If you signed our online petition, please make sure you sign our written petition!
 

Save London Road Church
 

29 Jul 2017 — We are really grateful to the 1073 of you who have now signed our online petition - it indicates the real level of support out there for our campaign to buy-out the former London Road Church for the benefit of the community for years to come.

When we set up the online petition, we thought that this would be acceptable to the Scottish Government. But it isn't. They only accept written petitions.

Hence why we set about gathering signatures on the street and door-to-door in our defined "area of benefit" - see map (which replaces the previously linked map indicated in the original post of spring 2017) at https://www.facebook.com/SaveLondonRoadChurch/photos/pcb.937799479710775/937802803043776/?type=3

We reckon that we have now got 10% of the local electorate signed up in support of our plans for a community buy-out of the former London Road Church..

Had the Church of Scotland not put the building up for sale not long after our inaugural public meeting on 26th April - which was attended by members of the new Meadowbank Parish Church which will be the financial beneficiary of any sale - then we would now have achieved a sufficient tally of signatures to be able to officially register our community interest in the building.

The effect of putting the building on the market was to raise that bar to 15% - and so we need in these next two weeks to sign up another 600 local voters (actually probaly more like 700-odd as not all signatures will prove to be verifiable against the electoral register).

That's why, now that we know the target figure of 1633, we'll be setting out our stall again at the Easter Road end of Montgomery Street every Saturday until 19th August and knocking on doors in the local area to try to get signatures on our written petition.

So, if you live in the area on the map, please do come along to lend us your support and please do sign the petition - it will only take a minute or two of your time to help secure this landmark building for the local community for years to come.

The petition can also be signed in the following local cafes and shops:

Polentoni Cafe, 38 Easter Road

Cornelius Beer & Wine, 18-20 Easter Road

Red Kite Cafe, 7-8 Cadzow Place

Century General Store & Cafe, 1-7 Montrose Terrace

Renroc Cafe, 91 Montgomery Street

Tattie Shaws, 35 Elm Row

We are most grateful to these cafes and shops for being so willing to host our written petition. Please do let your friends and neighbours know they can sign there too!

 

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As a community we have the opportunity to exercise our right to buy this landmark building for our area using financial support available to us through the Scottish Land Fund.
The campaign - 'Save Bellfield' - in Portobello to buy the former Portobello Old Parish Church has paved the way for others to secure key assets for the vitality of their communities.
'Save Bellfield' has secured funding of £647,500 and will hopefully soon become the first urban community buy-out in Scotland.
The Calton – Hillside – Easter Road – Abbeyhill area is one of the most densely populated parts of the UK outside of London and we don't even have a Community Centre.
If you would like to see the former London Road Church saved for our community, live in the area outlined here https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bCQy6f8LfV69nt_Z5Yw5G6HASfY&usp=sharing and are on the Electoral Register, please sign this petition. Could you please type in your postcode immediately after your name. We need to get 10% of the local electorate to sign to enable this community buy-out to be able to proceed to the next stage of the process.

The church could become a hub for the local community - a place for:
 Meeting other people – getting you out of your house
 Celebrating a birthday or anniversary with family and friends
 Getting fit – exercise classes, yoga
 Dancing – ballroom, ballet, lindy hop, salsa
 Playing a sport – badminton, table tennis, skittles
 Being part of a group – scouts, guides, brownies, health issues, knitting, cards, model railway, dolls houses (there's lots out there!)
 A home for local welfare services
 Community cinema
 A club for local elderly people
 A meeting place for carers, parents, toddlers
 Rehearsal space for choirs and drama groups
 A venue for theatre and music - especially during the Fringe
 A venue for exhibiting art and crafts
 An overnight shelter during some of the winter period for the homeless
 A polling station for local elections