Bathgate Hills Venture

Hello! Any and all remembering the recent ring road concern, will recall that at the meeting of the 27th October, it was generally agreed that a Local Place Plan was a good idea, and some community volunteers stepped forwards.

As a result, Bathgate Community Council has agreed to the set up of a group of local people who will put a draft Local Place Plan together, gathering views from local people and local businesses.

Would you like to protect the Bathgate Hills and other green areas around the town from further development? Are you worried about infrastructure in Bathgate? How do you feel about local amenities, business, transport, roads?

This community group will be in touch with people locally over the next month or so, but if you would like to get more directly involved, you would be very welcome, so please contact us; [email protected]

Great day meeting people at Xcite today at the Bathgate Twinning hosted Organisation Fayre.

Wonderful to meet lots of like minded organisations that we'd love to collaborate with going forward.

Thanks to everyone who visited us!

Bathgate Hills Venture is a charity that formed to celebrate, protect and enhance the natural beauty and heritage of the Bathgate hills.

Having seen the draft Community Development Plan, regardless of who is proposing this, we fully oppose it.

While some environmental and societal elements are included, we suggest that these should be considered separately, and not alongside a ring road proposal that would change the hills forever.

Thought useful to share a few links that have been in public circulation today.

If you’d like to know more then you can find it here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1dtR8kY39V-KQ-LvSPqdaJTPmwlaqKDBI?usp=drive_link

You can provide feedback here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSec2MiuaoVoZeXr1rBhKOio7ioU4Dtu-MpI9HjlTCnXfVr3OA/viewform?fbclid=IwAR1F_8VxMvF9hIJcjcbb-l0p0M8OCm2sDEC4yM6gaW2CtIfEDKVpeyRinEI

And if opposed, you can sign a petition here:

https://www.change.org/p/preserve-bathgate-s-natural-beauty-say-no-to-bypass-and-urbanisation?recruiter=280598826&recruited_by_id=5e2b4c50-e6c1-11e4-8c7f-89d7d3fd86b3&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard&utm_medium=copylink

Wille Boyle Local Plan - Google Drive

We have received an amazing 433 entries to our Bathgate Hills Storytelling Competition!

Winners are being told directly or through schools this week.

And we are excited to exhibit them this Sunday (9th October) at Linlithgow Burgh Halls from 10:30 to 12:30. Please do come and see all our wonderful local stories.

Here is a little taste of some of the titles:

The Small Alien of Beecraigs

The Withering Rose

The Old Lady Ghost

The Rumours

The Robert Taylor Incident

The sunset of the stunning Bathgate Hills - a beauty

Monster in the Forest

The Witches of Witchcraig Woods

June 6th, 1944

Magical Wonders of Cosmo

The Shadow Soul

The Sound of The Birds

Mysterious Nowehere

The Hill Called Cockleroy

Please do come along to see the display. We have been blown away by the local storytelling talent.

Good Morning. Our local foraging walk with Monica Wilde has sold out!

If you’d like to hear more from Monica, why not come along to our storytelling afternoon at the Reconnect Regal Bathgate. Hosted by Scottish actress, Libby McArthur, this will be an excellent opportunity to share stories of the hills.

Alongside Libby and Monica, other guest speakers include local photographers, historians including the Bennie Museum, authors and writers.

Tickets are £1 and can be purchased from the Regal. All proceeds will be donated to the Bennie Museum. Our aim is to chat and share stories in a relaxed atmosphere over coffee and biscuits on a cold October Sunday afternoon. Link below for tickets.

https://www.flowte.me/storefront/reconnect-regal-theatre?e=29669

It is getting close to the closing date for our storytelling competition. All part of our Bathgate Hills Storytelling Day in October.

We have had some great entries. Thank you!

Thought we'd share our poster giving details again along with the prizes we are delighted to offer 😊 Big thanks to Far from the Madding Crowd, the Regal and HES for supporting us with these prizes 👏👏👏

If you have a story to tell, or a photograph, or a painting that tells a story then please share it with us. All entries will be exhibited at Linlithgow Burgh Halls and also shared on our Bathgate Hills website.

https://bathgatehills.co.uk/stories-of-the-bathgate-hills-storytelling-competition/?nonamp=1&fbclid=IwAR2XSN-LBlPN9QJF5vchR3bWec6PzBGCC1eiL2uH1MAJPALe9dP4Btx2yKc -3133

Storytelling Day - Foraging Walk tickets

Huge thanks to Monica Wilde for offering a foraging / herbalist walk in the Bathgate Hills - part of our Storytelling Day on 9th October.

