Director's Notes October 2009

Doors Open Day in Edinburgh was once again a great success, with much hard work on the part of colleagues at the Cockburn Association in organising the opening of a great range of buildings. For our part, we were delighted to welcome over a thousand visitors to No 5 Charlotte Square, and to have worked with the Council to open the Nelson Monument following its recent restoration. With the scaffolding nearly down, the paint drying and the new exhibition panel installed, I found myself a couple of minutes before the appointed opening hour running up the stairs with a hastily located screwdriver to temporarily remove the lock from the viewing gallery door, the key not having made it to the monument in time. Perhaps more a case of Breaking Doors Open Day?

Although open to the public on a daily basis, the five historic burial grounds in the World Heritage Site remain poorly interpreted, and so it would have been most refreshing for visitors on Doors Open Day to have been able to take advantage of guided tours courtesy of volunteers, explaining the incredible stories these green spaces have to tell. They can, however, be foreboding places, and in spite of the best efforts of the kirks, churches and the City Council, a great deal of work is required to halt their decay and ensure that their cultural value (arguably the identity of a nation) is retained. To that end we were highly supportive of the City Council’s application to place the burial grounds on the World Monument Fund’s watch-list of most endangered sites and to learn of the success of this application. This will allow access to a realm of expertise and ability in bringing forward a project to coordinate action for these wonderful urban oases. We’re looking forward to working with the kirks, churches and council to build up and execute this project.

For those that like their stories on a plate rather than carved into cold stone, we’re delighted to be supporting the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, which starts on 23 October with a series of events on the theme of homelands.

The international flavour continues within our very own building – EWH’s small team is currently supplemented by two interns, who are in effect giving us a total of five months of their time. Wanyi Chen and Julia Aufinger are both studying on the World Heritage Studies post-graduate course at BTU Cottbus in Germany and are working alongside our team here, giving their time and expertise to Edinburgh. We are lucky to have them here. We have also been most fortunate over the last few years to have the energy, enthusiasm and ability of David McDonald as our World Heritage Projects Manager, most notably creating and driving forward the 12 Monuments repair programme. We bid him a fond farewell and wish him every success as he heads off to the private sector to work for Broadway Malyan Architects.

Finally – for those who are seeking a more in-depth look at our activities, our Annual Review for 2008 / 9 has just landed at the office. You can download a pdf copy of it, pick one up from the office or phone and ask for us to send you one