home.social

Search

1000 results for “c_alpha”

  1. Agnieszka Serafinowicz @[email protected] ·

    Sony rusza z zimowym cashbackiem. Do odzyskania nawet 1700 zł na aparaty i obiektywy

    Firma Sony rozpoczęła zimową edycję swojej cyklicznej promocji „Winter Cashback 2025/2026”.

    Akcja pozwala na odzyskanie części pieniędzy wydanych na sprzęt fotograficzny. Tym razem kwota zwrotu przy zakupie wybranych aparatów bezlusterkowych z serii Alpha oraz obiektywów sięga 1700 zł.

    Promocja obejmuje produkty zakupione u autoryzowanych partnerów handlowych Sony w okresie od 1 października 2025 roku do 31 stycznia 2026 roku. Aby skorzystać z oferty, należy po zakupie odczekać minimum 30 dni. Po tym czasie trzeba wypełnić formularz zgłoszeniowy online na stronie sony.pl/cashback. Wymagane jest do tego posiadanie aktywnego konta My Sony. Ostateczny termin na wysyłanie zgłoszeń mija 31 marca 2026 roku.

    Najwyższą kwotę zwrotu, czyli 1700 zł, przewidziano dla popularnego zestawu: aparatu Sony A7 IV z obiektywem FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS. Zakup samego korpusu A7 IV pozwala na odzyskanie 700 zł. Na wysoki zwrot (1500 zł) mogą liczyć także osoby kupujące profesjonalne korpusy A7S III oraz A7R V.

    Promocją objęto również nowsze, kompaktowe aparaty pełnoklatkowe – A7C R (1000 zł zwrotu) oraz A7C II (500 zł zwrotu). W segmencie APS-C wyróżniono model A6700, na który można otrzymać 500 zł cashbacku. Na liście znajdują się także aparaty dla twórców wideo, w tym ZV-E1 (1000 zł zwrotu) oraz kompaktowy ZV-1 II (500 zł zwrotu).

    Lista promocyjna zawiera również kilkadziesiąt obiektywów. Zwrot w wysokości 1000 zł można otrzymać m.in. na popularne zoomy, jak FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM czy FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM. Wiele cenionych obiektywów stałoogniskowych z serii G Master (np. FE 35mm F1.4 GM, FE 50mm F1.2 GM) oraz teleobiektywów G objęto zwrotem w wysokości 500 zł.

    Sony startuje z promocją cashback na telewizory BRAVIA 9. Można odzyskać do 2000 zł

    #A7IV #A7CII #A7RV #A7SIII #aparaty #cashback #fotografia #news #obiektywyGMaster #promocja #sony #SonyAlpha #WinterCashback #ZVE1

    #a7iv #a7cii #a7rv #a7siii #aparaty #cashback
  2. Agnieszka Serafinowicz @[email protected] ·

    Sony rusza z zimowym cashbackiem. Do odzyskania nawet 1700 zł na aparaty i obiektywy

    Firma Sony rozpoczęła zimową edycję swojej cyklicznej promocji „Winter Cashback 2025/2026”.

    Akcja pozwala na odzyskanie części pieniędzy wydanych na sprzęt fotograficzny. Tym razem kwota zwrotu przy zakupie wybranych aparatów bezlusterkowych z serii Alpha oraz obiektywów sięga 1700 zł.

    Promocja obejmuje produkty zakupione u autoryzowanych partnerów handlowych Sony w okresie od 1 października 2025 roku do 31 stycznia 2026 roku. Aby skorzystać z oferty, należy po zakupie odczekać minimum 30 dni. Po tym czasie trzeba wypełnić formularz zgłoszeniowy online na stronie sony.pl/cashback. Wymagane jest do tego posiadanie aktywnego konta My Sony. Ostateczny termin na wysyłanie zgłoszeń mija 31 marca 2026 roku.

    Najwyższą kwotę zwrotu, czyli 1700 zł, przewidziano dla popularnego zestawu: aparatu Sony A7 IV z obiektywem FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS. Zakup samego korpusu A7 IV pozwala na odzyskanie 700 zł. Na wysoki zwrot (1500 zł) mogą liczyć także osoby kupujące profesjonalne korpusy A7S III oraz A7R V.

    Promocją objęto również nowsze, kompaktowe aparaty pełnoklatkowe – A7C R (1000 zł zwrotu) oraz A7C II (500 zł zwrotu). W segmencie APS-C wyróżniono model A6700, na który można otrzymać 500 zł cashbacku. Na liście znajdują się także aparaty dla twórców wideo, w tym ZV-E1 (1000 zł zwrotu) oraz kompaktowy ZV-1 II (500 zł zwrotu).

    Lista promocyjna zawiera również kilkadziesiąt obiektywów. Zwrot w wysokości 1000 zł można otrzymać m.in. na popularne zoomy, jak FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM czy FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM. Wiele cenionych obiektywów stałoogniskowych z serii G Master (np. FE 35mm F1.4 GM, FE 50mm F1.2 GM) oraz teleobiektywów G objęto zwrotem w wysokości 500 zł.

    Sony startuje z promocją cashback na telewizory BRAVIA 9. Można odzyskać do 2000 zł

    #A7IV #A7CII #A7RV #A7SIII #aparaty #cashback #fotografia #news #obiektywyGMaster #promocja #sony #SonyAlpha #WinterCashback #ZVE1

    #a7iv #a7cii #a7rv #a7siii #aparaty #cashback
  3. Agnieszka Serafinowicz @[email protected] ·

    Sony rusza z zimowym cashbackiem. Do odzyskania nawet 1700 zł na aparaty i obiektywy

    Firma Sony rozpoczęła zimową edycję swojej cyklicznej promocji „Winter Cashback 2025/2026”.

    Akcja pozwala na odzyskanie części pieniędzy wydanych na sprzęt fotograficzny. Tym razem kwota zwrotu przy zakupie wybranych aparatów bezlusterkowych z serii Alpha oraz obiektywów sięga 1700 zł.

    Promocja obejmuje produkty zakupione u autoryzowanych partnerów handlowych Sony w okresie od 1 października 2025 roku do 31 stycznia 2026 roku. Aby skorzystać z oferty, należy po zakupie odczekać minimum 30 dni. Po tym czasie trzeba wypełnić formularz zgłoszeniowy online na stronie sony.pl/cashback. Wymagane jest do tego posiadanie aktywnego konta My Sony. Ostateczny termin na wysyłanie zgłoszeń mija 31 marca 2026 roku.

    Najwyższą kwotę zwrotu, czyli 1700 zł, przewidziano dla popularnego zestawu: aparatu Sony A7 IV z obiektywem FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS. Zakup samego korpusu A7 IV pozwala na odzyskanie 700 zł. Na wysoki zwrot (1500 zł) mogą liczyć także osoby kupujące profesjonalne korpusy A7S III oraz A7R V.

    Promocją objęto również nowsze, kompaktowe aparaty pełnoklatkowe – A7C R (1000 zł zwrotu) oraz A7C II (500 zł zwrotu). W segmencie APS-C wyróżniono model A6700, na który można otrzymać 500 zł cashbacku. Na liście znajdują się także aparaty dla twórców wideo, w tym ZV-E1 (1000 zł zwrotu) oraz kompaktowy ZV-1 II (500 zł zwrotu).

    Lista promocyjna zawiera również kilkadziesiąt obiektywów. Zwrot w wysokości 1000 zł można otrzymać m.in. na popularne zoomy, jak FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM czy FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM. Wiele cenionych obiektywów stałoogniskowych z serii G Master (np. FE 35mm F1.4 GM, FE 50mm F1.2 GM) oraz teleobiektywów G objęto zwrotem w wysokości 500 zł.

    Sony startuje z promocją cashback na telewizory BRAVIA 9. Można odzyskać do 2000 zł

    #A7IV #A7CII #A7RV #A7SIII #aparaty #cashback #fotografia #news #obiektywyGMaster #promocja #sony #SonyAlpha #WinterCashback #ZVE1

    #zve1 #wintercashback #sonyalpha #sony #promocja #obiektywygmaster
  4. Agnieszka Serafinowicz @[email protected] ·

    Sony rusza z zimowym cashbackiem. Do odzyskania nawet 1700 zł na aparaty i obiektywy

    Firma Sony rozpoczęła zimową edycję swojej cyklicznej promocji „Winter Cashback 2025/2026”.

    Akcja pozwala na odzyskanie części pieniędzy wydanych na sprzęt fotograficzny. Tym razem kwota zwrotu przy zakupie wybranych aparatów bezlusterkowych z serii Alpha oraz obiektywów sięga 1700 zł.

    Promocja obejmuje produkty zakupione u autoryzowanych partnerów handlowych Sony w okresie od 1 października 2025 roku do 31 stycznia 2026 roku. Aby skorzystać z oferty, należy po zakupie odczekać minimum 30 dni. Po tym czasie trzeba wypełnić formularz zgłoszeniowy online na stronie sony.pl/cashback. Wymagane jest do tego posiadanie aktywnego konta My Sony. Ostateczny termin na wysyłanie zgłoszeń mija 31 marca 2026 roku.

    Najwyższą kwotę zwrotu, czyli 1700 zł, przewidziano dla popularnego zestawu: aparatu Sony A7 IV z obiektywem FE 24-105 mm f/4 G OSS. Zakup samego korpusu A7 IV pozwala na odzyskanie 700 zł. Na wysoki zwrot (1500 zł) mogą liczyć także osoby kupujące profesjonalne korpusy A7S III oraz A7R V.

    Promocją objęto również nowsze, kompaktowe aparaty pełnoklatkowe – A7C R (1000 zł zwrotu) oraz A7C II (500 zł zwrotu). W segmencie APS-C wyróżniono model A6700, na który można otrzymać 500 zł cashbacku. Na liście znajdują się także aparaty dla twórców wideo, w tym ZV-E1 (1000 zł zwrotu) oraz kompaktowy ZV-1 II (500 zł zwrotu).

    Lista promocyjna zawiera również kilkadziesiąt obiektywów. Zwrot w wysokości 1000 zł można otrzymać m.in. na popularne zoomy, jak FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM czy FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM. Wiele cenionych obiektywów stałoogniskowych z serii G Master (np. FE 35mm F1.4 GM, FE 50mm F1.2 GM) oraz teleobiektywów G objęto zwrotem w wysokości 500 zł.

    Sony startuje z promocją cashback na telewizory BRAVIA 9. Można odzyskać do 2000 zł

    #A7IV #A7CII #A7RV #A7SIII #aparaty #cashback #fotografia #news #obiektywyGMaster #promocja #sony #SonyAlpha #WinterCashback #ZVE1

    #a7iv #a7cii #a7rv #a7siii #aparaty #cashback
  5. CyclismeRevue @[email protected] ·

    L’infolettre du 20 octobre 2025 : la fusion Lotto-Intermarché, la course au WorldTour…

    La fusion Lotto-Intermarché se fera, mais à quel prix ?

    C’était la grande incertitude de ces dernières semaines. Malgré tous les indices pointant vers la concrétisation d’une fusion entre Lotto et Intermarché-Wanty, aucun communiqué des deux équipes n’était parvenu depuis l’annonce du projet cet été, en plein cœur du Tour de France. Sans annonce officielle de l’un ou l’autre acteur ou actrice du dossier, il est effectivement difficile de savoir dans quelle mesure les avancées sont réelles ou non. Car au-delà de l’annonce, de nombreuses questions restent jusqu’ici en suspens, avec seuls quelques bruits de couloir disséminés dans la presse quotidienne belge pour comprendre l’ampleur du projet.

    Quels coureurs feront partie de l’effectif final ? Qu’en sera-t-il du staff ? Quels sponsors resteront finalement à bord ? Comment l’équipe s’appellera-t-elle dès le 1er janvier 2026 ? Quelle licence sera effectivement utilisée ? Une licence WorldTour est-elle définitivement acquise avec ce rapprochement ? Quid des équipes de développement des deux structures ? Et de la formation féminine de Lotto ? Le budget sera-t-il tout simplement additionné ? Les informations sont égrainées, sans vraiment comprendre les détails de la future entité. On sait, grâce aux indiscrétions du Soir, de la DH, du Laatste Nieuws et du Nieuwsblad, qu’à la suite du départ du CEO de Lotto Stéphane Heulot, le projet devrait être porté par le patron d’Intermarché-Wanty, Jean-François Bourlart, son responsable sportif Aike Visbeek et le dirigeant sportif de la Lotto, Kurt Van de Wouwer. Captains of Cycling, l’entreprise derrière l’équipe Lotto, a pour sa part confirmé avoir déposé le dossier de demande de licence auprès de l’Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), ce qui semble indiquer que la licence sera sa propriété. Orbea devrait pour sa part fournir les cycles, comme chez Lotto.Dans le même temps, les inquiétudes embrument la volonté de réussite : on a ainsi appris via Le Soir/Sudinfo le licenciement de plusieurs mécaniciens et soigneurs, alors que la presse flamande a déterré les comptes de la société derrière Intermarché-Wanty, confirmant une dette de près de 2,5 millions d’euros à éponger fin 2023. De même, une seule équipe de développement devrait finalement être sauvée, au détriment de la seconde, alors que l’équipe féminine pourrait aussi survivre aux coupes budgétaires. Il reste également les coureurs : 38 sont annoncés sous contrat pour 2026, mais il n’y aura que 30 places, au mieux, disponibles. Il est toujours pour l’heure impossible de savoir qui aura quel contrat, ce qui ennuie furieusement Adam Hansen, le président des Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA), qui s’est fendu d’une réaction sur X (anciennement Twitter) ce week-end sur la situation de ces… 44 cyclistes (selon ses comptes) incertains sur leur avenir.

    ▶️ ✍ Avez-vous un commentaire à nous faire sur cet édito ou l’infolettre ? Envoyez-nous un e-mail à [email protected]

    “J’ai eu un appel avec l’UCI et les deux équipes et j’ai réclamé une liste claire des 30 coureurs qui restent et des 14 autres qui ne restent pas. (…) Les coureurs méritaient de connaître leur situation, et ils auraient dû la connaître des mois plus tôt. (…) Il a été demandé aux coureurs de me contacter individuellement s’ils veulent savoir où ils se situent. La liste ne sera pas partagée publiquement”, a-t-il expliqué. “Le CPA ne devrait pas être l’organisation qui annonce ce genre d’informations, et pas en octobre. (…) Cette expérience a clarifié le fait que nous ne devons travailler avec l’UCI pour créer un protocole plus strict, qui protège vraiment les coureurs dans ces situations”. Bref, sur le plan humain, cette fusion ne semble pas se dérouler sous les meilleurs augures et risque de laisser des traces. Et ce, alors que deux des équipes historiques du bassin belge vont disparaître en une seule entité encore insondable. Mais Adam Hansen reste optimiste : “Nous ne pouvons pas changer le passé, mais nous pouvons nous concentrer pour avancer de la meilleure manière possible pour les coureurs.”Dans les coulisses, ça bataille en tout cas pour savoir quels cyclistes pourraient finalement devenir libres dès l’annonce officielle de l’effectif 2026 de la nouvelle équipe deux-en-un. Biniam Girmay pourrait filer chez Israel-Premier Tech (qui changera de nom prochainement), Louis Barré est cité chez UAE Team Emirates XRG, alors qu’Arne Marit est annoncé en partance, pour laisser place au cyclo-crossman Toon Aerts qui a donné satisfaction durant ses quelques mois d’intérim chez Lotto. Arnaud De Lie, Jarno Widar, Gerben Thijssen ou encore Huub Artz devraient, eux, toujours faire partie de l’aventure.

    Malgré toute la bonne volonté affichée dès cet été, le manque de communication autour du projet, que ce soit en interne ou en externe, confirme une impression de précipitation entre les dirigeants de Lotto et d’Intermarché-Wanty, dans un peloton en pleine mutation, où les millions doivent désormais se compter par dizaines pour assurer sa place dans le WorldTour. Le projet semble jusqu’ici flou. Or, c’est justement un leitmotiv clair, une transparence sur les objectifs, une pyramide de développement bien établie et un esprit collectif qui peuvent aujourd’hui permettre de jouer dans la cour des grands, comme l’a prouvé Uno-X Mobility, qui a rempli tous ces critères depuis ses débuts en 2017. Résultat : le groupe norvégien mené par Thor Hushovd s’annonce en 2026 dans le WorldTour, moins de dix ans après ses débuts.

    Grégory Ienco

    ➡️ S’inscrire à l’infolettre pour la recevoir gratuitement tous les lundis ⬅️

    Voici qui monte et qui descend en 2026

    La saison sur route s’est officiellement conclue dimanche en Chine, pour les femmes, sur le Tour de Guangxi, et en Italie, pour les hommes, lors de la Veneto Classic. Ces deux courses ont terminé de clôturer définitivement le classement UCI de la saison 2025, ainsi que les classements cumulés destinés à désigner les candidats à une licence WorldTour pour les trois prochaines saisons.

    HOMMES

    Du côté masculin, il reste encore beaucoup d’incertitudes, comme cela a été expliqué plus haut, en raison de la fusion de Lotto et d’Intermarché-Wanty et de la disparition probable d’Arkéa-B&B Hôtels. En effet, parmi les deux équipes promues dans le WorldTour (selon le critère sportif uniquement), on retrouve Israel-Premier Tech et… Lotto, qui va justement se rassembler avec Intermarché-Wanty, ce qui devrait laisser une licence disponible pour le 19e, à savoir Uno-X Mobility.

    Arkéa-B&B Hôtels, qui devrait de toute façon s’arrêter d’ici au 31 décembre, et Cofidis n’ont pour leur part pas réussi à se maintenir au plus haut niveau, face à Team Picnic-PostNL et XDS Astana Team notamment. Cela s’est finalement joué à un peu plus de 400 points pour Cofidis, qui n’a rien pu faire face aux résultats d’Uno-X en Europe, pendant qu’Ion Izagirre ou Stanislaw Aniolkowski ont essayé d’offrir quelques points à la formation nordiste en Asie.

    En 2026, trois ProTeams (au lieu de deux) pourront finalement bénéficier d’une invitation automatique pour l’ensemble des courses du WorldTour. Il s’agit des trois meilleures ProTeams de 2025. Normalement, Uno-X, Tudor et Israel-Premier Tech dominent ce classement. Mais Uno-X et Israel-Premier Tech bénéficieront d’une licence WorldTour, ce qui laissera donc une invitation à Tudor, Q36.5 et… Cofidis, qui devrait obtenir ce sésame grâce à la disparition d’Arkéa-B&B Hôtels.

    Enfin, autre nouveauté pour 2026, seules les ProTeams classées dans le Top 30 de la saison précédente pourront bénéficier d’une invitation pour un Grand Tour (Tour d’Italie, de France et d’Espagne). Cela signifie que Solution Tech-Vini Fantini et Euskaltel-Euskadi ne pourront pas être sur cette liste. Cela s’est joué pour 220 points pour la formation italienne, qui n’avait de toute façon pas pu courir le Giro cette saison non plus, faute de cadeau de l’organisation transalpine.

    FEMMES

    Dans le peloton féminin, peu de surprises dans le classement sur deux ans prévu pour les prochaines licences WorldTour. L’équipe Roland Le Dévoluy termine 17e sur les 15 meilleures pouvant bénéficier d’une place en première division et quittera donc l’élite de 2026 à 2028. EF Education-Oatly et VolkerWessels pourront pour leur part déposer un dossier au vu de leur 11e et 15e place respectives.

    Ce sont les équipes Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi et Cofidis qui pourront bénéficier d’une invitation automatique pour les épreuves WorldTour de la saison 2026, avec Lotto Ladies en poursuite.

    Les nouvelles des derniers jours

    ✍ Transferts

    • L’Italien Matteo Sobrero quittera Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe cet hiver afin de s’engager pour trois saisons avec Lidl-Trek. L’ex-champion d’Italie du contre-la-montre et vainqueur d’étape sur le Giro 2022 sera attendu tant sur les courses par étapes d’une semaine que sur les courses d’un jour vallonnées. Cette saison, Sobrero a notamment terminé troisième du Tour de Pologne.
    • Alors que l’équipe Arkéa-B&B Hôtels devrait disparaître en fin d’année (lire plus bas), l’Espagnol Cristián Rodríguez a décidé de signer un contrat d’un an avec XDS Astana Team. Le grimpeur andalou de 30 ans a remporté cette saison la Mercan’Tour Classic et a terminé deuxième de l’Andorra Morabanc Classic Alpes-Maritimes et quatrième du Tour du Jura. Il avait également conclu le Tour de France en 20e place après avoir épaulé Kévin Vauquelin.
    • Une victoire d’étape sur le Tour de France Femmes et une troisième place sur la course en ligne des championnats du monde sur route, cela a visiblement inspiré l’Espagnole Mavi Garcia, qui a décidé de prolonger d’un an sa carrière. La cycliste de 41 ans a cependant décidé de quitter Liv AlUla Jayco pour retourner chez UAE Team ADQ pour une saison. La quadragénaire avait en effet déjà porté le maillot émirati en 2022, à la suite de la reprise d’Alé BTC Ljubljana. Celle qui a débuté sa carrière professionnelle en 2015 a été cinq fois championne d’Espagne sur route et quatre fois sur le contre-la-montre, elle a également terminé 3e du Giro en 2022 et remporté la Classic Lorient Agglomération (GP de Plouay féminin) cette même année.
    L’Espagnole Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco) gagne la 2e étape du Tour de France Femmes, le 27 juillet 2025 – Photo : ASO/Thomas Maheux
    • L’équipe Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe a complété son effectif pour 2026 avec l’arrivée de l’Australien Jarrad Drizners (Lotto) pour au moins une saison. Le coureur de 26 ans, connu pour ses qualités rapides, sera principalement utilisé comme poisson-pilote pour Jordi Meeus et Danny van Poppel la saison prochaine. L’ex-champion d’Australie espoir, équipier modèle, ne compte pas encore de succès professionnel.
    • La Norvégienne Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset quittera Team Coop-Repsol pour rejoindre Uno-X Mobility jusqu’à fin 2027. Celle qui a notamment terminé 4e de la Vuelta Extremadura avait marqué la dernière édition de Paris-Roubaix qu’elle avait terminé… malgré une chute et une fracture de la hanche à mi-course.
    • L’Italien Thomas Pesenti (Soudal Quick Step Devo Team) passera professionnel en 2026 au sein de la Team Polti Visit Malta. Le coureur de 26 ans a signé pour une saison. Cette année, celui qui a terminé troisième du championnat d’Italie sur route a également conclu l’Alpes Isère Tour en quatrième place et le Circuit des Ardennes en dixième position.

    ➡️ Prolongations

    • L’équipe de développement de Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, les “Rookies”, accueillera toujours l’Italien Lorenzo Finn, champion du monde junior en 2024 et espoir en 2025, la saison prochaine. Le coureur transalpin sera notamment accompagné de quatre juniors venus de l’équipe Auto Eder U19 : le Danois Lindholm Møller Andersen, lauréat de l’Ain Bugey Valromey Tour, les Néerlandais Michiel Mouris, champion du monde junior du contre-la-montre et vainqueur de Paris-Roubaix juniors, et Gijs Schoonvelde, vainqueur d’Aubel-Thimister-Stavelot, et l’Autrichien Anatol Friedl, champion d’Europe de VTT cross-country chez les moins de 19 ans.

    🏥 Sur la touche

    • Les problèmes s’enchaînent pour le Danois Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), miné par des soucis de santé depuis la fin du printemps. Après son abandon sur le Tour de Lombardie en raison d’une hernie au niveau du bas du dos, le coureur de 25 ans a tout de même été envoyé en Chine sur le Tour de Guangxi. Et interrogé par Cyclingnews, il n’a pas mâché ses mots quant à cette situation. “Ce n’était pas mon choix” d’être au Tour de Guangxi, a-t-il révélé. “Mais l’équipe a dit que je devrais être ici, et dans des circonstances normales, cela aurait été une chance de gagner une course WorldTour, ce qui est toujours chouette. (…) Aussi, nous étions très proches dans la bataille pour la seconde place du classement UCI avec Visma, (…) donc j’imagine que c’était la raison derrière ce choix”, a-t-il ajouté. Skjelmose a finalement abandonné lors de la troisième étape et compte désormais prendre du repos pour revenir à son meilleur niveau la saison prochaine.

    ❌ Sur le départ

    • Après une dernière saison chez Lotto, marquée par un succès d’étape sur le Tour de Turquie, l’Italien Elia Viviani (36 ans) a annoncé sa prochaine retraite sportive. Il a disputé mercredi dernier sa dernière course sur route sur le Tour de Vénétie (qu’il n’a pas terminé) et participera une dernière fois aux championnats du monde de cyclisme sur piste à Santiago du Chili, fin octobre. Viviani quittera ainsi le peloton avec 90 victoires professionnelles dans la besace dont une étape du Tour de France, cinq étapes du Giro, trois étapes du Tour d’Espagne et des succès sur la Bretagne Classic, la Cyclassics d’Hambourg ou la Ride London Classic, outre une médaille d’or sur l’omnium aux Jeux olympiques de Rio en 2016, le bronze sur la même discipline aux JO de Tokyo en 2021 et une breloque d’argent sur la course à l’américaine avec Simone Consonni lors des Jeux de Paris en 2024.
    • Le Belge Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck) a également surpris en annonçant dimanche, juste avant sa participation à la Veneto Classic, sa décision de quitter le peloton. Le coureur de 36 ans s’arrête au bout de 13 saisons, dont sept avec l’équipe des frères Roodhoofdt. Il a notamment terminé troisième de l’Étoile de Bessèges en 2019, troisième du Tour de Taïwan en 2018 et troisième de la Course aux Raisins cette même année. Ses seules victoires sont au niveau espoir, avec une étape du Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc en 2017, du Kreiz Breizh Elites en 2018 et de la Flèche du Sud, toujours en 2018.

     

    Voir cette publication sur Instagram

     

    Une publication partagée par jimmy janssens (@jimm.janssens)

    • Toujours côté belge, le Belge Tosh van der Sande (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) a aussi dit stop au bout de cette saison 2025. Le puncheur de poche de 34 ans, converti en équipier modèle sur les classiques, s’arrête après de 14 saisons et deux succès professionnels, sur une étape du Tour de Wallonie et une du Tour de l’Ain. Il avait gagné, chez les espoirs, Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Il avait aussi conclu deux fois deuxième du Tour de Wallonie et une fois deuxième de Paris-Tours.

     

    Voir cette publication sur Instagram

     

    Une publication partagée par Geoffrey Bouchard (@geoffrey.bouchard)

    • C’est avec une 24e place finale sur le Tour de Guangxi, en Chine, que le Français Nans Peters (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale) a signé son dernier résultat professionnel. Il a pris sa retraite au bout de neuf saisons avec la même formation, à l’âge de 31 ans. Peters avait notamment gagné une étape du Tour de France et une étape du Tour d’Italie, ainsi que le Trophée Laigueglia, son dernier succès en 2023.
    • Pas de 30e saison en vue pour l’Espagnol Francisco Mancebo (Matrix Powertag), qui quitte officiellement les rangs professionnels à l’aube de son 50e anniversaire. Le coureur qui avait enchaîné les Top 10 sur les Grands Tours au début du siècle (3e de la Vuelta 2004, 4e du Tour de France et de la Vuelta 2005, 5e de la Vuelta 2003, meilleur jeune du Tour de France 2000…) avait depuis 2007 enchaîné les contrats dans des équipes mineures, au lendemain de la révélation de son implication dans l’affaire de dopage Puerto, l’empêchant notamment de participer au Tour de France 2006. Il n’avait toutefois pas été sanctionné par les autorités antidopage et Mancebo avait depuis lors enchaîné les succès hors de l’Europe. Il était devenu en janvier dernier le plus vieux vainqueur d’une course UCI après un succès sur la première étape du Tour de Sahel.

