Newtongrange Welfare Park improvements

Description

Newtongrange Development Trust have recently acquired a lease from Midlothian Council for a disused pavilion and bowling green in Newtongrange Welfare Park. Both have been unused for several years and have fallen into disrepair. Midlothian Council has agreed to make the premises wind and watertight, and the community would like to bring the building back to life by creating a café, toilets, and meeting space.

This will benefit the many park users and the community in general.

The ask: help with the outside of the area

• Disabled access
• Outdoor benches and picnic tables/benches
• Groundworks pathway clearing
• Landscaping
• Fencing around the perimeter

 

The park is beautiful and well used by dog walkers and youth football groups, so the demand for the café would be high. This area has also become a pétanque hot spot, and with a couple more pistes, they could bring international competitions to the park. Any contribution that you can make would be a great example of community wealth building and would make a difference to this area for years to come. 

Background

Newtongrange is a former mining village in Midlothian, and the trust was established in 2023. Like many other community groups in this area, it works tirelessly to plug the gaps in services and make the community happy and thriving. With limited funds, it offers a pantry, ‘make do and mend’, ‘mother, baby and toddler’, performing arts, and bereavement groups. They also have an online charity shop, and their high-performing Vinted shop is thriving.  

They aspire to build on their heritage and community spirit to develop and create sustainable initiatives to enhance their growing village's social, economic, environmental, and cultural benefits.

You can see our request to help build the kirchen here and for tables and chairs etc for the cafe here.