History
The neighbouring communities of Balerno and Currie have histories going back centuries. However, in May 1975, Scotland-wide local government reorganisation brought both former Midlothian villages within the western boundaries of the newly-established City of Edinburgh District Council.
In the first instance, this led to significant increases in many people’s domestic rates—up by 170% in some cases. Secondly, it inspired concerns that – what with the loss of local employment (following the closure of the mills along the upper Water of Leith valley) and the planned development of new housing schemes in both communities – the two villages risked becoming mere dormitory suburbs of the expanding capital.
Thirdly, having seen at least one locally-organised event cancelled due to a lack of awareness (a small poster in the window of the local Co-op apparently not being sufficient to spread the word of an Easter Dance), a small group of people from Currie, Balerno and the student union at Heriot-Watt University’s Riccarton campus resolved to launch a local community newspaper.
In the beginning…
The result was Currie and Balerno News, which debuted at the beginning of February 1976. Edited and put together by Balerno resident Graham Priestley (with the help of Jim Sheach, Tina Harkess, Ray Smith, Mel Young, and Moira Young), the first issue was delivered free to local households. From its second issue, in March 1976, the paper began to “earn its keep” with a 5p cover price and was sold through local shops, businesses and by individuals.
While all 1,000 copies of that second issue “sold out” – ensuring, Graham somewhat boldly promised, “that the paper is here to stay” – it wasn’t always plain sailing during the years that followed. Currie and Balerno News genuinely faced closure on several occasions, most frequently thanks to an insufficient number of volunteers – and, especially the potential lack of a coordinating editor – to keep things going.
And yet, one issue’s front page story warning of an impending end were invariably followed by subsequent issues revealing how someone had stepped forward at the last moment; in time, Currie and Balerno News built up genuine support from residents and local businesses alike, and so ultimately survived—albeit, sometimes by the skin of its teeth!
Monthly, But NOT Every Month…
During 1976, Currie and Balerno News appeared every month, February to December—a total of 11 issues. However, it seems that the organisational stresses of corralling a sufficient number of volunteers to put the August issue together – during people’s already-booked summer holidays in July – proved too much. The following year, 1977, the editorial team opted to introduce a special July/August “summer” issue.
In contrast, editions of Currie and Balerno News continued to appear at the start of January, despite this requiring the paper’s busy production, printing, and distribution process (see below) to be fitted in alongside everybody’s Christmas and Hogmanay preparations.
Common sense eventually prevailed: in the November 1987 issue, Graham – by now chairperson of the paper’s trustees – announced that the following issue would cover both Christmas and New Year. Consequently, since then, Currie and Balerno News has published 10 monthly issues each calendar year, with the July/August and December/January editions marking the publication’s “traditional” summer and winter breaks.
Keeping Going…
“If it is fun to produce a first issue and think about a second,” Graham noted in an article marking the paper’s 20th anniversary back in 1996, “it takes constant hard work and discipline to go on meeting the deadlines month in and month out, and to balance the books.”
Because of this – and particularly the latter, financial issues – Graham suggested that not many community publications survived more than a few years. Even by 1996, Currie and Balerno News had outlived many of its contemporaries across Edinburgh, and would continue to survive many more—including several which had enjoyed the supposedly reassuring financial support of the city council-funded Edinburgh Community Newspaper Trust (ECNT).
As an example, Graham pointed to the 1975-launched Tollcross & District News, which had been among the principal inspirations for the original team behind Currie and Balerno News. That particular paper had, thanks to its strong political stance, “soon paid the penalty of criticising its sponsors, [Edinburgh] District Council, too vigorously and too often, lost their support and perished.”
C&B News carries on…
Full disclosure: Currie and Balerno News – which, from February 2011 (issue 363) was rebranded as C&B News (although the abbreviation had been used within the publication since its third issue in April 1976) – benefited from one such community newspaper closure when journalist Alex Schweitzer-Thompson, former managing editor of South Edinburgh Echo (launched 1998, closed 2009), was appointed the paper’s 11th editor in late 2013.