    📅 Programme

    • Le Tour de Wallonie changera de date en 2026 : l’épreuve ne se déroulera plus fin juillet, entre le Tour de France et la Clasica San Sebastian, mais du 1er au 5 juin 2026. Elle précédera ainsi la Brussels Cycling Classic, qui avait déménagé voici trois ans début juin également. La course se voudra être une préparation pour les sprinters en vue du Tour de France, selon son organisateur Christophe Brandt.
    • Lancée en 2022, la course espagnole par étapes O Gran Camiño se déroulait jusqu’ici fin février. L’organisation, menée par l’ex-cycliste Ezequiel Mosquera, a toutefois souhaité faire grandir cet officieux Tour de Galice en demandent à l’Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) un passage de la catégorie 2.1 à 2.Pro et un déménagement dans le calendrier. Seule une des demandes a été rencontrée : O Gran Camiño se déroulera en 2026 du 14 au 18 avril, sur cinq étapes. La course restera toutefois 2.1, en raison d’un nombre déjà limité de courses labellisées ProSeries en Espagne, selon l’UCI. La dernière édition de l’épreuve a été remportée en 2025 par le Canadien Derek Gee, après deux succès du Danois Jonas Vingegaard.

    🤑 Économie

    • L’information ébruitée dans la presse belge a été confirmée vendredi dans la DH : Christophe Brandt confirme la fin de la structure Wallonie Bruxelles imaginée dès 2011 et aujourd’hui nommée Wagner Bazin WB. Le manager, par ailleurs administrateur délégué de TRW’Organisation, organisatrice du Tour et du GP de Wallonie, a confirmé une lutte interne avec Philippe Wagner, patron de l’entreprise du même nom qui aurait, selon Brandt, tenter de construire sa propre structure dès le mois de juin. “J’ai l’impression que Philippe Wagner a voulu bénéficier de tout ce qu’on avait créé durant 10 ans – notre savoir-faire, notre personnel, notre réseau – pour se l’approprier. Mais alors, il aurait été préférable de me racheter l’équipe. Cela aurait été plus clair que de feinter de construire un projet”, a-t-il déploré. Il ajoute avoir continué à chercher de nouveaux sponsors pour poursuivre l’aventure, en vain. C’est donc la fin officielle de l’équipe Wallonie Bruxelles, alors que Wagner Bazin devrait continuer en tant qu’équipe continentale (Division 3) sous licence belge.
    • Ensemble depuis les débuts de l’équipe Sky en 2010, la formation britannique INEOS Grenadiers et la marque italienne de cycles Pinarello ont prolongé leur contrat pour les trois prochaines années.

    📌 Autres

    • Le Néerlandais Jan Willem van Schip a encore fait parler de lui pour un matériel jugé non réglementaire par l’Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). Déjà disqualifié du Tour de Belgique en 2021 et de la Flèche de Hulst en 2024 (outre une suspension de 30 jours en raison de comportements inappropriés à l’encontre d’un concurrent et des commissaires sur les championnats du monde sur piste en 2024), le cycliste de 31 ans a cette fois été disqualifié du Tour des Pays-Bas en raison d’une tige de selle qui présente un coude vers l’avant, permettant d’avancer le bec de selle du coureur. Ce serait toutefois l’UCI qui a pris cette décision, et non le jury des commissaires, a dénoncé le directeur sportif de l’équipe Parkhotel Valkenburg, Paul Tabak, sur Wielerflits. Ce dernier a ajouté qu’à ses yeux, rien dans le règlement UCI n’interdit ce type de tige de selle, ce qui est pourtant contredit par le guide de clarification du règlement technique de l’UCI. L’équipe a tout de même contesté la décision auprès de l’UCI, directement auprès du siège, mais Van Schip n’a pu être réintégré au peloton.

    • L’Espagnol Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet BH) a été disqualifié du Tour de Mentougou, une course 2.2 en Chine, en raison, selon l’organisation de “remarques inappropriées sur les réseaux sociaux”. Cette dernière a demandé des excuses publiques de la part du coureur. Les propos concernés ? Un emoji cochon à côté un drapeau chinois sur Strava, à la suite de la publication de ses données sur la première étape du Tour de Mentougou. Or, le mot “cochon” peut être compris péjorativement en Chine. De nombreux utilisateurs ont ensuite envoyé des insultes et menaces de mort à l’encontre du coureur espagnol, comme l’a révélé le quotidien espagnol El Mundo. L’équipe Burgos Burpellet BH a plaidé l’incompréhension et l’absence de volonté de nuire de la part de son coureur.

    À lire, voir, écouter…

    • Terminer une étape du Tour de France lorsqu’on est seulement habitué à rouler à vélo pour des déplacements ou pour le loisir, cela demande un sacré courage et une bonne dose d’abnégation. La journaliste d’Eurosport/TNT Sports Orla Chennaoui s’est lancé comme défi de rouler la première édition de l’Étape du Tour de France Femmes, entre Chambéry et le col de la Madeleine, sur 117 kilomètres. Une équipe l’a suivie dans ce challenge particulièrement rude, qui démontre que la pratique cycliste n’est pas qu’un simple hobby.

    • La disparition d’Arkéa-B&B Hôtels n’est plus qu’un secret de polichinelle, malgré l’absence d’officialisation du patron Emmanuel Hubert. L’Équipe et France 3 Bretagne ont indiqué cette semaine que la fin de l’aventure avait bien été communiquée aux employés et cyclistes de la structure bretonne, mettant fin aux espoirs de reprise de dernière minute. L’Équipe a réalisé un historique d’un parcours particulier de cette équipe partie d’en bas pour terminer dans le WorldTour, vingt ans plus tard, tout en essayant de conserver ses racines bretonnes. C’est à lire en cliquant sur ce lien (article sous abonnement).

    Le coin promo

    • Comme chaque année, nous vous proposons un calendrier à télécharger et à installer sur votre téléphone ou votre ordinateur, pour ne rien manquer des différentes courses professionnelles sur route de l’année, que ce soit chez les femmes ou les hommes. Tous les détails pratiques sont sur ce lien.
    • Découvrez le programme TV complet des courses cyclistes (route, piste, cyclo-cross, VTT…) diffusées ces prochaines semaines en Belgique et en France sur notre page spéciale, mise à jour quotidiennement : c’est à voir sur ce lien.

    Pour profiter des retransmissions télévisées des courses cyclistes depuis l’étranger, n’hésitez pas à utiliser NordVPN, un programme vous permettant de rejoindre des réseaux privés virtuels protégés dans le monde entier. Pour accéder à ces retransmissions télévisées depuis le monde entier, un VPN peut vous aider, tout en vous protégeant. NordVPN vous propose un abonnement de deux ans avec une réduction allant jusqu’à 73%. Chaque nouvel abonné recevra par ailleurs trois mois d’abonnement offerts. Des offres combinées avec NordPass et du stockage cloud sont par ailleurs disponibles ! Tout abonnement à NordVPN est un soutien supplémentaire à CyclismeRevue.

    Les résultats des derniers jours

    Route

    • Tour de l’île de Chongming 🇨🇳 (2.WWT)
      • 1re étape (14/10) : Georgia Baker 🇦🇺 (Liv AlUla Jayco)
      • 2e étape (15/10) : Sofie van Rooijen 🇳🇱 (UAE Team ADQ)
      • 3e et dernière étape (16/10) : Josie Talbot 🇦🇺 (Liv AlUla Jayco)
      • Classement général : Anne Knijnenburg 🇳🇱 (VolkerWessels Women’s Pro Cycling Team)
    • Tour de Guangxi – Hommes 🇨🇳 (2.UWT)
      • 1re étape (14/10) : Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 2e étape (15/10) : Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 3e étape (16/10) : Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 4e étape (17/10) : Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 5e étape (18/10) : Paul Double 🇬🇧 (Team Jayco-AlUla)
      • 6e et dernière étape (19/10) : Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • Classement général : Paul Double 🇬🇧 (Team Jayco-AlUla)

    • Tour de Guangxi – Femmes 🇨🇳 (1.WWT)
      • 19/10 : Anna Henderson 🇬🇧 (Lidl-Trek)
    • Tour de Vénétie – Hommes 🇮🇹 (1.Pro)
      • 15/10 : Isaac del Toro 🇲🇽 (UAE Team Emirates XRG)

    • Japan Cup 🇯🇵 (1.Pro)
      • 19/10 : Lenny Martinez 🇫🇷 (Bahrain Victorious)
    • Veneto Classic 🇮🇹 (1.Pro)
      • 19/10 : Sakarias Koller Lølland 🇳🇴 (Uno-X Mobility)
    • Tour de Vénétie – Femmes 🇮🇹 (1.1)
      • 15/10 : Silvia Persico 🇮🇹 (UAE Team ADQ)
    • Chrono des Nations – Élites hommes 🇫🇷 (1.1)
      • 19/10 (CLM individuel ⏱️) : Joshua Tarling 🇬🇧 (INEOS Grenadiers)
    • Chrono des Nations – Élites femmes 🇫🇷 (1.1)
      • 19/10 (CLM individuel ⏱️) : Ellen van Dijk 🇳🇱 (Lidl-Trek)
    • Tour des Pays-Bas 🇳🇱 (2.1)
      • Prologue (14/10 – CLM individuel ⏱️) : Ethan Hayter 🇬🇧 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 1re étape (15/10) : Tim Merlier 🇧🇪 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 2e étape (16/10 – CLM individuel ⏱️) : Ethan Hayter 🇬🇧 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 3e étape (17/10) : étape annulée en raison de voitures non-accréditées sur le parcours
      • 4e étape (18/10) : Timo de Jong 🇳🇱 (VolkerWessels Pro Cycling Team)
      • 5e et dernière étape (19/10) : Danny van Poppel 🇳🇱 (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
      • Classement général : Christophe Laporte 🇫🇷 (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)

    • Tour de Mentougou 🇨🇳 (2.2)
      • 3e et dernière étape (14/10) : Clément Alleno 🇫🇷 (Burgos Burpellet BH)
      • Classement général : Clément Alleno 🇫🇷 (Burgos Burpellet BH)
    • Tour de Serbie 🇷🇸 (2.2)
      • 1re étape A (17/10) : Mihajlo Stolic 🇷🇸 (Team United Shipping)
      • 1re étape B (17/10) : Lorenzo Cataldo 🇮🇹 (Gragnano Sporting Club)
      • 2e étape (18/10) : Lorenzo Cataldo 🇮🇹 (Gragnano Sporting Club)
      • 3e et dernière étape (19/10) : Mihajlo Stolic 🇷🇸 (Team United Shipping)
      • Classement général : Lorenzo Cataldo 🇮🇹 (Gragnano Sporting Club)
    • Chrono des Nations – Espoirs hommes 🇫🇷 (1.2U)
      • 19/10 (CLM individuel ⏱️) : Arthur Blaise 🇫🇷 (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale Development Team)

    Cyclo-cross

    • Kermiscross Ardooie 🇧🇪 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (16/10) : Lucinda Brand 🇳🇱 (Baloise Glowi Lions)
      • Élites hommes (16/10) : Toon Aerts 🇧🇪 (Deschacht-Hens CX)
    • Kings CX – Day 1 🇺🇸 (C1)
      • Élites femmes (18/10) : Lizzy Gunsalus 🇺🇸 (CCB p/b Levine Law Group Cycling)
      • Élites hommes (18/10) : Jules Van Kempen 🇺🇸 (Team Winston-Salem)
    • Ciclocrosse de Melgaço 🇵🇹 (C1)
      • Élites femmes (18/10) : Lucia Gonzalez Blanco 🇪🇸 (Nesta-MMR CX Team)
      • Élites hommes (18/10) : Gonzalo Iguanzo Macho 🇪🇸 (G.D. Supermercados Froiz)
    • Exact Cross – Essen 🇧🇪 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (18/10) : Lucinda Brand 🇳🇱 (Baloise Glowi Lions)
      • Élites hommes (18/10) : Toon Vandebosch 🇧🇪 (Crelan-Corendon)
    • HSF System Cup #2 – Mlada Boleslav 🇨🇿 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (18/10) : Kristyna Zemanová 🇨🇿 (Vif Cycling Team)
      • Élites hommes (18/10) : Vaclav Jezek 🇨🇿 (Brilon Racing Team MB)
    • Varberg Cyclocross – Day 1 🇸🇪 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (18/10) : Adèle Hurteloup 🇫🇷 (Velopro-EGS Group-Alphamotorhomes)
      • Élites hommes (18/10) : Clément Horny 🇧🇪 (BH Wallonie Team)
    • Superprestige #1 – Ruddervoorde 🇧🇪 (C1)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Marion Norbert Riberolle 🇧🇪 (Crelan-Corendon)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Michael Vanthourenhout 🇧🇪 (Pauwels Sauzen-Altez Industriebouw)
    • Swiss Cyclocross Cup #2 – Alperosequer Schneisingen 🇨🇭 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Célia Gery 🇫🇷 (AS Bike Racing-France Literie)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Romain Debord 🇫🇷 (AS Bike Racing-France Literie)
    • National Trophy Series #2 – Falkirk 🇬🇧 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Ffion Gibert 🇬🇧 (-)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Thomas Mein 🇬🇧 (Hope Factory Racing)
    • Varberg Cyclocross – Day 2 🇸🇪 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Xan Crees 🇬🇧 (OGT p/b Use Components)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Clément Horny 🇧🇪 (BH Wallonie Team)
    • Kings CX – Day 2 🇺🇸 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Lizzy Gunsalus 🇺🇸 (CCB p/b Levine Law Group Cycling)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Jules Van Kempen 🇺🇸 (Team Winston-Salem)
    • Zoncross Classic Sutrio 🇮🇹 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Carlotta Borello 🇮🇹 (Team Cingolani)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Filippo Fontana 🇮🇹 (-)
    • Ciclocrosse Internacional de Vouzela 🇵🇹 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Lucia Gonzalez Blanco 🇪🇸 (Nesta-MMR CX Team)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Timothé Gabriel 🇫🇷 (-)
    • Grand Prix Levoca 🇸🇰 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Antonina Bialek 🇵🇱 (Warszawski Klub Kolarski)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Frantisek Hojka 🇨🇿 (-)
    • Velocx Internacional CX Race Vilnius 🇱🇹 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Antonina Kucharska 🇵🇱 (-)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Szymon Pomian 🇵🇱 (-)

    L’agenda des prochains jours

    Mardi 21 octobre

    • Aucune course UCI prévue ce jour

    CYCLO-CROSS

    Mercredi 22 octobre

    • Aucune course UCI prévue ce jour

    PISTE

    • Championnats du monde sur piste à Santiago du Chili 🇨🇱 (CM)
      • Scratch (f) et vitesse par équipes (h et f)
      • Infos et partants
      • 📺 Direct dès 23h10 sur Sporza.be et VRT Max, et dès 23h20 sur Eurosport 1 et HBO Max

    Jeudi 23 octobre

    • Aucune course UCI prévue ce jour

    PISTE

    • Championnats du monde sur piste à Santiago du Chili 🇨🇱 (CM)
      • Poursuite par équipes (h et f), course à l’élimination (f), keirin (h) et scratch (h)
      • Infos et partants
      • 📺 Direct dès 22h20 sur Sporza.be et VRT Max, dès 22h30 sur Eurosport 1 et HBO Max, et dès 23h15 sur RTBF Auvio

    Vendredi 24 octobre

    • Tour du Guatemala 🇬🇹 (2.2) – 1re étape

    PISTE

    • Championnats du monde sur piste à Santiago du Chili 🇨🇱 (CM)
      • Course aux points (h), kilomètre (h), poursuite individuelle (h), omnium (f) et vitesse individuelle (f)
      • Infos et partants
      • 📺 Direct dès 21h50 sur Sporza.be et VRT Max et dès 22h00 sur Eurosport 1 et HBO Max

    Samedi 25 octobre

    • Tour du Guatemala 🇬🇹 (2.2) – 2e étape

    PISTE

    • Championnats du monde sur piste à Santiago du Chili 🇨🇱 (CM)
      • Kilomètre (f), course à l’américaine (f), omnium (h) et poursuite individuelle (f)
      • Infos et partants
      • 📺 Direct dès 22h20 sur Sporza.be et VRT Max, dès 22h30 sur Eurosport 1 et HBO Max, et dès 23h10 sur RTBF Auvio

    CYCLO-CROSS

    • Exact Cross – Heerderstrand 🇳🇱 (C2)

    Dimanche 26 octobre

    • Tour du Guatemala 🇬🇹 (2.2) – 3e étape

    PISTE

    • Championnats du monde sur piste à Santiago du Chili 🇨🇱 (CM)
      • Course aux points (f), course à l’élimination (h),  keirin (f), vitesse individuelle (h) et course à l’américaine (h)
      • Infos et partants
      • 📺 Direct dès 14h50 et 17h25 sur Sporza.be et VRT Max, dès 15h00 et 17h30 sur Eurosport 1 et HBO Max, dès 17h25 sur Canvas puis dès 20h00 sur Ketnet, et dès 18h45 sur RTBF Auvio

    CYCLO-CROSS

    • Superprestige #1 – Vlaamse Druivencross à Overijse 🇧🇪 (C1)
      • Infos et partants
      • 📺 Direct dès 13h35 sur Pickx Pop-up Sport, Pickx Showcase et Pickx.be, et HBO Max

    Lundi 27 octobre

    • Tour du Guatemala 🇬🇹 (2.2) – 4e étape

    Merci pour votre lecture !

    Vous retrouverez votre prochaine infolettre le lundi 27 octobre dans votre boîte aux lettres numérique !

    N’hésitez pas à partager cette infolettre avec vos proches et à nous suivre sur CyclismeRevue.be ainsi que nos réseaux sociaux pour ne rien manquer de l’actualité cycliste.

    ➡️ Pour recevoir gratuitement notre infolettre tous les lundis, inscrivez-vous sur ce lien.

    #1 #2 #3 #CyclismeSurRoute #IntermarchéWanty #Invitations #Lotto #LottoIntermarché #ProTeams #UCI #WorldTour

    #cyclismesurroute #intermarchewanty #invitations #lotto #lottointermarche #proteams
  6. CyclismeRevue @[email protected] ·

    L’infolettre du 20 octobre 2025 : la fusion Lotto-Intermarché, la course au WorldTour…

    La fusion Lotto-Intermarché se fera, mais à quel prix ?

    C’était la grande incertitude de ces dernières semaines. Malgré tous les indices pointant vers la concrétisation d’une fusion entre Lotto et Intermarché-Wanty, aucun communiqué des deux équipes n’était parvenu depuis l’annonce du projet cet été, en plein cœur du Tour de France. Sans annonce officielle de l’un ou l’autre acteur ou actrice du dossier, il est effectivement difficile de savoir dans quelle mesure les avancées sont réelles ou non. Car au-delà de l’annonce, de nombreuses questions restent jusqu’ici en suspens, avec seuls quelques bruits de couloir disséminés dans la presse quotidienne belge pour comprendre l’ampleur du projet.

    Quels coureurs feront partie de l’effectif final ? Qu’en sera-t-il du staff ? Quels sponsors resteront finalement à bord ? Comment l’équipe s’appellera-t-elle dès le 1er janvier 2026 ? Quelle licence sera effectivement utilisée ? Une licence WorldTour est-elle définitivement acquise avec ce rapprochement ? Quid des équipes de développement des deux structures ? Et de la formation féminine de Lotto ? Le budget sera-t-il tout simplement additionné ? Les informations sont égrainées, sans vraiment comprendre les détails de la future entité. On sait, grâce aux indiscrétions du Soir, de la DH, du Laatste Nieuws et du Nieuwsblad, qu’à la suite du départ du CEO de Lotto Stéphane Heulot, le projet devrait être porté par le patron d’Intermarché-Wanty, Jean-François Bourlart, son responsable sportif Aike Visbeek et le dirigeant sportif de la Lotto, Kurt Van de Wouwer. Captains of Cycling, l’entreprise derrière l’équipe Lotto, a pour sa part confirmé avoir déposé le dossier de demande de licence auprès de l’Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), ce qui semble indiquer que la licence sera sa propriété. Orbea devrait pour sa part fournir les cycles, comme chez Lotto.Dans le même temps, les inquiétudes embrument la volonté de réussite : on a ainsi appris via Le Soir/Sudinfo le licenciement de plusieurs mécaniciens et soigneurs, alors que la presse flamande a déterré les comptes de la société derrière Intermarché-Wanty, confirmant une dette de près de 2,5 millions d’euros à éponger fin 2023. De même, une seule équipe de développement devrait finalement être sauvée, au détriment de la seconde, alors que l’équipe féminine pourrait aussi survivre aux coupes budgétaires. Il reste également les coureurs : 38 sont annoncés sous contrat pour 2026, mais il n’y aura que 30 places, au mieux, disponibles. Il est toujours pour l’heure impossible de savoir qui aura quel contrat, ce qui ennuie furieusement Adam Hansen, le président des Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA), qui s’est fendu d’une réaction sur X (anciennement Twitter) ce week-end sur la situation de ces… 44 cyclistes (selon ses comptes) incertains sur leur avenir.

    ▶️ ✍ Avez-vous un commentaire à nous faire sur cet édito ou l’infolettre ? Envoyez-nous un e-mail à [email protected]

    “J’ai eu un appel avec l’UCI et les deux équipes et j’ai réclamé une liste claire des 30 coureurs qui restent et des 14 autres qui ne restent pas. (…) Les coureurs méritaient de connaître leur situation, et ils auraient dû la connaître des mois plus tôt. (…) Il a été demandé aux coureurs de me contacter individuellement s’ils veulent savoir où ils se situent. La liste ne sera pas partagée publiquement”, a-t-il expliqué. “Le CPA ne devrait pas être l’organisation qui annonce ce genre d’informations, et pas en octobre. (…) Cette expérience a clarifié le fait que nous ne devons travailler avec l’UCI pour créer un protocole plus strict, qui protège vraiment les coureurs dans ces situations”. Bref, sur le plan humain, cette fusion ne semble pas se dérouler sous les meilleurs augures et risque de laisser des traces. Et ce, alors que deux des équipes historiques du bassin belge vont disparaître en une seule entité encore insondable. Mais Adam Hansen reste optimiste : “Nous ne pouvons pas changer le passé, mais nous pouvons nous concentrer pour avancer de la meilleure manière possible pour les coureurs.”Dans les coulisses, ça bataille en tout cas pour savoir quels cyclistes pourraient finalement devenir libres dès l’annonce officielle de l’effectif 2026 de la nouvelle équipe deux-en-un. Biniam Girmay pourrait filer chez Israel-Premier Tech (qui changera de nom prochainement), Louis Barré est cité chez UAE Team Emirates XRG, alors qu’Arne Marit est annoncé en partance, pour laisser place au cyclo-crossman Toon Aerts qui a donné satisfaction durant ses quelques mois d’intérim chez Lotto. Arnaud De Lie, Jarno Widar, Gerben Thijssen ou encore Huub Artz devraient, eux, toujours faire partie de l’aventure.

    Malgré toute la bonne volonté affichée dès cet été, le manque de communication autour du projet, que ce soit en interne ou en externe, confirme une impression de précipitation entre les dirigeants de Lotto et d’Intermarché-Wanty, dans un peloton en pleine mutation, où les millions doivent désormais se compter par dizaines pour assurer sa place dans le WorldTour. Le projet semble jusqu’ici flou. Or, c’est justement un leitmotiv clair, une transparence sur les objectifs, une pyramide de développement bien établie et un esprit collectif qui peuvent aujourd’hui permettre de jouer dans la cour des grands, comme l’a prouvé Uno-X Mobility, qui a rempli tous ces critères depuis ses débuts en 2017. Résultat : le groupe norvégien mené par Thor Hushovd s’annonce en 2026 dans le WorldTour, moins de dix ans après ses débuts.

    Grégory Ienco

    ➡️ S’inscrire à l’infolettre pour la recevoir gratuitement tous les lundis ⬅️

    Voici qui monte et qui descend en 2026

    La saison sur route s’est officiellement conclue dimanche en Chine, pour les femmes, sur le Tour de Guangxi, et en Italie, pour les hommes, lors de la Veneto Classic. Ces deux courses ont terminé de clôturer définitivement le classement UCI de la saison 2025, ainsi que les classements cumulés destinés à désigner les candidats à une licence WorldTour pour les trois prochaines saisons.

    HOMMES

    Du côté masculin, il reste encore beaucoup d’incertitudes, comme cela a été expliqué plus haut, en raison de la fusion de Lotto et d’Intermarché-Wanty et de la disparition probable d’Arkéa-B&B Hôtels. En effet, parmi les deux équipes promues dans le WorldTour (selon le critère sportif uniquement), on retrouve Israel-Premier Tech et… Lotto, qui va justement se rassembler avec Intermarché-Wanty, ce qui devrait laisser une licence disponible pour le 19e, à savoir Uno-X Mobility.

    Arkéa-B&B Hôtels, qui devrait de toute façon s’arrêter d’ici au 31 décembre, et Cofidis n’ont pour leur part pas réussi à se maintenir au plus haut niveau, face à Team Picnic-PostNL et XDS Astana Team notamment. Cela s’est finalement joué à un peu plus de 400 points pour Cofidis, qui n’a rien pu faire face aux résultats d’Uno-X en Europe, pendant qu’Ion Izagirre ou Stanislaw Aniolkowski ont essayé d’offrir quelques points à la formation nordiste en Asie.

    En 2026, trois ProTeams (au lieu de deux) pourront finalement bénéficier d’une invitation automatique pour l’ensemble des courses du WorldTour. Il s’agit des trois meilleures ProTeams de 2025. Normalement, Uno-X, Tudor et Israel-Premier Tech dominent ce classement. Mais Uno-X et Israel-Premier Tech bénéficieront d’une licence WorldTour, ce qui laissera donc une invitation à Tudor, Q36.5 et… Cofidis, qui devrait obtenir ce sésame grâce à la disparition d’Arkéa-B&B Hôtels.

    Enfin, autre nouveauté pour 2026, seules les ProTeams classées dans le Top 30 de la saison précédente pourront bénéficier d’une invitation pour un Grand Tour (Tour d’Italie, de France et d’Espagne). Cela signifie que Solution Tech-Vini Fantini et Euskaltel-Euskadi ne pourront pas être sur cette liste. Cela s’est joué pour 220 points pour la formation italienne, qui n’avait de toute façon pas pu courir le Giro cette saison non plus, faute de cadeau de l’organisation transalpine.

    FEMMES

    Dans le peloton féminin, peu de surprises dans le classement sur deux ans prévu pour les prochaines licences WorldTour. L’équipe Roland Le Dévoluy termine 17e sur les 15 meilleures pouvant bénéficier d’une place en première division et quittera donc l’élite de 2026 à 2028. EF Education-Oatly et VolkerWessels pourront pour leur part déposer un dossier au vu de leur 11e et 15e place respectives.

    Ce sont les équipes Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi et Cofidis qui pourront bénéficier d’une invitation automatique pour les épreuves WorldTour de la saison 2026, avec Lotto Ladies en poursuite.

    Les nouvelles des derniers jours

    ✍ Transferts

    • L’Italien Matteo Sobrero quittera Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe cet hiver afin de s’engager pour trois saisons avec Lidl-Trek. L’ex-champion d’Italie du contre-la-montre et vainqueur d’étape sur le Giro 2022 sera attendu tant sur les courses par étapes d’une semaine que sur les courses d’un jour vallonnées. Cette saison, Sobrero a notamment terminé troisième du Tour de Pologne.
    • Alors que l’équipe Arkéa-B&B Hôtels devrait disparaître en fin d’année (lire plus bas), l’Espagnol Cristián Rodríguez a décidé de signer un contrat d’un an avec XDS Astana Team. Le grimpeur andalou de 30 ans a remporté cette saison la Mercan’Tour Classic et a terminé deuxième de l’Andorra Morabanc Classic Alpes-Maritimes et quatrième du Tour du Jura. Il avait également conclu le Tour de France en 20e place après avoir épaulé Kévin Vauquelin.
    • Une victoire d’étape sur le Tour de France Femmes et une troisième place sur la course en ligne des championnats du monde sur route, cela a visiblement inspiré l’Espagnole Mavi Garcia, qui a décidé de prolonger d’un an sa carrière. La cycliste de 41 ans a cependant décidé de quitter Liv AlUla Jayco pour retourner chez UAE Team ADQ pour une saison. La quadragénaire avait en effet déjà porté le maillot émirati en 2022, à la suite de la reprise d’Alé BTC Ljubljana. Celle qui a débuté sa carrière professionnelle en 2015 a été cinq fois championne d’Espagne sur route et quatre fois sur le contre-la-montre, elle a également terminé 3e du Giro en 2022 et remporté la Classic Lorient Agglomération (GP de Plouay féminin) cette même année.
    L’Espagnole Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco) gagne la 2e étape du Tour de France Femmes, le 27 juillet 2025 – Photo : ASO/Thomas Maheux
    • L’équipe Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe a complété son effectif pour 2026 avec l’arrivée de l’Australien Jarrad Drizners (Lotto) pour au moins une saison. Le coureur de 26 ans, connu pour ses qualités rapides, sera principalement utilisé comme poisson-pilote pour Jordi Meeus et Danny van Poppel la saison prochaine. L’ex-champion d’Australie espoir, équipier modèle, ne compte pas encore de succès professionnel.
    • La Norvégienne Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset quittera Team Coop-Repsol pour rejoindre Uno-X Mobility jusqu’à fin 2027. Celle qui a notamment terminé 4e de la Vuelta Extremadura avait marqué la dernière édition de Paris-Roubaix qu’elle avait terminé… malgré une chute et une fracture de la hanche à mi-course.
    • L’Italien Thomas Pesenti (Soudal Quick Step Devo Team) passera professionnel en 2026 au sein de la Team Polti Visit Malta. Le coureur de 26 ans a signé pour une saison. Cette année, celui qui a terminé troisième du championnat d’Italie sur route a également conclu l’Alpes Isère Tour en quatrième place et le Circuit des Ardennes en dixième position.

