LIE FORRIT TRANENT

THE BLOOMING BELTERS BEAUTIFUL SCOTLAND 2019

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Introduction

The town name is thought to be Brythonic Tre and Nant, meaning town over the stream Travernant. There is a long history of settlement dating back to prehistory. There are still several historic buildings in and around the town, including the ruins of the old parish church from the 11th century.

Coal was first worked here in the thirteenth century by monks who mined the 7ft thick Great Seam. Soon many wealthy families came to the parish in the rush to mine coal. At first heughs (surface mines) were cut – the name of a local walkway today- and for the next 750 years the industry prospered. The history of coal mining in Scotland is mirrored in the history of the coal heughs, mines and pits of Tranent. Other industries grew and Tranent became the second largest town in East Lothian. The Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway, possibly the

1 first in Scotland, opened in 1722. It was 2 ⁄2 miles long and connected coal pits at Tranent with the salt pans at Cockenzie and harbour at Port Seton. The track was wooden and wagons were horse drawn. It was converted to use iron rails in 1815 and a section was still in railway use until 1968. There are now plans to recreate a small section.

The Battle of Prestonpans in the Jacobite Rising of 1745 was formerly known as the Battle of Tranent and an information board explains the battle. The Massacre of Tranent took place in 1797, when12 local people were killed by soldiers after protesting against conscription into the British Army. There is a statue of one of the victims, Jackie Crookston, in Tranent's Civic Square..

The last large deep coal mine closed in 1961, then in 2000 the opencast mine at Blindwells closed. Tranent is now a commuter town with many residents working in Edinburgh.

A place of no importance? APOGI

The offhand description of the town as ’a place of no importance’ by a writer in 1881 led to a campaign by local people to set the record straight. At the east entrance to the town a stone feature has been created : APOGI –A Place Of Great Importance. The stone panels describe the history of Tranent. The cairns have numbered tallies given to local residents who then provided a story or concealment item. Four hundred people attended the opening in April 2017.

The Blooming Belters

Tranent people are known as belters, a term from the manufacture of industrial beltings for use in mines and other industries. In 2017 two local women, Liz Hutchison and Susan Thomson, decided to raise funds to add floral displays to the town centre as had already happened in Haddington and North Berwick. With support from East Lothian Council’s Local Area Partnership and Amenity Services and from local volunteers the group was set up and the improvements to the town have been widely welcomed.

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Horticulture

The town centre

Barrier planters surround the war memorial and at the other side of the street the statue of Jackie Crookston; more are on the corners of the Main Street and Church Street making 28 in all. Six 3-tier planters include one specially planted with gold flowers for a cancer charity. There are three large basket pole planters, two at the other end of the Main Street. For summer 90 hanging baskets are planted up by volunteers in the council's nursery in Prestonpans. The nursery also provides seasonal bedding using inserts to give both summer and winter interest to the Civic Square. All these are watered by a team of volunteers using two water barrows. Local shops and individuals sponsor all the planters and baskets. An innovation in 2019 has been a red phone box with glass panes removed and replaced by planters with trailing flowers.

Public open space

In spring thousands of daffodils have been plant by East Lothian Council along main roads and at important junctions. East Lothian makes considerable use of local hardy plant specialists Macplants and beds of hardy perennials such as Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’, Crambe cordifolia , Cyanara, Hemerocallis and Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ have been planted to provide summer and autumn colour in many of the larger areas of grass. On main roundabouts and in Polson Park areas are rotovated then sown with an annual mix which includes Scottish natives such as red poppy, cornflower and corn marigold, also other plants notably Cosmos which prolong the flowering season into the autumn for the benefit of people and pollinating insects alike. Polson Park is relatively large with sports pitches, tennis courts and a bandstand. Events are held here such as the traditional annual gala. The entrance has two beds now planted up with traditional bedding enhanced by tender perennials like cannas and dahlias. A variety of trees have recently been planted. An open day in May showcased plans to create a Garden of Reflection, a quiet place for anyone who needs such a space, perhaps after bereavement.

Residential and community gardening

An allotment site has 26 plots, with another eight for community groups. Many of the more recent housing developments have open plan front gardens which can be enjoyed by passers-by. Beechgrove Garden made its first visit to Tranent in 2017 to film the very small garden – 37 x 56 ft - of Watt Russell following an article in The Caledonian Gardener. It is predominantly a spring garden as the owner is a keen exhibitor at the Scottish Rock Garden Club. In May 2019 Tranent entered Gardening Scotland for the first time with a one metre square pallet garden showing the town’s heritage, with ferns representing the non-flowering plants that formed the coal in the carboniferous era over 300 million years ago and a two metre high outline of a pithead holding eight flower filled baskets to show how flowers are used to enhance the town today. It won a gold medal and first prize.

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Environment

In the town centre the old and empty Co-operative Society buildings have been renovated to provide a new post office, shops and flats. The street frontage has displays on shop front design. The owners have been key supporters of the floral displays. Other old buildings have been demolished to make space for the Fraser Centre to provide a modern community centre for Tranent.

