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The Herald Scotland
05-06-2025
- General
- The Herald Scotland
What I learned from 15 years of tramworks on my Leith street
I live on the narrowest section of the tram route. The dates of the digs and closures in our part of Leith are mostly vague or forgotten but it pretty much began when we moved in, six weeks after the birth of our first child. For some reason we were so oblivious and lacking in due diligence that we were unaware that the road was about to become a dig site. For the next 15 years, we would live with the digs, the works cancellation, the threat of its revival, more works and then finally their completion and the delivery to us of a tram route, which, I must confess, I do now enjoy. Occasionally, since it stops just done the road, I call it 'my tram'. The phases of the works blur into one another, alongside the passage of my children from baby, to toddler, primary school scooter-rider, to teen, but the memory of living in a build site throughout significant sections of their childhood is strong. In a note in a diary I kept from around the birth of my son Max, I observe that I am feeling some stress due to the noise of the tram dig. Reports suggest that the first work to divert utility pipes and cables in Leith began in March 2007, starting on Constitution Street, though I'm not sure I noticed. The route was finally opened in June 2023. There were highs over those 15 years; even some entertainment. At various points along the way, sections were shut to traffic, without much action in terms of works, and my kids scootered across the tarmac as if they were living in an open streets area. There was the coming and going of skeletons, revealed in the dirt at the opposite side of the road, their dark sockets staring out from the depths of time - somewhere round about the plague era of the 15th century - as I would walk my children to school. Later, forensic scientists would recreate the faces of these haunting grave dwellers. One of them even appeared, like some local celebrity, in an episode of Digging for Britain. READ MORE: When our part of the route was cancelled, in 2010, it came as a relief, but also a disappointment. All that digging, all that noise and fuss, the impact on businesses, and we weren't even going to get any tram joy. But the noise lingered. The road surface was poor because we had been left with a temporary fix after the tram work utility access. Traffic was noisier; the buildings would shake as countless buses and trucks passed down our street. The tram route, on Leith Walk, is now viewed as a success (Image: Gordon terris/Herald&Times) But, almost a decade later, in March 2019, councillors voted to extend trams to Newhaven and the start of the second works arrived back on our street in November of that year. It was just four months before a pandemic and a lockdown would see them paused and lives, and local businesses thrown into disarray once more. There was talk of cancelling (again!) but a report found the financial impact of doing so would be greater than allowing it to continue, so the works went on. What that has left me with is the strong feeling that if you are going to dig up a road, you only want to have to do it once, and you should get everything possible done at that point. If we are moving utilities for a tram track in the coming decade, shouldn't we also be considering whether it's possible to lay the pipes for district heating or even ground source boreholes? A view of Vicky Allan's street, February 2022 (Image: Vicky Allan) My husband was on the local community council so kept abreast of tram matters more than I did. One of the issues for us was concern over the fact that we were to be on the narrowest section of the route, so tight that instead of placing, the wires were held up by other cables attached to our building. There was talk of there only being a single track, for which many were advocating, or even an alternative route - none of this happened. A challenge at times, in a works that was always shifting, was trying to find the best route to our home, or from one side of the street to the other, past the fences that one shop owner described as 'like the Berlin Wall'. Almost as a plus, alarms were not necessary. The dawn chorus of the works could begin at 7am on a weekday, and 8am on a Saturday. Up on Leith Walk some of the businesses were hit hard. Others seemed determined to stay on the bright side, like Leandro Crolla, of the Vittoria Group, in an Edinburgh Evening News video, who said: 'I'm very positive towards the future. I do think Leith Walk will brighten up. I think the street will look more cosmopolitan. It will look more welcoming. I'm one of these people who think we're taking a hit now for a year or two years. But next 15-20-30 years we'll get the benefits, if it goes ahead.' Then, finally, it was done. That was 15 years of a tram coming and then not coming, of building and then not building, of roads dug up, the dead peering out through the dark sockets of soil-smeared skulls, HARAS fencing that divided us, neighbour from neighbour, one side of the street from the other, the rattle and vibration of diggers and, and then the ground sealing up again to carry us up in a gleaming pod into the city and what felt like a modern green age. Now the street is quiet, possibly some think too quiet. Perhaps, you only notice the peace when you've lived through the noise. The tram feels fluid and calm, its rhythmic passing over our window makes little impact on my day, save for the slight buzz it makes that sounds like one of my alerts on my mobile phone, a sound my brain is looking out for. It's nothing like the rattle of trucks that used to pass our door when we first moved in. More on The Future of Edinburgh: Yes, we are tram converts. But, what would I say to others who might find the latest T-Rex of a proposed tram route, 1b passing their door? Was it worth it? If I was right back there in the middle of the dig again, I would think not – but the memory is fading and all I see now is a tram that stops at the end of my street and takes me where I want to go. But if I had a business on the line I might feel differently. Karen Greig, who runs Destined for Home, a gift shop further down my street, has a warning for businesses who may be on the new tramline. 'We got assistance. But did we get enough? In hindsight I would say a year after they should have given us another bit of help because it's not bringing the people that they said. Say they gave us three lots of help, one of them or a fourth one should have been after the tram release. 'The amount of advertising I've done and it's not making an iota of difference. But they could have paid for it with assistance for businesses. The business has not come back. The street is lovely and clean, with beautiful Caithness paving, but I'm not getting the business.' Businesses in the area have had to battle through a lot in the last six years. When Leith Walk greengrocer, Tattie Shaws, closed down in October 2023, the owner, James Welby, cited a combination of factors, including the impact of the tram works, Brexit, and a decline in footfall due to the pandemic, as reasons. Some people did experience real damage to their homes, or their livelihoods. I always find it wearyingly funny when the City of Edinburgh Council describes the extension of the trams to Newhaven as a success, treating it like an entirely separate project from the one that came before, as if all that digging, when my kids were babies, didn't happen. Success wasn't what the tramworks T-Rex felt like to live through – even if getting on a tram, right now, does feel like a glide into modernity and, yes, success.