    ➡️ Prolongations

    • L’équipe de développement de Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, les “Rookies”, accueillera toujours l’Italien Lorenzo Finn, champion du monde junior en 2024 et espoir en 2025, la saison prochaine. Le coureur transalpin sera notamment accompagné de quatre juniors venus de l’équipe Auto Eder U19 : le Danois Lindholm Møller Andersen, lauréat de l’Ain Bugey Valromey Tour, les Néerlandais Michiel Mouris, champion du monde junior du contre-la-montre et vainqueur de Paris-Roubaix juniors, et Gijs Schoonvelde, vainqueur d’Aubel-Thimister-Stavelot, et l’Autrichien Anatol Friedl, champion d’Europe de VTT cross-country chez les moins de 19 ans.

    🏥 Sur la touche

    • Les problèmes s’enchaînent pour le Danois Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), miné par des soucis de santé depuis la fin du printemps. Après son abandon sur le Tour de Lombardie en raison d’une hernie au niveau du bas du dos, le coureur de 25 ans a tout de même été envoyé en Chine sur le Tour de Guangxi. Et interrogé par Cyclingnews, il n’a pas mâché ses mots quant à cette situation. “Ce n’était pas mon choix” d’être au Tour de Guangxi, a-t-il révélé. “Mais l’équipe a dit que je devrais être ici, et dans des circonstances normales, cela aurait été une chance de gagner une course WorldTour, ce qui est toujours chouette. (…) Aussi, nous étions très proches dans la bataille pour la seconde place du classement UCI avec Visma, (…) donc j’imagine que c’était la raison derrière ce choix”, a-t-il ajouté. Skjelmose a finalement abandonné lors de la troisième étape et compte désormais prendre du repos pour revenir à son meilleur niveau la saison prochaine.

    ❌ Sur le départ

    • Après une dernière saison chez Lotto, marquée par un succès d’étape sur le Tour de Turquie, l’Italien Elia Viviani (36 ans) a annoncé sa prochaine retraite sportive. Il a disputé mercredi dernier sa dernière course sur route sur le Tour de Vénétie (qu’il n’a pas terminé) et participera une dernière fois aux championnats du monde de cyclisme sur piste à Santiago du Chili, fin octobre. Viviani quittera ainsi le peloton avec 90 victoires professionnelles dans la besace dont une étape du Tour de France, cinq étapes du Giro, trois étapes du Tour d’Espagne et des succès sur la Bretagne Classic, la Cyclassics d’Hambourg ou la Ride London Classic, outre une médaille d’or sur l’omnium aux Jeux olympiques de Rio en 2016, le bronze sur la même discipline aux JO de Tokyo en 2021 et une breloque d’argent sur la course à l’américaine avec Simone Consonni lors des Jeux de Paris en 2024.
    • Le Belge Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck) a également surpris en annonçant dimanche, juste avant sa participation à la Veneto Classic, sa décision de quitter le peloton. Le coureur de 36 ans s’arrête au bout de 13 saisons, dont sept avec l’équipe des frères Roodhoofdt. Il a notamment terminé troisième de l’Étoile de Bessèges en 2019, troisième du Tour de Taïwan en 2018 et troisième de la Course aux Raisins cette même année. Ses seules victoires sont au niveau espoir, avec une étape du Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc en 2017, du Kreiz Breizh Elites en 2018 et de la Flèche du Sud, toujours en 2018.

     

    Voir cette publication sur Instagram

     

    Une publication partagée par jimmy janssens (@jimm.janssens)

    • Toujours côté belge, le Belge Tosh van der Sande (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) a aussi dit stop au bout de cette saison 2025. Le puncheur de poche de 34 ans, converti en équipier modèle sur les classiques, s’arrête après de 14 saisons et deux succès professionnels, sur une étape du Tour de Wallonie et une du Tour de l’Ain. Il avait gagné, chez les espoirs, Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Il avait aussi conclu deux fois deuxième du Tour de Wallonie et une fois deuxième de Paris-Tours.

     

    Voir cette publication sur Instagram

     

    Une publication partagée par Geoffrey Bouchard (@geoffrey.bouchard)

    • C’est avec une 24e place finale sur le Tour de Guangxi, en Chine, que le Français Nans Peters (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale) a signé son dernier résultat professionnel. Il a pris sa retraite au bout de neuf saisons avec la même formation, à l’âge de 31 ans. Peters avait notamment gagné une étape du Tour de France et une étape du Tour d’Italie, ainsi que le Trophée Laigueglia, son dernier succès en 2023.
    • Pas de 30e saison en vue pour l’Espagnol Francisco Mancebo (Matrix Powertag), qui quitte officiellement les rangs professionnels à l’aube de son 50e anniversaire. Le coureur qui avait enchaîné les Top 10 sur les Grands Tours au début du siècle (3e de la Vuelta 2004, 4e du Tour de France et de la Vuelta 2005, 5e de la Vuelta 2003, meilleur jeune du Tour de France 2000…) avait depuis 2007 enchaîné les contrats dans des équipes mineures, au lendemain de la révélation de son implication dans l’affaire de dopage Puerto, l’empêchant notamment de participer au Tour de France 2006. Il n’avait toutefois pas été sanctionné par les autorités antidopage et Mancebo avait depuis lors enchaîné les succès hors de l’Europe. Il était devenu en janvier dernier le plus vieux vainqueur d’une course UCI après un succès sur la première étape du Tour de Sahel.

    📅 Programme

    • Le Tour de Wallonie changera de date en 2026 : l’épreuve ne se déroulera plus fin juillet, entre le Tour de France et la Clasica San Sebastian, mais du 1er au 5 juin 2026. Elle précédera ainsi la Brussels Cycling Classic, qui avait déménagé voici trois ans début juin également. La course se voudra être une préparation pour les sprinters en vue du Tour de France, selon son organisateur Christophe Brandt.
    • Lancée en 2022, la course espagnole par étapes O Gran Camiño se déroulait jusqu’ici fin février. L’organisation, menée par l’ex-cycliste Ezequiel Mosquera, a toutefois souhaité faire grandir cet officieux Tour de Galice en demandent à l’Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) un passage de la catégorie 2.1 à 2.Pro et un déménagement dans le calendrier. Seule une des demandes a été rencontrée : O Gran Camiño se déroulera en 2026 du 14 au 18 avril, sur cinq étapes. La course restera toutefois 2.1, en raison d’un nombre déjà limité de courses labellisées ProSeries en Espagne, selon l’UCI. La dernière édition de l’épreuve a été remportée en 2025 par le Canadien Derek Gee, après deux succès du Danois Jonas Vingegaard.

    🤑 Économie

    • L’information ébruitée dans la presse belge a été confirmée vendredi dans la DH : Christophe Brandt confirme la fin de la structure Wallonie Bruxelles imaginée dès 2011 et aujourd’hui nommée Wagner Bazin WB. Le manager, par ailleurs administrateur délégué de TRW’Organisation, organisatrice du Tour et du GP de Wallonie, a confirmé une lutte interne avec Philippe Wagner, patron de l’entreprise du même nom qui aurait, selon Brandt, tenter de construire sa propre structure dès le mois de juin. “J’ai l’impression que Philippe Wagner a voulu bénéficier de tout ce qu’on avait créé durant 10 ans – notre savoir-faire, notre personnel, notre réseau – pour se l’approprier. Mais alors, il aurait été préférable de me racheter l’équipe. Cela aurait été plus clair que de feinter de construire un projet”, a-t-il déploré. Il ajoute avoir continué à chercher de nouveaux sponsors pour poursuivre l’aventure, en vain. C’est donc la fin officielle de l’équipe Wallonie Bruxelles, alors que Wagner Bazin devrait continuer en tant qu’équipe continentale (Division 3) sous licence belge.
    • Ensemble depuis les débuts de l’équipe Sky en 2010, la formation britannique INEOS Grenadiers et la marque italienne de cycles Pinarello ont prolongé leur contrat pour les trois prochaines années.

    📌 Autres

    • Le Néerlandais Jan Willem van Schip a encore fait parler de lui pour un matériel jugé non réglementaire par l’Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). Déjà disqualifié du Tour de Belgique en 2021 et de la Flèche de Hulst en 2024 (outre une suspension de 30 jours en raison de comportements inappropriés à l’encontre d’un concurrent et des commissaires sur les championnats du monde sur piste en 2024), le cycliste de 31 ans a cette fois été disqualifié du Tour des Pays-Bas en raison d’une tige de selle qui présente un coude vers l’avant, permettant d’avancer le bec de selle du coureur. Ce serait toutefois l’UCI qui a pris cette décision, et non le jury des commissaires, a dénoncé le directeur sportif de l’équipe Parkhotel Valkenburg, Paul Tabak, sur Wielerflits. Ce dernier a ajouté qu’à ses yeux, rien dans le règlement UCI n’interdit ce type de tige de selle, ce qui est pourtant contredit par le guide de clarification du règlement technique de l’UCI. L’équipe a tout de même contesté la décision auprès de l’UCI, directement auprès du siège, mais Van Schip n’a pu être réintégré au peloton.

    • L’Espagnol Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet BH) a été disqualifié du Tour de Mentougou, une course 2.2 en Chine, en raison, selon l’organisation de “remarques inappropriées sur les réseaux sociaux”. Cette dernière a demandé des excuses publiques de la part du coureur. Les propos concernés ? Un emoji cochon à côté un drapeau chinois sur Strava, à la suite de la publication de ses données sur la première étape du Tour de Mentougou. Or, le mot “cochon” peut être compris péjorativement en Chine. De nombreux utilisateurs ont ensuite envoyé des insultes et menaces de mort à l’encontre du coureur espagnol, comme l’a révélé le quotidien espagnol El Mundo. L’équipe Burgos Burpellet BH a plaidé l’incompréhension et l’absence de volonté de nuire de la part de son coureur.

    À lire, voir, écouter…

    • Terminer une étape du Tour de France lorsqu’on est seulement habitué à rouler à vélo pour des déplacements ou pour le loisir, cela demande un sacré courage et une bonne dose d’abnégation. La journaliste d’Eurosport/TNT Sports Orla Chennaoui s’est lancé comme défi de rouler la première édition de l’Étape du Tour de France Femmes, entre Chambéry et le col de la Madeleine, sur 117 kilomètres. Une équipe l’a suivie dans ce challenge particulièrement rude, qui démontre que la pratique cycliste n’est pas qu’un simple hobby.

    • La disparition d’Arkéa-B&B Hôtels n’est plus qu’un secret de polichinelle, malgré l’absence d’officialisation du patron Emmanuel Hubert. L’Équipe et France 3 Bretagne ont indiqué cette semaine que la fin de l’aventure avait bien été communiquée aux employés et cyclistes de la structure bretonne, mettant fin aux espoirs de reprise de dernière minute. L’Équipe a réalisé un historique d’un parcours particulier de cette équipe partie d’en bas pour terminer dans le WorldTour, vingt ans plus tard, tout en essayant de conserver ses racines bretonnes. C’est à lire en cliquant sur ce lien (article sous abonnement).

    Le coin promo

    • Comme chaque année, nous vous proposons un calendrier à télécharger et à installer sur votre téléphone ou votre ordinateur, pour ne rien manquer des différentes courses professionnelles sur route de l’année, que ce soit chez les femmes ou les hommes. Tous les détails pratiques sont sur ce lien.
    • Découvrez le programme TV complet des courses cyclistes (route, piste, cyclo-cross, VTT…) diffusées ces prochaines semaines en Belgique et en France sur notre page spéciale, mise à jour quotidiennement : c’est à voir sur ce lien.

    Pour profiter des retransmissions télévisées des courses cyclistes depuis l’étranger, n’hésitez pas à utiliser NordVPN, un programme vous permettant de rejoindre des réseaux privés virtuels protégés dans le monde entier. Pour accéder à ces retransmissions télévisées depuis le monde entier, un VPN peut vous aider, tout en vous protégeant. NordVPN vous propose un abonnement de deux ans avec une réduction allant jusqu’à 73%. Chaque nouvel abonné recevra par ailleurs trois mois d’abonnement offerts. Des offres combinées avec NordPass et du stockage cloud sont par ailleurs disponibles ! Tout abonnement à NordVPN est un soutien supplémentaire à CyclismeRevue.

    Les résultats des derniers jours

    Route

    • Tour de l’île de Chongming 🇨🇳 (2.WWT)
      • 1re étape (14/10) : Georgia Baker 🇦🇺 (Liv AlUla Jayco)
      • 2e étape (15/10) : Sofie van Rooijen 🇳🇱 (UAE Team ADQ)
      • 3e et dernière étape (16/10) : Josie Talbot 🇦🇺 (Liv AlUla Jayco)
      • Classement général : Anne Knijnenburg 🇳🇱 (VolkerWessels Women’s Pro Cycling Team)
    • Tour de Guangxi – Hommes 🇨🇳 (2.UWT)
      • 1re étape (14/10) : Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 2e étape (15/10) : Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 3e étape (16/10) : Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 4e étape (17/10) : Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 5e étape (18/10) : Paul Double 🇬🇧 (Team Jayco-AlUla)
      • 6e et dernière étape (19/10) : Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • Classement général : Paul Double 🇬🇧 (Team Jayco-AlUla)

    • Tour de Guangxi – Femmes 🇨🇳 (1.WWT)
      • 19/10 : Anna Henderson 🇬🇧 (Lidl-Trek)
    • Tour de Vénétie – Hommes 🇮🇹 (1.Pro)
      • 15/10 : Isaac del Toro 🇲🇽 (UAE Team Emirates XRG)

    • Japan Cup 🇯🇵 (1.Pro)
      • 19/10 : Lenny Martinez 🇫🇷 (Bahrain Victorious)
    • Veneto Classic 🇮🇹 (1.Pro)
      • 19/10 : Sakarias Koller Lølland 🇳🇴 (Uno-X Mobility)
    • Tour de Vénétie – Femmes 🇮🇹 (1.1)
      • 15/10 : Silvia Persico 🇮🇹 (UAE Team ADQ)
    • Chrono des Nations – Élites hommes 🇫🇷 (1.1)
      • 19/10 (CLM individuel ⏱️) : Joshua Tarling 🇬🇧 (INEOS Grenadiers)
    • Chrono des Nations – Élites femmes 🇫🇷 (1.1)
      • 19/10 (CLM individuel ⏱️) : Ellen van Dijk 🇳🇱 (Lidl-Trek)
    • Tour des Pays-Bas 🇳🇱 (2.1)
      • Prologue (14/10 – CLM individuel ⏱️) : Ethan Hayter 🇬🇧 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 1re étape (15/10) : Tim Merlier 🇧🇪 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 2e étape (16/10 – CLM individuel ⏱️) : Ethan Hayter 🇬🇧 (Soudal Quick-Step)
      • 3e étape (17/10) : étape annulée en raison de voitures non-accréditées sur le parcours
      • 4e étape (18/10) : Timo de Jong 🇳🇱 (VolkerWessels Pro Cycling Team)
      • 5e et dernière étape (19/10) : Danny van Poppel 🇳🇱 (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
      • Classement général : Christophe Laporte 🇫🇷 (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)

    • Tour de Mentougou 🇨🇳 (2.2)
      • 3e et dernière étape (14/10) : Clément Alleno 🇫🇷 (Burgos Burpellet BH)
      • Classement général : Clément Alleno 🇫🇷 (Burgos Burpellet BH)
    • Tour de Serbie 🇷🇸 (2.2)
      • 1re étape A (17/10) : Mihajlo Stolic 🇷🇸 (Team United Shipping)
      • 1re étape B (17/10) : Lorenzo Cataldo 🇮🇹 (Gragnano Sporting Club)
      • 2e étape (18/10) : Lorenzo Cataldo 🇮🇹 (Gragnano Sporting Club)
      • 3e et dernière étape (19/10) : Mihajlo Stolic 🇷🇸 (Team United Shipping)
      • Classement général : Lorenzo Cataldo 🇮🇹 (Gragnano Sporting Club)
    • Chrono des Nations – Espoirs hommes 🇫🇷 (1.2U)
      • 19/10 (CLM individuel ⏱️) : Arthur Blaise 🇫🇷 (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale Development Team)

    Cyclo-cross

    • Kermiscross Ardooie 🇧🇪 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (16/10) : Lucinda Brand 🇳🇱 (Baloise Glowi Lions)
      • Élites hommes (16/10) : Toon Aerts 🇧🇪 (Deschacht-Hens CX)
    • Kings CX – Day 1 🇺🇸 (C1)
      • Élites femmes (18/10) : Lizzy Gunsalus 🇺🇸 (CCB p/b Levine Law Group Cycling)
      • Élites hommes (18/10) : Jules Van Kempen 🇺🇸 (Team Winston-Salem)
    • Ciclocrosse de Melgaço 🇵🇹 (C1)
      • Élites femmes (18/10) : Lucia Gonzalez Blanco 🇪🇸 (Nesta-MMR CX Team)
      • Élites hommes (18/10) : Gonzalo Iguanzo Macho 🇪🇸 (G.D. Supermercados Froiz)
    • Exact Cross – Essen 🇧🇪 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (18/10) : Lucinda Brand 🇳🇱 (Baloise Glowi Lions)
      • Élites hommes (18/10) : Toon Vandebosch 🇧🇪 (Crelan-Corendon)
    • HSF System Cup #2 – Mlada Boleslav 🇨🇿 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (18/10) : Kristyna Zemanová 🇨🇿 (Vif Cycling Team)
      • Élites hommes (18/10) : Vaclav Jezek 🇨🇿 (Brilon Racing Team MB)
    • Varberg Cyclocross – Day 1 🇸🇪 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (18/10) : Adèle Hurteloup 🇫🇷 (Velopro-EGS Group-Alphamotorhomes)
      • Élites hommes (18/10) : Clément Horny 🇧🇪 (BH Wallonie Team)
    • Superprestige #1 – Ruddervoorde 🇧🇪 (C1)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Marion Norbert Riberolle 🇧🇪 (Crelan-Corendon)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Michael Vanthourenhout 🇧🇪 (Pauwels Sauzen-Altez Industriebouw)
    • Swiss Cyclocross Cup #2 – Alperosequer Schneisingen 🇨🇭 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Célia Gery 🇫🇷 (AS Bike Racing-France Literie)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Romain Debord 🇫🇷 (AS Bike Racing-France Literie)
    • National Trophy Series #2 – Falkirk 🇬🇧 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Ffion Gibert 🇬🇧 (-)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Thomas Mein 🇬🇧 (Hope Factory Racing)
    • Varberg Cyclocross – Day 2 🇸🇪 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Xan Crees 🇬🇧 (OGT p/b Use Components)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Clément Horny 🇧🇪 (BH Wallonie Team)
    • Kings CX – Day 2 🇺🇸 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Lizzy Gunsalus 🇺🇸 (CCB p/b Levine Law Group Cycling)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Jules Van Kempen 🇺🇸 (Team Winston-Salem)
    • Zoncross Classic Sutrio 🇮🇹 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Carlotta Borello 🇮🇹 (Team Cingolani)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Filippo Fontana 🇮🇹 (-)
    • Ciclocrosse Internacional de Vouzela 🇵🇹 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Lucia Gonzalez Blanco 🇪🇸 (Nesta-MMR CX Team)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Timothé Gabriel 🇫🇷 (-)
    • Grand Prix Levoca 🇸🇰 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Antonina Bialek 🇵🇱 (Warszawski Klub Kolarski)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Frantisek Hojka 🇨🇿 (-)
    • Velocx Internacional CX Race Vilnius 🇱🇹 (C2)
      • Élites femmes (19/10) : Antonina Kucharska 🇵🇱 (-)
      • Élites hommes (19/10) : Szymon Pomian 🇵🇱 (-)

    L’agenda des prochains jours

    Mardi 21 octobre

    • Aucune course UCI prévue ce jour

    CYCLO-CROSS

    Mercredi 22 octobre

    • Aucune course UCI prévue ce jour

    PISTE

    • Championnats du monde sur piste à Santiago du Chili 🇨🇱 (CM)
      • Scratch (f) et vitesse par équipes (h et f)
      • Infos et partants
      • 📺 Direct dès 23h10 sur Sporza.be et VRT Max, et dès 23h20 sur Eurosport 1 et HBO Max

    Jeudi 23 octobre

    • Aucune course UCI prévue ce jour

    PISTE

    • Championnats du monde sur piste à Santiago du Chili 🇨🇱 (CM)
      • Poursuite par équipes (h et f), course à l’élimination (f), keirin (h) et scratch (h)
      • Infos et partants
      • 📺 Direct dès 22h20 sur Sporza.be et VRT Max, dès 22h30 sur Eurosport 1 et HBO Max, et dès 23h15 sur RTBF Auvio

    Vendredi 24 octobre

    • Tour du Guatemala 🇬🇹 (2.2) – 1re étape

    PISTE

    • Championnats du monde sur piste à Santiago du Chili 🇨🇱 (CM)
      • Course aux points (h), kilomètre (h), poursuite individuelle (h), omnium (f) et vitesse individuelle (f)
      • Infos et partants
      • 📺 Direct dès 21h50 sur Sporza.be et VRT Max et dès 22h00 sur Eurosport 1 et HBO Max

    Samedi 25 octobre

    • Tour du Guatemala 🇬🇹 (2.2) – 2e étape

    PISTE

    • Championnats du monde sur piste à Santiago du Chili 🇨🇱 (CM)
      • Kilomètre (f), course à l’américaine (f), omnium (h) et poursuite individuelle (f)
      • Infos et partants
      • 📺 Direct dès 22h20 sur Sporza.be et VRT Max, dès 22h30 sur Eurosport 1 et HBO Max, et dès 23h10 sur RTBF Auvio

    CYCLO-CROSS

    • Exact Cross – Heerderstrand 🇳🇱 (C2)

    Dimanche 26 octobre

    • Tour du Guatemala 🇬🇹 (2.2) – 3e étape

    PISTE

    • Championnats du monde sur piste à Santiago du Chili 🇨🇱 (CM)
      • Course aux points (f), course à l’élimination (h),  keirin (f), vitesse individuelle (h) et course à l’américaine (h)
      • Infos et partants
      • 📺 Direct dès 14h50 et 17h25 sur Sporza.be et VRT Max, dès 15h00 et 17h30 sur Eurosport 1 et HBO Max, dès 17h25 sur Canvas puis dès 20h00 sur Ketnet, et dès 18h45 sur RTBF Auvio

    CYCLO-CROSS

    • Superprestige #1 – Vlaamse Druivencross à Overijse 🇧🇪 (C1)
      • Infos et partants
      • 📺 Direct dès 13h35 sur Pickx Pop-up Sport, Pickx Showcase et Pickx.be, et HBO Max

    Lundi 27 octobre

    • Tour du Guatemala 🇬🇹 (2.2) – 4e étape

    Merci pour votre lecture !

    Vous retrouverez votre prochaine infolettre le lundi 27 octobre dans votre boîte aux lettres numérique !

    N’hésitez pas à partager cette infolettre avec vos proches et à nous suivre sur CyclismeRevue.be ainsi que nos réseaux sociaux pour ne rien manquer de l’actualité cycliste.

    ➡️ Pour recevoir gratuitement notre infolettre tous les lundis, inscrivez-vous sur ce lien.

    #1 #2 #3 #CyclismeSurRoute #IntermarchéWanty #Invitations #Lotto #LottoIntermarché #ProTeams #UCI #WorldTour

    #cyclismesurroute #intermarchewanty #invitations #lotto #lottointermarche #proteams
  7. Andy Arthur - Threadinburgh @[email protected] ·

    “From the Three R’s to Transistors”: the thread about Dean Public School

    Preamble. The schools of the “School Board” era of public education (1872-1918) hold a particular fascination for me, one most profound where they have been “deconsecrated” and are either no longer in use as schools or have disappeared entirely. This thread began as a couple of lines for my own notes about the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” but soon snowballed into an alphabetical deep-dive into each.

    Part six of the series of posts looking at “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” pays a visit to the former Dean Public School. Judging by the crowds of tourists on phones who gather daily in crowds outside, this must be one of the most Instagrammed of schools. I wonder how many stop for a moment to consider its history and its claim to a unique first in the story of education in the city. So let us take a moment for ourselves to do just that.

    Following the Education (Scotland) Act 1872 (which made schooling compulsory in Scotland between the ages of 5 and 13) the newly elected School Boards undertook a flurry of construction to rationalise, modernise and expand the existing provision. At its formation in 1873 the Edinburgh School Board (ESB) took stock of the situation it had inherited in the city and found there were almost twenty-two thousand pupils being taught in one hundred schools, with the majority run by the various churches. Unsurprisingly the Presbyterians dominated, educating forty-three percent of scholars.

    ProviderSchoolsPupilsShareFree Church174,28219.7%Church of Scotland164,22219.4%Heriot’s Hospital163,74217.2%Non-denominational & private203,65416.8%R. C. Church82,0149.3%Episcopal Church91,5187.0%Industrial & free schools, etc.81,4266.6%U. P. Church68573.9%Total10021,715Elementary Edinburgh Schooling in 1873, census by Edinburgh School Board

    In 1873 the Board held a survey of teachers in the city to help prioritise where new schools should be built and the following year held a competition to find architects for its first batch of seven purpose-built schools; Bristo, Causewayside, Leith Walk, North Canongate, Stockbridge, West Fountainbridge and the Water of Leith Village*. The work was divided between the successful applicants, that for the Water of Leith was awarded to Robert Wilson, who would later become the Board’s house architect.

    * = The naming and jurisdiction of this school is somewhat confusing. While the area today is widely known as the Dean Village, well into the 20th century it was always known as Water of Leith village. “Dean” referred instead to the old Village of Dean slightly to the north. Both Water of Leith and Dean villages were in the Edinburgh School Board catchment and while the new school was in the former village it was christened Dean Public School at opening. This was most probably in recognition that it served the Dean quoad sacra Parish (an ecclesiastical division, but not a municipal one). To add further confusion, until 1895 there was also a separate St Cuthbert’s and Dean School Board. This covered the western hinterland outwith the city’s municipal boundaries as they then stood and was responsible for schools such as Gorgie, Roseburn, and South Morningside (extension of the city boundary in 1882 meant that the former two schools were actually now in Edinburgh but served by the St Cuthbert’s and Dean Board!)

    Water of Leith village, looking northeast past the Bell’s Brae Bridge to Holy Trinity Episcopal Church pre-1875. The school would be built in front of the tall mill building with the circular windows on the left, where the low range sits in this picture. Thomas Vernon Begbie glass negative dated 1887 (incorrect). The Cavaye Collection of Thomas Begbie Prints; City of Edinburgh Council Museums & Galleries

    Perhaps because it was the smallest, the Dean Public School was the first of the batch to complete. The opening took place on Wednesday December 8th 1875 making it the first purpose-built school by the Board in the city. The Scotsman reported that at two o’clock, the 150 children of the older division were assembled in the upper classroom in front of the Board and “a large number of gentlemen interested in the work“, including Lord Provost James Falshaw, James Cowan the MP for Edinburgh and numerous town councillors. Following the singing of a psalm and a prayer led by the Rev. Whyte of Free St George’s Church, the Lord Provost gave an opening address and observed that “it was to him a most gratifying circumstance that an auspicious event like the present had occurred during his term of office.”

