Sunday 16 November 2014

Theatre Group - Programme for early 2015 and Booking Arrangements

The Theatre Group sub-committee have arranged a programme of matinee shows for the first half of 2015 at The King's Theatre and The Festival Theatre, Edinburgh. Details are being circulated to Association members who have expressed interest in the Theatre Group.
Emails have gone out today and letters (for those not on email) will follow shortly.


Please note that booking forms need to be returned by Friday 12th December 2014.

The shows planned are:
Romeo and Juliet, Festival Theatre, Saturday 28 February 2015 at 2:30pm
The Producers, Festival Theatre, Thursday 26 March 2015 at 2:30pm
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Festival Theatre, Thursday 30 April 2015 at 2:30pm
Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, King's Theatre, Wednesday 13 May 2015 at 2:30pm
 

Thursday 6 November 2014

Strollers Walk No. 187: Wednesday 19th November - Holyrood Park

Date:             Wednesday 19th November 2014
Start Time:    11:00a.m.
Distance:       4 miles
Duration:       3.0 hours
 
Nineteen Strollers met at the Commonwealth Pool to enjoy a walk round Holyrood Park. The weather was a bit grey but thankfully there was no rain until we were back at the Pool at the end of the walk. In fact it was quite mild on the walk with no wind, almost balmy for November.
The walk was like a figure of eight starting off along the Radical Road, back up Hunters Bog, round to Dunsapie Loch and then via the Innocent Railway back to the start. 
At the start of the Radical Road it looked like a Dutch get together with lots of people in bright orange suits and hard hats, but they were studying the geological make up of the Salisbury Crags.
Following in the footsteps of the geologist  James Hutton, and Harold Raeburn the mountaineer we made our way down the Radical Road to St Katherines Well. The road is called that as it was built by Radicals from the Dumfries area after a suggestion from Sir Walter Scott.  From there we headed up through Hunters Bog, site of early settlement and an iron age fort, but also the hunting ground of the kings and queens, hence its name. Also used by the Romans and Bonnie Prince Charlie's army, it was also partly flooded by Mary Queen of Scots to hold a birthday party for a lady in waiting and recreating a sea battle off Leith. It is now home to rare plants like adders tongue fern.
We then set off round the road in the direction of Dunsapie Loch. Much of the current layout of the park was created by Prince Albert when he arranged for drainage work to be done and the roads to be put in so people could access the park easier. Dunsapie Loch as well as St Margarets Loch were created at that time. At the base of Arthurs Seat you can still see the outlines of the terraces used for farming by the early settlers. From here we then went down over 200 steps to Duddingston Village, not as sprightly as the joggers who passed us, and past the the famous Sheep Heid Inn. Scene of many a skittles match.
From there we made our way down to the Innocent Railway, site of the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway, opened in July 1831, originally as a horse-drawn tramway built to haul agricultural produce and coal from the mines of Lothian up to the Edinburgh at St Leonards, it was Edinburgh's first railway line. At 517 metres, the Innocent Railway tunnel under Holyrood Park is an impressive one, particularly when you consider it was the first railway tunnel in the UK. Before 1845, trains were winched by cable drawn by horse and stationary steam engines up the St Leonard's Inclined Plane.
Avoiding the tunnel some of us went back to the Commonwealth Pool for some well deserved refreshment while others went off to the Engine Shed.
 
Dates for the 2015 walks will be sent out soon.