Why Winter Wellbeing?

Personal and community wellbeing has become even more important in this uncertain and constantly changing time. As a community and an organisation, we have changed and adapted quickly over the past 16 months and shown our resilience in how we supported one another and the speed at which it was delivered. But it has come at a price: the community (including service providers and charities) is tired, fatigued, and worried about the next winter. Wellbeing is for all of us. No exclusion.

Good mental health isn’t a luxury, it’s required for a healthy, happy, purposeful life.

Through Winter Wellbeing we will come together to learn skills that can be used time and time again, to connect deeper with others, to share experiences.

Please join us. Call 01875 816320. If a class is fully booked we will add you to the waiting list.

All classes are FREE to residents of EH23 4

Yoga for Beginners Monday. 7th February – 28th March 2:00 – 3:00PM

Yoga for Beginners Monday. 7th February – 28th March 3:15 – 4:15PM

Buggy Walk Tuesday. 8th February – 29th March 10:00 – 11:00AM

Step It Up Tuesday. 8th February – 29th March 6:00 – 7:00PM

New Age Kurling Thursday. 3rd February – 25th March 2:30 – 4:00PM

Craft Connections Thursday. Feb 10th – 31st March 2:00 – 4:00PM

Sew Social Thursday. Feb 3rd – 24th March 6:30 – 8:30PM

Painting for Beginners Thursday. 10th February – 31st March 10:00 – 11:30AM

Writing for Wellbeing Thursday. Feb 3rd – 24th March 7:00 – 8:30PM

Stretch It Out Friday. 4th February – 25th March 11:30 – 12:30PM

Learning To Look Again: A Drawing Class Friday. 4th February – 25th March 11:30AM – 12:30PM

Creative Bookbinding Friday. 4th February – 25th March 1:00PM – 2:00PM

Bite and a Blether Saturday. 5th February – 26th March. 2:00PM – 4:00PM

Alyson will be easily recognisable in her outdoor gear so if you see her up to her elbows in compost please do say hello.

However we return this month with some extra activities to make up for the rest time.

On Sunday 16th February we will meet in the community garden for a garden birds session which will include activities from RSPB, Scottish Wildlife Trust and Nature Detectives.

On Sunday 1st March we will have a Treasure Tracking session for wildling wannabe Pirates! This will not be at the community garden but rather a guided walk and activities.

More information will be posted on our Facebook pages nearer the time but please do email me if you’d like more information before then.
lorna.lagerman@gorebridge.org.uk

Each week they come to the garden and diligently attend to the raised beds, turning over the coffee grinds that are put in from the café to enrich the soil. They have also been very hard at work preparing an area of the garden for a wildflower meadow!

We have received a small grant from Volunteering Matters which has allowed us to purchase some wonderful meadow, bee and butterfly seeds from Scotia Seeds. We received some great advice from them on what would be the best type to buy to fit in with our garden. We were also able to buy some new junior tools so that our younger members can participate in the digging!

The ground is now all ready and just awaiting planting in March.

The children have also been very busy making natural bird feeders to place around the garden so hopefully that will attract more wildlife.

Of course, it is not all just hard work. There is always time for play and the children have had great fun with loose parts play, making up nature potions in the mud kitchen and den building.
Every session we finish with a snack of treats provided by the Gorebridge Community Fridge which is something the children greatly enjoy and look forward to.

Looking ahead we will be planting some bulbs and developing our nature play area as well as planning what to plant in our raised beds.

We are still looking for resources for den building so if you happen to have any tarps or ropes or bungee cords please do let us know.
contact me at lorna.lagerman@gorebridge.org.uk

Lorna and Michaela organised a guided walk around the birch woods where children looked for little witches and wizards (friends of the Gore Glen fairies!) that were hidden in amongst the hedgerows. The children were also tasked with choosing one particular stick that was deemed to have magical properties for a special activity at the end of the walk.

Once again we were blessed with beautiful Autumnal weather. The woods were looking beautiful. We really are very fortunate to have such lovely walking routes around Gorebridge. This particular route was new to most of the families and everyone marvelled at the scenery.

We finished up back at the Beacon and gathered in the tree circle in the community garden where Lorna made hot chocolate using the storm kettle and Michaela produced some fantastic Halloween cupcakes. The sticks that children had collected were then transformed into wonderful nature wands using wool, recycled card stars and hearts and a variety of nature treasures such as leaves, berries, pine needles and conkers.

Our guided walks are proving very popular and bringing lots of new people to the Beacon as well as Gore Glen and all it has to offer. We will definitely be doing more of these themed walks in the future.

See what we got up to on our Facebook pages ‘Gorebridge Community Gardens’, @Greening Gorebridge’ and ‘Gorebridge Beacon’

much pruning and clearing going on to support any late blooms coming through.

We also have some very exciting news! Lorna met with Iain and Jonathon from UpMobility and a group visited Newbyres Village to see if we could collaborate on some projects. The visit was a great success and we have some great plans for the future which will forge some fantastic community links.

Exciting times ahead, watch this space…..

We enjoyed a creative session at Woodland Wildlings by upcycling plastic bottles into sensory ones with a sea theme. These are great for helping to calm busy minds as well as being visually interesting for babies too. They are so easy to make and most of what you need can be found in a kitchen cupboard!

