Newsletter No.

12, December 2009

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the latest issue of our newsletter. The AGM was

held in October and details are included. I gave a resume of the
year’s activities, Will presented the accounts and your council was
re-elected, there being no other nominations. The meeting
concluded with Will Collin’s most interesting story of John Muir’s
return to Dunbar – and to Scotland – in 1893.

I hope you all saw Will have his five minutes of fame on
STV’s programme on the Greatest Scots. We were delighted that
STV had included John Muir for this programme. Will was
interviewed walking in the John Muir Country Park telling some
anecdotes of Muir’s early life in Dunbar and Cameron McNeish of
the John Muir Trust then spoke of Muir’s legacy and importance to
the modern world. I trust you all voted.

Finally, if you are looking for that little special something to

put in a Christmas stocking, do not forget the gifts available from
the Birthplace shop, particularly the Friends five books. A 10%
discount is available to members of Friends on all purchases.

A Happy Christmas to you and yours and a peaceful and

Prosperous 2010
Sincerely,

Jim Thompson
 AGM Report
The 2009 AGM was held on Wednesday, 14th October 2009. Jim Thompson
presented the Convenor’s report (see separate account).

Will Collin, Treasurer, presented the annual accounts (see separate account). It
was unanimously decided that subscription levels should remain the same
apart from Overseas memberships. All Overseas subscriptions will be at the
Family rate of £8 to cover postage. Members will continue to be encouraged
to receive newsletters by email. William Dempster was thanked for auditing
the accounts and unanimously appointed auditor for next year. Will
commented on the growing success of the Friends of JMB books.

The following members of the Council were re-elected: Dan Cairney, Jim
Thompson, Will Collin, Duncan Smeed, Susan Panton and Liz McLean.

During A.O.B. Liz Mclean as chairperson of JMBT thanked Friends for their
active role through talks, guided walks and books to raise the profile of John
Muir and JMB. Jo Moulin, JMB manager also thanked Friends for their
supportive role during the past year.

Jim Thompson thanked all for attending and closed the meeting.

To finish the evening, Will Collin gave a very interesting talk on his methods
of research for the book and exhibition A Scotchman Comes Home.

Susan Panton, Secretary

14 October 2009

AGM - Convener’s Report 2009

Each year I begin my report by stating the aims of the Friends of John Muir
Birthplace’s as stated in our constitution. This year is no different. Our aims
are:-

‘To advance the education of the public concerning John Muir, as the Dunbar-
born pioneer of world nature conservation, and his belief in the unique and
irreplaceable value of wild places and wild creatures; and to implement John
Muir's philosophy practically by conserving, restoring and enhancing
landscape and wildlife in East Lothian and Scotland’.

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Over the past year we have continued to further these objectives by:

• Conducting pre-arranged guided walks for both adults and young people,
including groups from abroad, around ‘John Muir’s Dunbar’.
• Delivering a programme of talks and other events on John Muir and
environmental topics, both within and outwith John Muir’s Birthplace
(JMB). Examples include involvement in practical conservation with the
Dunbar Community Woodland Group at Lochend Woods, a geology walk
along the Clifftop Trail, and a talk on eradicating the tree mallow on
Craigleith and Fidra Island to help the puffin colonies there.
• Publishing a new edition of John Muir’s Dunbar, written by David
Anderson, and Will Collin’s book on the return visit of John Muir to
Dunbar and Scotland.
• Taking part in ‘Homecoming Scotland’ by leading twice-weekly guided
walks around John Muir’s Dunbar during the summer.
• Meeting with people of influence in Scotland in general and East Lothian in
particular. Treasurer Will Collin and myself are involved in East Lothian
Council’s John Muir Strategy Group which aims to raise awareness of John
Muir, develop educational and other links with the US and promote Muir-
linked tourism in East Lothian.
• Being involved in local environmental initiatives such as Dunbar Woodland
Group, ‘Transition Town – ‘Sustaining Dunbar’, beach tidies and other
environmental projects.
• Providing volunteers on a regular and ad hoc basis to support JMB staff and
to promote JMB both locally and further afield.
• Issuing on a regular basis our newsletter containing items regarding John
Muir, environmental issues and the work of JMB, circulated to members and
available at the Birthplace.

We participated in the launch of the John Muir Odyssey, a Birthplace

‘Homecoming’ initiative, with 'The Big Picnic' on 21 April. Children from
Dunbar Primary School took part in a 'get back to nature' treasure trail. The
children were also treated to some drama from our president Dan Cairney and
myself, who posed as John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt respectively, explaining
to the children how the first national parks were established in the USA.