    The roundel of the Edinburgh School Board, “the female figure of education” dispensing knowledge to the young at Dean Public School. © Self

    The Chairman of the Board, Professor Henry Calderwood, mentioned that at this time they had 7,386 children in public education at the nineteen schools under their charge but that most of these were small and overcrowded and there was much work ahead to provide purpose-built accommodation for them. Thanks were given to the kirk session of Dean Free Church for allowing the continued use of their schoolhouse since the 1872 act before the new school was ready.

    OS Town Surveys of Edinburgh in 1849 and 1876, before and after the Dean Public School was built. Note that at this time the village itself was referred to as “Water of Leith”, as it always had been. Note the Dean Free Church on the old Queensferry Road where schooling took place before 1875. Move the slider to compare. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The new school was arranged over two storeys with accommodation for 400 children (using a formula of 10 square feet of space per child). The infants were accommodated on the ground floor and the older children upstairs, each level having a principal large school room (57ft by 23ft, or 17m by 7m) which could be divided by movable glass partitions, as well as smaller classrooms. There were separate entrances for boys on one side and girls and infants on the other, with the playgrounds being similarly segregated. The total cost was £5,740 5s 2d; £1,030 9s 9d for the site and £4,709 15s 5d for the construction work.

    Dean Public School in 1950, looking south. The squat gable of Drumsheugh Baths can be seen in the middle distance. Picture CC-by-NC-SA Dean Village Memories, via Edinburgh Collected

    As early as 1878, in a report to the School Board the Inspector complained of overcrowding and a lack of writing desks in the school (those available were sufficient for only 1/3 of the children). This had “spoiled the writing, wasted time in the classes and has prevented the highest discipline grant through the copying traceable to over-crowding“. Failure to remedy these defects would result in the school’s government grant being cut. The school roll at this time was 311, with 200 children qualifying for the Examination in Standard – but the pass rates in these qualifications of 82% for Reading, 84% for Writing and 71% for Arithmetic were the lowest in the School Board. Headmaster Waddell was however praised for his organisation and discipline and the infant department was “in many respects a model one“.

    Class portrait of older girls at Dean Public School, with the headmistress Miss Mary Mackenzie (labelled as Hunter). 1883 photograph by J. & S. Sternstein of Glasgow. Note that at least one girl has very short hair, likely the result of it being shaved to combat headlice. Edinburgh and Scottish Collection of Edinburgh City Libraries.Class portrait of boys at Dean Public School, with the headmistress Miss Mary Mackenzie (labelled as Hunter). 1883 photograph by J. & S. Sternstein of Glasgow. Note the boy on the left of Mary seems notably older, taller and better dressed than his peers and may be one of the pupil teachers. Edinburgh and Scottish Collection of Edinburgh City Libraries.Class portrait of boys at Dean Public School with (probably) their headmaster, Esdaile Duncan. 1883 photograph by J. & S. Sternstein of Glasgow. The boy to the left of her is notably taller, older and better dressed than the others and may be one of the pupil teachers,1883 class photos from Dean Public School

    The lack of accommodation was remedied in 1888 with a 3-storey extension for 132 additional children added to the rear, comprising a play-room, a sewing room and an infant classroom. The space beneath was left open and served as a covered part of the playground.

    1907 photograph showing the extension added at the rear of the school on the right, adjacent to the bridge. The apparently 17th century structure on the left is Well Court, in fact a late 1880s model workers housing complex in a Scottish Vernacular Revival style by architect Sydney Mitchell. 1907 photograph, Edinburgh and Scottish Collection, Edinburgh City Libraries.

    When education was made free of charge in 1889 (the 1872 act had introduced fees, although assistance could be provided by the Parish Poor Boards for those who could not afford them), the headmaster at Dean wrote to the School Board to say that the hoped for improvement in attendance rates had not materialised within his district and that “the parents who before were indifferent, are now equally or more so“. In 1894, 120 children were sent to the school from the nearby Dean Orphanage, being reported as “perfect models of cleanliness and order” by the Scotsman and commended in the Evening News for making the school football eleven “a combination to be feared and respected“. They were moved to the new Flora Stevenson School in Comely Bank when it opened in 1901, before being moved back to Dean in 1913 when the new Parish Children’s Home on Crewe Road opened, putting pressure on capacity at Flora’s when there were 115 vacant places at Dean School.

    The Dean Orphanage in 1850, recently relocated from its old location beneath the North Bridge where it been in the way of the North British Railway. The community of Bells’s Mill lies beneath and children from both of these locations would attend the Dean Public School. Salt paper print, unknown photographer. Edinburgh and Scottish Collection of Edinburgh City Libraries.

    With no playing fields or local park to call its own, the school sports days were held at Warriston Playing Fields. In June 1912 the Edinburgh Evening News reported that the pupils from Dean – for the first time in the history of the ESB – had performed mass dancing as part of the day. One hundred and sixty pupils danced “with great zest… danc[ed] a reel to the music of the pipes.”

    Pupils of the Dean Public School perform a maypole dance at Warriston Playing Fields as part of their annual sports day, June 28th 1913, Edinburgh Evening News.

    In December 1914, the staff of the school contributed £1 4s 6t to the Edinburgh Belgian Relief Fund. The following year Robert Peter Smith, assistant teacher, was wounded during at the Dardanelles when serving as a lieutenant with the 1/4th King’s Own Scottish Borderers.

    Officers of the 1/4th KOSB in 1915. Robert P. Smith is in the 3rd row, third from the left, the shorter man sporting a moustache. Photo via UK Photo and Film Archive.

    In 1939 the school was requisition by the War Office and temporarily relocated “for the duration” to the St Mary’s Cathedral Mission Hall on Bell’s Brae, the ancient convening house of the Incorporation of Baxters (bakers) of Edinburgh. It was returned to educational use and in 1953 was placed under the charge of Dorothy Edmond. The new headmistress was determined to raise the school’s profile and instituted a uniform, having a school badge specially commissioned for the blazers.

    She rallied parents together and asked for support financially. Although it would not be a lot, it was a lot to some folks and it caused some controversy… Miss Edmund was strict and eventually was held in high regard by both parents and children.

    Recollection by pupil Kathleen Glancy of Dorothy Edmond. Via Edinburgh Collected.
    Dean School badge, showing the castle of the arms of Edinburgh, open books symbolising learning, the blue of the Water of Leith running through the centre. The Boar’s Head is from the arms of the Nisbet of Dean family, The Cock’s Head may refer to the Poultry Lands of Dean, which in the 17th century conferred the holder the hereditary title of Poulterer to the King. From Kathleen Glancy by Dean Village Memories, CC-by-NC-SA via Edinburgh Collected.

    But not even the determination of Miss Edmond could counter the significant long term depopulation in the neighbourhood, the result of much of the housing stock being decrepit and condemned combined with the decline of the remaining traditional industries of milling and tanning. In January 1961 the school closed, its roll having reduced to just 37 pupils, less than 10% of capacity. Those remaining were transferred to Flora Stevenson’s and the empty building was leased to the defence electronics company Ferranti Ltd. of Crewe Toll for a period of seven years as a training centre for apprentices and assembly line staff. The Evening News felt it an appropriate symbol of the city’s growing demand for specialist technical education that its oldest public school should have made the transition “from the Three R’s to transistors“.

    Christine Robertson, age 10, photographed alone in the school on its last day, 20th January 1961,

    Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.

    If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
    Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends and like-minded people, sites like this thrive on being shared.

    Explore Threadinburgh by map:

    Travelers' Map is loading...
    If you see this after your page is loaded completely, leafletJS files are missing.

    These threads © 2017-2026, Andy Arthur.

    NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

    Ferranti did not require the two basement rooms and these were given over to the use of the Edinburgh Union of Boys Clubs as a base for an outdoor education scheme, the Adventure Centre for Use. A number of Ferranti staff were involved in this, including the works’ own Mountain Climbing Adventure Group for its younger employees. This provided equipment and specialist training to established clubs in activities such as climbing, mountaineering, canoeing and dingy sailing. After Ferranti’s lease was up, in 1969 the school became an annexe to Telford College, whose domestic courses were based nearby at the Dean Education Centre, the former Dean Orphanage.

    Dean School in the 1960s. Picture from Dean Village Memories, CC-by-NC-SA via Edinburgh Collected

    In May 1984 the school was disposed of on the open market (offers over £100,000) by Lothian Regional Council and was converted into flats in 1986 by James Potter Developments. Eighteen two, three and four-bedroom properties were created which would have cost between £39,000 and £55,000 when completed.

    Former Dean Public School in 2025. Comparison of the photo with that further up the page shows how extra floors were cleverly inserted by reducing the window heights significantly from those of the Victorian schoolrooms. Photo by Fiona Coutts, via Britishlistedbuildings.

    The previous instalment in this series looked at the Davie Street School(s) in the Southside. The next looks at Gilmore Place Public School.

    Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.

    If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
    Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends and like-minded people, sites like this thrive on being shared.

    Explore Threadinburgh by map:

    Travelers' Map is loading...
    If you see this after your page is loaded completely, leafletJS files are missing.

    These threads © 2017-2026, Andy Arthur.

    NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

    #April20 #Army #BritishArmy #EdinburghCastle #Gaelic #Leith #May29 #Military
    #deanvillage #edinburgh #edinburghschoolboard #education #ferranti #furthereducation
  8. Andy Arthur - Threadinburgh @[email protected] ·

    From “Rewards For Good Boys” to “Britain’s most unusual school”: the thread about the Davie Street School(s)

    Preamble. The schools of the “School Board” era of public education (1872-1918) hold a particular fascination for me, one most profound where they have been “deconsecrated” and are either no longer in use as schools or have disappeared entirely. This thread began as a couple of lines for my own notes about the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” but soon snowballed into an alphabetical deep-dive into each.

    The fifth chapter of our series looking at the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” looks at Davie Street School; with which I made the mistake of proclaiming “there doesn’t seem to be anything interesting about this one” before I had taken a proper look see. Naturally I proved myself completely wrong! And so actually what follows is the quite interesting story of the various schools that have called Davie Street home.

    The first school at Davie Street was the Lancasterian School whose foundation stone was laid by the Lord Provost and Magistrates on Monday 12th October 1812. It replaced a temporary home which had been built on the Calton Hill, a “long, low, wood and brick erection“. The school was the work of the Edinburgh Education (Lancasterian School) Society, a charitable institution founded in 1810 by “several respectable Gentlemen…” to address the lack of education for the lower classes of the city by providing it at the “least possible expense of time and money“. It had been determined to use the educational system of Joseph Lancaster, thought it to be both the most economical and the most extensively tested system in practice.

    Joseph Lancaster, portrait by John Hazlitt c. 1818 in the National Portrait Gallery, NPG99.

    Lancaster’s was a Quaker and early pioneer of education for the masses, his schools being highly unusual at the time in being reward-based and almost entirely lacking in punishments. Like the contemporary Madras System of Dr Andrew Bell (familiar to generations of Leithers as the Dr Bell), the Lancasterian System taught large classes in a single “school room” with one teacher supported by multiple pupil monitors. These were older children who relayed the instructions to the younger and kept an eye on their work. The contemporary engraving below shows the pupil monitors walking amongst the rows of younger children, helping them with their work, with the teacher seated on a podium at the front. On the wall a sign reads “REWARDS FOR GOOD BOYS” and the walls and ceiling are hung with toys such as kites, hoops, racket and shuttlecocks, balls and bats which the children could win.

    Contemporary engraving of a Lancasterian School – the Royal Free School on Borough Road. The teacher sits on a podium at the front, the children are arrayed in ranks by age (and ability) and the older Pupil Monitors move amongst the rows, relaying the lesson and checking the work.

    Davie Street had two school rooms, boys and girls being taught separately, sufficient to hold 1,000 scholars and was one of the first steps on the route to a free, mass education in the city. For a subsidised fee of just 2s 6d per quarter, children over 6 years old were taught their Reading, Writing and Arithmetic with the only book in use for teaching being the Bible. However with its Quaker roots, the school was non-sectarian and counted amongst its founding directors in Edinburgh both Presbyterians and Episcopalians. Children were taught the Church of Scotland’s approved Catechism by rote but “the Directors, from respect to the rights of private judgement, do not impose it on children whose parents have conscientious objections to it“.

    Davie Street showing the Lancasterian School, 1849 OS Town Survey of Edinburgh. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The school was “the achievement of the Whigs and of the pious” and was well supported at the highest levels of Edinburgh and Scottish society, as evidenced by the titles of its presidents and directors in the below newspaper advert. It was not universally popular however and according to “Memorials of His Own Time” by Lord Henry Cockburn it was “cordially hated by all true Tories, who for many years never ceased to sneer at and obstruct it.”

    Principal office bearers of the Edinburgh Education (Lancastrian Schools) Society in 1812 as published in the Caledonian Mercury.

    A report of the Committee of Council on Education of 1844 noted that the headteacher, Mr Robert Dun, had supplied “at his own expense, a considerable assortment of philosophical apparatus, with which he performs, before his pupils, the more useful and interesting experiments in Chemistry and Natural Philosophy“. Dun was praised as running an institution being representative “of a well conducted monitorial school“.

    There is no educational institution in Edinburgh which does a more extended share of substantial good than the Davie Street Lancasterian School, now 25 years established, and none upon which the public spirited and philanthropic can, to better account, bestow their money.

    The school at this time was very much a family affair; it had 200 older boys taught by Robert and an assistant plus 100 infant boys by his father, Robert Senior. 250 girls were taught by John and Miss M. Dun – Robert’s siblings. Including evening classes, the total roll was 622 but it was noted that absence could run high, between 10 to 20 percent. The Duns had joined the school in 1826 and remained there for 35 years until Robert resigned in 1861 and received wide praise for their long-term efforts to educate and better the lot of the poorer children of the city.

    Mr Dun, of the Edinburgh Davie Street School, decidedly the best Lancasterian teacher I have yet met, has introduced much useful knowledge into his plan; and, if the means were afforded him, would yet do much more.

    James Simpson, “Necessity of Popular Education as a National Object”, 1834

    A notable alumnus of the Lancasterian School was George McCrae (1860-1928), later Colonel Sir George McCrae DSO DL VD. A self-made man in the textile and drapery trade, McCrae was knighted in 1908 for his services as MP for Edinburgh East. He is best remembered in Scotland for raising and commanding the 16th Battalion, The Royal Scots during World War 1. This unit, better known as McCrae’s Own, was composed of Edinburgh men and its ranks included 16 members of Heart of Midlothian Football Club as well as players from Hibernian, Raith Rovers, East Fife, St. Bernard’s, Falkirk and Dunfermline football clubs. Much of the rest were drawn from the supporters of these clubs.

    George McCrae during his time as an MP, by Sir John Benjamin Stone, 1901

    At the time of the Duns’ departure the school was proving to be a financial liability for its directors. In that year its expenses were £147 14s 5d but they had raised only £98 9s 7d in subscriptions and fees; outgoings exceeded income by 50%. The Lancasterian School was being kept solvent only by the £900 proceeds of the sale of a bequeathed house. The trustees had therefore been looking to put the institution on a sounder financial footing and in 1857 had proposed to the Governors of the Heriot’s Hospital Trust that it be transferred to their care.

    George Heriot’s Hospital (School) in 1966, looking towards the Castle. Edinburgh City Libraries, Edinburgh and Scottish Collection.

    The Governors in turn remitted the request to a sub-committee who reported favourably on the idea “when the state of funds admitted to an increase“. In the event it was not until 1874 – with the State’s financial support as a result of the Education (Scotland) Act 1872) – that Heriot’s were able to complete the takeover of Davie Street which was to be converted to one of its Outdoor Schools. These schools, instituted in 1838, were outdoor in the sense that they provided education outwith the walls of Heriot’s Hospital itself. They were run on the Madras System and financed by the surplus of the Heriot Trust to provided a free education for the “children of burgesses and others“: in practice this meant the poor.

    In October 1874, temporary accommodation was arranged for the non-paying pupils of Davie Street while their school was to be demolished and replaced with a larger and more modern building for 650 children. The architect of the Heriot Trust, John Chesser, drew up plans for a two storey school in a Jacobean style, richly ornamented with the roses and stars from the coat of arms of George Heriot and mouldings and corner towers directly inspired by the mother Hospital School.

    Davie Street school as rebuilt by Heriot’s in 1875

    The school reopened on Whitsunday 1875, the tablet on its principal gable now reading George Heriot’s Hospital School. Its first – and only – headmaster was to be Mr John McCrindle who held this position until his retirement in 1905. The infant headmistress was Miss Jane Johnston from 1877 to 1908, she herself having been educated at one of the Trust’s the Outdoor Schools at Heriot Bridge.

    An engraved portrait of John McCrindle by the Edinburgh Evenening News upon his retirement, July 18th 1905

    In 1879 a tragedy occurred when a pupil, Ellen Bennet, died from burns she had received at the school; on a cold November day she sneaked unsupervised back into her classroom at lunchtime and climbed over the guard of the fire that heated the room to warm herself causing her clothing to catch fire. The following year there were 180 infants and 320 older children on the school roll and “almost all the children… are the boys and girls of parents of the strictly working and artisan classes. They all appeared scrupulously clean and very tidy at the examination“.

    Davie Street showing the Heriot’s School, 1876 OS Town Survey of Edinburgh. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The school’s life with the Heriot Trust was to prove short lived. In 1886 the Edinburgh School Board agreed to purchase it for £2,368 16s 8d. The Heriot’s schools at Stockbridge (later St. Bernard’s) and Abbeyhill (later Regent Road) were also acquired at this time, the Trust having decided to dispose of all of its Outdoor Schools and move its remaining day scholars to the Hospital itself. The Trust approved the sale and transfer in January 1887, part of the transfer arrangement being that they would continued to fund the free education of its existing scholars – the School Board charged fees, unlike the Outdoor Schools – any pre-existing arrangements for free education, so long as the beneficiary continued to pass the relevant exam standards.

    The Board “were not at all satisfied with the internal arrangement” of Davie Street and so spent a further £2,379 2s 9d on expansion and alterations. Their architect, Robert Wilson, added an additional wing to the south with accommodation an additional 130 pupils, increasing its capacity to 690. By re-using the additional ornamental stonework this addition appears almost seamless, beyond the plainer style of the roof line. Despite the change of administration, the “Heriot’s Hospital” tablet remained on its façade, never being replaced by the School Board’s roundel.

    Davie Street showing the School Board’s public school, note the large projection of the new wing to the south. 1893 OS Town Survey of Edinburgh. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The peace of Davie Street Public School – as it was now known – was breached in October 1889 when a wave of excitement spread throughout British schools via newspaper reports of an attempt by schoolboys in Cardiff to institute a general strike. Their demands were a half-day Wednesday, no homework, shorter hours and no corporal punishment. The action spread contagiously and by the following afternoon the boys of Davie Street had organised themselves, marching behind a banner (reported to be “a handkerchief nailed to a stick“) to Castlehill and Dalry schools in an effort to instigate risings there too. Their demands – reasonable to modern eyes – were conveyed on a scrap of paper; “strike for short hours and no home lessons and free education for the whole school“. The action rumbled on for a few days more with “strikebreaking” pupils at some schools reporting being hissed at the gates by the holdouts before it petered out. Those who were judged to have been ringleaders found themselves punished for their efforts with the tawse – a short, sharp reminder of how things had changed since the days of the reward-based Lancasterian School.

    Headline, Evening Mail, 9th October 1889

    Perhaps memories of the brief uprising of 1889 died hard as in October 1913, once again boys from Davie Street marched out of their school in spontaneous protest in an effort to get their compatriots in the district – at Causewayside, South Bridge and St Leonard’s Public Schools – to join them in resisting rumoured (and entirely spurious) plans to force them to attend school on Saturday mornings.

    Life was harsh for many of the children in the Old Town and Southside and a particularly extreme case was reported in the Evening News in November 1908 involving children from Davie Street. Philip Lavin of 150 Dumbiedykes Road was sentenced to three months imprisonment at the Sheriff Court for ill-treatment and neglect of his five children, aged six months to 13 years. He had been repeatedly visited and warned of his conduct by the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (SSPCC) over the course of five years. Finally, Headmaster R. James Reith wrote to the SSPCC to inform them of bruising on the face of one of Lavin’s daughters which he suspected was the result of assault. Visiting the house again, they found the childrens’ “clothing was scanty and on [their] bed the only covering was an old quilt.” The hungry children had sometimes shared just two rolls between four for their breakfast or five potatoes for their dinner. Lavin earned good money as a painter, 30s a week, but spent it on drink and gave none to his wife, Marion Hewit. She instead had to go out to work for the upkeep of herself and the children and continued to do so when she became ill until collapsing and being sent to the City Fever Hospital suffering from acute consumption (TB). She died less than a year later, on 20th October 1909; her husband however lived until the age of 76.

    Boys of Davie Street School in 1910, many barefoot, waiting for tickets for a day trip to Ratho organised by the charitable Courant Fund.

    In 1917 the School Board undertook an extensive reorganisation of education in the city to provide additional “supplementary education” – that for children over the age of 12 but who had failed to pass the qualification exams for Higher Grade schools. They recognised there was a demand for specialist commercial and technical education at this stage for children who soon be entering the workplace when they finished their compulsory schooling at the age of 14. It was therefore agreed to establish specialist institutes in the city and Davie Street was selected to become part of one of the city’s first specialised supplementary Technical Schools. In 1918, Davie Street closed without ceremony as a primary school and became an annexe for the nearby James Clark Technical School.

    Former James Clark School with its remarkable corner tower.

    Initially Davie Street provided rooms for practical subjects such as art, home economics and science while these facilities were constructed at James Clark (which had been planned for elementary education and therefore was not originally built with them). In 1924 it was then taken in hand to be properly modernised (including being converted from gas to electric lighting) and converted into specialist technical workshops for teaching the trades of brassfinishing, tinsmithing, upholstery, plumbing, tailoring and printing. In this guise it provided centralised training in these crafts for the Southside, successful completion of its printing courses could lead to bursaries for a print qualifications at Heriot Watt College and entry into one of the city’s most prized blue collar careers.

    An exhibition of work in the printing and allied trades by students of Davie Street in 1957 – a bookbinding for HMS Caledonia is admired.

    The specialist technical education at Davie Street was moved from the curriculum of James Clark School to those of Telford and Napier Colleges after 1966, its workshops being run-down and moved to those institutions shortly thereafter. James Clark school itself closed in 1972 as part of the citywide secondary education shake-up required to move to a fully comprehensive system; by this time its roll had declined steeply from an inter-war high of over 1,000 to just 300.

    Davie Street School in 1959 from the Dumbiedykes Survey by Adam H. Malcolm © Edinburgh City Libraries L973B

    Davie Street sat vacant for a number of years until it started what was to be an altogether very different chapter in its life story. In 1969 it was turned into the Theatre Arts Centre, the brainchild of Edinburgh Corporation’s drama advisor Gerard Slevin. Slevin approached English teacher Leslie Hills, a self-described “newly minted teacher“, to run this project on the basis that she had upset her school establishment by abandoning the old “chalk and talk” methods and using instead the medium of drama to engage and teach her students. On her first visit to Davie Street she found:

    The paintwork was ancient; the boiler was coal-fired and the toilets indescribable. I said yes. I was 23.

    Leslie Hills, describing her first visit to Davie Street School

    On a shoestring budget, the school was converted to its new purpose which involved removal of a large quantity of old printing machinery, outfitting the hall as a drama studio and cleaning the toilets as best as could be done. With a drama teacher, art teacher and music teacher under Leslie, by the autumn of that year the centre was open for business: “It was an extraordinary position to be in. No-one knew what we should be doing, so we made it all up.”

    Edinburgh Corporation’s Theatre Arts Centre sign (Art was a spelling mistake), rescued from Davie Street when it was replaced by a sign for Lothian Regional Council in 1975. Picture kindly provided by Leslie Hills.


    The first pupils to attend came from the city’s Junior Secondary schools, those destined to be replaced by Comprehensives in the coming years. “Many came from difficult backgrounds, some from the surrounding housing soon to be flattened, where water was obtained from a tap in the yard. Many were underfed, ill-clothed for Edinburgh’s winters and, leaving school at 15, just too wee to be sent, bewildered, out to scrapyards and tyre depots with a bit of paper on which was written an address in a part of town of which they had no knowledge.“

    Slum housing in Edinburgh, 1969. Marshall’s Court, Greenside, . S. G. Jackman photo, Edinburgh City Libraries, Edinburgh and Scottish Collection.

    Up to 500 secondary-age children a week came through the doors of the Theatre Arts Centre from across the city, including from “List D” reformatory schools, those pushed to the very extremes of the education system. Leslie Hills takes up the story:

    I talked to every class on their first day, explaining that we did not use the belt – still in use in schools – and that the rules were behave yourself and no graffiti – except in the toilets into which they were allowed to take felt-tipped pens which were in plentiful supply. The boys’ toilet became a wonder to behold – absolutely covered in intricate designs. I never worked out how they did the ceilings. The rest of the building remained pristine.

    With its radical approach to learning through the mediums of drama, art and music, the laid back approach to uniform, lesson structure and timetabling and the lack of corporal punishment, the “school-in-a-theatre” was dubbed “Britain’s most unusual school” by the Daily Record. It was a fitting coincidence that Davie Street School had unwittingly been returned to its roots of education without punishment.

    Drama teacher David Prince is “attacked” by his pupils at the Theatre Arts Centre in an exercise learning about the value of movement in drama. Daily Record, 2nd December 1970

    The initial success of the Theatre Arts Centre gamble allowed the facilities and services on offer to be improved. Finding out from the Corporation’s painters that they didn’t need to follow the official schools’ colour palette of mushroom and cream, re-painting made use of colour. One room was colour drenched in pale green and fitted with an epidiascope and light box for projecting and copying designs for poster; An in-house theatre company – Theatre in Education – was set up who undertook outreach visits to city schools; A technician and a van was acquired to run a stage equipment lending library; The curriculum was widened to include photography, printing and film; Evening drama clubs for teenagers were run and later, Edinburgh Youth Theatre found a home here and it was a regular performance venue during the annual Festival Fringe.

    The reorganisation of local authorities in 1975, the Centre became part of Lothian Regional Council and the geographical remit expanded accordingly. Leslie Hills departed in 1980. Ten years later it survived a threat to its continued existence at Davie Street when the site was short-listed as a potential location for a new medical centre for the district. It was announced in 1993 that a central arts school for Lothian Region would be created in the former Leith Academy building on Duke Street, which would have seen Davie Street closed and relocated there. This plan never came to fruition, likely as the result of Lothian Region losing control of its further education colleges later that year. Having survived these threats, it was the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 – which abolished Lothian Regional Council in 1996 – that did for the Centre. It was closed by the new, unitary City of Edinburgh Council in 1997 when the Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Forsyth, refused to provide sufficient funding to the newly established councils. Dr Bell’s Drama Centre, the primary-age equivalent of the Theatre Arts Centre was closed at the same time. A “cheery wake in the rather battered studio” was held by staff past and present to celebrate its 28 year life, which also marked the end of 185 years of continuous educational use of the site.

    Over the next three years the Council sought to dispose of the old school and it saw only intermittent use as a Fringe location. It was finally sold for redevelopment in 2000 and was converted into flats, a change which at the very least preserved its fine Jacobean-style masonry for the future.

    Davie Street School in 2021, estate agent’s photo from the sale of one of its flats

    The previous chapter in this series looked at Causewayside School. The following chapter covers Dean Public School.

    Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.

    If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
    Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends and like-minded people, sites like this thrive on being shared.

    Explore Threadinburgh by map:

    Travelers' Map is loading...
    If you see this after your page is loaded completely, leafletJS files are missing.

    These threads © 2017-2026, Andy Arthur.

    NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

    #Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret
    #edinburgh #edinburghschoolboard #education #heriots #jamesclarkschool #lostboardschoolsofedinburgh
  9. Andy Arthur - Threadinburgh @[email protected] ·

    The thread about the Davie Street School(s); from “Rewards For Good Boys” to “Britain’s most unusual school”

    Preamble. The schools of the “School Board” era of public education (1872-1918) hold a particular fascination for me, one most profound where they have been “deconsecrated” and are either no longer in use as schools or have disappeared entirely. This thread began as a couple of lines for my own notes about the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” but soon snowballed into an alphabetical deep-dive into each.

    The fifth chapter of our series looking at the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” looks at Davie Street School; with which I made the mistake of proclaiming “there doesn’t seem to be anything interesting about this one” before I had taken a proper look see. Naturally I proved myself completely wrong! And so actually what follows is the quite interesting story of the various schools that have called Davie Street home.

    The first school at Davie Street was the Lancasterian School whose foundation stone was laid by the Lord Provost and Magistrates on Monday 12th October 1812. It replaced a temporary home which had been built on the Calton Hill, a “long, low, wood and brick erection“. The school was the work of the Edinburgh Education (Lancasterian School) Society, a charitable institution founded in 1810 by “several respectable Gentlemen…” to address the lack of education for the lower classes of the city by providing it at the “least possible expense of time and money“. It had been determined to use the educational system of Joseph Lancaster, thought it to be both the most economical and the most extensively tested system in practice.

    Joseph Lancaster, portrait by John Hazlitt c. 1818 in the National Portrait Gallery, NPG99.

    Lancaster’s was a Quaker and early pioneer of education for the masses, his schools being highly unusual at the time in being reward-based and almost entirely lacking in punishments. Like the contemporary Madras System of Dr Andrew Bell (familiar to generations of Leithers as the Dr Bell), the Lancasterian System taught large classes in a single “school room” with one teacher supported by multiple pupil monitors. These were older children who relayed the instructions to the younger and kept an eye on their work. The contemporary engraving below shows the pupil monitors walking amongst the rows of younger children, helping them with their work, with the teacher seated on a podium at the front. On the wall a sign reads “REWARDS FOR GOOD BOYS” and the walls and ceiling are hung with toys such as kites, hoops, racket and shuttlecocks, balls and bats which the children could win.

    Contemporary engraving of a Lancasterian School – the Royal Free School on Borough Road. The teacher sits on a podium at the front, the children are arrayed in ranks by age (and ability) and the older Pupil Monitors move amongst the rows, relaying the lesson and checking the work.

    Davie Street had two school rooms, boys and girls being taught separately, sufficient to hold 1,000 scholars and was one of the first steps on the root to a free, mass education in the city. For a subsidised fee of just 2s 6d per quarter, children over 6 years old were taught their Reading, Writing and Arithmetic with the only book in use for teaching being the Bible. However with its Quaker roots, the school was non-sectarian and counted amongst its founding directors in Edinburgh both Presbyterians and Episcopalians. Children were taught the Church of Scotland’s approved Catechism by rote but “the Directors, from respect to the rights of private judgement, do not impose it on children whose parents have conscientious objections to it“.

    Davie Street showing the Lancasterian School, 1849 OS Town Survey of Edinburgh. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The school was “the achievement of the Whigs and of the pious” and was well supported at the highest levels of Edinburgh and Scottish society, as evidenced by the titles of its presidents and directors in the below newspaper advert. It was not universally popular however and according to “Memorials of His Own Time” by Lord Henry Cockburn it was “cordially hated by all true Tories, who for many years never ceased to sneer at and obstruct it.”

    Principal office bearers of the Edinburgh Education (Lancastrian Schools) Society in 1812 as published in the Caledonian Mercury.

    A report of the Committee of Council on Education of 1844 noted that the headteacher, Mr Robert Dun, had supplied “at his own expense, a considerable assortment of philosophical apparatus, with which he performs, before his pupils, the more useful and interesting experiments in Chemistry and Natural Philosophy“. Dun was praised as running an institution being representative “of a well conducted monitorial school“.

    There is no educational institution in Edinburgh which does a more extended share of substantial good than the Davie Street Lancasterian School, now 25 years established, and none upon which the public spirited and philanthropic can, to better account, bestow their money.

    The school at this time was very much a family affair; it had 200 older boys taught by Robert and an assistant plus 100 infant boys by his father, Robert Senior. 250 girls were taught by John and Miss M. Dun – Robert’s siblings. Including evening classes, the total roll was 622 but it was noted that absence could run high, between 10 to 20 percent. The Duns had joined the school in 1826 and remained there for 35 years until Robert resigned in 1861 and received wide praise for their long-term efforts to educate and better the lot of the poorer children of the city.

    Mr Dun, of the Edinburgh Davie Street School, decidedly the best Lancasterian teacher I have yet met, has introduced much useful knowledge into his plan; and, if the means were afforded him, would yet do much more.

    James Simpson, “Necessity of Popular Education as a National Object”, 1834

    A notable alumnus of the Lancasterian School was George McCrae (1860-1928), later Colonel Sir George McCrae DSO DL VD. A self-made man in the textile and drapery trade, McCrae was knighted in 1908 for his services as MP for Edinburgh East. He is best remembered in Scotland for raising and commanding the 16th Battalion, The Royal Scots during World War 1. This unit, better known as McCrae’s Own, was composed of Edinburgh men and its ranks included 16 members of Heart of Midlothian Football Club as well as players from Hibernian, Raith Rovers, East Fife, St. Bernard’s, Falkirk and Dunfermline football clubs. Much of the rest were drawn from the supporters of these clubs.

    George McCrae during his time as an MP, by Sir John Benjamin Stone, 1901

    At the time of the Duns’ departure the school was proving to be a financial liability for its directors. In that year its expenses were £147 14s 5d but they had raised only £98 9s 7d in subscriptions and fees; outgoings exceeded income by 50%. The Lancasterian School was being kept solvent only by the £900 proceeds of the sale of a bequeathed house. The trustees had therefore been looking to put the institution on a sounder financial footing and in 1857 had proposed to the Governors of the Heriot’s Hospital Trust that it be transferred to their care.

    George Heriot’s Hospital (School) in 1966, looking towards the Castle. Edinburgh City Libraries, Edinburgh and Scottish Collection.

    The Governors in turn remitted the request to a sub-committee who reported favourably on the idea “when the state of funds admitted to an increase“. In the event it was not until 1874 – with the State’s financial support as a result of the Education (Scotland) Act 1872) – that Heriot’s were able to complete the takeover of Davie Street which was to be converted to one of its Outdoor Schools. These schools, instituted in 1838, were outdoor in the sense that they provided education outwith the walls of Heriot’s Hospital itself. They were run on the Madras System and financed by the surplus of the Heriot Trust to provided a free education for the “children of burgesses and others“: in practice this meant the poor.

    In October 1874, temporary accommodation was arranged for the non-paying pupils of Davie Street while their school was to be demolished and replaced with a larger and more modern building for 650 children. The architect of the Heriot Trust, John Chesser, drew up plans for a two storey school in a Jacobean style, richly ornamented with the roses and stars from the coat of arms of George Heriot and mouldings and corner towers directly inspired by the mother Hospital School.

    Davie Street school as rebuilt by Heriot’s in 1875

    The school reopened on Whitsunday 1875, the tablet on its principal gable now reading George Heriot’s Hospital School. Its first – and only – headmaster was to be Mr John McCrindle who held this position until his retirement in 1905. The infant headmistress was Miss Jane Johnston from 1877 to 1908, she herself having been educated at one of the Trust’s the Outdoor Schools at Heriot Bridge.

    An engraved portrait of John McCrindle by the Edinburgh Evenening News upon his retirement, July 18th 1905

    In 1879 a tragedy occurred when a pupil, Ellen Bennet, died from burns she had received at the school; on a cold November day she sneaked unsupervised back into her classroom at lunchtime and climbed over the guard of the fire that heated the room to warm herself causing her clothing to catch fire. The following year there were 180 infants and 320 older children on the school roll and “almost all the children… are the boys and girls of parents of the strictly working and artisan classes. They all appeared scrupulously clean and very tidy at the examination“.

    Davie Street showing the Heriot’s School, 1876 OS Town Survey of Edinburgh. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The school’s life with the Heriot Trust was to prove short lived. In 1886 the Edinburgh School Board agreed to purchase it for £2,368 16s 8d. The Heriot’s schools at Stockbridge (later St. Bernard’s) and Abbeyhill (later Regent Road) were also acquired at this time, the Trust having decided to dispose of all of its Outdoor Schools and move its remaining day scholars to the Hospital itself. The Trust approved the sale and transfer in January 1887, part of the transfer arrangement being that they would continued to fund the free education of its existing scholars – the School Board charged fees, unlike the Outdoor Schools – any pre-existing arrangements for free education, so long as the beneficiary continued to pass the relevant exam standards.

    The Board “were not at all satisfied with the internal arrangement” of Davie Street and so spent a further £2,379 2s 9d on expansion and alterations. Their architect, Robert Wilson, added an additional wing to the south with accommodation an additional 130 pupils, increasing its capacity to 690. By re-using the additional ornamental stonework this addition appears almost seamless, beyond the plainer style of the roof line. Despite the change of administration, the “Heriot’s Hospital” tablet remained on its façade, never being replaced by the School Board’s roundel.

    Davie Street showing the School Board’s public school, note the large projection of the new wing to the south. 1893 OS Town Survey of Edinburgh. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The peace of Davie Street Public School – as it was now known – was breached in October 1889 when a wave of excitement spread throughout British schools via newspaper reports of an attempt by schoolboys in Cardiff to institute a general strike. Their demands were a half-day Wednesday, no homework, shorter hours and no corporal punishment. The action spread contagiously and by the following afternoon the boys of Davie Street had organised themselves, marching behind a banner (reported to be “a handkerchief nailed to a stick“) to Castlehill and Dalry schools in an effort to instigate risings there too. Their demands – reasonable to modern eyes – were conveyed on a scrap of paper; “strike for short hours and no home lessons and free education for the whole school“. The action rumbled on for a few days more with “strikebreaking” pupils at some schools reporting being hissed at the gates by the holdouts before it petered out. Those who were judged to have been ringleaders found themselves punished for their efforts with the tawse – a short, sharp reminder of how things had changed since the days of the reward-based Lancasterian School.

    Headline, Evening Mail, 9th October 1889

    Perhaps memories of the brief uprising of 1889 died hard as in October 1913, once again boys from Davie Street marched out of their school in spontaneous protest in an effort to get their compatriots in the district – at Causewayside, South Bridge and St. Leonards – to join them in resisting rumoured (and entirely spurious) plans to force them to attend school on Saturday mornings.

    Life was harsh for many of the children in the Old Town and Southside and a particularly extreme case was reported in the Evening News in November 1908 involving children from Davie Street. Philip Lavin of 150 Dumbiedykes Road was sentenced to three months imprisonment at the Sheriff Court for ill-treatment and neglect of his five children, aged six months to 13 years. He had been repeatedly visited and warned of his conduct by the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (SSPCC) over the course of five years. Finally, Headmaster R. James Reith wrote to the SSPCC to inform them of bruising on the face of one of Lavin’s daughters which he suspected was the result of assault. Visiting the house again, they found the childrens’ “clothing was scanty and on [their] bed the only covering was an old quilt.” The hungry children had sometimes shared just two rolls between four for their breakfast or five potatoes for their dinner. Lavin earned good money as a painter, 30s a week, but spent it on drink and gave none to his wife, Marion Hewit. She instead had to go out to work for the upkeep of herself and the children and continued to do so when she became ill until collapsing and being sent to the City Fever Hospital suffering from acute consumption (TB). She died less than a year later, on 20th October 1909; her husband however lived until the age of 76.

    Boys of Davie Street School in 1910, many barefoot, waiting for tickets for a day trip to Ratho organised by the charitable Courant Fund.

    In 1917 the School Board undertook an extensive reorganisation of education in the city to provide additional “supplementary education” – that for children over the age of 12 but who had failed to pass the qualification exams for Higher Grade schools. They recognised there was a demand for specialist commercial and technical education at this stage for children who soon be entering the workplace when they finished their compulsory schooling at the age of 14. It was therefore agreed to establish specialist institutes in the city and Davie Street was selected to become part of one of the city’s first specialised supplementary Technical Schools. In 1918, Davie Street closed without ceremony as a primary school and became an annexe for the nearby James Clark Intermediate School.

    Former James Clark School with its remarkable corner tower.

    Initially Davie Street provided rooms for practical subjects such as art, home economics and science while these facilities were constructed at James Clark (which had been planned for elementary education and therefore was not originally built with them). In 1924 it was then taken in hand to be properly modernised (including being converted from gas to electric lighting) and converted into specialist technical workshops for teaching the trades of brassfinishing, tinsmithing, upholstery, plumbing, tailoring and printing. In this guise it provided centralised training in these crafts for the Southside, successful completion of its printing courses could lead to bursaries for a print qualifications at Heriot Watt College and entry into one of the city’s most prized blue collar careers.

    An exhibition of work in the printing and allied trades by students of Davie Street in 1957 – a bookbinding for HMS Caledonia is admired.

    The specialist technical education at Davie Street was moved from the curriculum of James Clark School to those of Telford and Napier Colleges after 1966, its workshops being run-down and moved to those institutions shortly thereafter. James Clark school itself closed in 1972 as part of the citywide secondary education shake-up required to move to a fully comprehensive system; by this time its roll had declined steeply from an inter-war high of over 1,000 to just 300.

    Davie Street School in 1959 from the Dumbiedykes Survey by Adam H. Malcolm © Edinburgh City Libraries L973B

    Davie Street sat vacant for a number of years until it started what was to be an altogether very different chapter in its life story. In 1969 it was turned into the Theatre Art Centre, the brainchild of Edinburgh Corporation’s drama advisor Gerard Slevin. Slevin approached English teacher Leslie Hills, a self-described “newly minted teacher“, to run this project on the basis that she had upset her school establishment by abandoning the old “chalk and talk” methods and using instead the medium of drama to engage and teach her students. On her first visit to Davie Street she found:

    The paintwork was ancient; the boiler was coal-fired and the toilets indescribable. I said yes. I was 23.

    Leslie Hills, describing her first visit to Davie Street School

    On a shoestring budget, the school was converted to its new purpose which involved removal of a large quantity of old printing machinery, outfitting the hall as a drama studio and cleaning the toilets as best as could be done. With a drama teacher, art teacher and music teacher under Leslie, by the autumn of that year the centre was open for business: “It was an extraordinary position to be in. No-one knew what we should be doing, so we made it all up.”

    Edinburgh Corporation’s Theatre Art Centre sign, rescued from Davie Street when it was replaced by a sign for Lothian Regional Council in 1975. Picture kindly provided by Leslie Hills.

    The first pupils to attend came from the city’s Junior Secondary schools, those destined to be replaced by Comprehensives in the coming years. “Many came from difficult backgrounds, some from the surrounding housing soon to be flattened, where water was obtained from a tap in the yard. Many were underfed, ill-clothed for Edinburgh’s winters and, leaving school at 15, just too wee to be sent, bewildered, out to scrapyards and tyre depots with a bit of paper on which was written an address in a part of town of which they had no knowledge.“

    Slum housing in Edinburgh, 1969. Marshall’s Court, Greenside, . S. G. Jackman photo, Edinburgh City Libraries, Edinburgh and Scottish Collection.

    Up to 500 secondary-age children a week came through the doors of the Theatre Art Centre from across the city, including from “List D” reformatory schools, those pushed to the very extremes of the education system. Leslie Hills takes up the story:

    I talked to every class on their first day, explaining that we did not use the belt – still in use in schools – and that the rules were behave yourself and no graffiti – except in the toilets into which they were allowed to take felt-tipped pens which were in plentiful supply. The boys’ toilet became a wonder to behold – absolutely covered in intricate designs. I never worked out how they did the ceilings. The rest of the building remained pristine.

    With its radical approach to learning through the mediums of drama, art and music, the laid back approach to uniform, lesson structure and timetabling and the lack of corporal punishment, the “school-in-a-theatre” was dubbed “Britain’s most unusual school” by the Daily Record. It was a fitting coincidence that Davie Street School had unwittingly been returned to its roots of education without punishment.

    Drama teacher David Prince is “attacked” by his pupils at the Theatre Art Centre in an exercise learning about the value of movement in drama. Daily Record, 2nd December 1970

    The initial success of the Theatre Art Centre gamble allowed the facilities and services on offer to be improved. Finding out from the Corporation’s painters that they didn’t need to follow the official schools’ colour palette of mushroom and cream, re-painting made use of colour. One room was colour drenched in pale green and fitted with an epidiascope and light box for projecting and copying designs for poster; An in-house theatre company – Theatre in Education – was set up who undertook outreach visits to city schools; A technician and a van was acquired to run a stage equipment lending library; The curriculum was widened to include photography, printing and film; Evening drama clubs for teenagers were run and later, Edinburgh Youth Theatre found a home here and it was a regular performance venue during the annual Festival Fringe.

    The reorganisation of local authorities in 1975, the Centre became part of Lothian Regional Council and the geographical remit expanded accordingly. Leslie Hills departed in 1980. Ten years later it survived a threat to its continued existence at Davie Street when the site was short-listed as a potential location for a new medical centre for the district. It was announced in 1993 that a central arts school for Lothian Region would be created in the former Leith Academy building on Duke Street, which would have seen Davie Street closed and relocated there. This plan never came to fruition, likely as the result of Lothian Region losing control of its further education colleges later that year. Having survived these threats, it was the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 – which abolished Lothian Regional Council in 1996 – that did for the Centre and it was closed by the new, unitary City of Edinburgh Council in 1997. A “cheery wake in the rather battered studio” was held by staff past and present to celebrate its 28 year life, which also marked the end of 185 years of continuous educational use of the site.

    Over the next three years the Council sought to dispose of the old school and it saw only intermittent use as a Fringe location. It was finally sold for redevelopment in 2000 and was converted into flats, a change which at the very least preserved its fine Jacobean-style masonry for the future.

    Davie Street School in 2021, estate agent’s photo from the sale of one of its flats

    If you have found this useful, informative or amusing, perhaps you would like to help contribute towards the running costs of this site – including keeping it ad-free and my book-buying budget to find further stories to bring you – by supporting me on ko-fi. Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends.

    These threads © 2017-2025, Andy Arthur.

    NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

    The previous chapter of this series looked at Causewayside School.

    If you have found this useful, informative or amusing, perhaps you would like to help contribute towards the running costs of this site – including keeping it ad-free and my book-buying budget to find further stories to bring you – by supporting me on ko-fi. Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends.

    These threads © 2017-2025, Andy Arthur.

    NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

    #Edinburgh #EdinburghSchoolBoard #Education #Heriots #JamesClarkSchool #LostBoardSchoolsOfEdinburgh #Quaker #School #Schools #Theatre #Written2025

    #edinburgh #edinburghschoolboard #education #heriots #jamesclarkschool #lostboardschoolsofedinburgh
  10. Andy Arthur - Threadinburgh @[email protected] ·

    The thread about the Davie Street School(s); from “Rewards For Good Boys” to “Britain’s most unusual school”

    Preamble. The schools of the “School Board” era of public education (1872-1918) hold a particular fascination for me, one most profound where they have been “deconsecrated” and are either no longer in use as schools or have disappeared entirely. This thread began as a couple of lines for my own notes about the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” but soon snowballed into an alphabetical deep-dive into each.

    The fifth chapter of our series looking at the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” looks at Davie Street School; with which I made the mistake of proclaiming “there doesn’t seem to be anything interesting about this one” before I had taken a proper look see. Naturally I proved myself completely wrong! And so actually what follows is the quite interesting story of the various schools that have called Davie Street home.

    The first school at Davie Street was the Lancasterian School whose foundation stone was laid by the Lord Provost and Magistrates on Monday 12th October 1812. It replaced a temporary home which had been built on the Calton Hill, a “long, low, wood and brick erection“. The school was the work of the Edinburgh Education (Lancasterian School) Society, a charitable institution founded in 1810 by “several respectable Gentlemen…” to address the lack of education for the lower classes of the city by providing it at the “least possible expense of time and money“. It had been determined to use the educational system of Joseph Lancaster, thought it to be both the most economical and the most extensively tested system in practice.

    Joseph Lancaster, portrait by John Hazlitt c. 1818 in the National Portrait Gallery, NPG99.

    Lancaster’s was a Quaker and early pioneer of education for the masses, his schools being highly unusual at the time in being reward-based and almost entirely lacking in punishments. Like the contemporary Madras System of Dr Andrew Bell (familiar to generations of Leithers as the Dr Bell), the Lancasterian System taught large classes in a single “school room” with one teacher supported by multiple pupil monitors. These were older children who relayed the instructions to the younger and kept an eye on their work. The contemporary engraving below shows the pupil monitors walking amongst the rows of younger children, helping them with their work, with the teacher seated on a podium at the front. On the wall a sign reads “REWARDS FOR GOOD BOYS” and the walls and ceiling are hung with toys such as kites, hoops, racket and shuttlecocks, balls and bats which the children could win.

    Contemporary engraving of a Lancasterian School – the Royal Free School on Borough Road. The teacher sits on a podium at the front, the children are arrayed in ranks by age (and ability) and the older Pupil Monitors move amongst the rows, relaying the lesson and checking the work.

    Davie Street had two school rooms, boys and girls being taught separately, sufficient to hold 1,000 scholars and was one of the first steps on the root to a free, mass education in the city. For a subsidised fee of just 2s 6d per quarter, children over 6 years old were taught their Reading, Writing and Arithmetic with the only book in use for teaching being the Bible. However with its Quaker roots, the school was non-sectarian and counted amongst its founding directors in Edinburgh both Presbyterians and Episcopalians. Children were taught the Church of Scotland’s approved Catechism by rote but “the Directors, from respect to the rights of private judgement, do not impose it on children whose parents have conscientious objections to it“.

    Davie Street showing the Lancasterian School, 1849 OS Town Survey of Edinburgh. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The school was “the achievement of the Whigs and of the pious” and was well supported at the highest levels of Edinburgh and Scottish society, as evidenced by the titles of its presidents and directors in the below newspaper advert. It was not universally popular however and according to “Memorials of His Own Time” by Lord Henry Cockburn it was “cordially hated by all true Tories, who for many years never ceased to sneer at and obstruct it.”

    Principal office bearers of the Edinburgh Education (Lancastrian Schools) Society in 1812 as published in the Caledonian Mercury.

    A report of the Committee of Council on Education of 1844 noted that the headteacher, Mr Robert Dun, had supplied “at his own expense, a considerable assortment of philosophical apparatus, with which he performs, before his pupils, the more useful and interesting experiments in Chemistry and Natural Philosophy“. Dun was praised as running an institution being representative “of a well conducted monitorial school“.

    There is no educational institution in Edinburgh which does a more extended share of substantial good than the Davie Street Lancasterian School, now 25 years established, and none upon which the public spirited and philanthropic can, to better account, bestow their money.

    The school at this time was very much a family affair; it had 200 older boys taught by Robert and an assistant plus 100 infant boys by his father, Robert Senior. 250 girls were taught by John and Miss M. Dun – Robert’s siblings. Including evening classes, the total roll was 622 but it was noted that absence could run high, between 10 to 20 percent. The Duns had joined the school in 1826 and remained there for 35 years until Robert resigned in 1861 and received wide praise for their long-term efforts to educate and better the lot of the poorer children of the city.

    Mr Dun, of the Edinburgh Davie Street School, decidedly the best Lancasterian teacher I have yet met, has introduced much useful knowledge into his plan; and, if the means were afforded him, would yet do much more.

    James Simpson, “Necessity of Popular Education as a National Object”, 1834

    A notable alumnus of the Lancasterian School was George McCrae (1860-1928), later Colonel Sir George McCrae DSO DL VD. A self-made man in the textile and drapery trade, McCrae was knighted in 1908 for his services as MP for Edinburgh East. He is best remembered in Scotland for raising and commanding the 16th Battalion, The Royal Scots during World War 1. This unit, better known as McCrae’s Own, was composed of Edinburgh men and its ranks included 16 members of Heart of Midlothian Football Club as well as players from Hibernian, Raith Rovers, East Fife, St. Bernard’s, Falkirk and Dunfermline football clubs. Much of the rest were drawn from the supporters of these clubs.

    George McCrae during his time as an MP, by Sir John Benjamin Stone, 1901

    At the time of the Duns’ departure the school was proving to be a financial liability for its directors. In that year its expenses were £147 14s 5d but they had raised only £98 9s 7d in subscriptions and fees; outgoings exceeded income by 50%. The Lancasterian School was being kept solvent only by the £900 proceeds of the sale of a bequeathed house. The trustees had therefore been looking to put the institution on a sounder financial footing and in 1857 had proposed to the Governors of the Heriot’s Hospital Trust that it be transferred to their care.

    George Heriot’s Hospital (School) in 1966, looking towards the Castle. Edinburgh City Libraries, Edinburgh and Scottish Collection.

    The Governors in turn remitted the request to a sub-committee who reported favourably on the idea “when the state of funds admitted to an increase“. In the event it was not until 1874 – with the State’s financial support as a result of the Education (Scotland) Act 1872) – that Heriot’s were able to complete the takeover of Davie Street which was to be converted to one of its Outdoor Schools. These schools, instituted in 1838, were outdoor in the sense that they provided education outwith the walls of Heriot’s Hospital itself. They were run on the Madras System and financed by the surplus of the Heriot Trust to provided a free education for the “children of burgesses and others“: in practice this meant the poor.

    In October 1874, temporary accommodation was arranged for the non-paying pupils of Davie Street while their school was to be demolished and replaced with a larger and more modern building for 650 children. The architect of the Heriot Trust, John Chesser, drew up plans for a two storey school in a Jacobean style, richly ornamented with the roses and stars from the coat of arms of George Heriot and mouldings and corner towers directly inspired by the mother Hospital School.

    Davie Street school as rebuilt by Heriot’s in 1875

    The school reopened on Whitsunday 1875, the tablet on its principal gable now reading George Heriot’s Hospital School. Its first – and only – headmaster was to be Mr John McCrindle who held this position until his retirement in 1905. The infant headmistress was Miss Jane Johnston from 1877 to 1908, she herself having been educated at one of the Trust’s the Outdoor Schools at Heriot Bridge.

    An engraved portrait of John McCrindle by the Edinburgh Evenening News upon his retirement, July 18th 1905

    In 1879 a tragedy occurred when a pupil, Ellen Bennet, died from burns she had received at the school; on a cold November day she sneaked unsupervised back into her classroom at lunchtime and climbed over the guard of the fire that heated the room to warm herself causing her clothing to catch fire. The following year there were 180 infants and 320 older children on the school roll and “almost all the children… are the boys and girls of parents of the strictly working and artisan classes. They all appeared scrupulously clean and very tidy at the examination“.

    Davie Street showing the Heriot’s School, 1876 OS Town Survey of Edinburgh. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The school’s life with the Heriot Trust was to prove short lived. In 1886 the Edinburgh School Board agreed to purchase it for £2,368 16s 8d. The Heriot’s schools at Stockbridge (later St. Bernard’s) and Abbeyhill (later Regent Road) were also acquired at this time, the Trust having decided to dispose of all of its Outdoor Schools and move its remaining day scholars to the Hospital itself. The Trust approved the sale and transfer in January 1887, part of the transfer arrangement being that they would continued to fund the free education of its existing scholars – the School Board charged fees, unlike the Outdoor Schools – any pre-existing arrangements for free education, so long as the beneficiary continued to pass the relevant exam standards.

    The Board “were not at all satisfied with the internal arrangement” of Davie Street and so spent a further £2,379 2s 9d on expansion and alterations. Their architect, Robert Wilson, added an additional wing to the south with accommodation an additional 130 pupils, increasing its capacity to 690. By re-using the additional ornamental stonework this addition appears almost seamless, beyond the plainer style of the roof line. Despite the change of administration, the “Heriot’s Hospital” tablet remained on its façade, never being replaced by the School Board’s roundel.

