Autumn-Winter Newsletter 2015

Chairman’s Chat – Welcome to another edition of our annual newsletter, to our loyal members, and also to·new residents in our street. Or should I say streets, because a recent Committee meeting of our Association decided that the name should be changed to reflect the long standing involvement of Nelson Street residents. So we are now the Northumberland Street and Nelson Street Association, as will be seen from the new heading of this letter. At the AGM of the Association held last May, it was with considerable regret that we received the resignations of our long-serving Chairman, David Ingram, and our equally long serving Secretary/ Treasurer, Alastair Allanach, who have both departed from Northumberland Street. David and Alastair have served the residents with enthusiasm and effort for more years than even they can remember, but perhaps this is a reflection of the business matters conducted at The Wally Dug, which may well miss them as much as will we.

There is therefore a vacancy on the Committee for a new Secretary/Treasurer, the duties of which position are not onerous, and I would welcome applications for this post. For the immediate future Alastair has kindly agreed to continue to maintain the web site, and also construct this Newsletter.

With quite a significant number of new residents, it is appropriate to provide details of your Committee and the list is provided in the box on page 1. We are very pleased that Judith Stevenson and Peter Laing have agreed to join us and I look forward to their involvement in coming years. Indeed Judith has provided a very pertinent article for this edition on the subject of moths, which many residents have noted are an increasingly irritating feature of New Town life. Other articles include a brief note of famous military men who have lived in our street, some comment on recent developments relating to waste disposal, recycling, traffic and parking.

I have found myself involved with a number of issues, not least the need to agree a new Constitution for the Association, to be presented to members at our next AGM. I am indebted to Jack Hugh for his help with this. Jack has recently been elected a member of the New Town and Broughton Community Council, and we are hopeful that this will provide us with a much improved insight into matters of general public interest. I have found myself involved already in planning issues, waste disposal, neighbour relations, and most notably the recent incursion, and concomitant disruption to parking, of a BBC film crew who were filming an episode of a TV production in the home of a resident. I am pleased to say that funds were enhanced by a generous donation from the BBC in recognition of any inconvenience which may have been caused. I am also particularly grateful to new resident/owner Stella Falconer for her very generous contribution in recognition of the many months of inconvenience caused during renovation. It remains only for me to wish all members, and other residents a most enjoyable Festive Season and a Happy New Year.

Many thanks …

… are due to Stella Falconer,  who by way of restitution  for disruption caused by building works at her new home donated £200. to the Association. BBC Films also chipped in with £250 by way of restitution for the recent chaos caused by their filming…

Northumberland Street’s Military figures. Admiral Sir William George Fairfax, and others.

Images of our Military Men

Described by Youngson as a gallant sailor, Admiral Fairfax resided at No 53 Northumberland Street towards the end of his life. His most notable service was as Admiral Adam Duncan’s flag captain on board HMS Venerable at the battle of Camperdown on 11 October 1797. His daughter, Mary Somerville, the noted mathematician and polymath, also resided in the street and was the subject of an article in the 2010 newsletter. Fairfax joined the Royal Navy in 1750 aboard HMS Centurion, under Admiral Keppel, moving on to HMS Mars, HMS Garland, HMS Duke and then HMS Euros off North America. He spent some time in reserve, but at the start of the American Revolutionary War he returned to service but was captured by the French and spent the rest of the war (1775-1783) as a prisoner of war. In 1782 he was released as a Post-Captain and briefly commanded HMS Tartar. In 1790 he took command of HMS Sheerness and in 1796 became flag captain of HMS Venerable, in which he was heavily engaged in the Battle of Camperdown, for which service he was knighted. In 1801 he was raised to Rear Admiral serving in the Baltic, but was then placed in permanent reserve. He was promoted to Vice-Admiral of the Red in 1810, and died in Edinburgh in 1813. 

Living at the same time in No. 57, albeit then as a Colonel in the Sixtieth Regiment of Foot, was John Hope, later Lieutenant General Sir John Hope, and Commander-in -Chief of the Army in Scotland, cousin of the more famous General Sir John Hope, 4th Earl of Hopetoun, and it seems that Northumberland Street was emerging as a popular place of residence for distinguished military men, before it became known as Attorneys Row.

Continuing to the modern era, more recently Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Dow lived with his wife Joan in No 22. Leslie was Commanding Officer of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and achieved more widespread fame as the Producer of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo between 1975 and 1991. Joan Dow Chaired the Association between 1985 and 1987. Major General Alistair Anderson and his wife Maggie lived at No 14. Alistair Chaired the Association between 1993 and 2004 and was notable for increasing the Association membership to over 100, also masterminding the fundraising exercise which led to the installation of the Nelson Street lights.

