African soul, crafted in Scotland: Gold medal-winning rum from Matugga Distillers
You might think the ingredients for gold medal-winning rum is all in the molasses and copper pot stills. But you’d be only partially correct
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Explore!
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.
Browse the archives below or use the archive menu to sort by category, or use the search bar to find a specific reference.
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Editor
- Mar 12, 2020
- 3 min
Craigshill Good Neighbour Network (CGNN): Neighbours helping Neighbours
Operating from a base in Craigshill, but open to people from all around West Lothian and beyond (“we wouldn’t be good neighbours if we turned anyone away”) the Craigshill Good Neighbour Network is a social club for all. A local charity that has been running for an incredible 36 years, it exists to reduce social isolation and is described as a lifeline by many of its members. A busy programme of clubs for all interests is supplemented by monthly special events, celebrations an
Editor
- Mar 8, 2020
- 4 min
Alderstone: Plague-watching duties, muster and civil war
A time-travelling resident of the Livingston area from the 15th century would recognise almost nothing if they visited today; it would be a disorientating experience. (There are some who visit from Edinburgh today who would argue the same!) On spotting Alderstone Road however they would know they were in the right place. Alderstone Road cuts through Livingston north to south, from the roundabout on Houston Road at Deans, past the College and into Murieston. The name is deepl
Editor
- Mar 4, 2020
- 3 min
Allison Poulter, Cat Sitter
It’s an unusual occupation, one born from a passion for cats. Allison Poulter is a home-visiting cat sitter. Or Cat Whisperer. Or “Auntie Ali” as she is known to her “kitty nieces and nephews” across West Lothian. “Cats are my world, and when I decided to leave the corporate world, it had to be working with cats,” explains Allison. “Many cats find cattery stays quite stressful, so I visit your cat in the comfort of their own home while you are away so they don’t have any dis
Editor
- Jan 31, 2020
- 3 min
Musically Active Dudes
A class with an energetic dance vibe and great music, from a DJ who regularly spins the discs at Boteco do Brasil in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as Mango in Glasgow. This is just one of the great quality classes available via Musically Active Dudes (MUSAC), a dance, music and movement charity set up in 2008 by Livingston resident Ruth, who wanted a meaningful activity for her son to do. He still attends, 11 years later, and the group now offers a range of movement and musi
Editor
- Dec 16, 2019
- 4 min
Howden Weir: The UK's Largest Rock Ramp
It looks like a natural rock fall in the river, but is actually a sophisticated piece of engineering work. In the River Almond at Howden Bridge, Livingston, the historic Howden Weir has been sensitively transformed into an 85 metre long rock ramp - the largest in the UK. A rock ramp is a series of pools and riffles created by strategically arranging rocks in the weir to allow fish to pass over and migrate upstream. With the cooperation of several organisations - including a
Editor
- Nov 8, 2019
- 4 min
The Laird o' Livingston's Legacy
In return for military service, de Leving, a Flemish nobleman invited to Scotland by King David 1, was given a grant of land. In what is now Eliburn South’s Peel Park, it eventually became the location of the Laird O’ Livingston’s physic garden - and the foundation plans for Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens. In 1124 de Leving built a fortified stone tower on a large, earthen mound and surrounded by a moat. Other more humble dwellings sprang up around the tower with the people att
Editor
- Nov 6, 2019
- 2 min
Re-engage: Tackling loneliness in West Lothian with tea and company
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
Editor
- Nov 1, 2019
- 5 min
Our Own X Files
Rounding a corner of a woodland path on Dechmont Law, a forester going about his job in November 1979 entered a clearing and came upon a large dome-shaped metallic object. So begins the tale of one of the most significant UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) incidents in Europe. Known as “The Livingston Incident” in paranormal research circles, on police files it remains an unsolved case of “an attack by person or persons unknown.” Robert Taylor, employee of the Livingston Develo
Editor
- Oct 6, 2019
- 3 min
Coffee Direct, West Lothian's premium coffee roastery
The smell of good coffee; a roasting machine; bags of different coffee beans and lots of coffee paraphernalia greets you as you walk into the Scottish Barista Academy in Livingston. “Have I just walked into heaven?” I ask as Jim Watson, West Lothian resident, Scottish Barista Academy MD and certified coffee expert, emerges. First things first, I need a coffee. “Do you drink filter coffee?” Jim asks. Because, you see, depending on whether you want filter, cafetiere or espresso
