John Muir Meets the Prince and Lord George Murray @ Cuthill Park

All the action is at Cuthill ...

No too long ago, the grass grew so high you could lose your dog in Cuthill Park! But starting with volunteer litter picker-uppers, then Golf Scholarships at the Royal Musselburgh, and Davie Logan was ready to start cutting the grass again. The 'Friends of Cuthill Park', the park's local action group, still have many walls to climb, but they know progress when they see and hear it!

Last September, and again this September, the 1745 Battle Trust has staged re-enactments at Cuthill, whose amphitheatre and wooded hills provide a brilliant landscape for them. With the continual support of the Bowling Club the Arts Festival's annual Murals Fest led by Tom Ewing has now been run in the Cuthill for three years each June during Three Harbours. Each June our two cows, the bull and their calf reappear too. And this coming weeked the flower commandoes are expected there 'in secret' planting bulbs to make the whole more picturesque.

It was also pleasing to see that the putative future Countryside Walks plan for East Lothan anticipates an alternative John Muir track across the park to the Heritage Museum.....

...so it was clearly timeous for ELIS's youngsters to create three totems commemorating and celebrating John Muir that have now been erected by the Arts Festival with Community Council backing and Rollo's support at the southern tip of the park.

As pictured below, the re-enactors could not resist gongoozling the three poles, and the Prince accompanied by Lord George Murray, offered their own best wishes and hurrahs for the park's future - plus congratulations to ELIS's carvers!

click to enlarge pictures




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Editor's Note: Worth noting too that the Battle Trust is itself campaigning with the Arts Festival for the Waggonway to the east of town, with support from Scottish Coal, to be conserved and much better interpreted as part of the John Muir Way diaspora!