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Last year, I advised members at the AGM that the Birthplace had been
nominated for a prestigious award from the John Muir Association in
California. I am delighted to say that the 2008 John Muir Conservation Award
for a Non-profit Organisation went to the Birthplace. Manager Jo Moulin
travelled to the States to accept the award.

The number of visitors to the Birthplace continues to increase, coming from all
corners of the world. We had many distinguished visitors this year, not least
HRH Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay. Perhaps not as illustrious but just as
important to us were Garrett Burke, designer of the California Quarter, who
came with his family, and Larry Downing, a past president of the Sierra Club,
who was accompanied by his wife.

As convener, my name appears at the head of Friend matters. However, as

always, much of the work is done by others and I thank the council for their
tireless work in promoting Friends and the Birthplace. Susan, who works
extremely hard as secretary, Will as treasurer, Birthplace Trustee and the
newsletter, Duncan as membership secretary and the newsletter, Liz as Chair
of the Birthplace Trustees and Jo who represents the Birthplace and its staff on
Friends’ Council. Finally, and most importantly, I pay tribute to the staff of the
Birthplace. It is their endeavours that have made the Birthplace the success that
it has become.

Jim Thompson, Convener

14 October 2009

AGM – Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer Will Collin reported on another successful financial year for Friends.
Our chief source of income comes from the sale of our growing list of ‘wee’
books. There are now five for sale, available at East Lothian libraries, the
Seabird Centre at North Berwick and Dunbar’s tourist information office, as
well as at the Birthplace. Sales have grown steadily over the years and in
2008/9 totalled £1,804.

We are indebted to honorary member Winifred Sillitto for the extremely

generous donation she made to enable the publication of our new edition of
John Muir’s Dunbar.

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Thanks are also due to Jo Moulin for arranging the finances for A Scotchman
Comes Home, the story of John Muir’s only return to Dunbar and Scotland, in
1893. Timed to coincide with Scotland’s Year of Homecoming, it shows that
even in this Muir was ahead of the game.

Elsewhere in his report, Will revealed that membership was up slightly with
many members including a donation with their subscriptions. Donations of
£100 were also received from patron Prof Fred Last and former members Mike
and Paula Bridges, now resident in London. Sales of the ‘California quarter’
were £100 for the year; just when stocks were almost exhausted, quarter
designer Garrett Burke gifted 80 more on his visit to the Birthplace during the
summer. Bank interest was an almost negligible £10.99.

Expenditure during the course of the year was of two main kinds. Firstly there
were the administrative costs, largely for posting the newsletters. Members are
encouraged to let us know if an e-mail copy will suffice*. Overseas postage in
particular is hefty with four mailings costing more than a year’s ordinary
membership. Again e-mailing solves this problem but for anyone abroad
wishing a paper copy the AGM agreed that overseas membership would have
to be increased to £8, the same as family membership.

Secondly support for the Birthplace during the year has included the provision
of a new noticeboard, available for local groups to use, and two lockable
storage cupboards, mainly for materials for kid’s works.

Will Collin, Treasurer

14 October 2009

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 Trek the Pyrenees - from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean
In November Alistair Mackie treated us to a very interesting talk on his
arduous trek across the Pyrenees from Hendave near Biarritz to Banyuls Sur
Mer on the Mediterranean coast.

Highlights included camping at 9,000 feet surrounded by majestic mountains

and reaching his destination accompanied on the last leg by his wife Diana.
Alistair covered most of the ground alone, but was joined by fellow hill-walker
John Meldrum for part of the journey.

Due to isolation of parts of the trail Alistair frequently carried a large amount
of water and supplies. We were given a demonstration of a water filtration
system, which enabled Alistair to clean water from a cattle trough!

Alistair raised £1,074 for Cancer Research and a further £90.35 was donated at
the Friends evening.

Photo: Alistair Mackie trekking the Pyrenees

[one of the excellent photographs enjoyed by Friends in Alistair’s illustrated talk]

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 Birthplace News
Come and See!

You are most welcome to come along and have a look at what the children
attending workshops at John Muir’s Birthplace have been up to this year.
Displays will range from our papier mache Cairngorm National Park complete
with walkers and skiers to a Kittiwake model and a Biodiversity Banner!
There will also be craft activities for children and their families to enjoy. The
display of work starts on 16th December and will continue until the 8th
January.

Friends are especially welcome

to come along to the ‘opening’
on Saturday 19th Dec when
coffee and mince pies will be
served.

Photo: Cairngorm National

Park in papier mache!

2010 Exhibitions

Our exhibition programme begins in January with a series of three exhibitions

produced by local artists.