Editor
- Jan 3, 2019
- 3 min
Livingston Mill
The noise of mill machinery grinding grain, of water from the River Almond swooshing over a huge waterwheel and of the periodic tap-tapping of the millstone dresser's pick......these are some of the sounds that would have been familiar at old Livingston Mill until just a few decades ago. Now home to Almond Valley Museum, Farm and Discovery Centre, our popular local family attraction with animal farm and shale oil museum, today it rings with the sound of families having a grea
Editor
- Dec 5, 2018
- 3 min
Dignity Boxes
“I’d like people to be able to have essential toiletries and personal hygiene products without having to ask, and without needing to thank anyone” says Isabel Dosser, a Livingston resident who is rather surprised to find herself at the helm of a new charity which is set to grow massively in 2019. Isabel is a lecturer in nursing at Edinburgh Napier University, where she has worked for 15 years after a 30 year career in nursing, specialising in palliative care. She is very well
Editor
- Nov 27, 2018
- 2 min
Smack me Down, Win 500 Francs
Even in 1848 when the first wrestling troupe was formed in France by Jean Exbroyat (who issued the headline challenge) the name of the game was "entertainment". On drizzly Saturday afternoons in the 1950s, with no alternative way to avoid homework, sometimes I'd be forced to watch the wrestling and listen to the lugubrious Kent Walton. It took me a while to realise that it was just that - entertainment but highly skilled and risky entertainment, exemplified by the comic Les K
Editor
- Nov 9, 2018
- 2 min
From Small Acorns...
There's a yawning gap in my sporting experience - I've never launched a netball ball in anger or joy; in fact, I've never even held a netball ball! Shock horror! Especially as the game, a derivative of basketball, devised around 1900, is played by over 20 million (mainly in British Commonwealth countries), and is pushing for Olympic status. I could bridge that gap at West Lothian Netters. October 2015. Cue a Facebook page, 'Bounce back to Netball', designed to seduce couch po
Editor
- Sep 1, 2018
- 2 min
Ask 100 people...
...who is the greatest sportsperson of all time? And three will answer Cassius Clay, 96 Muhammad Ali and one ANother, for example Zatopek, Bannister, Laver, Borg, Navratilova, Redgrave, Schumacher, Joyner-Kersee, Phelps, Federer, Bolt, Jordan, Pele, Woods, Messi, Nicklaus, Warne, Comaneci, Sobers, Campese, Indurain, Moses, Best or Lottie Dodd (please Google her). ............…...….......space for your own choice. None will answer Beckham, (I hope). You will know that Clay and
Editor
- Jul 2, 2018
- 3 min
The Livi Lions Rollercoaster
Every Livingston Football Club entrance ticket should be supplied with a free travel sickness pill to counteract the up and down, North Sea trawler type ordeal of supporting them. Embarking on season 17/18, the team's plotted course was merely to consolidate its League one status, so for players who experienced the nadir of relegation two seasons earlier, the fairytale promotion represents vindication and sweet rehabilitation. Raffaele de Vita had even, in his first spell wit
Editor
- Nov 6, 2016
- 3 min
West Lothian Eagles
The West Lothian Eagles are Scotland's newest Aussie rules football team! Unlike the famous West Coast Eagles in Australia, players and staff are recruited on the basis of wanting to turn up! All fitness levels, male and female - The Eagles train all winter at 15:00 every Saturday in Howden Park, Livingston. So if you want to see what the fuss is about you are encouraged to kick a ball and have a laugh with West Lothian Eagles. You've probably seen the odd clip of professiona
Editor
- Apr 5, 2015
- 5 min
The White Lady of Caputhall Bog
Caputhall today is the site of the busy Deans Industrial Estate – Caputhall Road loops around the estate and there are industrial units off to each side. But a woman was murdered here a couple of hundred years ago, and “Caputhall Bog,” as it was then, entered local legend - the area was said to be haunted by the ghost of the unfortunate lady. According to the legend, Bonnie Prince Charlie and his army stopped at Boghall House (which was at the site of Boghall Farm Steadings)
Editor
- Jul 4, 2012
- 4 min
There's a coach coming in!
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
Editor
- Mar 3, 2012
- 3 min
A Carmondean Character
For the last 12 years, Tuesdays to Saturdays, rain or shine, Daniel Priester (Dan), has been selling his popular, char-grilled hot dogs outside Carmondean Library. Dan’s hard to miss as he serves up a treat for all the senses – there’s his colourful, Canadian logo T-shirt and trademark, bright orange braces, the distinctive, Canadian accent and the tempting, mouth-watering smell from his grill. Sheltered by a blue windbreak behind the hot dog cart, and surrounded by bottles o
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