You will need:

• plastic bottle
• vegetable oil
• blue or green food colouring 
• water
• shells and small stones collected from a beach trip/selection of beads
• glitter (optional)
• ribbons
• gaffer tape

Fill the bottle with some shells and beads to cover about one inch deep. Add some glitter  (optional but it does add an extra sparkle. Eco friendly glitter is available to buy in craft stores or online if  you wish). Fill the bottle to about half way with the oil and then top up with water. Finally, add in a few drops of chosen food colouring. Make sure the bottle top is screwed on tightly and seal with the gaffer tape (so little fingers cannot undo!) A nice finishing touch is to tie some ribbons around the top.

We also used ribbons tied onto wooden curtain rings to make mermaid tails!

In spring and summer of 2018 GCDT were busy working with the wider community of Gorebridge to create a wildflower meadow area adjacent to the ruins of Newbyres Castle.

This often overlooked green space, nestled behind the historic Main Street is a treasured haven for plants, birds and insects. With the support of funding from the Grow Wild project and the helping hands of children from the nurseries, schools, community groups and volunteers work took place to enhance the biodiversity of the area by sowing and growing native wildflowers to be planted in the area.

Midlothian Artist Fiona Maher delivered a number of community-based workshops inspiring community plant conservation through art by designing a wildflower graffiti design for the meadow space. Midlothian Council Landscape department are helping in preparing the ground, spreading the subsoil and putting in a protective fence to allow the seedlings time to safely establish. This is a long-term community project with nature doing most of the work!

Why improve this area which many will say is already wild?

The UK has lost over 95% of its wildflower meadows since World War II and with this its pollinators that are vital to humans.

There is pressure on nature from building for accommodation and business, to people paving over their green spaces and cutting down trees. Urban areas are one of the most biologically diverse habitats in the country.

Newbyres has indicator species that show it was at one time a site of ancient woodland, long before the village was built. This information tells us a story about the history of our environment and signals the actions we need to take to stop the “ecological apocalypse we are presiding over” as Chris Peckham describes in his July 2018 Bio Blitz campaign across the UK. He is not alone in this vocal campaign to take action to protect the wildness of nature with many key Conservationists and Organisations promoting action to protect species especially with changing climate across the world and pressure on natural resources.

With this project, we aimed to support the ethos of Grow Wild and Kew Gardens by promoting and supporting action on a local level. We hoped to change the mindset and attitude that everything has to be neat, tidy and highly managed. Nature isn’t about everything being in rows with bedding flowers which are ecologically sterile and offer nothing to pollinators.

The UK is home to remarkable and beautiful wildlife but is also in big trouble.

In the case of some species, this means we are fast approaching the last chance to make a difference.

The Gorebridge Rewilding Grow Wild project supported the creation of a valuable wildflower-rich habitat that will help both pollinators and people. Inspired by the project Nature Artist Paul Hodges has created a beautiful series of boxes to highlight the biodiversity treasures of the UK (an exhibition to follow later in 2018) with species that are under threat from our countryside. They are truly amazing.

It is not just the loss of species that is of concern. Many Conservation organisations, including Kew Gardens are working with communities across the UK to bring people back into harmony with nature. Areas such as Newbyres Castle matter. The loss of connection to nature across the UK has been having a recognised and measurable negative impact on our health.

Who doesn’t get a good feeling from hearing a bird sing, spotting wildflowers on the verges or breathing in the beauty of the trees? Being in natural spaces improves our own wellbeing over time in nature being prescribed by many medical practitioners to improve physical and mental health.

We hope to shine the light on taking action to protect our green spaces. Nature Reserves are not enough and all green spaces play a vital part.

Help us make that difference by continuing the work of Rewilding Gorebridge. To find out more about the project, volunteer training available in conservation and horticultural skills along with upcoming events go to www.growwilduk.com/community-projects

Rewilding Gorebridge was funded by:

The group runs throughout the school holidays and there are regular themed sessions as well. We enjoy lots of nature activities such as digging, planting and growing seeds, making bird feeders, painted rainbow rocks and much more.

The next one of these will be held on Friday the 10th of August with another one later in the month.

Check in with the Woodland Wildlings facebook page or contact Lorna at lorna.lagerman@gorebridge.org.uk for more information.

Woodland Wildlings 18/19 is supported by Midlothian Council Small Grants

Newbyres Castle:

Archaeology Scotland have completed their report on the geophysical survey of Newbyres Castle. This has indicated that there is evidence of further remains under the ground to the immediate north of the castle which could be of interest and related to the castle. The next phase would be to carry out some excavation/trial pits to see what may be beneath the surface and for further consolidation of the existing remains.

The Gorebridge Community Development Trust will be discussing with Archaeology Scotland the way forward for the next stage. An interpretative panel will be located near to the remains as part of the Gorebridge Heritage Trail.

Stobs Mill Gunpowder Works :

Addyman Archaeology have just completed their study on the remains and recommend that a steering group of interested parties be set up to explore the next stage to improve access and interpretation of the site. They feel that the site is of national importance and should be a scheduled ancient monument. The works were extensive as the OS map of 1850 indicates. With the results of the study and some 3D images of the buildings that were on the site a sketch had been produced that will go into the Gorebridge Heritage Trail leaflet.

More information will be posted about these projects (what next etc) in due course.