Join our fight to keep Livingstone’s memory alive

Mar 19 2009 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

David Livingstone

THIS week the Advertiser launches a petition to save the David Livingstone Centre.

Livingstone was one of Lanarkshire’s most famous sons.

And the centre that keeps alive his legend is one of the county’s few tourist attractions.

Generations of children have visited the centre to learn about the great explorer’s life.

Now, however, the centre is under threat even though almost 20,000 people visited last year and it remains an important educational resource.

The National Trust for Scotland say they will end their management by the end of next month unless someone else wipes out a £100,000 deficit.

That proposal has put the future of the centre in jeopardy, 80 years after it first opened.

An offer by South Lanarkshire Council to increase their annual contribution to the centre from £20,000 to £50,000 failed to change that decision.

It is clear that the recession has hit the NTS hard but in these tough times to turn down an extra £30,000 a year , to help fund the home of one of Scotland’s true heroes, will puzzle many readers.

Hamilton South MSP Tom McCabe last week drew attention to the amount of money the council had contributed to the centre over the years.

Many people in Blantyre will sympathise with his remark that what the NTS are now proposing is “approaching bad faith”.

Our view is that the Trust should immediately withdraw its threat to end management of the centre and resume discussions with the council and other funding bodies concerning the centre’s long-term financial future.

Ian Livingstone’s suggestion in last week’s Advertiser of a summit of the county MPs, MSPs, councillors and other influential figures, to discuss the future of the centre, should also go ahead.

It would be a tragedy if after 80 years the birthplace of an iconic figure, whose name has resonance across the world, is lost to future generations.

If you believe that the Trust should immediately reverse their decision, download a copy of the petition here

Copies of the petition are also available from the Advertiser office in Campbell Street, Hamilton, and other outlets in Blantyre.

We will send the completed petition to the NTS Edinburgh office with a demand that they immediately withdraw their threat to the centre.