Explore!

Explore! Our articles cover anything and everything to do with West Lothian, West Edinburgh and Falkirk.

A selection of what goes into print is published here.

Browse the archives below or use the archive menu to sort by category, or use the search bar to find a specific reference.

Read past and current issues online

ONLINE LIBRARY

John Newland Festival - What's it all about?

Editor

Apr 30, 20143 min read

John Newland Festival - What's it all about?

John Newland was one of the many Scots who sailed to the West Indies in the 18th century to make their fortunes out of sugar and slave

Editor

Mar 3, 20144 min read

Let's go fly a camera kite

Kite flying has timeless appeal ...but how many people realise that flying a kite can be used to discover what lies underground?...

Editor

Nov 2, 20133 min read

Benefits cuts: How West Calder reacted

Benefits cuts, austerity measures, local authority budgets stretched to the limit, households struggling to make ends meet, social unease...

When Torphichen was the centre of Scotland

Editor

Sep 5, 20135 min read

When Torphichen was the centre of Scotland

It's a long time since the wee village of Torphichen was a bustling busy centre, a destination for royalty, a stop-off point for...

Editor

Jan 10, 20134 min read

Henry Bell, Torphichen's unsung hero

Hardly anybody has heard of him, but Torphichen-born Henry Bell was the first man to successfully apply steam power to shipping so that...

He founded the world’s oil economy, became a billionnaire and saved the whales

Editor

Jul 2, 20124 min read

He founded the world’s oil economy, became a billionnaire and saved the whales

Just off the A71 through Polbeth there is a bucolic nook which seems worlds away from the hustle and bustle of the main road. In the...

Editor

Sep 5, 20115 min read

When Pumpherston had an empire

The sign welcoming visitors to Pumpherston says “Historic centre of shale oil industry.” This simple description belies the enormity of...

Editor

May 4, 20114 min read

Hatton House, the grandest of them all

These days you don't need Mons Meg, the giant cannon now at the top of Edinburgh Castle, to gain access to the site of Hatton House from...

Editor

May 3, 20105 min read

Drew McAdam - Master Mind Reader

Usually described as Scotland’s foremost mind reader, he lives in Polbeth and is in great demand all over the country as an entertainer,...

Do you know where this local mansion is?

Editor

Mar 1, 20102 min read

Do you know where this local mansion is?

Its rooms, which once echoed to the sounds of family and socialising, began to echo to the sound of shale dumped on the advancing bings

Editor

Nov 7, 20093 min read

When The Camps was a household name

''Here the pulse of life beat strong at one time, here large bands of young men were wont to assemble of a summer's evening to take part...