    Davie Street showing the School Board’s public school, note the large projection of the new wing to the south. 1893 OS Town Survey of Edinburgh. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The peace of Davie Street Public School – as it was now known – was breached in October 1889 when a wave of excitement spread throughout British schools via newspaper reports of an attempt by schoolboys in Cardiff to institute a general strike. Their demands were a half-day Wednesday, no homework, shorter hours and no corporal punishment. The action spread contagiously and by the following afternoon the boys of Davie Street had organised themselves, marching behind a banner (reported to be “a handkerchief nailed to a stick“) to Castlehill and Dalry schools in an effort to instigate risings there too. Their demands – reasonable to modern eyes – were conveyed on a scrap of paper; “strike for short hours and no home lessons and free education for the whole school“. The action rumbled on for a few days more with “strikebreaking” pupils at some schools reporting being hissed at the gates by the holdouts before it petered out. Those who were judged to have been ringleaders found themselves punished for their efforts with the tawse – a short, sharp reminder of how things had changed since the days of the reward-based Lancasterian School.

    Headline, Evening Mail, 9th October 1889

    Perhaps memories of the brief uprising of 1889 died hard as in October 1913, once again boys from Davie Street marched out of their school in spontaneous protest in an effort to get their compatriots in the district – at Causewayside, South Bridge and St. Leonards – to join them in resisting rumoured (and entirely spurious) plans to force them to attend school on Saturday mornings.

    Life was harsh for many of the children in the Old Town and Southside and a particularly extreme case was reported in the Evening News in November 1908 involving children from Davie Street. Philip Lavin of 150 Dumbiedykes Road was sentenced to three months imprisonment at the Sheriff Court for ill-treatment and neglect of his five children, aged six months to 13 years. He had been repeatedly visited and warned of his conduct by the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (SSPCC) over the course of five years. Finally, Headmaster R. James Reith wrote to the SSPCC to inform them of bruising on the face of one of Lavin’s daughters which he suspected was the result of assault. Visiting the house again, they found the childrens’ “clothing was scanty and on [their] bed the only covering was an old quilt.” The hungry children had sometimes shared just two rolls between four for their breakfast or five potatoes for their dinner. Lavin earned good money as a painter, 30s a week, but spent it on drink and gave none to his wife, Marion Hewit. She instead had to go out to work for the upkeep of herself and the children and continued to do so when she became ill until collapsing and being sent to the City Fever Hospital suffering from acute consumption (TB). She died less than a year later, on 20th October 1909; her husband however lived until the age of 76.

    Boys of Davie Street School in 1910, many barefoot, waiting for tickets for a day trip to Ratho organised by the charitable Courant Fund.

    In 1917 the School Board undertook an extensive reorganisation of education in the city to provide additional “supplementary education” – that for children over the age of 12 but who had failed to pass the qualification exams for Higher Grade schools. They recognised there was a demand for specialist commercial and technical education at this stage for children who soon be entering the workplace when they finished their compulsory schooling at the age of 14. It was therefore agreed to establish specialist institutes in the city and Davie Street was selected to become part of one of the city’s first specialised supplementary Technical Schools. In 1918, Davie Street closed without ceremony as a primary school and became an annexe for the nearby James Clark Intermediate School.

    Former James Clark School with its remarkable corner tower.

    Initially Davie Street provided rooms for practical subjects such as art, home economics and science while these facilities were constructed at James Clark (which had been planned for elementary education and therefore was not originally built with them). In 1924 it was then taken in hand to be properly modernised (including being converted from gas to electric lighting) and converted into specialist technical workshops for teaching the trades of brassfinishing, tinsmithing, upholstery, plumbing, tailoring and printing. In this guise it provided centralised training in these crafts for the Southside, successful completion of its printing courses could lead to bursaries for a print qualifications at Heriot Watt College and entry into one of the city’s most prized blue collar careers.

    An exhibition of work in the printing and allied trades by students of Davie Street in 1957 – a bookbinding for HMS Caledonia is admired.

    The specialist technical education at Davie Street was moved from the curriculum of James Clark School to those of Telford and Napier Colleges after 1966, its workshops being run-down and moved to those institutions shortly thereafter. James Clark school itself closed in 1972 as part of the citywide secondary education shake-up required to move to a fully comprehensive system; by this time its roll had declined steeply from an inter-war high of over 1,000 to just 300.

    Davie Street School in 1959 from the Dumbiedykes Survey by Adam H. Malcolm © Edinburgh City Libraries L973B

    Davie Street sat vacant for a number of years until it started what was to be an altogether very different chapter in its life story. In 1969 it was turned into the Theatre Art Centre, the brainchild of Edinburgh Corporation’s drama advisor Gerard Slevin. Slevin approached English teacher Leslie Hills, a self-described “newly minted teacher“, to run this project on the basis that she had upset her school establishment by abandoning the old “chalk and talk” methods and using instead the medium of drama to engage and teach her students. On her first visit to Davie Street she found:

    The paintwork was ancient; the boiler was coal-fired and the toilets indescribable. I said yes. I was 23.

    Leslie Hills, describing her first visit to Davie Street School

    On a shoestring budget, the school was converted to its new purpose which involved removal of a large quantity of old printing machinery, outfitting the hall as a drama studio and cleaning the toilets as best as could be done. With a drama teacher, art teacher and music teacher under Leslie, by the autumn of that year the centre was open for business: “It was an extraordinary position to be in. No-one knew what we should be doing, so we made it all up.”

    Edinburgh Corporation’s Theatre Art Centre sign, rescued from Davie Street when it was replaced by a sign for Lothian Regional Council in 1975. Picture kindly provided by Leslie Hills.

    The first pupils to attend came from the city’s Junior Secondary schools, those destined to be replaced by Comprehensives in the coming years. “Many came from difficult backgrounds, some from the surrounding housing soon to be flattened, where water was obtained from a tap in the yard. Many were underfed, ill-clothed for Edinburgh’s winters and, leaving school at 15, just too wee to be sent, bewildered, out to scrapyards and tyre depots with a bit of paper on which was written an address in a part of town of which they had no knowledge.“

    Slum housing in Edinburgh, 1969. Marshall’s Court, Greenside, . S. G. Jackman photo, Edinburgh City Libraries, Edinburgh and Scottish Collection.

    Up to 500 secondary-age children a week came through the doors of the Theatre Art Centre from across the city, including from “List D” reformatory schools, those pushed to the very extremes of the education system. Leslie Hills takes up the story:

    I talked to every class on their first day, explaining that we did not use the belt – still in use in schools – and that the rules were behave yourself and no graffiti – except in the toilets into which they were allowed to take felt-tipped pens which were in plentiful supply. The boys’ toilet became a wonder to behold – absolutely covered in intricate designs. I never worked out how they did the ceilings. The rest of the building remained pristine.

    With its radical approach to learning through the mediums of drama, art and music, the laid back approach to uniform, lesson structure and timetabling and the lack of corporal punishment, the “school-in-a-theatre” was dubbed “Britain’s most unusual school” by the Daily Record. It was a fitting coincidence that Davie Street School had unwittingly been returned to its roots of education without punishment.

    Drama teacher David Prince is “attacked” by his pupils at the Theatre Art Centre in an exercise learning about the value of movement in drama. Daily Record, 2nd December 1970

    The initial success of the Theatre Art Centre gamble allowed the facilities and services on offer to be improved. Finding out from the Corporation’s painters that they didn’t need to follow the official schools’ colour palette of mushroom and cream, re-painting made use of colour. One room was colour drenched in pale green and fitted with an epidiascope and light box for projecting and copying designs for poster; An in-house theatre company – Theatre in Education – was set up who undertook outreach visits to city schools; A technician and a van was acquired to run a stage equipment lending library; The curriculum was widened to include photography, printing and film; Evening drama clubs for teenagers were run and later, Edinburgh Youth Theatre found a home here and it was a regular performance venue during the annual Festival Fringe.

    The reorganisation of local authorities in 1975, the Centre became part of Lothian Regional Council and the geographical remit expanded accordingly. Leslie Hills departed in 1980. Ten years later it survived a threat to its continued existence at Davie Street when the site was short-listed as a potential location for a new medical centre for the district. It was announced in 1993 that a central arts school for Lothian Region would be created in the former Leith Academy building on Duke Street, which would have seen Davie Street closed and relocated there. This plan never came to fruition, likely as the result of Lothian Region losing control of its further education colleges later that year. Having survived these threats, it was the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 – which abolished Lothian Regional Council in 1996 – that did for the Centre and it was closed by the new, unitary City of Edinburgh Council in 1997. A “cheery wake in the rather battered studio” was held by staff past and present to celebrate its 28 year life, which also marked the end of 185 years of continuous educational use of the site.

    Over the next three years the Council sought to dispose of the old school and it saw only intermittent use as a Fringe location. It was finally sold for redevelopment in 2000 and was converted into flats, a change which at the very least preserved its fine Jacobean-style masonry for the future.

    Davie Street School in 2021, estate agent’s photo from the sale of one of its flats

    If you have found this useful, informative or amusing, perhaps you would like to help contribute towards the running costs of this site – including keeping it ad-free and my book-buying budget to find further stories to bring you – by supporting me on ko-fi. Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends.

    These threads © 2017-2025, Andy Arthur.

    NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

    The previous chapter of this series looked at Causewayside School.

    If you have found this useful, informative or amusing, perhaps you would like to help contribute towards the running costs of this site – including keeping it ad-free and my book-buying budget to find further stories to bring you – by supporting me on ko-fi. Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends.

    These threads © 2017-2025, Andy Arthur.

    NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

    #Edinburgh #EdinburghSchoolBoard #Education #Heriots #JamesClarkSchool #LostBoardSchoolsOfEdinburgh #Quaker #School #Schools #Theatre #Written2025

    #written2025 #theatre #schools #school #quaker #lostboardschoolsofedinburgh
  11. Andy Arthur - Threadinburgh @[email protected] ·

    The thread about the Davie Street School(s); from “Rewards For Good Boys” to “Britain’s most unusual school”

    Preamble. The schools of the “School Board” era of public education (1872-1918) hold a particular fascination for me, one most profound where they have been “deconsecrated” and are either no longer in use as schools or have disappeared entirely. This thread began as a couple of lines for my own notes about the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” but soon snowballed into an alphabetical deep-dive into each.

    The fifth chapter of our series looking at the “Lost Board Schools of Edinburgh” looks at Davie Street School; with which I made the mistake of proclaiming “there doesn’t seem to be anything interesting about this one” before I had taken a proper look see. Naturally I proved myself completely wrong! And so actually what follows is the quite interesting story of the various schools that have called Davie Street home.

    The first school at Davie Street was the Lancasterian School whose foundation stone was laid by the Lord Provost and Magistrates on Monday 12th October 1812. It replaced a temporary home which had been built on the Calton Hill, a “long, low, wood and brick erection“. The school was the work of the Edinburgh Education (Lancasterian School) Society, a charitable institution founded in 1810 by “several respectable Gentlemen…” to address the lack of education for the lower classes of the city by providing it at the “least possible expense of time and money“. It had been determined to use the educational system of Joseph Lancaster, thought it to be both the most economical and the most extensively tested system in practice.

    Joseph Lancaster, portrait by John Hazlitt c. 1818 in the National Portrait Gallery, NPG99.

    Lancaster’s was a Quaker and early pioneer of education for the masses, his schools being highly unusual at the time in being reward-based and almost entirely lacking in punishments. Like the contemporary Madras System of Dr Andrew Bell (familiar to generations of Leithers as the Dr Bell), the Lancasterian System taught large classes in a single “school room” with one teacher supported by multiple pupil monitors. These were older children who relayed the instructions to the younger and kept an eye on their work. The contemporary engraving below shows the pupil monitors walking amongst the rows of younger children, helping them with their work, with the teacher seated on a podium at the front. On the wall a sign reads “REWARDS FOR GOOD BOYS” and the walls and ceiling are hung with toys such as kites, hoops, racket and shuttlecocks, balls and bats which the children could win.

    Contemporary engraving of a Lancasterian School – the Royal Free School on Borough Road. The teacher sits on a podium at the front, the children are arrayed in ranks by age (and ability) and the older Pupil Monitors move amongst the rows, relaying the lesson and checking the work.

    Davie Street had two school rooms, boys and girls being taught separately, sufficient to hold 1,000 scholars and was one of the first steps on the root to a free, mass education in the city. For a subsidised fee of just 2s 6d per quarter, children over 6 years old were taught their Reading, Writing and Arithmetic with the only book in use for teaching being the Bible. However with its Quaker roots, the school was non-sectarian and counted amongst its founding directors in Edinburgh both Presbyterians and Episcopalians. Children were taught the Church of Scotland’s approved Catechism by rote but “the Directors, from respect to the rights of private judgement, do not impose it on children whose parents have conscientious objections to it“.

    Davie Street showing the Lancasterian School, 1849 OS Town Survey of Edinburgh. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The school was “the achievement of the Whigs and of the pious” and was well supported at the highest levels of Edinburgh and Scottish society, as evidenced by the titles of its presidents and directors in the below newspaper advert. It was not universally popular however and according to “Memorials of His Own Time” by Lord Henry Cockburn it was “cordially hated by all true Tories, who for many years never ceased to sneer at and obstruct it.”

    Principal office bearers of the Edinburgh Education (Lancastrian Schools) Society in 1812 as published in the Caledonian Mercury.

    A report of the Committee of Council on Education of 1844 noted that the headteacher, Mr Robert Dun, had supplied “at his own expense, a considerable assortment of philosophical apparatus, with which he performs, before his pupils, the more useful and interesting experiments in Chemistry and Natural Philosophy“. Dun was praised as running an institution being representative “of a well conducted monitorial school“.

    There is no educational institution in Edinburgh which does a more extended share of substantial good than the Davie Street Lancasterian School, now 25 years established, and none upon which the public spirited and philanthropic can, to better account, bestow their money.

    The school at this time was very much a family affair; it had 200 older boys taught by Robert and an assistant plus 100 infant boys by his father, Robert Senior. 250 girls were taught by John and Miss M. Dun – Robert’s siblings. Including evening classes, the total roll was 622 but it was noted that absence could run high, between 10 to 20 percent. The Duns had joined the school in 1826 and remained there for 35 years until Robert resigned in 1861 and received wide praise for their long-term efforts to educate and better the lot of the poorer children of the city.

    Mr Dun, of the Edinburgh Davie Street School, decidedly the best Lancasterian teacher I have yet met, has introduced much useful knowledge into his plan; and, if the means were afforded him, would yet do much more.

    James Simpson, “Necessity of Popular Education as a National Object”, 1834

    A notable alumnus of the Lancasterian School was George McCrae (1860-1928), later Colonel Sir George McCrae DSO DL VD. A self-made man in the textile and drapery trade, McCrae was knighted in 1908 for his services as MP for Edinburgh East. He is best remembered in Scotland for raising and commanding the 16th Battalion, The Royal Scots during World War 1. This unit, better known as McCrae’s Own, was composed of Edinburgh men and its ranks included 16 members of Heart of Midlothian Football Club as well as players from Hibernian, Raith Rovers, East Fife, St. Bernard’s, Falkirk and Dunfermline football clubs. Much of the rest were drawn from the supporters of these clubs.

    George McCrae during his time as an MP, by Sir John Benjamin Stone, 1901

    At the time of the Duns’ departure the school was proving to be a financial liability for its directors. In that year its expenses were £147 14s 5d but they had raised only £98 9s 7d in subscriptions and fees; outgoings exceeded income by 50%. The Lancasterian School was being kept solvent only by the £900 proceeds of the sale of a bequeathed house. The trustees had therefore been looking to put the institution on a sounder financial footing and in 1857 had proposed to the Governors of the Heriot’s Hospital Trust that it be transferred to their care.

    George Heriot’s Hospital (School) in 1966, looking towards the Castle. Edinburgh City Libraries, Edinburgh and Scottish Collection.

    The Governors in turn remitted the request to a sub-committee who reported favourably on the idea “when the state of funds admitted to an increase“. In the event it was not until 1874 – with the State’s financial support as a result of the Education (Scotland) Act 1872) – that Heriot’s were able to complete the takeover of Davie Street which was to be converted to one of its Outdoor Schools. These schools, instituted in 1838, were outdoor in the sense that they provided education outwith the walls of Heriot’s Hospital itself. They were run on the Madras System and financed by the surplus of the Heriot Trust to provided a free education for the “children of burgesses and others“: in practice this meant the poor.

    In October 1874, temporary accommodation was arranged for the non-paying pupils of Davie Street while their school was to be demolished and replaced with a larger and more modern building for 650 children. The architect of the Heriot Trust, John Chesser, drew up plans for a two storey school in a Jacobean style, richly ornamented with the roses and stars from the coat of arms of George Heriot and mouldings and corner towers directly inspired by the mother Hospital School.

    Davie Street school as rebuilt by Heriot’s in 1875

    The school reopened on Whitsunday 1875, the tablet on its principal gable now reading George Heriot’s Hospital School. Its first – and only – headmaster was to be Mr John McCrindle who held this position until his retirement in 1905. The infant headmistress was Miss Jane Johnston from 1877 to 1908, she herself having been educated at one of the Trust’s the Outdoor Schools at Heriot Bridge.

    An engraved portrait of John McCrindle by the Edinburgh Evenening News upon his retirement, July 18th 1905

    In 1879 a tragedy occurred when a pupil, Ellen Bennet, died from burns she had received at the school; on a cold November day she sneaked unsupervised back into her classroom at lunchtime and climbed over the guard of the fire that heated the room to warm herself causing her clothing to catch fire. The following year there were 180 infants and 320 older children on the school roll and “almost all the children… are the boys and girls of parents of the strictly working and artisan classes. They all appeared scrupulously clean and very tidy at the examination“.

    Davie Street showing the Heriot’s School, 1876 OS Town Survey of Edinburgh. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The school’s life with the Heriot Trust was to prove short lived. In 1886 the Edinburgh School Board agreed to purchase it for £2,368 16s 8d. The Heriot’s schools at Stockbridge (later St. Bernard’s) and Abbeyhill (later Regent Road) were also acquired at this time, the Trust having decided to dispose of all of its Outdoor Schools and move its remaining day scholars to the Hospital itself. The Trust approved the sale and transfer in January 1887, part of the transfer arrangement being that they would continued to fund the free education of its existing scholars – the School Board charged fees, unlike the Outdoor Schools – any pre-existing arrangements for free education, so long as the beneficiary continued to pass the relevant exam standards.

    The Board “were not at all satisfied with the internal arrangement” of Davie Street and so spent a further £2,379 2s 9d on expansion and alterations. Their architect, Robert Wilson, added an additional wing to the south with accommodation an additional 130 pupils, increasing its capacity to 690. By re-using the additional ornamental stonework this addition appears almost seamless, beyond the plainer style of the roof line. Despite the change of administration, the “Heriot’s Hospital” tablet remained on its façade, never being replaced by the School Board’s roundel.

    Davie Street showing the School Board’s public school, note the large projection of the new wing to the south. 1893 OS Town Survey of Edinburgh. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

    The peace of Davie Street Public School – as it was now known – was breached in October 1889 when a wave of excitement spread throughout British schools via newspaper reports of an attempt by schoolboys in Cardiff to institute a general strike. Their demands were a half-day Wednesday, no homework, shorter hours and no corporal punishment. The action spread contagiously and by the following afternoon the boys of Davie Street had organised themselves, marching behind a banner (reported to be “a handkerchief nailed to a stick“) to Castlehill and Dalry schools in an effort to instigate risings there too. Their demands – reasonable to modern eyes – were conveyed on a scrap of paper; “strike for short hours and no home lessons and free education for the whole school“. The action rumbled on for a few days more with “strikebreaking” pupils at some schools reporting being hissed at the gates by the holdouts before it petered out. Those who were judged to have been ringleaders found themselves punished for their efforts with the tawse – a short, sharp reminder of how things had changed since the days of the reward-based Lancasterian School.

    Headline, Evening Mail, 9th October 1889

    Perhaps memories of the brief uprising of 1889 died hard as in October 1913, once again boys from Davie Street marched out of their school in spontaneous protest in an effort to get their compatriots in the district – at Causewayside, South Bridge and St. Leonards – to join them in resisting rumoured (and entirely spurious) plans to force them to attend school on Saturday mornings.

    Life was harsh for many of the children in the Old Town and Southside and a particularly extreme case was reported in the Evening News in November 1908 involving children from Davie Street. Philip Lavin of 150 Dumbiedykes Road was sentenced to three months imprisonment at the Sheriff Court for ill-treatment and neglect of his five children, aged six months to 13 years. He had been repeatedly visited and warned of his conduct by the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (SSPCC) over the course of five years. Finally, Headmaster R. James Reith wrote to the SSPCC to inform them of bruising on the face of one of Lavin’s daughters which he suspected was the result of assault. Visiting the house again, they found the childrens’ “clothing was scanty and on [their] bed the only covering was an old quilt.” The hungry children had sometimes shared just two rolls between four for their breakfast or five potatoes for their dinner. Lavin earned good money as a painter, 30s a week, but spent it on drink and gave none to his wife, Marion Hewit. She instead had to go out to work for the upkeep of herself and the children and continued to do so when she became ill until collapsing and being sent to the City Fever Hospital suffering from acute consumption (TB). She died less than a year later, on 20th October 1909; her husband however lived until the age of 76.

    Boys of Davie Street School in 1910, many barefoot, waiting for tickets for a day trip to Ratho organised by the charitable Courant Fund.

    In 1917 the School Board undertook an extensive reorganisation of education in the city to provide additional “supplementary education” – that for children over the age of 12 but who had failed to pass the qualification exams for Higher Grade schools. They recognised there was a demand for specialist commercial and technical education at this stage for children who soon be entering the workplace when they finished their compulsory schooling at the age of 14. It was therefore agreed to establish specialist institutes in the city and Davie Street was selected to become part of one of the city’s first specialised supplementary Technical Schools. In 1918, Davie Street closed without ceremony as a primary school and became an annexe for the nearby James Clark Intermediate School.

    Former James Clark School with its remarkable corner tower.

    Initially Davie Street provided rooms for practical subjects such as art, home economics and science while these facilities were constructed at James Clark (which had been planned for elementary education and therefore was not originally built with them). In 1924 it was then taken in hand to be properly modernised (including being converted from gas to electric lighting) and converted into specialist technical workshops for teaching the trades of brassfinishing, tinsmithing, upholstery, plumbing, tailoring and printing. In this guise it provided centralised training in these crafts for the Southside, successful completion of its printing courses could lead to bursaries for a print qualifications at Heriot Watt College and entry into one of the city’s most prized blue collar careers.

    An exhibition of work in the printing and allied trades by students of Davie Street in 1957 – a bookbinding for HMS Caledonia is admired.

    The specialist technical education at Davie Street was moved from the curriculum of James Clark School to those of Telford and Napier Colleges after 1966, its workshops being run-down and moved to those institutions shortly thereafter. James Clark school itself closed in 1972 as part of the citywide secondary education shake-up required to move to a fully comprehensive system; by this time its roll had declined steeply from an inter-war high of over 1,000 to just 300.

    Davie Street School in 1959 from the Dumbiedykes Survey by Adam H. Malcolm © Edinburgh City Libraries L973B

    Davie Street sat vacant for a number of years until it started what was to be an altogether very different chapter in its life story. In 1969 it was turned into the Theatre Art Centre, the brainchild of Edinburgh Corporation’s drama advisor Gerard Slevin. Slevin approached English teacher Leslie Hills, a self-described “newly minted teacher“, to run this project on the basis that she had upset her school establishment by abandoning the old “chalk and talk” methods and using instead the medium of drama to engage and teach her students. On her first visit to Davie Street she found:

    The paintwork was ancient; the boiler was coal-fired and the toilets indescribable. I said yes. I was 23.

    Leslie Hills, describing her first visit to Davie Street School

    On a shoestring budget, the school was converted to its new purpose which involved removal of a large quantity of old printing machinery, outfitting the hall as a drama studio and cleaning the toilets as best as could be done. With a drama teacher, art teacher and music teacher under Leslie, by the autumn of that year the centre was open for business: “It was an extraordinary position to be in. No-one knew what we should be doing, so we made it all up.”

    Edinburgh Corporation’s Theatre Art Centre sign, rescued from Davie Street when it was replaced by a sign for Lothian Regional Council in 1975. Picture kindly provided by Leslie Hills.

    The first pupils to attend came from the city’s Junior Secondary schools, those destined to be replaced by Comprehensives in the coming years. “Many came from difficult backgrounds, some from the surrounding housing soon to be flattened, where water was obtained from a tap in the yard. Many were underfed, ill-clothed for Edinburgh’s winters and, leaving school at 15, just too wee to be sent, bewildered, out to scrapyards and tyre depots with a bit of paper on which was written an address in a part of town of which they had no knowledge.“

    Slum housing in Edinburgh, 1969. Marshall’s Court, Greenside, . S. G. Jackman photo, Edinburgh City Libraries, Edinburgh and Scottish Collection.

    Up to 500 secondary-age children a week came through the doors of the Theatre Art Centre from across the city, including from “List D” reformatory schools, those pushed to the very extremes of the education system. Leslie Hills takes up the story:

    I talked to every class on their first day, explaining that we did not use the belt – still in use in schools – and that the rules were behave yourself and no graffiti – except in the toilets into which they were allowed to take felt-tipped pens which were in plentiful supply. The boys’ toilet became a wonder to behold – absolutely covered in intricate designs. I never worked out how they did the ceilings. The rest of the building remained pristine.

    With its radical approach to learning through the mediums of drama, art and music, the laid back approach to uniform, lesson structure and timetabling and the lack of corporal punishment, the “school-in-a-theatre” was dubbed “Britain’s most unusual school” by the Daily Record. It was a fitting coincidence that Davie Street School had unwittingly been returned to its roots of education without punishment.

    Drama teacher David Prince is “attacked” by his pupils at the Theatre Art Centre in an exercise learning about the value of movement in drama. Daily Record, 2nd December 1970

    The initial success of the Theatre Art Centre gamble allowed the facilities and services on offer to be improved. Finding out from the Corporation’s painters that they didn’t need to follow the official schools’ colour palette of mushroom and cream, re-painting made use of colour. One room was colour drenched in pale green and fitted with an epidiascope and light box for projecting and copying designs for poster; An in-house theatre company – Theatre in Education – was set up who undertook outreach visits to city schools; A technician and a van was acquired to run a stage equipment lending library; The curriculum was widened to include photography, printing and film; Evening drama clubs for teenagers were run and later, Edinburgh Youth Theatre found a home here and it was a regular performance venue during the annual Festival Fringe.

    The reorganisation of local authorities in 1975, the Centre became part of Lothian Regional Council and the geographical remit expanded accordingly. Leslie Hills departed in 1980. Ten years later it survived a threat to its continued existence at Davie Street when the site was short-listed as a potential location for a new medical centre for the district. It was announced in 1993 that a central arts school for Lothian Region would be created in the former Leith Academy building on Duke Street, which would have seen Davie Street closed and relocated there. This plan never came to fruition, likely as the result of Lothian Region losing control of its further education colleges later that year. Having survived these threats, it was the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 – which abolished Lothian Regional Council in 1996 – that did for the Centre and it was closed by the new, unitary City of Edinburgh Council in 1997. A “cheery wake in the rather battered studio” was held by staff past and present to celebrate its 28 year life, which also marked the end of 185 years of continuous educational use of the site.

    Over the next three years the Council sought to dispose of the old school and it saw only intermittent use as a Fringe location. It was finally sold for redevelopment in 2000 and was converted into flats, a change which at the very least preserved its fine Jacobean-style masonry for the future.

    Davie Street School in 2021, estate agent’s photo from the sale of one of its flats

    If you have found this useful, informative or amusing, perhaps you would like to help contribute towards the running costs of this site – including keeping it ad-free and my book-buying budget to find further stories to bring you – by supporting me on ko-fi. Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends.

    These threads © 2017-2025, Andy Arthur.

    NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

    The previous chapter of this series looked at Causewayside School.

    If you have found this useful, informative or amusing, perhaps you would like to help contribute towards the running costs of this site – including keeping it ad-free and my book-buying budget to find further stories to bring you – by supporting me on ko-fi. Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends.

    These threads © 2017-2025, Andy Arthur.

    NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

    #Edinburgh #EdinburghSchoolBoard #Education #Heriots #JamesClarkSchool #LostBoardSchoolsOfEdinburgh #Quaker #School #Schools #Theatre #Written2025

    #edinburgh #edinburghschoolboard #education #heriots #jamesclarkschool #lostboardschoolsofedinburgh
  12. Old School Game Blog @[email protected] ·

    AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup – June 2025

    Hi,

    Thanks for visiting my blog! 🙂

    Summer is here and it’s time for a news update covering June 2025. As often happens this time of year, summer is not the most active season. This is especially true when it comes to news about software and hardware. Still, there’s activity on several fronts, which you can read more about below. 😉

    Software News

    Version 77.1 of libICU became available on OS4Depot on June 2nd. ICU is a mature, widely used set of C/C++ and Java libraries providing Unicode and Globalization support for software applications. ICU is widely portable and gives applications the same results on all platforms and between C/C++ and Java software.

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=development/library/misc/libicu.lha

    Also, version 1.0.16 of libfribidi arrived a couple of days later. This is the Free Implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm. According to the authors, one key issue hindering the penetration of free software in the Middle East is the lack of support for the Arabic and Hebrew alphabets. This support is crucial. To have proper Arabic and Hebrew support, the bidi algorithm needs to be implemented.

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=development/library/misc/libfribidi.lha

    DeepL, a small tool for online translation, has received an update and is now at version 0.93. It is based on the DeepL REST API and supports up to 500,000 characters a month. The author, root, has fixed the version string and changed hURL post mechanic.

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=utility/text/deepl.lha

    Steffen Häuser, a.k.a. MagicSN, has made available cores for the soon-to-be-released RetroArch. The archive contains the following cores:

    • PicoDrive
    • GenesisPlus GX (only AmigaOS 4)
    • MAME 2003
    • MAME 2003 Plus
    • MAME 2009

    Here is the download link:

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=emulation/gamesystem/retroarch_cores_installer.lha

    Acuario is a portable screensaver featuring exotic fish and mermaids. It was developed by Juan Carlos Herran Martin, a.k.a. Templario. The final version was released in June and became available on OS4Depot on June 10th. Changes include being compiled with Hollywood 10, cleaning up and optimizing the code, guppy fish now available again, new backgrounds, new cover and back cover, new free fonts for texts, and more. For more information, please follow the link below:

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=graphics/screenblanker/acuario.lha

    He also released version 2.25 of his kit to make your own decks for these games:

    • HLE Poker Card
    • BlackJuan
    • Siete y Media
    • Baccarat
    • BlackIvan Card

    It is available in both Spanish and English.

    Improvements include:

    • New PNG transparent templates to make three Baphomet decks
    • New tester decks to test the Spanish suits

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=game/utility/cardsmakingkit.lha

    On June 28th, DRIDI released version 7.5Final of the Arabic Console Device.

    (version 7.5Final) “Version education&legacy” finished (for me) – big regression 2025 estWriteOnly – during writing no read interrupt is permitted [arabcon-handler]

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=driver/input/arabic_console_devicepro2.lha

    New versions of SDL 2 and SDL 3 are now available for download over on OS4Depot:

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=library/misc/sdl2.lha

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=library/misc/sdl3.lha

    Version 2.6.0 of the WHD-Load front-end iGame was released in June. The AmigaOS 4 port is maintained by George Sokianos a.k.a. Walkero. This is a front-end application for launching WHDLoad games and demos.

    Features

    • Multiple WHDLoad slaves repositories on hard disk partitions
    • On-demand scanning in repositories for installed WHDLoad slaves (games, demos, etc.)
    • Use games tooltypes on the run
    • Shows game screenshot (screenshot window can be altered through tooltypes/settings uses datatypes to load foreign formats)
    • Categorization of the games and filtering
    • Manual addition of non-WHDLoad games, demos, etc.
    • Simple statistics
    • Find-as-you-type search filter

    The download is available here:

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=utility/misc/igame.lha

    MEncoder version 1.5 is now available on OS4Depot. It has been updated to the latest SVN version and recompiled for the most recent SDK.

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=video/edit/mencoder.lha

    In previous reports, I’ve written about Seq, a MIDI sequencer, by Tuomas Hokka. A new update is out with the following changes:

    3.2 (19th June 2025):

    • FIXED drawing one-time track steps

    3.1 (4th June 2025):

    • NOTE! Changed how MIDI devices are selected, changes to the project file format
    • requires re-saving all projects
    • loading project will try to get the correct MIDI device selection automatically
    • NOTE! CAMD might put your multiple MIDI devices to different order after each boot/power on, that’s the reason to change how to set the devices! This way one will need to change the devices in one place only.

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=audio/misc/seq.lha

    Version 53.10 of SMB2FS has been released. smb2-handler is a filesystem for accessing files remotely using the SMB2/3 protocols. The protocol implementation is based on the latest git version of libsmb2 (https://github.com/sahlberg/libsmb2).

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=network/samba/smb2fs.lha

    Version 34.5 of AmiArcadia for AmigaOS 4, a Signetics-based machines emulator, has been released by James Jacobs.

    According to the documentation, AmiArcadia supports the following systems:

    • Emerson Arcadia 2001 console family (Bandai, Emerson, Grandstand, Intervision, Leisure-Vision, Leonardo, MPT-03, Ormatu, Palladium, Poppy, Robdajet, Tele-Fever, Tempest, Tryom, Tunix, etc.) (c. 1982);
    • Interton VC 4000 console family (Acetronic, Cabel, Fountain, Hanimex, Interton, Prinztronic, Radofin, Rowtron, Soundic, Voltmace, Waddingtons, etc.) (c. 1978);
    • Elektor TV Games Computer (1979);
    • PIPBUG- and BINBUG-based machines (EA 77up2, EA 78up5, Signetics Adaptable Board Computer, Eurocard 2650, etc.) (1977-1978);
    • Signetics Instructor 50 trainer (1978);
    • Signetics TWIN minicomputer (1976);
    • Central Data 2650 computer (1977);
    • PHUNSY computer (c. 1980);
    • Ravensburger Selbstbaucomputer aka 2650 Minimal Computer trainer (1984);
    • Hofacker MIKIT 2650 trainer (1978);
    • Astro Wars, Galaxia, Laser Battle and Lazarian coin-ops by Zaccaria (1979-1981);
    • Malzak 1 and 2 coin-ops by Kitronix (c. 1981);
    • AY-3-8500/8550/8600-based Pong systems (Coleco Telstar Galaxy, Sheen TVG-201, etc.) (1976-1977);
    • VTech Type-right machine (1985)

    It is packed with features, far too many to list here. Examples include ReAction GUI, load/save snapshots, and windowed and fullscreen modes. Other features are CPU tracing, trainer, and drag and drop support. Additionally, it offers graphics scaling, PAL/NTSC modes, and frame skipping, among many other features!

    Here is an overview of the changes since the last release:

    • Debugger: added DRAW command.
    • Miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.

    Please visit OS4Depot for the full list.

    If you enjoy creating pixel art, you’ll be happy to hear that version 2.9 WIP of GrafX2 has been ported by Kas1e and smarkusg. The program is similar in style to programs like Deluxe Paint and Personal Paint. It works great and has a lot of functions and possibilities. Grab it from OS4Depot here:

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=graphics/edit/grafx2.lha

    MCE, Multi-game Character Editor, is a user-friendly open-source editor of character files, saved games, high score tables, levels, and graphics for 125 games. James Jacobs, the author, has now released version 15.5, which provides miscellaneous improvements, as well as save game editors for King’s Quest 2 and 3.

    Amiga-news.de reports news concerning a project by Kas1e to create a new text editor. It is called DumbPad and already runs stable. Please head over to amiga-news.de for the full story.

    They also report that Snork 0.1, a new tracer/logger for AmigaOS 4 is now available. You can find more information on their website.

    https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-06-00108-EN.html

    The developer Andrea Palmate has written a post describing a new chapter for the AmigaOS 4 web experience. The text starts with “After years of silence, a new version of the Odyssey Web Browser is being developed for AmigaOS4, reigniting hope for modern web browsing on our beloved platform.”. You can find it here:

    https://ko-fi.com/post/The-Return-of-Odyssey-A-New-Chapter-for-AmigaOS4-W7W71G4B2G

    He has also published a video of Odyssey Alpha 1 running on QEMU:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddKNJwVl858

    Miscellaneous News

    Trixie, developer of Rave for AmigaOS 4, has published a new post on his Rear Window blog. The title of the text is The power of being abandoned. It was a great read in my opinion, and I’d like to quote one passage from it (hope you don’t mind, Trixie!):

    The OS4 community should start arranging for itself the things it can arrange, and focusing on the things it can influence. We may not be the largest of the Amiga platforms, but the blood, sweat, and tears poured into it make it something worth looking after. 

    Well said, Trixie!

    Here is the link to the post:

    https://ko-fi.com/post/The-power-of-being-abandoned-X8X11H22ZG

    The Amiga Retro Channel has published a new video showing OpenLara running on AmigaOS 4.1.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akbB4Oysc3s

    The Norwegian musician Helge Kvalheim is back with a new song. This one is called Rasta Man. You can check it out here!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0rFtTTSsts

    McFly PPC has released a new video showing footage from the Amiga Ruhrpott Convention V3 (June 21st, 2025).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UB_38Xrei0

    Shoe’s Workbench has made a video called AmigaOne X5000 via NanoKVM:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkW9h79JrR8

    Until next time

    That was all for this time. Hope you enjoyed the read!

    Thanks as always to all readers and supporters out there. Thanks for visiting my blog and see you in the next roundup! 🙂

    I wish you all a great summer and hope you’ll have a good time. 🙂

    Best regards,

    Puni

    Rate this:

    #Amiga #AmigaNews #AmigaOS4 #AmigaOS4MonthlyRoundup #AmigaOS41

    #amigaos41 #amigaos4monthlyroundup #amigaos4 #amiganews #amiga
  13. Old School Game Blog @[email protected] ·

    AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup – June 2025

    Hi,

    Thanks for visiting my blog! 🙂

    Summer is here and it’s time for a news update covering June 2025. As often happens this time of year, summer is not the most active season. This is especially true when it comes to news about software and hardware. Still, there’s activity on several fronts, which you can read more about below. 😉

    Software News

    Version 77.1 of libICU became available on OS4Depot on June 2nd. ICU is a mature, widely used set of C/C++ and Java libraries providing Unicode and Globalization support for software applications. ICU is widely portable and gives applications the same results on all platforms and between C/C++ and Java software.

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=development/library/misc/libicu.lha

    Also, version 1.0.16 of libfribidi arrived a couple of days later. This is the Free Implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm. According to the authors, one key issue hindering the penetration of free software in the Middle East is the lack of support for the Arabic and Hebrew alphabets. This support is crucial. To have proper Arabic and Hebrew support, the bidi algorithm needs to be implemented.

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=development/library/misc/libfribidi.lha

    DeepL, a small tool for online translation, has received an update and is now at version 0.93. It is based on the DeepL REST API and supports up to 500,000 characters a month. The author, root, has fixed the version string and changed hURL post mechanic.

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=utility/text/deepl.lha

    Steffen Häuser, a.k.a. MagicSN, has made available cores for the soon-to-be-released RetroArch. The archive contains the following cores:

    • PicoDrive
    • GenesisPlus GX (only AmigaOS 4)
    • MAME 2003
    • MAME 2003 Plus
    • MAME 2009

    Here is the download link:

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=emulation/gamesystem/retroarch_cores_installer.lha

    Acuario is a portable screensaver featuring exotic fish and mermaids. It was developed by Juan Carlos Herran Martin, a.k.a. Templario. The final version was released in June and became available on OS4Depot on June 10th. Changes include being compiled with Hollywood 10, cleaning up and optimizing the code, guppy fish now available again, new backgrounds, new cover and back cover, new free fonts for texts, and more. For more information, please follow the link below:

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=graphics/screenblanker/acuario.lha

    He also released version 2.25 of his kit to make your own decks for these games:

    • HLE Poker Card
    • BlackJuan
    • Siete y Media
    • Baccarat
    • BlackIvan Card

    It is available in both Spanish and English.

    Improvements include:

    • New PNG transparent templates to make three Baphomet decks
    • New tester decks to test the Spanish suits

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=game/utility/cardsmakingkit.lha

    On June 28th, DRIDI released version 7.5Final of the Arabic Console Device.

    (version 7.5Final) “Version education&legacy” finished (for me) – big regression 2025 estWriteOnly – during writing no read interrupt is permitted [arabcon-handler]

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=driver/input/arabic_console_devicepro2.lha

    New versions of SDL 2 and SDL 3 are now available for download over on OS4Depot:

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=library/misc/sdl2.lha

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=library/misc/sdl3.lha

    Version 2.6.0 of the WHD-Load front-end iGame was released in June. The AmigaOS 4 port is maintained by George Sokianos a.k.a. Walkero. This is a front-end application for launching WHDLoad games and demos.

    Features

    • Multiple WHDLoad slaves repositories on hard disk partitions
    • On-demand scanning in repositories for installed WHDLoad slaves (games, demos, etc.)
    • Use games tooltypes on the run
    • Shows game screenshot (screenshot window can be altered through tooltypes/settings uses datatypes to load foreign formats)
    • Categorization of the games and filtering
    • Manual addition of non-WHDLoad games, demos, etc.
    • Simple statistics
    • Find-as-you-type search filter

    The download is available here:

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=utility/misc/igame.lha

    MEncoder version 1.5 is now available on OS4Depot. It has been updated to the latest SVN version and recompiled for the most recent SDK.

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=video/edit/mencoder.lha

    In previous reports, I’ve written about Seq, a MIDI sequencer, by Tuomas Hokka. A new update is out with the following changes:

    3.2 (19th June 2025):

    • FIXED drawing one-time track steps

    3.1 (4th June 2025):

    • NOTE! Changed how MIDI devices are selected, changes to the project file format
    • requires re-saving all projects
    • loading project will try to get the correct MIDI device selection automatically
    • NOTE! CAMD might put your multiple MIDI devices to different order after each boot/power on, that’s the reason to change how to set the devices! This way one will need to change the devices in one place only.

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=audio/misc/seq.lha

    Version 53.10 of SMB2FS has been released. smb2-handler is a filesystem for accessing files remotely using the SMB2/3 protocols. The protocol implementation is based on the latest git version of libsmb2 (https://github.com/sahlberg/libsmb2).

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=network/samba/smb2fs.lha

    Version 34.5 of AmiArcadia for AmigaOS 4, a Signetics-based machines emulator, has been released by James Jacobs.

    According to the documentation, AmiArcadia supports the following systems:

    • Emerson Arcadia 2001 console family (Bandai, Emerson, Grandstand, Intervision, Leisure-Vision, Leonardo, MPT-03, Ormatu, Palladium, Poppy, Robdajet, Tele-Fever, Tempest, Tryom, Tunix, etc.) (c. 1982);
    • Interton VC 4000 console family (Acetronic, Cabel, Fountain, Hanimex, Interton, Prinztronic, Radofin, Rowtron, Soundic, Voltmace, Waddingtons, etc.) (c. 1978);
    • Elektor TV Games Computer (1979);
    • PIPBUG- and BINBUG-based machines (EA 77up2, EA 78up5, Signetics Adaptable Board Computer, Eurocard 2650, etc.) (1977-1978);
    • Signetics Instructor 50 trainer (1978);
    • Signetics TWIN minicomputer (1976);
    • Central Data 2650 computer (1977);
    • PHUNSY computer (c. 1980);
    • Ravensburger Selbstbaucomputer aka 2650 Minimal Computer trainer (1984);
    • Hofacker MIKIT 2650 trainer (1978);
    • Astro Wars, Galaxia, Laser Battle and Lazarian coin-ops by Zaccaria (1979-1981);
    • Malzak 1 and 2 coin-ops by Kitronix (c. 1981);
    • AY-3-8500/8550/8600-based Pong systems (Coleco Telstar Galaxy, Sheen TVG-201, etc.) (1976-1977);
    • VTech Type-right machine (1985)

    It is packed with features, far too many to list here. Examples include ReAction GUI, load/save snapshots, and windowed and fullscreen modes. Other features are CPU tracing, trainer, and drag and drop support. Additionally, it offers graphics scaling, PAL/NTSC modes, and frame skipping, among many other features!

    Here is an overview of the changes since the last release:

    • Debugger: added DRAW command.
    • Miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.

    Please visit OS4Depot for the full list.

    If you enjoy creating pixel art, you’ll be happy to hear that version 2.9 WIP of GrafX2 has been ported by Kas1e and smarkusg. The program is similar in style to programs like Deluxe Paint and Personal Paint. It works great and has a lot of functions and possibilities. Grab it from OS4Depot here:

    https://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=graphics/edit/grafx2.lha

    MCE, Multi-game Character Editor, is a user-friendly open-source editor of character files, saved games, high score tables, levels, and graphics for 125 games. James Jacobs, the author, has now released version 15.5, which provides miscellaneous improvements, as well as save game editors for King’s Quest 2 and 3.

    Amiga-news.de reports news concerning a project by Kas1e to create a new text editor. It is called DumbPad and already runs stable. Please head over to amiga-news.de for the full story.

    They also report that Snork 0.1, a new tracer/logger for AmigaOS 4 is now available. You can find more information on their website.

    https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-06-00108-EN.html

    The developer Andrea Palmate has written a post describing a new chapter for the AmigaOS 4 web experience. The text starts with “After years of silence, a new version of the Odyssey Web Browser is being developed for AmigaOS4, reigniting hope for modern web browsing on our beloved platform.”. You can find it here:

    https://ko-fi.com/post/The-Return-of-Odyssey-A-New-Chapter-for-AmigaOS4-W7W71G4B2G

    He has also published a video of Odyssey Alpha 1 running on QEMU:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddKNJwVl858

    Miscellaneous News

    Trixie, developer of Rave for AmigaOS 4, has published a new post on his Rear Window blog. The title of the text is The power of being abandoned. It was a great read in my opinion, and I’d like to quote one passage from it (hope you don’t mind, Trixie!):

    The OS4 community should start arranging for itself the things it can arrange, and focusing on the things it can influence. We may not be the largest of the Amiga platforms, but the blood, sweat, and tears poured into it make it something worth looking after. 

    Well said, Trixie!

    Here is the link to the post:

    https://ko-fi.com/post/The-power-of-being-abandoned-X8X11H22ZG

    The Amiga Retro Channel has published a new video showing OpenLara running on AmigaOS 4.1.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akbB4Oysc3s

    The Norwegian musician Helge Kvalheim is back with a new song. This one is called Rasta Man. You can check it out here!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0rFtTTSsts

    McFly PPC has released a new video showing footage from the Amiga Ruhrpott Convention V3 (June 21st, 2025).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UB_38Xrei0

    Shoe’s Workbench has made a video called AmigaOne X5000 via NanoKVM:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkW9h79JrR8

    Until next time

    That was all for this time. Hope you enjoyed the read!

    Thanks as always to all readers and supporters out there. Thanks for visiting my blog and see you in the next roundup! 🙂

    I wish you all a great summer and hope you’ll have a good time. 🙂

    Best regards,

    Puni

    #Amiga #AmigaNews #AmigaOS4 #AmigaOS4MonthlyRoundup #AmigaOS41

    #amiga #amiganews #amigaos4 #amigaos4monthlyroundup #amigaos41
  14. minioctt @[email protected] ·

    “Google Liveness Check”, la nuova trovata della pazzia informatica

    Attenzione, e vi dico fate MOLTA attenzione, popoli dell’Internette… perché, a quanto sembra, Google ha droppato una psyop fresca fresca… un nuovo tipo di CAPTCHA: il “liveness check”. Dato che io becco in media almeno 2-3 captcha al giorno durante il mio normale uso del web, e questa roba la vedo giusto stasera per la prima volta nella mia intera esistenza, e cercando ora al volo qualche informazione in giro non ho trovato letteralmente nulla — se non un thread su 4chan di 8 giorni fa, #105252623 — direi che è qualcosa di altamente sperimentale che sta giusto ora vedendo la luce… 🧨

    Stavo giusto per cercare 1 cosa su Google prima, quando (come al solito, per giunta; cazzo se odio questa merda), visto che ho usato le due virgolette (forse perché affitto giornalmente il mio indirizzo IP a russi e israeliani), Alphabet Inc. mi ha droppato la solita accusa di essere un robot, con quella stessa sicumera con cui gli hamassoni danno ai sionisti dei genocidi e con cui i sionisti danno ai pro-palestina degli antisemiti… ma ecco, sto già digressando qui, ops. Vabbè, il punto è che ho notato la presenza di un tastino nuovo, tra quelli in basso alla finestrella di reCAPTCHA… e non ho potuto esimermi dal testarlo di persona. 👻

    Spa-ven-to-so. Come suggerisce il nome, “controllo della vitalità” (e davvero qui è stata sprecata un’occasione imperdibile di chiamarlo “vibe check”, piuttosto), questo CAPTCHA chiede di fornire l’accesso alla videocamera (!), chiede di mostrare la mano (!!!) piazzandola nella parte di schermo indicata, e di replicare una sequenza di gesti mostrata a schermo (nel mio caso, a parte il rilevamento iniziale dell’arto umanoide, 3 gesti). Non ci crederei però nemmeno se lo vedessi, a ciò che è scritto nel riquadro informativo, cioè che verrebbero “catturati solo i movimenti della mano”… quindi ho sprecato 7 minuti per posizionare la webcam in modo da poter uscire la manina senza anche la faccia; ma, a parte questo mio setup bizantino, che qui ovviamente vi risparmio, la verifica dura 30 secondi. E, per carità, il concetto base non è certamente nuovo… ma applicato in questo modo si. 😳

    Da qui allora spuntano senz’altro svariate domande, tra cui una retorica (e l’esercizio di capire quale questa sia è lasciato ai lettori): Come mai nessuno (a parte l’hacker [da scantinato] noto come 4chan) ne ha ancora parlato, e non c’è nemmeno un link ufficiale per approfondire? Sarà qualcosa in fase ancora ampiamente sperimentale, e io sono stata una delle poche entità al mondo con una componente fisica e spirituale maggiormente umana (per quanto, comunque, probabilmente l’unica utente con una secondaria non-umana) selezionata per testarla? Verrà tolta ancora prima di essere davvero ufficializzata, in pieno stile Google? O forse è una psyop gigantesca che serve, in ordine, agli scopi di: 1, Insegnare ai modelli generativi di immagini come funzionano le mani umane, in modo che le inizino a produrre perfette, alzando i profitti per l’azienda; 2, Instillare (pur se lentamente) negli utenti l’idea inconscia che sia normale il mostrarsi in videocamera come metodo di provare il proprio non essere un robot ad un sito web, fino ad arrivare a 3, Obbligare tra qualche decennio tutti gli utenti di Internet a fornire tutti i propri dati biometrici e legali alle Big Tech, anche e soprattutto al volo, pur di poter usare qualsiasi servizio…? Ai posteri l’ardua sentenza… e a Google e voi la mia manina registrata con la videocamera USB più merdosa che ho in casa (che, casualmente, è anche l’unica). 😘

    #Google #105252623 #CAPTCHA #reCAPTCHA #GoogleLivenessCheck #Liveness #LivenessCheck #psyop

    #psyop #livenesscheck #liveness #googlelivenesscheck #recaptcha #captcha
  15. Bateausurleau @[email protected] ·

    Voici une version révisée et corrigée de votre texte :

    Salut @oned,

    Je viens de lire votre charte.

    Il y a un gros problème ! Un énorme problème. Un éléphant dans la pièce ! 🐘

    Vous indiquez comme 6ᵉ principe :

    "Organiser la riposte sur les réseaux sociaux pour démonter les mensonges et les opérations de désinformation."

    Vous avez buggé là... 🤔

    Oui, organisons la riposte, démontons les mensonges et les opérations de désinformation !

    Mais, affirmer (et donc croire) que cela peut et devrait se faire sur les régies publicitaires de #Zuckerberg, de #Musk et autres milliardaires libertariens, là, c'est carrément une sortie de route !

    Pour qui s'intéresse un tant soit peu sérieusement au sujet des #GAFAM, des régies publicitaires et des #algorithmes, penser et/ou prétendre « lutter de l'intérieur » relève de la désinformation et de la fiction.

    Il suffit d'observer, entre autres exemples, comment les messages en soutien aux Palestinien·ne·s sont effacés sur Facebook au profit des messages en soutien au gouvernement israélien. Tout cela est documenté et depuis longtemps, notamment par Human Rights Watch.

    Or, il en est de même avec les messages luttant contre les idées d'extrême droite !

    💡 Comme la violence, la haine et les faits « sensationnels » suscitent bien plus d'engagement, les GAFAM les valorisent. Là encore, ce qui a été valable avec #helloquitteX pour X/Twitter est valable pour tous les autres GAFAM !

    Si demain, Meta, ByteDance, Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple ou Amazon décident de vous boycotter sur leurs plateformes respectives (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, OpenAI, Apple Podcast, Twitch, ...), que pourrez-vous faire ? Rien ou tellement peu !

    Ami·es et camarades de lutte d'ONED, il va bien falloir s'y résoudre, notre seule réelle perspective d'émancipation et de construction de collectifs libres, autonomes et "safe", contre l'Extrême Droite et ses idées passera par un travail de conviction pour faire sortir nos allié·es, en plus de nous-mêmes, de l'emprise des GAFAM.

    Recourir aux plateformes détenues par les soutiens de #Trump et dont les algorithmes propagent, comme aucune autre technique, les idées d'Extrême droite, est une erreur monumentale. C'est une illusion et il faut l'accepter et œuvrer à sortir les gens de l'emprise des GAFAM.

    "Organiser la riposte sur les réseaux sociaux", ce serait comme :

    • prétendre défendre l'agriculture biologique en se fournissant chez Monsanto ;
    • diffuser des idées antifascistes via les médias de #Bolloré, #Sternin et consort.

    Ça n'a aucun sens et ça produit l'inverse de ce que nous cherchons à faire !

    Je vais évidemment continuer de suivre votre travail... Mais à combattre ce faux savoir concernant le recours aux GAFAM !

    ℹ️ ## Localement

    En Sarthe, nous avons de l'avance, 😉 puisque nous avons créé notre collectif il y a déjà plusieurs mois. Et pour diffuser nos idées sur le net, nous avons un site qui repose sur des outils libres et éthiques. #YunoHost #LogicielsLibres 🤩 ✊

    Agir pour la Démocratie

    #antifa #ExtrêmeDroite #mouvementsocial #numérique #éthique #VISA #démocratie #émancipationnumérique

    #zuckerberg #musk #gafam #algorithmes #helloquittex #trump
  16. Bateausurleau @[email protected] ·

    Voici une version révisée et corrigée de votre texte :

    Salut @oned,

    Je viens de lire votre charte.

    Il y a un gros problème ! Un énorme problème. Un éléphant dans la pièce ! 🐘

    Vous indiquez comme 6ᵉ principe :

    "Organiser la riposte sur les réseaux sociaux pour démonter les mensonges et les opérations de désinformation."

    Vous avez buggé là... 🤔

    Oui, organisons la riposte, démontons les mensonges et les opérations de désinformation !

    Mais, affirmer (et donc croire) que cela peut et devrait se faire sur les régies publicitaires de #Zuckerberg, de #Musk et autres milliardaires libertariens, là, c'est carrément une sortie de route !

    Pour qui s'intéresse un tant soit peu sérieusement au sujet des #GAFAM, des régies publicitaires et des #algorithmes, penser et/ou prétendre « lutter de l'intérieur » relève de la désinformation et de la fiction.

    Il suffit d'observer, entre autres exemples, comment les messages en soutien aux Palestinien·ne·s sont effacés sur Facebook au profit des messages en soutien au gouvernement israélien. Tout cela est documenté et depuis longtemps, notamment par Human Rights Watch.

    Or, il en est de même avec les messages luttant contre les idées d'extrême droite !

    💡 Comme la violence, la haine et les faits « sensationnels » suscitent bien plus d'engagement, les GAFAM les valorisent. Là encore, ce qui a été valable avec #helloquitteX pour X/Twitter est valable pour tous les autres GAFAM !

    Si demain, Meta, ByteDance, Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple ou Amazon décident de vous boycotter sur leurs plateformes respectives (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, OpenAI, Apple Podcast, Twitch, ...), que pourrez-vous faire ? Rien ou tellement peu !