Out There, presented by inArt will be on show from 13th January to 14th
February. InArt is a core group of professional artists from various areas of
Scotland, who aim to promote contemporary art to as wide an audience as
possible. Seven artists will participate in this project.

Reflecting the pioneering spirit of John Muir, the artwork ranges from Donald
McKenzie’s ‘Altar’, which makes reference to the voyages of Saint Columba
to ‘Space Capsule’ by Cathy Bell. Other pieces take into account what is
actually out there in the universe – elements of the natural world - which
fascinated John Muir from an early age.

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 Photo: Artwork by D McKenzie
In mid February Dunbar artist Jim Callow will present his own works on John
Muir. Jim has enjoyed researching John Muir’s life and legacy and discovering
the richness of portraits and images available in collections from California.
The exhibition will run from 17th February until 14th March.

Wednesday 17th March will see the opening of our third exhibition by local
artist James Page. Like Jim, James has exhibited several times in Dunbar and
works in a distinctive style. This, the last of our three short exhibitions, will
finish on 11th April.

Watch out for further news of our Summer exhibition programme!

John Muir – A Great Scot: Update

As mentioned in the last newsletter, John Muir had been included in the list of
nominations and featured in this major STV series in November. STV viewers
were able to vote for the person they thought was the Greatest ever Scot. And
Robert Burns was duly revealed as the winner on St Andrew's Day and will be
commemorated forever in a major new work of art. The STV website -
http://scotland.stv.tv/greatest-scot - has details. Although it’s disappointing
that John Muir didn’t win, there is little doubt that Muir would have approved
of the outcome given his love of Burns’ poetry. [Editor’s note: details of
Muir’s nomination can still be found using the http://tinyurl.com/stv-great-jm
link.]

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 Friends Next Wee Book
Walking seems to be growing in popularity among those with a bit of free time
and energy to burn. Recognising this, a whole network of walks, short and
long, easy and arduous, have been created. Probably the longest is the North
Sea Trail, really a series of coastal walks that will eventually link together
seven countries bordering the North Sea. Apart from sea crossings(!) it will be
possible to walk from the north of Scotland to Norway.

East Lothian’s contribution, the John Muir Way, is from Musselburgh in the
west to Dunglass in the southeast, a distance of 45 miles (73 km). Supplies of
leaflets describing the six sections are virtually exhausted and there are no
plans for a reprint. Recognising an opportunity, Friends member Robert Russel
volunteered to put together a wee book which would take their place. [Robert
is a retired teacher, keen walker and trustee of the John Muir Birthplace Trust.]
A funding package has been put together, with inputs from Scottish Natural
Heritage, East Lothian Council and a number of Community Councils along
the Way. Robert has written the text and is collecting illustrations; Emma
Westwater of Source Design has started on the design work.

There are still editing, proof-reading and a myriad of other jobs to be done
before this book rolls off the printer’s press. All being well, the John Muir
Way guidebook will be available early in the new year. At 60 or so pages and
costing £3.50, it will be a welcome addition to Friends growing library.

Newsletter Delivery by E-mail

Many thanks to those members that have already given permission for Friends
to e-mail them copies of the newsletter in future. This permission was given in
response to a flyer distributed in the last newsletter, the text of which was:
“In an effort to save trees, time and money on postage it would help greatly,
and save the charity a substantial proportion of its membership costs and
overheads, if as many members as possible would kindly e-mail Duncan
Smeed at duncan.smeed@gmail.com with “Friends of JMB” in the subject
line. Thus giving your permission for us to e-mail you information (and
newsletters) of future Friends of John Muir Birthplace events. We would then
be able to minimise the information we send by post.

Duncan Smeed, Membership Secretary

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 Walks and Talks Programme
Early 2010
The next two events are as follows:

Wed 3rd Feb Dunbar Community Woodland Group

An illustrated talk with Convenor Isabel Knox
JOHN MUIR’S BIRTHPLACE, 7.15pm

Wed 3rd Mar John Muir and Faith

An illustrated talk with David Anderson
OUR LADY OF THE WAVES HALL, DUNBAR 7.15pm

FRIENDS CONTACTS
Official address: Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace, John Muir’s Birthplace,
126 High Street, Dunbar EH42 1JJ: tel: 01368 865899
Friends Website: www.muirbirthplacefriends.org.uk
Birthplace Email: info@jmbt.org.uk Website: www.jmbt.org.uk
Convener: Jim Thompson, Secretary: Susan Panton, Membership Sec: Duncan
Smeed, Treasurer: Will Collin. All can be contacted through the Birthplace.

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