And of course we still have another notable old soldier in the street – Major Brian Leishman. Brian was Business manager of the Tattoo for 21 years from 1976, overlapping successfully with the aforementioned Leslie Dow.

Major General Alistair Anderson (extreme right), with his wife Maggie (2nd right), Joan Dow (2nd left and her daughter Holly (left), Dodd’s Mill, circa 2001

 

 

Traffic Update – Having waited forever for 20mph limits, they are soon to be upon us – implementation starts April 2016 and will take up to two years to complete.

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/20mph

Traffic and NSNSA News

The Northumberland Street and Nelson Street Association (NSNSA) has now informal representation on the New Town and Broughton Community Council (CC) as one of our Committee Members, Jack Hugh, has become a Community Councillor. The Scheme for Community Councils was instituted under the Local Government Act 1973 which sets out their statutory purposes . They are to express the views of the community and take such action as may be necessary to represent the interests of the community. They have the right to be consulted on Planning Applications and are considered competent objectors to license applications. It is  expected that they engage widely. NSNSA are moving towards registration as a Local Interest Group to give formal representation on the CC. To that end a draft Constitution is in preparation to place before the AGM for approval. A membership drive will be required to ensure that even representation is obtained to feed back local opinion on issues placed before the CC. The CC submitted a response to the Parking Action Plan put out by the Council for consultation and that included dual use bays, and options for extended hours for parking restrictions. These issues are likely to be put out for a further consultation early next year.  In January 2015 the Council approved plans for the introduction of 20mph limits to certain streets with 30mph and 40mph for key arterial routes. The proposal is that this will be implemented city-wide and be completed within a two year timescale. An awareness campaign will commence  in February 2016 with a start on the City Centre first.  Jack Hugh

Refuse Update – Residents should be well aware of the recent changes to City Council arrangements for collecting refuse/waste and also the amended procedures for red and blue box recycling collections. Full information is available on the Council website, and once the procedures settle down will also be found on our own website. Frequent contact with the Council has improved the previous inconsistency and carelessness of these collections, especially with regard to food waste, but it is noted with considerable regret that very few residents actually bother to use the grey bins for collection of food waste. This represents a very important contribution by our Council towards achievement of environmental targets, and residents are encouraged to make every effort to help our city in this regard. It is a sad reflection of attitudes that although we are quick to complain, there are still some who do not appear to care about civic responsibility.

Filmic Recollections – by Historic Reporter David Ingram

It was in 1995 that we had our first exposure as a film set. The City gave permission for the filming of Thomas Hardy’s ‘Jude the Obscure’ in our Street and I recall the air being very excited. Anything remotely modern had to be removed from our front ground floor windows, and all potted shrubs from our front plats.

Parking information posts (and other inappropriate street furniture) were uprooted and sand spread on the setts to cover the yellow lines. Naturally all cars were removed and replaced with the odd carriage and horse and small children in early Victorian style costume. The effect was utterly electric and we all gazed from behind our discreet sheers in unalloyed fascination. I did ask what they would do about the Kweilin, Wally Dug and the branch of Victoria Wines at that time on the other corner. Not a problem came the reply, ‘we’ll fog it out’. This involved inflating a large polythene tunnel right across the street and filling it with dry ice or whatever chemicals they use to simulate ‘the haar’. By God, it worked. They wanted our street to resemble a residential thoroughfare in Cambridge in the 1830’s, on a very bad day. The Edinburgh weather was happy to oblige. On the worst possible day you could imagine,  filming began. An unfortunate and very young Ms Kate Winslett was obliged to walk up and down the street for several takes gradually assuming an appearance of bedraggled and ‘drookit’ misery in a black dress. In the gutter was the’ dolly’ which carried the camera man with equipment and a poor soul in a boiler suit, flat on his stomach, with a spirit level to keep the thing straight. The aura of utter melancholy and depression thus created would have heartened Thomas Hardy himself. It’s a good (if ultimately somewhat tragic) film and worth conjuring up the DVD this Xmas. The film was eventually launched in 1996.

Shortly after that David Jason would film’ Mr Micawber’ for the BBC, a screenplay extracted from Charles Dickens’ ‘David Copperfield’. It was much less involved than ‘Jude’ but still ‘did the business’. The first episode of the four part dramatisation was shown on Boxing Day 2001. The location used was the basement of the then Electrical Contractor’s business in the North part of Nelson Street. I seem to recall David Jason looking perpetually bad tempered when not filming. We were however launched as a desirable historic backdrop for period productions.

