Please note that the August edition also incorporates July.

If you have any comments or suggestions with regard to the Grapevine then please contact the editor, Kathleen Ross-Hale, directly.

Also some of you may not be aware but the editor of the Dedridge Grapevine, Kathleen Ross-Hale, celebrated her 80th birthday on the 26th of May so we would like to take this opportunity to wish Kathleen a happy birthday and to thank her for her tireless work in serving the community over many of those 80 years.

The latest copy of the Grapevine is up and ready for you to download under the downloads section of the website, details on how to contact the editor of the Grapevine can also be found on this page.

If you have any comments or suggestions with regard to the Grapevine then please contact the editor, Kathleen Ross-Hale, directly.

New Play Area

Recently the Crofthead Centre was awarded some money to upgrade the play area at the rear of the property, assessments were done, surveys were taken from all users and a new play area was designed for us.

After delays caused by the bad weather the work is now finaly complete.

The Management Committee have decided to celebrate the opening of the new play area, and the continued support of the community, by having an Easter fun day on Tuesday 13th April 11am – 2pm at the Crofthead Centre.

New Play Area

There will be inflatables for children of all ages to enjoy, music, games, face painting and tattoo’s supplied by the mother and toddler group and weather permitting an Easter egg hunt.

The cafe will also be open for business as usual.

The Management Committee are very pleased with the new play area, and as always, are thrilled with the support the community has shown the center and hopefully this will go some way to showing our appreciation.

Councillor Peter Johnson has assured the Management Committee that there are no plans to close the public facility.

There have been a number of meetings between West Lothian Council and Crofthead Management Committee to discuss all the possible ways forward.

However, we would like to reassure you that the Management Committee are working very hard to ensure the security of the community centre and all of its facilities. We will do everything in out power to see that it remains a thriving and available centre for the whole community to enjoy.

In the meantime, it is business as usual, all round. Groups continue to use the community centre, which continues to see an approximate throughput of over a 1,000 people a week.

For details of our programme, and what is available at the community centre, please see the what’s on section of the website.

The Management Committee would like to convey there thanks for the time and support that the whole community continue to show the centre.

If there is anything we can do to improve our service then please contact us using the details on this website

Since the website went live on the 22 June up until the 15 August the website has received a total of 22,070 hits

How Fantastic is that..?  Thank you to everyone, and lets just keep trying to get more hits, more people and more support…

-X-

The letter is available in two formats, word and plain text, so if you do not have Microsoft Word installed on your computer please use the plain text version and just copy the text into your favorite word processor.

If you have any problems downloading the letter then please let me know, details on how to get in touch can be found on the contact page of the website.

Dear Audrey,

Just a brief note to thank you for inviting me to last Thursday’s meeting.  I think there is a solid base of support in the Dedridge community for the retention of the centre.  Anything else you wish me to do, I am happy to get involved.

Yours sincerely

Lawrence Fitzpatrick – Councillor.

Thank you Councillor, I think we all agree, that means a lot to our campaign…

Hi there,

PLEASE, can you NOT ask Karyn or Senga about the campaign we are running to save the community centre..?  I know it is tempting, but you must please realise that both Karyn and Senga work for West Lothian Council.

Yes, their jobs are on the line, but they also have a loyalty to WLC and cannot be seen to be agreeing with, taking part in, or in any way condoning the campaign…

Please, if you have anything at all you would like to discuss, contact me, either via this website, or by emailing me on savecrofthead@googlemail.com

Thanks Folks…

-X-

 Scotland’s eighth largest authority, West Lothian Council, is expected to host a “Celebrating Success” party at a cost of £65,000.

 Catering by celebrity chef Nick Nairn, and presented by Jackie Bird, the party is an opportunity to “recognise staff achievements”.

 Apparently £35,000 of the budget comes from sponsorship deals, which still leaves £29,956 that West Lothian Council are able to find from their non-existent budget.

 However, a spokesman from Taxpayers Alliance quite rightly points out:

 “The response that these events are partly funded by sponsors cuts little ice, as that is clearly a way for some companies to buy the loyalty of council staff and local council tax payers may pay the price indirectly”.

 Is this true..?  Will we, the local council tax payer pay the price?  There is no budget or funding to allow Crofthead Community Centre to remain open, and yet…