RESTALRIG, LOCHEND and CRAIGENTINNY (Edinburgh)

Aims 

  • To creatively connect communities to their local culture: intangible cultural heritage, history, literature 

  • To stimulate participation and bring together local activists and organisations 

  • To record aspects of local culture - songs, stories, dances, traditions 

  • To affirm the work of local practitioners 


Fieldworkers: Carol Stobie, Joan Robertson 

Additional team members: Hetty Lancaster (historical consultant, tour guide), Fergus and Claire McNicol (storytellers), Debs Mullen (graphic designer and photographer), Ross Cullen (archivist) 

Partners and Contact Organisations: The Ripple, Craigentinny Castle Community Centre, Memory Tours 


Action Research 

Questionnaire, Facebook page, oral history interviews, streetwork, Memory Afternoon Tea, Memory Lane Tours (walking and bus), Schools Workshops. 

Fieldworker Joan Robertson:  
“Restalrig-Lochend is an area of multiple deprivation, a working-class housing area where many flats became sold off privately. It’s also now an area where a lot of people from communities all over the world have come to live. So our original aim was to meet a great range of people to hear about how they felt about living in the area. 

“At the Ripple Project in the Community Hub, we met people from all backgrounds, including older people, unemployed people and volunteers trying to help in the cafe as a way of learning English, or getting back on their feet after difficult times. 

“We approached many organisations who support people from BME and immigrant communities connect with their local area, such as the Welcoming, ELREC, Feniks (a Polish organisation), an online language exchange cafe, and Sikh Sanjog. 

“I undertook street outreach in Lochend Park and nearby, and met people living here from all over Scotland, with some folk whose family had lived in this area for generations, plus local people originally from England, Poland, Ukraine, Algeria, Nigeria, Kenya, Peru, Spain, Italy, India, Afghanistan, America, Romania, Pakistan, Ireland, Turkey, Canada, Argentina, Venezuela, and the Netherlands. The area really is a melting pot.” 

Project Outcomes

Digital Resource Pack (click to view)

Digital Archive: exploring options for hosting with Edinburgh City Libraries