Come along and join her to learn the stories of our local plants.

Tickets can be bought directly from Napiers shop in Bathgate, or online via the Regal Theatre.

They are selling out quickly - fab to see such great interest and support!

https://www.flowte.me/storefront/reconnect-regal-theatre?e=29732

The incredible Cairnpapple is our next website info page.

What a tough one it was! So many theories, stories and legends over thousands of years! An amazing place of legend, intrigue and mystery.

We've added a feedback form to this webpage so you can let us know what you think and share your own theories.

Huge thanks to HES, Adie, Dylan, Andy and our amazing local photographers for helping to make some sense of this. May not be totally right - but without a time machine - we'll never know for sure.

https://bathgatehills.co.uk/cairnpapple-henge/

Cairnpapple John Wells – Kite Photo First, a few facts – from the official record According to Canmore, the online catalogue of Scotland’s archaeology sites, Cairnpapple is the most important mainland ar…

Thought we'd share this lovely Bathgate Hills nature walk video by Kris McAlpine. Great images of our beautiful hills and a lovely way to share it with anyone who can't get there. Hope you enjoy it!

https://youtu.be/7OxEPmamtL0

Bathgate Hills - Nature walk - Beecraigs A trip to the Bathgate hills and Beecraigs country park, Passing local landmarks such as Ravencraig, Witchcraig, through Beecraigs country park to Cockleroy ...

Hi

This page is ready for official announcements of events, consultations and news from the Venture and how you can get involved. Expect many notices in 2022 but just a few this year.

For a more general discussion about the Hills and what projects our Venture may look to do or to make your own suggestions please go to the Bathgate Hills Venture Facebook Group.

Thank you for your support

BHV Team

We've been asked to help promote this Bathgate town centre survey. It is also being promoted through Council communications. You'll see the link and a few more details below.

Feel free to pass on to any network of individual friends, family and acquaintances that you feel would be willing to complete the survey.

Bathgate Town Centre Survey

West Lothian Council town centre management team (part of Economic Development & Regeneration service) is looking to gather views and feedback from West Lothian residents, employers and visitors on their experiences of accessing and using Bathgate town centre.

This information will help to assist us in identifying any initiatives and potential interventions for improving the range of services and attraction and performance of Bathgate town centre.
Please take a few minutes to answer the survey, we appreciate your time and feedback.” Thank you very much for all your anticipated support and assistance with this particular request. Stay safe and keep well.

https://www.surveyhero.com/s/23062001

Bathgate Town Centre Survey 2021 Online Survey: Bathgate Town Centre Survey 2021

Hi,

As part of the Bathgate Hills Venture we have produced a Work in Progress website where we can share useful information about the Bathgate Hills. This website in time will become a good reference point to find out about history of the hills and also useful information if you plan to venture to the Bathgate Hills.

We've managed to secure:

Www.BathgateHills.co.uk

website address. Please have a look.

It's early days on the website front but thought we would let you see what we've done so far.

Please take into consideration that the website is currently work in progress and we're building this website by ourselves. We have information on here about Galabraes Standing Stone. Soon we will have information on The Knock and Ravencraig in the "Explore" section of the website, with more to follow in next few months and beyond.

On an ad-hoc basis we will update this website so that more and more information is recorded on here that you may find useful when exploring the Bathgate Hills.

We welcome all constructive feedback, so thanks if you take the time to do that.

Also if anyone has anything they wish to go on the website such information, stories, photos etc please get in touch.

Thanks

Bathgate Hills Venture team.

Bathgate Hills Welcome

Good evening everyone and a huge thank you to our new followers. Please follow the link below for more information on the Bathgate Hills Venture.....

Change for good bathgate
Choose Bathgate
Bathgate Community Council
Bathgate & Lothians 'Old School'
West Lothian News

https://bathgatehills.co.uk/bathgate-hills-venture-summary/

Bathgate Hills Venture – Summary Visit the post for more.