View
of Leith Custom House as shown in the classic print of 1829
Leith
Museum Campaign: "Have pride in Leith ..." urges Sir Tom Farmer
"... and the young people of Leith will have pride in themselves" as he opens presentation and debate on the Leith Museum.
Left:
<<< Mark Lazarowicz, North & Leith MP, talks of Leith's rich
history. Right: >>> Leither, Sir Tom Farmer calling for a vision of Leith.
The campaign to reopen Leith Custom House on Commercial St, as a Museum of Leith stepped up another gear last week. Some sixty odd business people, community activists and interested professionals gathered on Friday April 17th to view a detailed presentation round the theme "Trading Places: Museum of Custon and Culture. Sir Tom Farmer and Mark Lazarowicz opened the event on behalf of Leith Museum Trust; Sir Tom spoke of how an understanding of the past might help strengthen respect and common purpose between the generations and communities that make up Leith.
There was much discussion of Leith's role in the world both now and historically, but the consensus of the group was that the focus should be round the people of Leith, their individual stories and how these linked with the wider, international world. The steering group reckon some £8,000,000 would be needed to make the project a self funding reality and National Museums of Scotland who own the Custom House (currently used for storage) are supportive of the project. Having established that there is wide spread support for a Leith Museum (through campaigning and gathering signatures to the petition,) the next step is to commission a study to examine the feasibility of the plans developed to date. Leith Museum Trust are now seeking partners who will support and assist with the funding of such a study.
Charlie Barr of Studio MB (museum and exhibition designers), Adrian Pacitti of TPS (architects) and Robert Irvine of Cyril Sweett Group (accountants), were on hand, voluntarily, to share a vision of what a Leith Museum could be and what it could offer the community of Leith. Michael Walchove of A Slight Shift has also contributed.
Download a PDF of the full presentation (6mb) >>>
Sign the online petition for a Leith Museum >>>
Visit the Campaign for a Leith Museum blog site >>> The Campaign for a Leith Museum gathers speed (January 2009)
Over
twenty orgamisations, businesses and community groups now support the call
for a Museum. The
most favoured site is the Leith Custom House which can be found at The Shore
end of Commercial St. It is a magnificent and well preserved building, and
is on good bus routes. It is within easy walking distance of many bars and
restaurants.
The campaign is backed and chaired by Edinburgh North & Leith's MP, Mark Lazarowicz and MSP (pictured right), and strongly supported by Malcolm Chisholm, Leith Councillors Gordon Munro and Rob Munn, and Green MSP for Lothians, Robin Harper, while local organisations such as John Arthur's Persevere Portal and Leith Local History Society, are taking a lead and gathering support from other groups such as Leith Open Space along the way.
The
campaign is delighted to have secured the support of leading businessman and
prominent Leither
Sir Tom Farmer, DL, CBE, (pictured left at the lighting of the Leith Xmas tree
last year). Sir Tom has agreed to be the Patron. Sir
Tom said: "The
history of Leith is also central to the history of Edinburgh and of Scotland,
and deserves a home where its story can be told. As someone who has benefited
from being born and brought up in Leith, I welcome the widespread support for
the current campaign. I hope that local and national government will work with
the local community to make the dream of a Leith museum a reality.”
The Campaign's strategy is to put together a group of experts who will prepare a feasability strategy for the proposed museum. In the short term the group aims to give Leithers a taster of what might be in the museum and to show how valuable a museum could be. They are preparing plans for a series of short films about some key events in the history of Leith and to create an exhibition which could tour community centres, local schools and venues such as the Ocean Terminal.
There is also a petition which is being considered by the Scottish Parliament's Petitions Committee with a view to giving National support and backing to the Campaign.
There's an online petition to sign, which was started by Mark Lazarowicz at www.ipetitions.com, and a lot of information on the Campaign for a Leith Museum web site, which has a very informative piece by John Arthur the leading local historian. We also warmly recommend the web site of Leith Local History Society www.leithlocalhistorysociety.org.uk. You can also read news on the Campaign for a Leith Museum blog.
For more, read the Evening News article and visit the www.marklazarowicz.org.uk, to read about the MP's efforts. Leith and North: Have Your Say on a Museum for Leith
Here
at Leith and North, we're keen to do our bit. If you'd like to "Have Your
Say", then please click
here to make your comments. I'd be interested to know the following:Should we have a Museum for Leith? If not, why not?
What do people think should be in it?
Should it cover the bad as well as the good side of Leith's history?
Where should it be?
What sort of events could we have there?
If you want to dive right in and check out what people are saying, then please click here to read what people have to say. The classic print of 1829 by Thomas H. Shepherd