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that " the great body of the people adhere to the established
church " [Old Statistical Account), now, of course, joined
with the former United Free Church to form the Church of
Scotland. Of persons attached to the Church of Scotland
congregations the proportion is former Established Church
70 per cent., former United Free Church 30 per cent. The
glebe is now occupied partly by a housing scheme and partly
by the modern junior secondary school.
The Library was built in 1905 and is managed by a Joint
Committee of the Town and County Councils, along with representatives
from householders within the parish. It contains a reading-room
as well as accommodation for the issue of books to readers,
and it has a resident librarian. Types of books in most
frequent demand are romance, crime and detective, and western
novels.
The Mary Murray Institute (formerly Schaw's Hospital) was
acquired as a Community Centre immediately prior to the
war, but it is meantime only used in part as such. The rest
provides additional classrooms for Preston Lodge School
and accommodation for the Nursery School. The town is unfortunately
lacking in recreational facilities, having no good parks
or playing fields. The Town Hall, although fully used, does
not provide accommodation for all the organisations to develop
as they desire. The Church Halls are also in use almost
every evening by their own organisations. There is only
one cinema in the town and no theatre. Another cinema was
planned on a site immediately to the north of Preston Church,
but the war prevented the start of building. The comparative
absence of facilities for recreation locally and the greater
attraction provided by Edinburgh and Musselburgh have resulted
in a constant daily exodus to these towns, especially by
the youthful members of the community. Many of those who
have the interests of the town at heart are aware of this
and hope, when more normal conditions are resumed, to provide
attractions to make the people of the parish more ready
to spend the bulk of their leisure hours in and around Prestonpans.
Friendly Societies include The Fishermen's Society, The
Miners' Society, The Carters' Society, The Gardeners' and
Rechabites' Friendly Societies. The Old Age Pensioners'
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