One of the features of the local area is the number of walkways and vennels throughout the town and connecting to the surrounding countryside. Some follow the tracks of the many branch lines that took coal from the local collieries. Many have been resurfaced to encourage walking, running, cycling or horse riding. Stone pillars showing aspects of the town’s heritage been placed at all the main entrances to the town.

The public path known as the Heugh is the route of the historic Waggonway and there are plans to provide more interpretation of this as well as archaeological investigations. The bankings on either side of the Heugh have been colonised by trees and bushes including plants such as brambles and nettles which are not welcome in gardens but provide valuable food and nest sites for song birds. At least 15 species nested here this spring including wren, robin, dunnock, song thrush, blue, great and long tailed tits, bullfinch, goldfinch, chaffinch, blackcap, willow warbler and chiffchaff.

Nearby the headstones in the old churchyard record the better off folk who died here; most of the miners could not afford memorials. Another walkway to the east, the old pug line (a pug was a small steam locomotive use to shunt coal wagons) had become very overgrown. The area partnership was approached by community representatives so litter picks have been held and work is now ongoing to widen and resurface the route.

The last coal was mined at the large Blindwells open cast site which stopped production in 2000. It will become a new township with up to 6,000 homes. Some interesting wildlife colonised the site after mining stopped. A large pond developed due to water from old mine workings and became popular with bird watchers who recorded many water birds especially ducks. The bee orchid Ophrys apifera was unknown in Scotland until a small colony was discovered by an old mine in Ayrshire. Orchid seed is exceptionally fine and can blow considerable distances on the wind. Blindwells became its second Scottish site. It is not known whether the seed came from Northumberland or Ayrshire. The ELC Biodiversity Officer has moved the plants while building takes place.

East Lothian still has a relatively large ranger service. A countryside ranger covers Tranent and the surrounding area working with all the schools and other groups.

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Community

In 2016 StreetsAhead Tranent explored children’s views of their local community and environment examining how these factors impact on children’s rights and wellbeing. 250 children from local primary schools participated in workshops with an intergenerational and heritage theme. These workshops included inputs from local community members, historians and wildlife rangers. Then, working with artists, they created a 36’ x 4’ mural. Their work can now be seen in Civic Square and at the entrance to Ross High School.

StreetsAhead Tranent, through the Children’s Parliament, was invited by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva along with projects from five other countries: Mozambique, Australia, Palestine, Zimbabwe and Brazil. East Lothian Council and the Fa’side Area Partnership funded the children’s travel to Geneva to share their work directly with the UNCR. They also went to the launch of the Festival of Architecture in Dundee with the mural and met Fiona Hyslop Cabinet Secretary within the Scottish Government.

Litter is an issue locally and all the schools highlight this. An amnesty was held recently to encourage local people to dispose of larger items responsibly. School and community groups have recently planted bulbs among the trees by the APOGI stone cairns. The relatively new Windygoul Primary School has a green roof.

Windygoul Primary has a school garden and Sanderson’s Wynd Primary has a school garden and glasshouses. In this area over 25% of the children are living in poverty. Fa’side Lunch Club has been running since summer 2017 and is going into its third year. Many of the families live near the school and there are various bus routes which are close by so they can reach the club. The club has access to cooking facilities based in the nursery, a large community room, a gym hall, as well as a large playground with an outdoor gym and climbing frame. Besides providing meals the club gives advice on healthy eating and provides activities for the children.

Fa'side Active Travel (FAT) held an event at Forresters Sports Pavilion in Tranent and invited local residents. This area has the highest levels of multiple deprivation in East Lothian and so 20 bikes were given to families who could not afford to purchase their own. Stalls included the countryside rangers and some local allotments holders who provided free tastes of some of their produce. Active travel roadshows were again held this year at local galas, including Tranent. We have been consulting on our core path network and signing people up for our big bike revival in partnership with Cycling UK- Scotland branch.

A project worker was funded to start buggy walks and buggy fit classes for mothers, parents and carers of vulnerable families. She has used the ELC core paths leaflets to introduce families to where to find the paths and then walked with them as a group, getting to know their local path network.

STRiVE are based in Tranent and provide advice and other help to voluntary groups. Locally they organise the men’s shed which has a polytunnel and garden in The Heugh.

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Organisation and support

When the group started in 2017 East Lothian Council provided £6,600 through the Fa’side Area Partnership and £5,000 through the Civic Pride Fund to get the group started, buy planters and materials and other necessities such as checking on the safety of brackets for the hanging baskets. Since then the group has raised another £6,000 from over 30 local businesses, organisations and individuals. In addition local shops pay £50 for a basket; some purchase more than one though it is not possible to put baskets on some properties as wooden shop fronts would not take the weight.

Our hands on volunteers water and feed the baskets all summer as well as the other planters throughout the year so thanks to:

Ian Anderson, Fiona Dugdale, Celia Fairbairn, Helen Grant, Gail Halliday, Liz Hutchison, Barbara Innes, Jim Patterson, Janette Jack, Wilma Knox, Wendy McFadden, Colin McGinn, Elaine Robertson, Marion Skinner, Susan & George Thomson, Roger Totty, Jenny Walker and Barbara Waterston.

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Tranent with judging route

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Press cuttings

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