All in Favour of the Statue then ... but before that please, Your Comments on our Proposals!

It's Consultation Phase we're in at present … so please log on and have your say!

On May 8th from 2/ 8 pm there's Open Door Consultation at Prestonpans Town Hall as well as the opportunity to see it all and make comments here online @

www.visionforvictory1745.org



It's always intriguing to see which elements of a plan attract the media most, which appear most newsworthy. The notion of Scotland's first statue of The Prince seems to be winning at the moment. But we confidently expect its location to move up the Agenda soon.

As Rachel Mackie mentions in her article below in the East Lothian Courier we have been talking to Hargreaves re Blindwells which the Trust prefers to call Charlestoun. They have already included plans for a Prince's Loch and Prince's Park in their development there. But we are also 'Waiting for Godot' - here used to characterise East Lothian Council's strategy of seeking an overall development plan from outside investors for the former lands of Scottish Power/ Cockenzie Power Station. They include much of the battlesite as well as possible locations for the Living History Centre. The MasterPlan the community helped to create has seemingly been set aside including its firm proposals that the battlefield should act as a green lung in the future plan.



We're resolved at the Trust to make our locational decision by June 2020 and to proceed thereafter with our ambitious fund raising campaigns. There's a lot to be raised but we're optimistic. The Prince along with the Jacobites always arouses widespread interest as do our two brilliant tapestries - approaching 750,000 visitors since 2010. And as well as within our own communities we'll be working with VisitScotland and the national and international tourist trade to design a winning facility. It has to attract repeat visits from all within 50 miles radius and its ability to do that depends on offering an imaginative programme of events and activities that will warrant fee paying attendances.

The statue we know will certainly become an icon and ideal for a photocall for many a visitor but it will be just one element in the appeal we know we must create. Once open the Centre has to be self-sustaining from visitor revenues. We're getting help with forecasts of that outcome from National Trust for Scotland which manages Culloden and Bannockburn as well as from much further afield.



As well as The Scotsman, Edinburg Evening News, Glasgow's Herald and The Times gave us good coverage and STV is scheduled to visit during our Open Consultation. And of course the social media has been spreading our news and eliciting feedback comments as well as Likes.

Published Date: Friday, May 3, 2019