Moths – where they shall not consume ..

“Tineola bisselliella” are very, very hungry caterpillars. The larvae will eat almost anything, including the keratin of hair and feathers. In our house, they have eaten through:

1. A vintage vicuna gentleman’s dressing gown (pale camel, piped in silk, once belonged to my step-father-in-law) .
2. A kilt, (Shaw),
3. A huge antique American flag, (48 stars not 50 and made of hemp)
4. Many areas of fitted carpet hidden from view by furniture.

We called in Rentokil, who (for a large price) were happy to come and fumigate all 4 floors. For even more money, they would place every piece of upholstered furniture into a heated tent to kill all eggs and larvae. I decided to become an expert and save myself a lot of money. Here are my tips. When the weather warms in the spring, any eggs or cocoons or even larvae (they can live for up to 30 months without pupating if the conditions are right) that have lain dormant throughout the winter will continue with the life cycle, so be ready with your arsenal.

1. Place moth traps around the house; the ones made by Pest-Stop are the best. Position them at a height of 1.7 – 2.5 m. They are impregnated with pheromones that attract the male moth. As well as killing the male moths (not the female, who don’t fly) and removing them from the reproductive cycle, the traps give you a clear indication of which rooms and areas of your house are already infested.
2. Spring Clean like you’ve never cleaned before. The female moth does not like the light and hates to have her nest disturbed. If you have seen the males but think you are safe because you can’t see evidence of damage, don’t be deceived. The females crawl under furniture to lay their eggs and it is only when you move everything to vacuum, that you might see the tunnels of eaten carpet.
3. Before, you replace your furniture; sprinkle all hidden places (especially under the legs of tables and chests) with Carpet Moth and Beetle Killer Powder (made by Rentokil). I much prefer this to all the liquids that are on the market (such as Carpet Moth Killer made by Regremedy  UK or Protector C made by Agropharm Ltd) because it remains on the surface of the carpet and once it is there it continues to work! The suggestion is that you vacuum it up after two hours, but where possible leave it down indefinitely (avoiding children or pets). It does no damage to the carpet and there is no danger of staining (as with liquids). Puff it anywhere and everywhere.
4. If you have a cupboard or small room (boiler room or walk­ in wardrobe) in need of treatment, try Insect Killer Fogger, also made by Rentokil. These burn slowly to release a ‘fog’, which kills all flying insects. You could use these in any room, but you would need at least 8 burning at once to fumigate the average New Town drawing room. These may be your answer if you have a bad infestation in a room with an abundance of furnishing fabrics.
5. Dry clean or wash all your winter clothes, especially delicious fabrics like cashmere, and especially anything stained. Do the same with all blankets. Anything that is to be stored for the summer, seal in a plastic or good quality clothes bag. If you have the freezer space, place precious garments in a plastic bag in the freezer. All eggs and larvae will be killed.
6. Fill your wardrobes with moth deterrents. There are plenty around that are not nearly as noxious as mothballs but more effective than cedar balls or lavender.
7. Finally, be vigilant! Clothes moths now breed more than once a year. Check the traps and keep replacing them. Although I was sure I was winning the battle at the end of last summer, they will still be in the house, hibernating in pipe lagging or under the floors. (If you have a garden, they will certainly be waiting out the winter in your much-loved blue tit box) But in the spring I will set my traps and keep watch. Good luck to us all!

Tineola bisselliella in all its diagrammatic (but oversized) beauty. It really is rather small, at just 12mm long (about ½ inch) while the larvae are around 15mm (2/3 inch)

2015 AGM and Street Party – 

Another fine occasion was observed on Sunday 31st May in the Scottish Gallery on Dundas Street. We are honoured to be allowed to use their excellent premises entirely free of charge. We would like to thank the Gallery for this privilege.

Sadly, on this occasion, despite many emails and calls, there were no representatives from the Council or the Police. Joanna Mowat did however send her apologies .

Topics aired at the AGM included:

• Refuse discussions including the recently installed and occasionally emptied large container in the lower half of Nelson Street , the frugal use of waste food containers, and recycling in general.
• The principal traffic discussion surrounded 20mph limits. (Of which more elsewhere). Myths include 1) slowing traffic will increase casualties (No), and 2) Traffic will be slowed (not according to European research) AND – The Police have at last consented to pursue those who exceed the new limit.
• An apparently one-off extensive car vandalism escapade was noted, the culprit(s) for which have as yet not been apprehended.