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Explore! Our articles cover anything and everything to do with West Lothian, West Edinburgh and Falkirk.

A selection of what goes into print is published here.

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Waz and Assfa – Keeping Supplies Rolling

Mar 30, 2020
2 min

Waz and Assfa – Keeping Supplies Rolling

The only man with a reliable supply of toilet roll for miles around is busy, of course, when I call in to find out how he does what the big supermarkets have all failed spectacularly to do. “It’s a team effort,” explains Waz Abbas, of Waz’s convenience store in Broxburn. “Without the team here all working together with my wife Assfa and myself, it wouldn’t happen.” In the strange new world we have entered, toilet roll and dried goods have become restricted items. But there’s

A Victorian Vision – the Almond Valley Viaduct

Jan 11, 2020
5 min

A Victorian Vision – the Almond Valley Viaduct

Star of paintings, countless photographs, West Lothian Council’s logo and a striking feature in the landscape for 170 years, Almond Valley Viaduct strides purposefully and majestically across the river valley and flood plain. The viaduct took three years to build (1839 – 1842) and formed part of the new Edinburgh to Glasgow railway line. The viaduct and railway line are still in use today, Scotrail’s Sprinter trains flashing across it in seconds. Rail travel in the early to m

West Lothian Far from Ypres

Aug 6, 2016
3 min

West Lothian Far from Ypres

Did you know that work on Beecraigs Loch was started by German prisoners-of-war during the First World War, but due to their unwillingness to work the job was given to conscientious objectors instead? This is just one of many snippets of information on West Lothian's experience of war that two local people painstakingly researched in order to put together a show to commemorate West Lothian's own war centenary from 2014 to 2018. “There was a Soldier...” is a unique show that p

Community First Responsers

Mar 1, 2016
4 min

Community First Responsers

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.