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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Stuart Sommerville

West Lothian archery centre named after local man who dedicated his life to the sport

A West Lothian archery centre is to be renamed in honour of a local man who dedicated much of his life to promoting the sport.

Lib Dem councillor for Linlithgow, Sally Pattle, put in a formal request to the West Lothian Council's Chief Executive to consider renaming the Beecraigs Field Archery Area in memory of Jim Greig, who died in September 2021, aged 84.

A report to councillors noted: "there was overwhelming support for the proposal to rename the field."

Mr Greig,a former coaching director for the SFAA, lived at Beecraigs until his retirement, when he moved to Threemiletown.

A report to the Corporate Policy and Resources Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel (PDSP) his week said: "Jim was instrumental in establishing the archery field and worked at Beecraigs for many years.

"In addition to being the Secretary of Beecraigs Archers, he was Head Coach for the Scottish Field Archery Association and his efforts helped bring field archery to new generations of participants, as well as bringing hundreds of families to Beecraigs Country Park."

The report added: "There were 49 participants from the various stakeholder groups (Family, Park User Group, Political Group Leaders, Ward Members and Legal Services). There was 98% support for the proposal with very many supporting statements from those surveyed. The 2% not in favour reflect one vote."

However, local community councils have questioned the validity of a naming policy for council buildings.

Questions have been raised in the past by the Joint Forum of Community Councils about the renaming of the Bathgate partnership centre to honour former Councillor Jim Walker.

The partnership building in East Calder was named after the late Depute Provost Dave King, who had represented the area for more than 30 years. The library in the Strathbrock Partnership was named after Lex Davidson, another long serving councillor.

Representing the Joint Forum this week, Malcolm Hill asked where the trend for naming council buildings came from.

Mr Hill added: "If you continue on this trend you are going to have to go on a serious building programme over the next ten or twenty years."

Chief Executive Graham Hope said: "I wouldn't describe it as a trend, but what the council has sought to do is formalise the process so there are a number of stages that such requests go through.

"There is a due process in place and it's pretty rigorous. I still think that the number of facilities that are named after people is not disproportionate compared to other local authority areas."

Councillors agreed the proposals should go to the council Executive.

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