West Calder

Lorna Graham clovenford@yahoo.co.uk Flu Clinic West Calder Medical Centre will be held on: Thursday 25th October: Monday 29th October: Wednesday 31st October (early morning clinic available) please contact the Surgery On 01506 874300 to arrange an appointment. These Are Not Drop in Clinics You Must Make an Appointment **Please DO NOT arrive more than 10 minutes before your appointment time, you will not be seen earlier** Flu clinic -2 – 5yr Olds. Clinics will be held at West Calder Medical Centre on Mon 5th, Thur 8th, Tue 13th,Thur 15th November. Please contact the Surgery On 01506 874300 to arrange an appointment. These Are Not Drop in Clinics You Must Make an Appointment. Important Notice from the West Calder Medical Practice GP Partners. Effective from Monday 22nd October. All patients wishing to make an appointment will be asked to provide a brief description of their symptoms. This will assist us in providing you with the RIGHT CARE,

at the RIGHT TIME, in the RIGHT PLACE. For general health advice or information please pick up an NHS Lothian leaflet from reception.

There Was a Soldier Opencast are to perform their Edinburgh Fringe sell-out show for the community around West Calder at West Kirk of Calder on Friday 26th October at 7.00pm. The show commemorates West Lothian’s contribution to WWI, telling the story through song, poetry, humour and visuals. How it started……. “We were clearing out my late aunt’s house a few years ago,” explains Liz Reid, the show’s co-creator, “and came across a bundle of letters addressed to her from a young soldier in the First World War. Tied with a faded pink string, the letters and memorabilia from her sweetheart on the front line entranced Liz and her friend Mary Boylan. The bundle of letters from David Wallace Dinwoodie stopped short with an almostinevitable black-bordered envelope announcing his death in action. Liz and Mary had to find out more. They did some research then visited his grave in France. “Then a few years later they saw a show in Glasgow called Far from Ypres, written by Ian McCalman. Ian made the format of the show freely available to anyone wanting to produce a similar story about the war in their own area. Mary and Liz decided to research West Lothian’s experience of war in order to tell the story of so many young men, like David, who left their area with such enthusiasm and never returned. The resulting musical show There Was A Soldier… features David as the main character, and incorporates two songs written in an old jotter by Broxburn man, George Coyle, in Flanders 100 years ago. “Reading his good-humoured songs written on the front line, you can imagine he must have been an inspiring and positive man to be with in those terrible conditions,” Mary says. The cast features young singers from local secondary schools, who are all of similar ages to the young men who left West Lothian for war. Now...we’re still looking for stories of local people and pictures (if you have any) which might be able to be used in the show or displayed in the Church Hall after the event. If you do have anything, or require any additional information, please contact Karen Elliot, Email: kelliot250666@ gmail.com. This is a free event.

Harburn Ceilidh will be held in Harburn Hall on Saturday 3rd of November 2018 from 7:30-11:30pm. John Morgan will provide the music. Profits will go towards the running expenses of Harburn Hall. There will be a raffle, donations would be very welcome. Tickets obtainable by phoning 01506 871202. A finger buffet will be provided. Adults £10 Children under 12yrs £5 BYOB West Calder and Harburn Community Development Trust are currently preparing for the centenary of Armistice Day, as part of the extended commemorations, they would like to create a digital memorial for those who served in the Great War and for those who gave their lives in the Great War, to create a Heritage project. They are looking for letters, memorabilia or any photographs that can be scanned and will be added to the Heritage website. Please contact the Trust office in West Calder Community Centre if you have any items you wish to be included.

CDT would also like to create a Poppy Walkway to commemorate the sacrifices made by so many local families, they are looking for as many people as possible who live or work on the Main Street to display a poppy in their front window. The poppies can be supplied by the trust for display. They would very much welcome donations of knitted or crochet poppies to help create a display, please contact the Trust on 872931 for further information.