Report on the year 2008-09

By Marian McIntyre & Alan Small
(reprinted from The Inverleith News, Spring 2009)

?Annual General Meeting 7 April 2008
Chris Minty, Head of Project Management at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, was our speaker and his talk on the West Gate project aroused such interest that a follow-up site visit in May was well attended and much appreciated. His enthusiasm and willingness to engage with the Society was impressive.

Farewell to Pippa Leary
Pippa has served on the Committee assiduously for eleven years, both as Secretary and Committee Member responsible for Traffic and Parking. In this last role she was well respected for her outstanding grasp of complicated issues and intelligent focus on workable solutions, presented with great good humour. In recognition of her tremendous contribution the Committee made a presentation of an old Edinburgh print at a dinner held in her honour. Pippa has joined her husband at his new post at Auckland University. While she will be very much missed we wish them both the very best in their new life.

Summer Social Evening 20 June 2008
The party held at Juliet Anderson’s was the social highlight of the year. We drifted around the magnificent garden, glasses in hand, in the sunniest evening of the summer. The presence of the gardener enabled fellow enthusiasts to ask advice on the maintenance of such a stunning garden. The evening culminated in a spontaneous performance by two visiting Italian musicians, who were staying with Mrs Anderson and generously responded to an invitation to perform. The Society remains extremely grateful to members who are prepared to make their homes available to us, enabling such magical evenings, and we thank Mrs Anderson for an unforgettable experience.

Closure of Goldenacre Post Office
The Society was concerned about the implications of the closure of the Goldenacre Post Office, part of a nationwide efficiency plan. The Society initially responded to members’ concerns and subsequently collaborated with SandICC in submitting a major letter of objection. Our efforts were to no avail; the Post Office has now been closed, which, as we feared, has resulted in increased pressure on Warriston Post Office at Canonmills.

Co-option of New Committee Members
We were delighted to welcome new members to the Committee, temporarily co-opted and, we trust, to be ratified at the AGM: Adam Dudley, an architect with a practice in Warriston Crescent; Dr Peter Holland, a well known local GP; and Josie Inwood, an escapee from the world of finance, who has successfully reinvented herself as a local gardener.

Appeal for New Members
As always we are concerned about our membership numbers and appeal to all residents of Inverleith to support us by joining the Society. If you received this Newsletter you are almost certainly eligible and we need you to join with us to preserve the area in which we live and work. Existing members - can you bring two new members along to the AGM, thereby tripling our membership?

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Report on the year 2007-08
Report on the year 2006-07
Report on the year 2005-06
Report on the year 2004-05
Report on the year 2003-04
Report on the year 2002-03