50 Birthday Celebrations
April 2022
Caring for North Berwick's environment and heritage
North Berwick Environment and Heritage Trust (NBEHT) celebrated its 50th anniversary at its recent AGM, complete with a fabulous celebratory cake and prosecco. Guest speaker Paul McLennan MSP reflected on NBEHT’s commitment to conserving and enhancing East Lothian’s environment and heritage and a lively discussion followed, exploring both the benefits and challenges of living in North Berwick. Discussion touched on the shortage of affordable housing, the negative impact of short-term lets and second homes lying empty, and the perennial issues of traffic congestion and parking.
Guest speaker Paul McLennan MSP cuts the cake.
The pandemic reduced the Trust's activities, but NBEHT is now re-launching and looking ahead. The Trust focuses on the conservation, enhancement and promotion of all aspects of North Berwick's environment and heritage, including environmental campaigns and cultural activities. An example of the latter is the ‘telephone exchange’ art space on the High Street, run by NBEHT’s pARTicipate arts team. The Trust is also preparing a series of leaflets, starting with a short history of Edington Hospital to support the campaign to reopen the hospital; other leaflets will deal with some fascinating but less well-known aspects of the town.
Plans are afoot to strengthen the work of the Trust by developing its on-line presence. A social media campaign, launching in late spring, will invite everyone who cares about North Berwick and its future to join the Trust. We especially hope to encourage more members from those in the new housing, many of whom are already contributing to shaping the town's future. Meanwhile, the long-established task of scrutinising planning applications affecting North Berwick, and responding to proposals which might adversely affect our town, will continue.
The town’s conversation about its future will also reflect the climate and ecological emergency, with NBEHT hoping to work collaboratively with other organisations to ‘think global, act local’. The Trust also continues to campaign for the historic kirk in Kirk Ports to be consolidated, so that it can be safely opened again and play its part in telling the fascinating story of North Berwick.
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