HHH - Heart Hand and Head
theories of education, gardens, civics and life insurgent

We see millions of young people leaving school and thousands leaving college without any grip of the history of their race, without live knowledge of the world in which they are going to live, and without even an elementary realisation of the laws of health and happiness. To the biologist these appear to be radical defects in education. They were not tolerated in tribal days, nor even old rural ones - nor can they be much longer.

- Patrick Geddes and J Arthur Thompson

Geddes's theory of education cannot be separated from his concept of the garden. Nor can these two strands be separated from his overall vision of Life Insurgent. In all he advocated a holism based on the equal emphasis on the hand (physical/manual), heart (compassion/political) and head (learning /psycological /analytical).

This was all seen as a process of re-education toward repair of communities distraught by urban poverty and despoiled by the industrial era. For Geddes these aims emerged from his own childhood experience being taught by his father at Kinnoul Hill, and were to find expression in his teaching of his own children and his role in establishing the network of kindergartens that would become Edinburgh's nursery school movement.

The formative influences that must have marked his outlook of civic survey must include by his wide-ranging teenage walks across Perthshire encouraged by his parents, where the world would literally unfold in front of him. It also seems clear from Geddes's own reflections that he took inspiration from the rugged experience of the Roscoff Marine Station which combined academic study with physical work.

Added to these twin pillars of educational outlook - one based on practical experience and hands on enquiry - the other based on a commitment to generalism - was a commitment to culture and history. Well founded speculation suggests that this belief in the importance of cultural history comes from a Perthshire childhood. Perth, in the psycho-geography of Scotland is situated close to the industrial city of Dundee but on the hill-lines that lead North to the Highlands.

For Geddes the Scottish tradition of generalism met well the Eastern theories of mutualism and unity he experienced at the Edinburgh Meetings of the Theosophical Society. He had no difficulty in dedicating a book to Annie Beasant to the individual synthesis of: "intuition & action, thought & feeling, masculine & feminine, youth & age, east and west, past & future." It was this generous vision that allowed Geddes to see no difficulty in combing art and economics, sociology and autumn, town-planning and gardening or architecture and adult education.

While it's easy to be drawn to the many positive anecdotes of Geddes's formative years, it's also worth highlighting the negative aspects of a Victorian Scottish childhood. His schooling and early immersion into the Banking trade seems to have had a galvanising effect on him. He quickly escaped to London where he immediately clashed with the tiresome examination system of the London School of Mines before working under TH Huxley.

All of which is by way of introduction to the developments with the Johnston Terrace Garden. The garden (which has lain underused and overgrown for several years) has been the subject of repeated vandalism (of both the official and unofficial kind). But things are at last looking up.

Under the auspices of the Scottish Wildlife Trust an ambitious development plan is being implemented under the charge of Alan Anderson and Alison McIntyre. The aim is to develop the garden as a showcase wildlife garden for local children and visitors, linking the Garden to Geddes and providing a potential venue for Geddes related events in the centre of Edinburgh.

This is no attempt to 're-create' an 'authentic' garden of Geddes's time. Instead this is an effort to create a focal point for events, a base for education, and a showcase for the important environmental and conservation work the SNH is doing. In other words making a practical contribution to preserving our natural and cultural heritage in an urban garden, in the hope that this is in line with Geddes's thinking and a contribution to cultural renewal.

To these ends, there are plans to create a leaflet and information boards for visitors, to secure the garden and then open the access to the site to a variety of local community and education groups as well as nearby residents.

Work has already started. Two large composts have been created, paths cleared and chippings lain. Fruit trees are being moved and a series of major improvements planned for the garden.

The pond is being moved so it's not vulnerable to 'attack' from above, a major survey of the plant and animal life has been undertaken and work is underway to raise funds to get a wrought-iron gate commissioned for the garden, as security is an ongoing issue. It's hoped this would both enhance the gardens profile to passers by and stop people vandalising the site.

There plans for various volunteer days in the near future, which we'll announce via this site. If you'd like to be kept up to date with the garden email us at: actsfactsdreamsdeeds@hotmail.com

From Geddes' Westport Gardens

I have watched the waves of change
Transform this corner of my world
Through the decades, from when I was reclaimed
To be terraced and tended and turned
Into a haven of breathing space and growing life.
I have seen the smoke darkened tenements
Of the Grassmarket lightening their facade
To bring new dignity and hope to their inhabitants.
And when I felt trapped, I could glance
At an angle to revel in the delightful interplay
Of imaginative architecture
Where my creator Geddes had full play
Of his life-infusing skills. Its gleaming white,
Many turreted and towered skyline
Challenging the solid equanimity of the castle,
Which lies across the straight line
Of my vision and my daydreams.

I linger under the flickering shade
Of my chestnut and arching birches,
Inhaling the subtle flavour of rosemary,
Overrun by fern and wild shoots thriving unaided
Today. I lie empty and vacant, my somnolence
Broken only by the jolly bagpipers
Of boy scouts who march up my prominence
While I wait for the People to leave
Their Work and find a Place
Of rest and revival in a regenerated
Ambience of my offered space.

- Bashabi Fraser