Scottish Sun
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
BBC schedule shake up as string of hit shows taken off air this week
Fan favourite shows will disappear off the TV guide this week gone missing BBC schedule shake up as string of hit shows taken off air this week Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A SCHEDULE shake up on BBC2 this week will see a string of hit shows taken off air. A number of viewers' favourite programmes have been cancelled. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 1 King Charles with David Beckham at the Chelsea Flower Show on Monday Credit: Reuters It's to make way for the coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show which airs every night at 8pm. That means Only Connect, Digging for Britain and Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing will all be off air. RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the pinnacle of the gardening calendar, from Sunday, May 18 through to May 25. It is hailed as a celebration of horticultural excellence, sustainability, and creative garden design. This year's coverage features an all-star presenting line-up with some exciting new additions. From Monday to Friday on BBC One and iPlayer from 2pm, Nicki Chapman and Angellica Bell offer practical take-home gardening tips. Every evening on BBC2 and iPlayer from 8pm, Monty Don, Rachel de Thame, and Arit Anderson offer expert insights from Carol Klein, Frances Tophill, and more. Then on May 23 on BBC One and iPlayer from 7:30pm there is a special evening programme hosted by Sophie Raworth and Adam Frost. This weekend, on Saturday May 24 and Sunday May 25 on BBC One, the end-of-week highlights will air with and reflections on BBC Two and iPlayer from 5.25pm. Plus, Radio 2's The Scott Mills Breakfast Show will be live from Chelsea Flower Show on 19 May as he officially unveils the The RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden live on the station and BBC Sounds.
The Irish Sun
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
BBC schedule shake up as string of hit shows taken off air this week
A SCHEDULE shake up on BBC2 this week will see a string of hit shows taken off air. A number of viewers' favourite programmes have been cancelled. Advertisement 1 King Charles with David Beckham at the Chelsea Flower Show on Monday Credit: Reuters It's to make way for the coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show which airs every night at 8pm. That means Only Connect, Digging for Britain and Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing will all be off air. RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the pinnacle of the gardening calendar, from Sunday, May 18 through to May 25. It is hailed as a celebration of horticultural excellence, sustainability, and creative garden design. Advertisement READ MORE ON BBC This year's coverage features an all-star presenting line-up with some exciting new additions. From Monday to Friday on BBC One and iPlayer from 2pm, Nicki Chapman and Angellica Bell offer practical take-home gardening tips. Every evening on BBC2 and iPlayer from 8pm, Monty Don, Rachel de Thame, and Arit Anderson offer expert insights from Carol Klein, Frances Tophill, and more. Then on May 23 on BBC One and iPlayer from 7:30pm there is a special evening programme hosted by Sophie Raworth and Adam Frost. Advertisement Most read in News TV Exclusive This weekend, on Saturday May 24 and Sunday May 25 on BBC One, the end-of-week highlights will air with and reflections on BBC Two and iPlayer from 5.25pm . Plus, Radio 2's The Scott Mills Breakfast Show will be live from Chelsea Flower Show on 19 May as he officially unveils the The RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden live on the station and BBC Sounds. David Beckham meets with King Charles at Chelsea Flower Show
BBC News
05-03-2025
- General
- BBC News
Roman cemetery found at Peterborough roadworks site 'unique'
Archaeologists who excavated a Roman cemetery say it is "unique" due to the range of different types of burial and grave goods, including bracelets buried with young dig team has been showing the BBC some of the jewellery discovered at the site at Wansford, near Peterborough, where the A47 is being personal treasures of those buried have been provisionally dated to the late Roman Britain period (3rd-4th Centuries), and include a solid stone coffin containing a corpse set in Archaeology's Jessica Lowther said further investigation of the artefacts would help "answer questions about those that lived here". One of the significant finds is jewellery found in the grave of the child, who was believed to have been about five years old, giving a possible indication of their wealth and high team said it was still unclear what community the cemetery served, as no evidence of other settlement buildings had been found in the immediate Machin, senior specialist at Headland, said the team had been studying the finds at their base at Silsoe in Bedfordshire."It's a collection of bracelets all found with the same child. What it tells us is what people thought about them and what they thought was appropriate to go into the grave," she said."It's a little picture of the community and how they were burying their people."The collection in the child's grave is similar to another grave and suggests a connection." Ms Machin said they could use DNA to establish links."Looking at skeletons we will be able to find out if they