Explore!

Loneliness is one of the most invisible but debilitating issues in society today, but all across West Lothian volunteers are working to ease social isolation among some of our most vulnerable residents – the over 75s. Re-engage, formerly known as Contact the Elderly, and its army of supporters tackle loneliness in this older generation through regular Sunday afternoon tea parties and other activities. The monthly events are usually held in a local host’s home and guests are c

Bathgate Thistle CFC youth section are celebrating another successful year! With almost 500 members (and growing), the club has made great progress throughout the 2018/19 season, and with the support of a newly appointed executive committee and with more volunteers than ever, are looking forward to a bright future. As a newly accredited club within West Lothian Councils Active Assured accreditation scheme, Bathgate Thistle have partnered with the West Lothian Youth Foundation

“We need to let as many people as possible know about what we have here, because it is really special,” says Victoria, one of the Board members of the Boghall Drop In Centre. And, after visiting last month at their request for an article, I have to agree; I was blown away by what’s going on at the Boghall Drop In Centre. In a large modern building built in 2014 by West Lothian Council (after community consultation), Boghall Drop-In is actually a grassroots community organisat

How about lunch at a place where your dog is not only welcome, but where the whole place is designed specifically around them, so you and your best friend can lunch together on an equal footing? This is what the “Paw Stop” in Bathgate aims to do. Set up by local sister-team Nicole and Natalie Senior, it’s a place you can pop in for coffee and cake, lunch or even hire for special events, all where it is not simply “dogs welcome” but the dogs are the main show. “The idea for th

West Lothian’s own celebration of the historic Highland Games tradition takes place in Bathgate on 25th May. The hill run to the top of Cairnpapple may be more challenging than the very first hill run said to be the origin of the Highland Games tradition - King Malcolm III (1057-1093) summoned men to race up Craig Choinnich, near Braemar, to select his royal messenger. While the origin of the Games was all about finding the fittest and strongest men for the clan chieftain’s

“We got lost one day in the car, and ended up in Bathgate by mistake. It was Procession Day, a few years ago. All the flags were out and there was such a fantastic community atmosphere that I loved it immediately, and knew it was the right place to open the kind of restaurant I wanted.” I’m visiting Daniele Tuveri at La Piuma, the restaurant he and his wife Gayle run in Hopetoun Street, and over a very nice coffee learning his story. “I moved to Scotland from Sardinia 15 yea

Most people think the only medieval structure in Bathgate is the scant remains of the 14th century castle that Walter, High Steward of Scotland was given upon his marriage to Marjorie Bruce, the daughter of King Robert I. The remnants of this castle currently lie under a section of the Bathgate golf course. However, the Old Parish Church, just opposite Kirkton Park, tucked behind a stone wall, is often overlooked as a place that reflects 900 years of local history. The earli

When a local collier found some unusual stones at Hilderston, near Cairnpapple in the Bathgate Hills, he couldn’t have imagined the stir in London his discovery would cause – and the personal embarrassment of King James VI himself. He took a sample of what he suspected to be silver ore to a well-known metallurgist and mining engineer in Leadhills, Sir Bevis Bulmer. Bulmer was very excited; the silver potential was so promising that the landowner, Sir Thomas Hamilton, went ah

When you dial 999 for an ambulance, did you know that as well as dispatching an ambulance, in some circumstances the service calls a volunteer in your community to attend the emergency if they are likely to get there before the paramedics? These life-saving volunteers are called Community First Responders. Not every community is fortunate enough to have them, but in West Lothian a Bathgate group was set up seven years ago by Bathgate residents Richard Proctor and Paul Grant.

The face of Bathgate bairn Dr James Young Simpson is painted on the “pioneering spirit” First buses. What is not painted there is a patient strapped into a chair screaming while the surgeon cut, because Simpson put an end to that with his discovery of an effective anaesthetic. The full story is extraordinary and features a Linlithgow-born chemist who was pivotal to Simpson’s success. Before anaesthetic, the quicker a surgeon (“a savage armed with a knife”) worked the better t

John Newland was one of the many Scots who sailed to the West Indies in the 18th century to make their fortunes out of sugar and slave

Kite flying has timeless appeal ...but how many people realise that flying a kite can be used to discover what lies underground? Researching an article on Bathgate Castle, I came across aerial photographs of the site taken with a camera attached to a kite. I contacted the photographer Jim Knowles, who is Trust Archaeologist and Secretary of West Lothian Archaeology Group, to find out more and see what else he could tell me about Bathgate Castle and other historical sites in W

West Lothian’s varied travel history includes a 90 year period when stagecoaches ruled the roads. Between 1760 and 1850, stagecoaches thundered to and fro along the three main roads cutting through the county and connecting Edinburgh and Glasgow. Coaching inns, a few of which remain today, like the Fork & Field in Midcalder and Livingston Village’s Livingston Inn, were purpose-built staging posts strung out along these routes like vital links in a chain, providing food and s