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FROM THE ARCHIVES

Submitted by david on

David Sterratt takes an occasional look back at what was rattling Broughton's cages … 

5 years ago 

Spurtle 186 reported  that The Royal British Legion Club on Rodney Street was under threat, as the Royal British Legion Scotland Edinburgh Central Branch (which owned the property) feared the quite separate Club (whose committee ran social events and the bar there) was financially insecure and would no longer be able to pay rent.

The Club Committee refused to hand back the keys and threatened to lock themselves in.

A reconciliation committee was to be held in New Haig House, Logie Green Road. Neil Griffiths, spokesman for the National Executive, welcomed the move. ‘It would be a tragedy if it were to close here,’ he told Spurtle. ‘This is the last Branch in Edinburgh, the city where the whole organisation was inaugurated by Lord Haig in 1921.'

Meanwhile, the inaugural (and as it turns out only) Broughton Jazz Festival brought big sounds and huge energy to Broughton St Mary's Parish Church, with jazz workshps attracting 50–60 attendees and rousing 45-minute sets from three of the city's largest jazz ensembles.

20 years ago

Spurtle 19 reported McDonald Road residents were protesting against Lothian Regional Council's plans to fell mature trees that lined the street. 

According to Mrs Reid of McDonald Road, 'It would be an absolute sin to destroy all those trees'.

McDonald Road Area Amenity Society spokesman George Reiss said, 'Although they propose to replant, residents see the destruction of mature and growing trees as little short of vandalism. The letter from the Council tells us that some elm trees are diseased. There are lots of other types of trees – cherry, rowan, etc. – soon to reach their prime, but the Roads Department wants to tear out all the trees.'

The Council claimed that large tree roots were affecting water and drainage systems, but resident Keith Taylor argued that not all the species of trees had large root systems.

The trees were felled, and new ones planted – though not all have survived.

[McDonald Road photos courtesy of George Reiss, late of this parish.]