are related and what relationships there might be with the rest of the population," she said. The solid stone coffin, or sarchophagus, weighed the same as a small caravan, and featured in the latest series of the BBC's Digging for Britain programme. It was made of Ancaster stone, so the team said it might have been transported 30 miles south from the Lincolnshire village that gives its name to that type of stone, indicating the high status of the person buried in it. Ms Lowther said its lid was made using Barnack stone, which is local to the Peterborough area, therefore it was possible the original lid may have been broken and this was a replacement."This is how we tell stories about people that lived everyday lives. We don't [always] have history books written about us, but archaeology can tell us those stories," she said. She added that the different burial practices in such a small area made the cemetery "unique". These included:the solid stone coffin containing the gypsuma cist burial - using separate slabs of stone forming a coffincremationsgoods placed at both the heads or feet of the skeletondecapitated skeletonsiron nails, suggesting wooden coffins, since decomposed Chris Griffin, National Highways programme lead for the A47 project, said the finds would add to the tapestry of knowledge about the area, including the discovery of a small section of Roman road nearby, which the stone coffin may have been transported on."It's fascinating that we found a Roman road while we were building a road. Isn't that just great? "We didn't know that the road was there but the find shows us how important the A1 and A47 has been, going back to Roman times."Ms Lowther said: "Transporting the gypsum coffin at all would have been a major feat with lifting and manoeuvring, but then to add 30 miles of journey is quite a lot."Pulling the cart on a Roman road, which would have acted a little bit like a cobbled street, would not have been the smoothest." Ms Machin said it was "early stages" in piecing together information about how long the site was in use for burials, its place in the surrounding landscape and the stories of the individuals laid to rest there."What we have got now are all clues. Now we have a huge list of questions and we're moving on to the next stage to see how many answers we can get," she of the items are currently available for the public to see, and Headland said it was too early in the process for any decisions to be made about putting things on reports of all the archaeology found will be uploaded to Peterborough's Historic Environment Record, the team said. Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Roman coin moulds used for forgeries go on display
Coin moulds which were used for counterfeiting money during Roman times are to go on display in a West Yorkshire museum. The moulds were discovered at Ackton Meadows in Castleford and are thought to date to about AD260 when the Roman world was undergoing a period of political instability and coins were in short supply. Hannah Appleyard, Wakefield Council's cabinet member for culture, leisure and sport, said the moulds would add to the wealth of Roman history on show at Castleford Museum. "This latest find paints a fascinating story of life in our district almost 2,000 years ago. They'll have pride of place alongside the other Roman artefacts in Castleford so people can find out more," she said. "It's very important to preserve our archaeological heritage for future generations to enjoy. "So, we'll be working with the West Yorkshire Archive Service to protect and categorise these new discoveries." The find was uncovered during an excavation by West Yorkshire Archaeological Services ahead of the construction of a new housing development. Speaking on BBC Two's Digging for Britain, excavation manager Dave Williams said the site probably formed part of a settlement on the outskirts of Roman Castleford. He said: "We knew very little about the site before we started. We put some trenches in and that started turning up archaeological features with Roman pottery in them." In the first century AD, the Roman army set up camp on the River Aire and built a fort called Lagentium, on which modern-day Castleford is built. Roman coin moulds have been found in the area before, according to Wakefield Council. More than 300 moulds, dated to around AD238, were found at Lingwell near Wakefield between 1695 and 1830. Many of these are featured in the Castleford Museum collection, which also includes Roman coins found in Castleford during excavations in the 1980s. Some of the earliest coins were made of bronze and then coated in silver to make them look like solid silver. Coin expert Murray Andrews told Digging for Britain that the method found on site was a standard way of making counterfeit coins. He said: "It's often a way of making more valuable coins out of less valuable materials. Counterfeiting was a crime in the Roman empire and punishable by crucifixion. "It's a time in which there's hyperinflation and prices are rising so people use fakes and copies instead." Many other examples of Roman coin moulds have been found in neighbouring South Yorkshire, suggesting there was a regional black market industry, according to Wakefield Council. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here. 'Glitz and glamour' of marbles contest celebrated Museum to stay open as council budget finalised Plans for new museum and art gallery approved Castleford Museum
