recreation - a most enjoyable evening was had by all!

Sunday July 31st Clean-Up

The sun was nearly shining as four of us turned up at noon to take part in the monthly clean-up. Several bottles and a fair bit of litter were picked up and unfortunately there was also a lot of dog crap - 2 piles were still steaming! The contractors replacing the setts in the Crescent had managed to get a stretch of the Garden and some railings covered with a white material which we thought might be incredibly difficult to remove. Luckily, most of it could be scraped off the surface and washed off the railings.

KEEP EDINBURGH GROWING
Monday 18th July

Hopetoun Crescent Garden was visited today by judges of the 2005 'Keep Edinburgh Growing' competition - so keep fingers crossed. Julie & Eileen had a long question and answer session with Graeme Moore & Jan Chapman and we hope we were able to give some idea of the enthusiasm we all feel for the Garden. And many thanks to those who came to the special clean-up.

June 26th Clean-Up

This month we concentrated on washing the Interpretation Panel and clearing the weeds around the bases of trees; there was an awful lot of small litter as big stuff had been caught in the mower when the wild grasses were mowed but on the whole a lot less of the usual litter and dog dirt. Hopefully people are beginning to have more respect for the Garden!

THE GARDEN WALK
June 15th 2005

A brief mention just now as a fuller account is to follow. It rained the night before but on the evening of Wednesday 15th - the sun shone on us. Douglas McKean, the Assistant Curator at the Botanics responsible for the British Section and the very large Leguminosae family in the herbarium, walked us round the Garden, waxing lyrical about the wild grasses which are growing in profusion in their selected areas. His knowlege of and enthusiasm for the trees, plants and grasses made for a most interesting and eye-opening walk through the Garden. And afterwards discussion and debate carried on over a drink in the local pub.

VOLUNTEERS' NIGHT
June 14th 2005

The City of Edinburgh Council recently held a Volunteers' Reception in the City Chambers to recognise the huge input made by volunteers in all aspects of the Council's work. Eileen Dickie received a certificate recognising the work of the Friends of Hopetoun Crescent Garden

BOXING in the PARK
June 8th & 9th

You may have seen the wee snippet in the Evening News recently - Boxing Lessons for Local Primary Schools . Our three local primary Schools were invited to join the FHCG to install bird boxes in the Garden and pupils from Broughton PS & St. Mary's were able to come. Each of the 3 groups was given a bird box to look after in the Garden which will offer protection to robins, blackbirds and bluetits and each school was given a Bird Pack and a plush toy mascot which produces a genuine bird sound. A full report will be posted shortly.

May 29th Clean-Up

Not quite so much dog crap as last time - tho' mind you the wild grasses are growing luxuriantly and hide a multitude of sins. Again - thanks to all who came; it makes such a difference to the Garden to have these regular clean-ups.

SPRINGTIME WALK IN THE BOTANIC GARDEN
April 25th 2005

The weather that evening was just perfect for a most enjoyable and informative walk through the Botanics led by Alan Bennell, whose enthusiasm for and love of the Garden is very obvious. During the course of the evening we visited the Scottish section (next to the Rockery), the Rockery itself and made our way up through the Chinese garden, learning en route about the vast range of rhododendrons and other native Chinese species which have been brought to Edinburgh over the years.

He had also arranged for us to have a 'private visit' to the Evergreen Exhibition presently on display in Inverleith House (until 3rd July - and very well worth a visit). where Paul Nesbitt the Curator of Inverleith House Gallery explained the history and background of the Botanical Teaching Diagrams and gouache watercolours which form part of the John Hope Archives.

The recently revamped Hot Houses were opened up for us and it was here that the only 2 specimens which can be definitely linked with the Leith Walk Garden are to be found. These are Bermuda Fan palm (Sabal Bedmudana) in the Tropical Palm House and the Cycas circinalis (Cycad) in the Orchid & Cycad House - see if you can find them on your next visit.

And finally we saw the Linnaeus monument which John Hope commissioned Robert Adam to design for James Craig to craft. (See our History section).

Check the "Dates for your Diary" section for details of future seasonal walks in the Botanics.

April 24th - the Pooh Sticks Clean-Up

Not the nice game of Pooh Sticks as remembered from childhood. Awhile back the Committee decided to mark each pile of dog crap with a flag on the Clean-Up days - just to get an accurate count of how many such little deposits we found. 50 (five zero) sticks with red flags were prepared and nobody expected we would use them all. We actually ran out of our pooh sticks and that is really quite a horrifying thought. None of us would guarantee that we even found every single pile of crap. Thanks to all who came and picked up the 50+ piles and the usual litter and glass. We'll repeat the pooh sticks exercise again on May 29th - the next Clean-Up Sunday.

Easter Sunday - March 27th Clean-Up

Not a nice day, if you remember. At least not at 12 noon! A hard band of 5 turned up but it was so cold and so wet and so windy that the Clean-Up was abandoned. We could have coped with any one of the conditions but all three at the same time was rather too much to contemplate. There wasn't a lot of obvious litter which made the decision a bit easier to make.

February 27th Clean-Up

Another nice spring day for a clean up and we welcomed some new residents from the recently completed new flats in the Hopetoun area. Unfortunately, the dog dirt was particularly bad but it does emphasise how important these regular clean-ups are. The Garden has been looking really attractive with the different species of daffodils blooming away and the different times of flowering extending the growing season.

BIRD REPORT
January 2005

Greenfinches were seen high up in the tall trees and I had this e-mail from one of our members who had helped in the clean-up and had returned to the Garden later in the afternoon:

.....we saw about four redwings. Redwings are a type of thrush and they are winter migrants - coming to Britain in large numbers in about October. The Scottish migrant population of redwings is thought to come mainly from Iceland. They will return to Iceland for the Spring/Summer months to breed - probably in Feb/March. So you have wildlife in the gardens that has come all the way from Iceland!

The redwings (just like another winter migrant visiting thrush - the fieldfare) initially head for all the berry bearing bushes to feed. Most of the berries seem to have been eaten so the redwings can now be seen on the ground feeding. Redwings are quite people shy - so the redwings in H.C garden were probably waiting for a quiet moment to drop to the ground and search for invertebrate food.

If you want to try to see them - they may be high up in the trees - looking thrush like with red/orange side patches and a distinctive white/black horozontal stripe patch on the head by the eye. They can be heard making a weak and plaintive "tsee" sound

January 30th - First Clean-Up of the Year

A beautiful spring day, somewhat windy but the sort of day when you are glad to be alive! 13 of us including two young ones, not only gathered a huge pile of small branches which have been blown down over the past few weeks but picked up the ubiquitous dog crap (worse than usual) and litter and glass (better than usual).We made 3 small piles of the branches along the straight wall - these will become home for small insects which will encourage small birds to feed there; there is also a chance that wrens might nest in them.