2025: Report from Chair for 2024 – 25
MAPA – Chairman’s Report 2024– 2025
It is my great pleasure as Chairman to present this report on the happenings with Mapa Scotland SCIO since our last AGM on 21stApril 2024.
We anticipated having a quiet year, and although we have not had a lot of work on the map, much has been done behind the scenes and by email to finalise distribution of funds, the winding up of Mapa Scotland and ensuring that the map was left in good condition with all possibility of future care.
May 2024. Keith Burns attended a 4 day conference at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and gave a presentation on the reinstatement of the map. Much of the conference centered on the map and much of this was led by Dr. Malgosia Luc, Head of Cartography at the University. She has been a huge supporter of the map, visiting it many times, and she has now printed a 3D model of the map. Printing of the 3D model was aided by permission from Historic Scotland to Dr. Luc for use of their LIDAR data they had scanned from the map. It was truly a great honour for Keith to speak in Krakow, as he is the most knowledgeable person about all things to do with the map. He really enjoyed his visit and was treated so well.
In May, members of Mapa and the Peebles Clover School helped with a map clean up prior to an open day on 2nd June, 2024, at the map organized by Grzegorz Koscielak and members of the Clover School, Peebles. The event was a great success, causing huge traffic jams in the village due to the enormous numbers of people attending.
On May 31st 20 members and supporters enjoyed a meal at Cibo, Roslin. This was to thank all those who had helped at the map through the years and for all of us to be together at one time. A lovely lunch.
June 24 saw Gordon Cameron, our treasurer being presented with BEM for services to cultural heritage in Scotland and to charity, which was a great honour.
The hotel has reported that they were hoping to support future plans to establish a partnership with a new charity for future care of the map.
On 3rd November another map tidy was attended by members and the Polish Clover Saturday School. This initiated by Grzegorz Koscielak.
On the 29th November a meeting was held, mainly to discuss the transfer of funds left in the MAPA account and the ongoing care of the map, which is now out of our hands since the termination or our lease.
Dec 2024. £850 given to Clover Polish School for the children’s’ trip to the theatre.
In Dec 2024 the original Bartholomew maps used to design the map were agreed for transfer to Peebles Museum. This is a leather-bound volume containing all the Bartholomews color-contoured linen maps used when the map was constructed.
Also this month the OSCR 2023-24 return was submitted by Keith Burns. Many thanks for all his workas these reports still have to be submitted even though it may appear there is not a lot happening.
Also in December, the annual fee for website and domain name were paid to Heart Internet.
Jan, 2025. Photo of the map on the front of the Times newspaper.
March 25. £2,300 given to Clover School for educational supplies
On 21st March, myself and Keith Burns attended as guests at an inaugural meeting in the Barony Castle by a newly proposed charity which hopes to raise support and funding to continue with the map’s preservation. Chaired by Gustaw Fit with a super film made by Gustaw and Grzegorz. This was also attended by Christine Graham MSP, Dr. Malgosia Luc of Jagiellionian University Krakow, the Polish Consul General Scotland, Visit Scotland, and Barony Hotel representatives, Richard Spanner and Scott Weatherby.
This will be our penultimate AGM. I can honestly say it has been such a privilege to serve on this committee and to work with such knowledgeable and enthusiastic people on an iconic project, the likes of, we may never see again.
On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank everyone who has helped in any way over the years. There are too many to mention and some are sadly no longer with us, but so many people have played their part in the resurrection of the map and every one of you should be really proud of what has been achieved. I know I have gained so much from being involved and I would like to thank you all for your hard work, energy and friendship over the years.
The charity was set up to restore and preserve the map and it has done so. It is now up to others to keep it going and we just have to trust, and to offer our knowledge to those who wish to keep it alive.
When we set out to restore the Great Polish Map of Scotland our final business plan objective was to dedicate the map to future generations of local Polish/ Scottish families to preserve the history which brought our nations together. To this end, we propose to dedicate our remaining surplus income to the Peebles Clover Saturday School.
Our Scottish and Polish communities are so lucky to have this tangible asset to gather round. Many organisations only have historical writings and photos upon which to remember the past and to plan for the future. This year is the 80th anniversary of the end of WW2 and the 50th anniversary of the start of the map being constructed – a really special year. Maybe something special will happen to the map. You never know.
In these precarious times of such worldwide disorder, it is so heartening to be part of a community where 2 countries can come together – the map is the catalyst helping to keep Poland and Scotland connected. Long may it continue.
Many thanks, Lyn Barr