Back in 1996, Graham had put the survival of Currie and Balerno News down to two things: a “steady recruitment of committed volunteers to help produce the paper (with a bit of pleading now and again)”; and access to “a stable local business community to take our advertising space”. This remains very much the case today. Thanks to both, C&B News continued to appear during even the severest coronavirus-inspired lockdowns of 2020/21—and is now free.
Curiously enough, Edinburgh’s other currently surviving-in-print community news titles – such as The Portobello Reporter (launched June 1980), the Broughton-focused Spurtle (February 1994), and The Leither magazine (2004) – are essentially similar operations: freely distributed publications supported by both volunteer contributors and paid-for advertising from local businesses.
Not Just About Currie and Balerno…
Currie & Balerno News began as a 10 page, A4 title with what might be charitably described as a “home-made” feel—arguably best represented by its partly-hand-drawn logo!
However, despite having such a geographically-specific name, increased contributions and support from several residents in Juniper Green led to the team officially extending the paper’s coverage and distribution into Currie’s eastern neighbour from March 1979 (issue 36). The northern residential estate of Baberton (now Baberton Mains) followed from April 1982 (issue 70). The village of Colinton was added to the masthead from March 2014 (issue 394).
Arguably more important than making the choice to expand the publication’s distribution was the decision in 1979 NOT to change the name. (Instead, a subheading listing the additional neighbourhood(s) was added to the masthead.) Just as well: Currie, Balerno, Juniper Green, Baberton Mains & Colinton News is undoubtedly a bit of a mouthful, though not as bad as trying to remember CBJGBM&C News!
A Local Platform …
C&B News continues to provide a local platform to share the talents, expertise, interests and achievements of local people. Groups and organisations continue to use the publication to communicate with local – and not so local – readers.
Published articles have been used at public inquiries, and senior officials have been obliged to explain controversial decisions within its pages. Many local Community Councillors, City Councillors, MSPs and MPs have contributed – and continue to contribute – to C&B News every issue.
Extracts are known to have been circulated in council offices, while the publication has earned respect as a valuable information source by users of Edinburgh Libraries.
Technical Improvements…
C&B News was launched at a time when new alternatives to hot metal typesetting had made printing somewhat easier, less expensive and more accessible to the public. Nevertheless, during its earliest years, production of the paper remained both time-consuming and volunteer-intensive.
Initially, all articles had to be gathered together (with hand-written submissions typed up) before being sent off for typesetting. Any submitted photographic prints (remember those?) also needed to be scanned by the printer—at an individual cost, which often limited the number of pictures included in each issue. Then “a merry band of helpers” (under the supervision of the editor/coordinator) had to physically “cut ‘n’ paste” (using scissors and glue) all the articles together onto the set number of page templates. These were then delivered to the printer. Yet more volunteers then helped fold and collate the thousands of resulting A3 sheets, compiling the completed copies. Finally, these were distributed (again, by volunteers) to the participating retail outlets.
During the 1990s, the paper’s seventh editor Neil C Scott successfully argued for the introduction of (at the time, somewhat basic) computer-based desktop publishing. Today, while the management committee remains integral to the paper’s ongoing success (providing editorial and financial direction, contributing articles and ideas, proofing pages, and organising the local distribution), C&B News has long been put together solely by a freelance editor, using industry-standard Adobe software. Initial compilation, binding and delivery of the finished copies are also now carried out by the printers.
Archive Copies
In late-March 2020, as the Covid-19 Pandemic took hold, the management team decided that, with the publication dropping its long-established cover price, it made sense to also provide a digital version (PDF) downloadable from the “C&B News” website.
Currently, the most recent 10 issues – a year’s worth, in other words – can be accessed through this website: the current issue on the homepage, the rest from here. PDFs of issues going back to February 2014 can be requested from the editor.
If you’re interested in looking back across the entire archive of “C&B News”, print copies can be accessed at Currie Library, Edinburgh’s Central Library (Edinburgh and Scottish Collection), and the National Library of Scotland (General Reading Room)—although you will have to order them in advance at the latter.