Bucking The Trend

After yesterday's blip, commenting on the privatisation of public spaces, here is a contrary news story. Action Porty, representing the Portobello community, got the keys of Bellfield Church tonight. The successful Community Right to Buy, supported by money from the Scottish Land Fund, sees the church buildings transferred from the Church of Scotland to a local body. I still have some slight qualms about what this transfer of funds represents, given the relative affluence of Portobello and the quasi-community status of the church. A bit of me wonders if it was surplus to the church's needs could it not have been gifted to the local community? Anyway, we have to work with the rules and structures that are in place at the moment and whatever the broader context, the buildings have been saved for the community and not simply re-developed as yet more private flats. Which has to be good news. Here K and M, both brought up in Porty, sit on the stage in the church hall and think back on their own personal memories of the space going back to their childhoods.