Every Saturday morning about 8am, when most ‘normal’ people are having a lie-in, a small group of dedicated volunteers are setting up a course down in Lochend Woods for Dunbar’s parkrun – this is one of a number of 5K events throughout Britain every Saturday morning, run by volunteers. It doesn’t cost anyone to…

Months in planning, lots of difficult negotiations, sorting out the logistics in staging the Festival and so many other issues to deal with … yet the fundamental question still remained unanswered until the big day dawned – would the weather smile kindly on all the hard work? Fortunately the weather was nice to Dunbar and…

The past is a foreign country as the saying goes, but often we don’t notice it, even when it’s sitting in front of us. As one of the oldest companies in East Lothian, Belhaven Brewery has been around since just after the signing of the Acts of Union in 1719, providing a rich source of…

It seems that last year’s Sparkling Dunbar Harbour Festival was so much fun that the pirates want to come back. So much so, they decided to help the event organisers raise money for equipment for the next festival on 17 August 2019. A sponsored walk in the middle of May seemed a great idea ……

Renewal and regeneration seem to be the buzz words nowadays in urban development. Revival is an old word, often associated with religion where one’s soul is revived, and one which seem to be apt to describe what is happening behind the Black Bull pub on Dunbar’s High Street. As one strolls down the passageway one…

Gorgeous September weather and the whole beach to yourselves. What more can a group of children ask for? Ok, it isn’t California but it doesn’t matter. What’s important is that they’re out of school and running around on an empty beach, looking forward to getting in the water and learning how to surf. It’s a…

Summer is coming to an end; the nights are starting to lengthen and in the mornings there is a touch of ground frost. School beckons and with autumn creeping in, one is gripped with a sense of time passing. Ever since my boy was tiny, I spent so much time on the beach with him;…

The pirates came, sang and sparkled; the sun came out and shone brightly. And thus the Sparkling Harbour Craft and Music Festival got under way, although the strong wind was a tad worrying. But the main thing was that the sun was there and stayed there for the afternoon; some people brought their own sunny…

New of the imminent death of the Church in Scotland is exaggerated, but the society has changed. Sunday is no longer a special day; shops and and garden centres tend to be people’s places of worship, followed by the sporting activities. It was always amusing in the past seeing Orthodoxy Jews in Glasgow going to…

Why am I here? I’m standing on the edge of the seashore on a freezing New Year afternoon, feet like ice boxes from standing on the sand for more than 20 minutes and waiting for a signal to plunge into the sea. Again, what for? A couple of minutes in the water? People have come…