Vote Leith

but perhaps typical of the apathy shown by the public to community councils. The work they do is largely unappreciated. In our area we have been instrumental in affecting the outcome of several major planning applications to the benefit of the community.

So how about an inducement? Why not change the law to allow local authorities to give community council members a discount on their council tax? Why should community councillors not be rewarded for the voluntary work they do? STEUART CAMPBELL Dovecot Loan, Edinburgh demand was unusually low as the nation was on their Christmas holidays and we were battered by two hurricanes, a situation that will probably never be repeated.

PAUL JOHNSTON Argyle Street, Ullapool What a special delight it is for an old expatriate Leither to read Joyce Mcmillan’s report in Saturday’s Scotsman Magazine that a groundswell of grassroots feeling has been doing so much to rescue “the grand old Leith Theatre building” after so many years of neglect by Edinburgh City Council!

The history of its erection as the new Leith Town Hall in 1932 and the serious bomb damage in 1941 are most important, of course. But I trust that the story of the First World War landmine that destroyed the original premises on the site (including part of Largo Place across the road) and led Edinburgh Town Council , in those tense post-amalgation years, to finance such fine buildings, will be recorded publicly and not forgotten.

I well remember a Leith lady telling me in the1960s how her mother had carried her up to the tower window of the family home in Ferry Road so that they could watch the Zeppelin targeting Leith Docks. (This event is illustrated in the mural of 100 points of historical interest commissioned to celebrate the 1983 Quincentenary of South Leith Parish Church and hanging in the Henderson Street halls.)

The new generations of Leithers might also like to know when, how and why the Lesser Hall got its Thomas Morton name.

And, by the way, the Leith Theatre served Leithers not just as an entertainment venue. I recall the main hall being full, with people standing at the back , one evening after Lothian Health Board first proposed to close Leith Hospital and again early one winter Saturday morning when Tony Benn came to speak.

(REV) JACK KELLET Dyers Close, Innerleithen