Introduction
The following introduction was written in 2003 by Jon Oberlander, Judith Reeves and Sheila Reid.
the scrapbookWelcome to `Memories of the Grange’, a scrapbook first compiled by the Grange Association in 2003, to mark its Silver Jubilee. It was made possible through a generous Community Grant from the City of Edinburgh Council’s South Local Development Committee. where are we?The Grange is an area of Edinburgh lying to the south of the Meadows, and north of Blackford Hill. Almost thirty years ago, in the summer of 1974, the East Grange Association was formed by the residents of an area bounded by Grange Road, Ratcliffe Terrace and Mayfield Road, Relugas Road and Kilgraston Road and Blackford Avenue. In 1979 the area covered by the Association was enlarged to include the area to the west of Kilgraston Road and Blackford Avenue roughly bounded by the Astley Ainslie hospital and Whitehouse Loan, together with the area north of Grange Road bounded by Sciennes—and that is when the Grange Association was formed. who are we?So the 2003/4 season represents the 25th year of the Association as we know it now. To mark this anniversary in a permanent way, we present this collection of records of life and work in the Grange, in living memory—and even before. We hope that this information resource will be of interest to young and old alike. `Memories of the Grange’ is dedicated to Elsa Hendry, who sadly died in 2003. She collected reminiscences from local people over a number of years, and her work inspired this project. how did it start?Elsa Hendry’s research and interviews are brought together here with new memories and materials. So in taking this community project forward, we are greatly indebted to all the people willing to share their memories—or the fruits of their own historical research—in writing or in interviews. Many people have been exceptionally helpful, and there are too many to mention them all here—see the final acknowledgements section for a fuller, but no doubt still incomplete, list of credits. However, we note here our special thanks to Brian Aldridge, who co-ordinated the project in its early stages. And we are grateful for the advice of the Council’s Oral History Project, and the Living Memory Association. The collated material has been made available on our website from the end of October 2003. This includes text and images, and allows visitors to search for pieces of information on a map of the area. A selection from the site appears in the printed volume, and audio tape, launched at the Association’s jubilee party, in December 2003. To obtain copies of these, check the contact details given on the website—http://gaedin.co.uk/wp—and on the inside cover of the printed volume. The history project is designed to evolve through time, updating the website and issuing a new paper edition of the scrapbook each year. So we hope that you will be inspired to contact us to contribute even more memories, pictures or documents of the changing life of the Grange. Jon Oberlander, Judith Reeves and Sheila Reid The above was written in 2003. The whole of Elsa Hendry’s work was edited into a book by Jon Oberlander, Judith Reeves and Sheila Reid. The book can be viewed here. It is a large file which takes a little time to download. Memories of the Grange Elsa Hendry’s complete booklink to old maps Historical maps from National Library of Scotland |