Save Hillend
On the 6th
February 2010, an article in the Scotsman Newspaper stated that due to a
funding gap of £500,000 Midlothian Snowsports Centre may be closed at the end
of March. This facility has existed for nearly 50 years and is one of the largest
artificial ski slopes in the world. If closed, not only would it prevent many
people from learning and enjoying skiing but it may also mean the end of some
important racing associations.
Past
Olympian British Ski Team members such as Alain Baxter and Finlay Mickel
trained at Hillend and the loss of the centre would leave a huge gap in
national snowsport facilities. The ‘Save Hillend’ campaign hopes to raise
public awareness of the potential closure, and encourage the public to lobby
their MP’s and government to prevent the closure of this national treasure. The
Save Hillend campaign was initially started by Hannah Daulby and Lucy Singh on
the social networking site Facebook, and has been building up momentum ever
since. With over 25,000 members now signed up, it is clear that public support
is strong for Hillend (although we need more to sign the petition)
Please show
you support by joining the Facebook group, and by signing the Number 10
petition. Links to both are here, and they only take a minute to complete
(probably less time than it’s taken you to read the above!). Once you fill in
the details on the petition, you’ll be sent an email to confirm you’re a
genuine person! Just click on the link, and job done.
Petition :
http://petitions.number10.
Facebook
:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=286170793324&ref=mf
The more
names we can get on the Facebook and Petition pages the better, so please
spread the word so we can give Hillend all the support it deserves.
More Background
While the
centre is currently owned and run by Midlothian Council (since 1996), they have
hinted that they don’t have the budget to continue to run the centre (which
loses £500k per year). The hope is that this campaign will highlight the
importance of the centre and that through public support and pressure Edinburgh
Council, Sport Scotland or another external party will take over the running.
There is strong feeling that it could be a very profitable centre with some new
and fresh ideas (and investment) but so far no external parties have stepped
forward to any significant degree. Although not strictly in Westminster’s
remit, a petition to Number 10 is also live, in the hope that the risk of
losing such a valuable asset catches someones eye in London, and perhaps some
extra weight may be applied to the appropriate parties in local government.
Hannah and
Lucy at Hillend at the beginning of the campaign in February 2010
More content and news will be added to this site in time so please keep
checking back.
Email :
webmaster@savehillend.com