    Ami·es et camarades de lutte d'ONED, il va bien falloir s'y résoudre, notre seule réelle perspective d'émancipation et de construction de collectifs libres, autonomes et "safe", contre l'Extrême Droite et ses idées passera par un travail de conviction pour faire sortir nos allié·es, en plus de nous-mêmes, de l'emprise des GAFAM.

    Recourir aux plateformes détenues par les soutiens de #Trump et dont les algorithmes propagent, comme aucune autre technique, les idées d'Extrême droite, est une erreur monumentale. C'est une illusion et il faut l'accepter et œuvrer à sortir les gens de l'emprise des GAFAM.

    "Organiser la riposte sur les réseaux sociaux", ce serait comme :

    • prétendre défendre l'agriculture biologique en se fournissant chez Monsanto ;
    • diffuser des idées antifascistes via les médias de #Bolloré, #Sternin et consort.

    Ça n'a aucun sens et ça produit l'inverse de ce que nous cherchons à faire !

    Je vais évidemment continuer de suivre votre travail... Mais à combattre ce faux savoir concernant le recours aux GAFAM !

    ℹ️ ## Localement

    En Sarthe, nous avons de l'avance, 😉 puisque nous avons créé notre collectif il y a déjà plusieurs mois. Et pour diffuser nos idées sur le net, nous avons un site qui repose sur des outils libres et éthiques. #YunoHost #LogicielsLibres 🤩 ✊

    Agir pour la Démocratie

    #antifa #ExtrêmeDroite #mouvementsocial #numérique #éthique #VISA #démocratie #émancipationnumérique

    #zuckerberg #musk #gafam #algorithmes #helloquittex #trump
  17. Bateausurleau @[email protected] ·

    Voici une version révisée et corrigée de votre texte :

    Salut @oned,

    Je viens de lire votre charte.

    Il y a un gros problème ! Un énorme problème. Un éléphant dans la pièce ! 🐘

    Vous indiquez comme 6ᵉ principe :

    "Organiser la riposte sur les réseaux sociaux pour démonter les mensonges et les opérations de désinformation."

    Vous avez buggé là... 🤔

    Oui, organisons la riposte, démontons les mensonges et les opérations de désinformation !

    Mais, affirmer (et donc croire) que cela peut et devrait se faire sur les régies publicitaires de #Zuckerberg, de #Musk et autres milliardaires libertariens, là, c'est carrément une sortie de route !

    Pour qui s'intéresse un tant soit peu sérieusement au sujet des #GAFAM, des régies publicitaires et des #algorithmes, penser et/ou prétendre « lutter de l'intérieur » relève de la désinformation et de la fiction.

    Il suffit d'observer, entre autres exemples, comment les messages en soutien aux Palestinien·ne·s sont effacés sur Facebook au profit des messages en soutien au gouvernement israélien. Tout cela est documenté et depuis longtemps, notamment par Human Rights Watch.

    Or, il en est de même avec les messages luttant contre les idées d'extrême droite !

    💡 Comme la violence, la haine et les faits « sensationnels » suscitent bien plus d'engagement, les GAFAM les valorisent. Là encore, ce qui a été valable avec #helloquitteX pour X/Twitter est valable pour tous les autres GAFAM !

    Si demain, Meta, ByteDance, Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple ou Amazon décident de vous boycotter sur leurs plateformes respectives (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, OpenAI, Apple Podcast, Twitch, ...), que pourrez-vous faire ? Rien ou tellement peu !

    Ami·es et camarades de lutte d'ONED, il va bien falloir s'y résoudre, notre seule réelle perspective d'émancipation et de construction de collectifs libres, autonomes et "safe", contre l'Extrême Droite et ses idées passera par un travail de conviction pour faire sortir nos allié·es, en plus de nous-mêmes, de l'emprise des GAFAM.

    Recourir aux plateformes détenues par les soutiens de #Trump et dont les algorithmes propagent, comme aucune autre technique, les idées d'Extrême droite, est une erreur monumentale. C'est une illusion et il faut l'accepter et œuvrer à sortir les gens de l'emprise des GAFAM.

    "Organiser la riposte sur les réseaux sociaux", ce serait comme :

    • prétendre défendre l'agriculture biologique en se fournissant chez Monsanto ;
    • diffuser des idées antifascistes via les médias de #Bolloré, #Sternin et consort.

    Ça n'a aucun sens et ça produit l'inverse de ce que nous cherchons à faire !

    Je vais évidemment continuer de suivre votre travail... Mais à combattre ce faux savoir concernant le recours aux GAFAM !

    ℹ️ ## Localement

    En Sarthe, nous avons de l'avance, 😉 puisque nous avons créé notre collectif il y a déjà plusieurs mois. Et pour diffuser nos idées sur le net, nous avons un site qui repose sur des outils libres et éthiques. #YunoHost #LogicielsLibres 🤩 ✊

    Agir pour la Démocratie

    #antifa #ExtrêmeDroite #mouvementsocial #numérique #éthique #VISA #démocratie #émancipationnumérique

    #zuckerberg #musk #gafam #algorithmes #helloquittex #trump
  18. Bateausurleau @[email protected] ·

    Voici une version révisée et corrigée de votre texte :

    Salut @oned,

    Je viens de lire votre charte.

    Il y a un gros problème ! Un énorme problème. Un éléphant dans la pièce ! 🐘

    Vous indiquez comme 6ᵉ principe :

    "Organiser la riposte sur les réseaux sociaux pour démonter les mensonges et les opérations de désinformation."

    Vous avez buggé là... 🤔

    Oui, organisons la riposte, démontons les mensonges et les opérations de désinformation !

    Mais, affirmer (et donc croire) que cela peut et devrait se faire sur les régies publicitaires de #Zuckerberg, de #Musk et autres milliardaires libertariens, là, c'est carrément une sortie de route !

    Pour qui s'intéresse un tant soit peu sérieusement au sujet des #GAFAM, des régies publicitaires et des #algorithmes, penser et/ou prétendre « lutter de l'intérieur » relève de la désinformation et de la fiction.

    Il suffit d'observer, entre autres exemples, comment les messages en soutien aux Palestinien·ne·s sont effacés sur Facebook au profit des messages en soutien au gouvernement israélien. Tout cela est documenté et depuis longtemps, notamment par Human Rights Watch.

    Or, il en est de même avec les messages luttant contre les idées d'extrême droite !

    💡 Comme la violence, la haine et les faits « sensationnels » suscitent bien plus d'engagement, les GAFAM les valorisent. Là encore, ce qui a été valable avec #helloquitteX pour X/Twitter est valable pour tous les autres GAFAM !

    Si demain, Meta, ByteDance, Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple ou Amazon décident de vous boycotter sur leurs plateformes respectives (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, OpenAI, Apple Podcast, Twitch, ...), que pourrez-vous faire ? Rien ou tellement peu !

    Ami·es et camarades de lutte d'ONED, il va bien falloir s'y résoudre, notre seule réelle perspective d'émancipation et de construction de collectifs libres, autonomes et "safe", contre l'Extrême Droite et ses idées passera par un travail de conviction pour faire sortir nos allié·es, en plus de nous-mêmes, de l'emprise des GAFAM.

    Recourir aux plateformes détenues par les soutiens de #Trump et dont les algorithmes propagent, comme aucune autre technique, les idées d'Extrême droite, est une erreur monumentale. C'est une illusion et il faut l'accepter et œuvrer à sortir les gens de l'emprise des GAFAM.

    "Organiser la riposte sur les réseaux sociaux", ce serait comme :

    • prétendre défendre l'agriculture biologique en se fournissant chez Monsanto ;
    • diffuser des idées antifascistes via les médias de #Bolloré, #Sternin et consort.

    Ça n'a aucun sens et ça produit l'inverse de ce que nous cherchons à faire !

    Je vais évidemment continuer de suivre votre travail... Mais à combattre ce faux savoir concernant le recours aux GAFAM !

    ℹ️ ## Localement

    En Sarthe, nous avons de l'avance, 😉 puisque nous avons créé notre collectif il y a déjà plusieurs mois. Et pour diffuser nos idées sur le net, nous avons un site qui repose sur des outils libres et éthiques. #YunoHost #LogicielsLibres 🤩 ✊

    Agir pour la Démocratie

    #antifa #ExtrêmeDroite #mouvementsocial #numérique #éthique #VISA #démocratie #émancipationnumérique

    #emancipationnumerique #democratie #visa #ethique #numerique #mouvementsocial
  19. minioctt @[email protected] ·

    simulacro yanderico per androidi ed utenti dei mobili (Yandere Simulator Android test e APK)

    Ieri ho scoperto una cosa decisamente piacevole, nella sua ennesima assurdità: da mesi e mesi, se non qualche anno, su Internet circolano build non ufficiali di Yandere Simulator per Android, credo tutte provenienti principalmente da 3 tizi ciascuno subentrato dopo che quello prima si era scocciato (ma, per stavolta, vi e mi risparmierò la lore). Da non credere come quel gioco, in alpha da più di un decennio, riesca ancora ad essere in qualche misura rilevante… 🚬

    Ci sono diverse versioni di #APK, credo tutte create ricavando i sorgenti Unity del gioco a partire dalle build ufficiali e aggiungendo cose come controlli touch. Ma le build di base sono tutte molto vecchie, perché più nuove sono e più lavoro richiedono… sia da parte dei porter, che dei dispositivi, e chi conosce il lato tecnico di Yandere Simulator può immaginare il perché. Quel signorotto non sa proprio programmare. 🪦

    Beh, a questo punto era per me obbligatorio provarlo… avere finalmente sul tablettino il perfetto gioco femcel la sera tardi invece di dormire è ideale per fare immediata esperienza di un piccolissimo ritorno al passato, ad un tempo in cui non sapevo di essere femcel, e quindi non capivo perché questo gioco, oggettivamente di merda, mi catturasse così tanto con la sua violenza inusuale. Ho fatto qualche prova così, e poi sono riuscita a registrare un piccolo gameplay dimostrativo. 🐢

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TUmmlgz2gE

    E tra build antichissima del gioco (credo del 2016!), e delle prestazioni che sono pure peggio del mio vecchio portatile all’epoca o dei PC della scuola più tardi, non poteva esserci un ritorno al passato più accurato. Anche perché, per evitare di impazzire con i controlli touch a bassissimo framerate — precisamente quelli della telecamera, che sono troppo sensibili, e le opzioni per cambiarli non sono disponibili — comunque ci ho giocato con mouse e tastiera, quindi alla fine non sembrava nemmeno di stare su tablet; però oh, girare su #Android non è poco. 💋

    Ci sono appunto più build, che nel mio caso si installano e partono tutte, ma questa da ~850 MB seppur molto vecchia credo sia la più completa che almeno arriva a scuola senza crashare; le altre, da 1 GB e passa, crashano in quel caricamento, pur bloccando tutti i processi in background e attivando RAM Plus a 4 GB (funzione che a questo punto ho il sospetto sia finta sul mio firmware, lasciamo stare). Ma comunque, se già questa fa fatica a reggere pure i 10 FPS, servirebbe davvero un fottuto tablet da gaming per le altre. 🌋

    Nel mentre che, giusto per, raccolgo varie build e gameplay demo di altra gente, linko tutto qui: https://memos.octt.eu.org/m/S2sx7pt55XqEsCULHN8bFe. Attenzione, perché bro (EvaXephon) thinks he is Nintendo, quindi i link di download puntualmente vengono buttati giù… ma io non c’ho lo spazio per ricaricare tutto sul mio server, dove la sysadmin invece se ne sbatte del DMCA, quindi non chiedetemi nulla. 🪅 (Se capita che spariscono APK che nel frattempo io ho e non cancello, almeno quelli li ricarico, ma per ora non mi metto a fare la preservazione.)

    #Android #APK #YanDroid #YandereSimulator #GalaxyTabS6Lite

    #galaxytabs6lite #yanderesimulator #yandroid #apk #android
  20. Scott's Game Room @[email protected] ·

    The Best Chaos Campaign

    Chaos Campaign is a lightweight campaign framework for BattleTech that was introduced about 20 years ago for the Jihad sourcebooks. BattleTech had supported campaign-style play before then, but it was with a complex system that asked players to track C-Bills, individual supplies, all of their support personnel, etc. Chaos Campaign, originally just called the Warchest Point System, was much more streamlined. It provided a lightweight way to link together games in a campaign while players just had to keep track of abstract points representing their war chest which could be used for repairs, purchasing new equipment and personnel, and paying to get to the next battle.

    Since its first introduction, the Chaos Campaign system has seen a good amount of support as well as refinements. In addition to being the campaign system for the Jihad sourcebooks, Chaos Campaign was supported by numerous Turning Points pdfs covering conflicts throughout BattleTech’s history. A free Chaos Campaign: Succession Wars version was released in 2019, and it powered the Tukayyid campaign book that was part of the Clan Invasion Kickstarter.

    The Mercenaries box set and new Hot Spots: Hinterlands book have introduced the latest refinement of the Chaos Campaign system. Focused on running a relatively small mercenary unit, it allows for players to sign contracts and then fight battles to chart their unit’s future. It is by far my favorite iteration on the campaign rules thanks to a few improvements.

    Warchest Point System No More

    Previous implementations of the campaign system used two different types of points to track resources. Warchest Points (WP) were the main currency tracked, but then a player needed to convert those to Support Points (SP) in order to spend them on repairs and purchases. The conversion rate was based on the size of the player force. For example, a company would use a conversion factor of 3 (1 per lance), so each WP could convert to 3 SP.

    The Mercenaries version instead uses only SP. A scale number, similar to the old conversion rate, is used as a multiplier for some rewards and costs, but a player only ever tracks SP. While functionally accomplishing the same thing, switching to a single type of resource points makes the system feel a whole lot more streamlined.

    More Granular Repairs

    Another nice change for Mercenaries is more granular repair costs for ‘Mechs. Older versions had repair costs cover fixing all armor or fixing all structure. Mercenaries expands that to have increased costs for repairing ‘Mechs that have been crippled or destroyed. This is a nice change to give players more reason to minimize damage to their units since more damage to it can continue to increase costs.

    Cost-Free Tracks

    Before Mercenaries, costs for running a unit were abstracted into a track cost. In order to play a game, a player’s unit needed to spend a certain number of WP in order to cover their costs to get to the battle. These had always felt odd to me since there wasn’t much story weight behind that mechanic. Mercenaries removes these track costs and replaces them with SP costs for monthly maintenance and transportation costs. This adds a little more tracking for players, but in my opinion feels much more flavorful.

    These more granular costs also support the Mercenaries framing of negotiated mercenary contracts for the player units. A contract can now help cover maintenance costs, transport costs, and other costs in different ratios to give players the experience of different contract types and negotiating for what they care about the most.

    Well-Defined Game Loop

    A nice thing about the Mercenaries system is its well defined game loop for the campaign. Time is tracked in months with players paying their maintenance costs and taking in their base pay at the start of each month. Then they can play a number of tracks during that month depending on the specifics of their contract. After each track, they collect combat pay and can make repairs. Then when a contract ends, they have the opportunity to pick there next one.

    The contracts also are multiples of 3 months in length (with most at 3 or 6 months), so in a big multi-player campaign, they provide nice quarterly snap points where players can shuffle around their pairings at different hot spots.

    Battle Value as Cost

    A change in the Hot Spots book is that the cost to purchase units is now based on their battle value. Previous Chaos Campaign versions had based the costs on tonnage. Battle Value, as a measure of unit effectiveness, nicely makes it feel a bit like prices are aligned with demand for units. From a gameplay perspective, it also means that players will be getting about balanced combat effectiveness for purchase costsl

    Limits to Scale

    While I like the change to Scale, I think it also brings some potential limitations to the system. The Scale system couples the size of a player force, the pay of a contract, and the size of games played, and it uses Battle Value (BV) as the measure of that. I think the BV definitions for Scale levels is great for a more open GM-less play mode, but for narrative GM-run campaigns, it would be nice to have alternate definitions based on the count of units. This is something that would be pretty easy for a GM to house rule though.

    The other issue with Scale that I see is that advancing the scale of contract currently requires also playing bigger games. That feels like a good fit for the small scale units that are a focus of Hot Spots: Hinterlands, but I’m not sure how or if the concept will work for something like managing a company of mercenaries since conceptually I’d want company-scale contracts but not playing games with the whole company on the table at once.

    Built for Battlefield Support

    One disappointment for me with Hot Spots: Hinterlands was its lackluster support for players who don’t want to use the new Battlefield Support Assets rules. It says that players are welcome to use either the new rules or full vehicle rules, but most of the book assumes that the assets will be used. For example, here’s one of the potential complications while fighting on Apostica:

    Your forces are ill-prepared for the dusty, sandy terrain of the day. The Threshold of all Battlefield Support Assets is reduced by one, while all
    Battlefield Support Asset MP are cut in half, rounding up.

    That doesn’t let players know how the complication would affect their forces if they are using full vehicle rules rather than assets. Alpha Strike, which doesn’t have assets at all and always uses its standard vehicle rules, runs into the same problem. Unless bits like that are fixed in errata, players who aren’t using assets will need to come to agreements on how rules written with an assumption that assets are being used should impact their non-‘Mech forces.

    How Do Force Manuals Fit In?

    A product that I want to see in the future from CGL is something to link the new force creation rules in the Force Manual line to the updated Chaos Campaign: Mercenaries campaign system. Right now, it feels like players can build a flavorful force with the Force Manuals, but there’s no official guidelines to then use that force in the updated campaign system.

    Hot Spots, Coming in Hot

    One last issue is that the Hot Spots: Hinterlands book has a few big errors in it with some missing pieces. These are being addressed as errata, but it is still a frustration for folks who bought the physical book. Hopefully CGL will be able to take more time on the recently announced Hot Spots: Draconis Reach and have fewer issues make it to print.

    #BattleTech #ChaosCampaign #HotSpots #Mercenaries

    #battletech #chaoscampaign #hotspots #mercenaries
  21. Jon Awbrey @[email protected] ·

    Differential Propositional Calculus • 3.2
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/12

    Casual Introduction (cont.)

    Figure 1 represents a universe of discourse X together with a basis of discussion {q} for expressing propositions about the contents of that universe. Once the quality q is given a name, say, the symbol “q”, we have the basis for a formal language specifically cut out for discussing X in terms of q. That language is more formally known as the “propositional calculus” with alphabet {“q”}.

    In the context marked by X and {q} there are just four distinct pieces of information which can be expressed in the corresponding propositional calculus, namely, the constant proposition False, the negative proposition ¬q, the positive proposition q, and the constant proposition True.

    For example, referring to the points in Figure 1, the constant proposition False holds of no points, the negative proposition ¬q holds of a and d, the positive proposition q holds of b and c, and the constant proposition True holds of all points in the sample.

    Figure 3 preserves the same universe of discourse and extends the basis of discussion to a set of two qualities, {q, dq}. In corresponding fashion, the initial propositional calculus is extended by means of the enlarged alphabet, {“q”, “dq”}.

    Resources —

    Logic Syllabus
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/logic-s

    Survey of Differential Logic
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/02

    #Peirce #Logic #LogicalGraphs #DifferentialLogic #DiscreteDynamicalSystems
    #BooleanFunctions #BooleanDifferenceCalculus #CalculusOfLogicalDifferences
    #PropositionalCalculus #DifferentialPropositionalCalculus #LogicalDynamics

    #logicaldynamics #differentialpropositionalcalculus #propositionalcalculus #calculusoflogicaldifferences #booleandifferencecalculus #booleanfunctions
  22. Jon Awbrey @[email protected] ·

    Differential Propositional Calculus • 3.2
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/12

    Casual Introduction (cont.)

    Figure 1 represents a universe of discourse X together with a basis of discussion {q} for expressing propositions about the contents of that universe. Once the quality q is given a name, say, the symbol “q”, we have the basis for a formal language specifically cut out for discussing X in terms of q. That language is more formally known as the “propositional calculus” with alphabet {“q”}.

    In the context marked by X and {q} there are just four distinct pieces of information which can be expressed in the corresponding propositional calculus, namely, the constant proposition False, the negative proposition ¬q, the positive proposition q, and the constant proposition True.

    For example, referring to the points in Figure 1, the constant proposition False holds of no points, the negative proposition ¬q holds of a and d, the positive proposition q holds of b and c, and the constant proposition True holds of all points in the sample.

    Figure 3 preserves the same universe of discourse and extends the basis of discussion to a set of two qualities, {q, dq}. In corresponding fashion, the initial propositional calculus is extended by means of the enlarged alphabet, {“q”, “dq”}.

    Resources —

    Logic Syllabus
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/logic-s

    Survey of Differential Logic
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/02

    #Peirce #Logic #LogicalGraphs #DifferentialLogic #DiscreteDynamicalSystems
    #BooleanFunctions #BooleanDifferenceCalculus #CalculusOfLogicalDifferences
    #PropositionalCalculus #DifferentialPropositionalCalculus #LogicalDynamics

    #logicaldynamics #differentialpropositionalcalculus #propositionalcalculus #calculusoflogicaldifferences #booleandifferencecalculus #booleanfunctions
  23. Jon Awbrey @[email protected] ·

    Differential Propositional Calculus • 3.2
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/12

    Casual Introduction (cont.)

    Figure 1 represents a universe of discourse X together with a basis of discussion {q} for expressing propositions about the contents of that universe. Once the quality q is given a name, say, the symbol “q”, we have the basis for a formal language specifically cut out for discussing X in terms of q. That language is more formally known as the “propositional calculus” with alphabet {“q”}.

    In the context marked by X and {q} there are just four distinct pieces of information which can be expressed in the corresponding propositional calculus, namely, the constant proposition False, the negative proposition ¬q, the positive proposition q, and the constant proposition True.

    For example, referring to the points in Figure 1, the constant proposition False holds of no points, the negative proposition ¬q holds of a and d, the positive proposition q holds of b and c, and the constant proposition True holds of all points in the sample.

    Figure 3 preserves the same universe of discourse and extends the basis of discussion to a set of two qualities, {q, dq}. In corresponding fashion, the initial propositional calculus is extended by means of the enlarged alphabet, {“q”, “dq”}.

    Resources —

    Logic Syllabus
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/logic-s

    Survey of Differential Logic
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/02

    #Peirce #Logic #LogicalGraphs #DifferentialLogic #DiscreteDynamicalSystems
    #BooleanFunctions #BooleanDifferenceCalculus #CalculusOfLogicalDifferences
    #PropositionalCalculus #DifferentialPropositionalCalculus #LogicalDynamics

    #logicaldynamics #differentialpropositionalcalculus #propositionalcalculus #calculusoflogicaldifferences #booleandifferencecalculus #booleanfunctions
  24. Jon Awbrey @[email protected] ·

    Differential Propositional Calculus • 3.2
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/12

    Casual Introduction (cont.)

    Figure 1 represents a universe of discourse X together with a basis of discussion {q} for expressing propositions about the contents of that universe. Once the quality q is given a name, say, the symbol “q”, we have the basis for a formal language specifically cut out for discussing X in terms of q. That language is more formally known as the “propositional calculus” with alphabet {“q”}.

    In the context marked by X and {q} there are just four distinct pieces of information which can be expressed in the corresponding propositional calculus, namely, the constant proposition False, the negative proposition ¬q, the positive proposition q, and the constant proposition True.

    For example, referring to the points in Figure 1, the constant proposition False holds of no points, the negative proposition ¬q holds of a and d, the positive proposition q holds of b and c, and the constant proposition True holds of all points in the sample.

    Figure 3 preserves the same universe of discourse and extends the basis of discussion to a set of two qualities, {q, dq}. In corresponding fashion, the initial propositional calculus is extended by means of the enlarged alphabet, {“q”, “dq”}.

    Resources —

    Logic Syllabus
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/logic-s

    Survey of Differential Logic
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/02

    #Peirce #Logic #LogicalGraphs #DifferentialLogic #DiscreteDynamicalSystems
    #BooleanFunctions #BooleanDifferenceCalculus #CalculusOfLogicalDifferences
    #PropositionalCalculus #DifferentialPropositionalCalculus #LogicalDynamics

    #peirce #logic #logicalgraphs #differentiallogic #discretedynamicalsystems #booleanfunctions
  25. Jon Awbrey @[email protected] ·

    Differential Propositional Calculus • 3.2
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/12

    Casual Introduction (cont.)

    Figure 1 represents a universe of discourse X together with a basis of discussion {q} for expressing propositions about the contents of that universe. Once the quality q is given a name, say, the symbol “q”, we have the basis for a formal language specifically cut out for discussing X in terms of q. That language is more formally known as the “propositional calculus” with alphabet {“q”}.

    In the context marked by X and {q} there are just four distinct pieces of information which can be expressed in the corresponding propositional calculus, namely, the constant proposition False, the negative proposition ¬q, the positive proposition q, and the constant proposition True.

    For example, referring to the points in Figure 1, the constant proposition False holds of no points, the negative proposition ¬q holds of a and d, the positive proposition q holds of b and c, and the constant proposition True holds of all points in the sample.

    Figure 3 preserves the same universe of discourse and extends the basis of discussion to a set of two qualities, {q, dq}. In corresponding fashion, the initial propositional calculus is extended by means of the enlarged alphabet, {“q”, “dq”}.

    Resources —

    Logic Syllabus
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/logic-s

    Survey of Differential Logic
    • inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/02

    #Peirce #Logic #LogicalGraphs #DifferentialLogic #DiscreteDynamicalSystems
    #BooleanFunctions #BooleanDifferenceCalculus #CalculusOfLogicalDifferences
    #PropositionalCalculus #DifferentialPropositionalCalculus #LogicalDynamics

    #logicaldynamics #differentialpropositionalcalculus #propositionalcalculus #calculusoflogicaldifferences #booleandifferencecalculus #booleanfunctions
  26. Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] ·

    For me, the episcopal ministry has been a very special grace, the opportunity God gives me to be able to serve as a pastor to God’s people. The most difficult thing has been to fight against my egoism, my own sin, my human limitations, my imperfections, but as Saint Paul says, when we are weak, then we are strong (Cf. 2 Cor 2:10).

    Bishop Silvio José Báez, o.c.d.
    Auxiliary Bishop of Managua
    Titular Bishop of Zica

    Silvio José Báez, o.c.d. is one of nineteen living bishops who are affiliated with the Discalced Carmelite order; he is the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Managua.

    Bishop Báez began his Discalced Carmelite formation in the General Delegation of Central America in 1979 and was ordained a priest on 15 January 1985. He pursued advanced studies in Sacred Scripture, biblical geography, and archeology, not only in Rome but also in Jerusalem.

    In 1999, Bishop Báez defended his doctoral thesis in biblical theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on the subject, Tiempo de callar y tiempo de hablar: el silencio en la Biblia Hebrea (A time to keep silence, and a time to speak: Silence in the Hebrew Bible).

    Going on to serve as a seminary professor, Bishop Báez authored numerous articles and books, and has been a frequent speaker at conferences and retreats. He also served as a member of the Council of the Discalced Carmelite friars’ General Delegation of Central America.

    In 2006 Bishop Báez was appointed Vice-President of the Pontifical Faculty of Theology Teresianum in Rome, where he was a Professor of Sacred Scripture, also teaching Biblical Theology and Spirituality; in addition, he was the editor of the theology journal Teresianum. On 9 April 2009 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Managua and Titular Bishop of Zica.

    On 30 May 2009 Silvio José Báez, o.c.d., was consecrated bishop in the Cathedral of Managua. The principal consecrator was Archbishop Leopoldo José Brenes Solórzano, Archbishop of Managua; the principal co-consecrators were the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Henryk Józef Nowacki,  and Bishop César Bosco Vivas Robelo, Bishop of León en Nicaragua.

    You may view Bishop Báez’s episcopal lineage here.

    The coat of arms of Bishop Silvio José Báez, o.c.d. reflects his background as a native of Nicaragua — seen in the image of the volcano and the lake on the left — and as a Discalced Carmelite friar, exemplified by the emblem of the Order on the right. At the base of the shield is the scripture with the Greek letters Alpha and Omega (Rev. 22:13). The bishop’s motto is, “Por tu Palabra” (By thy Word).
    Image credit: SajoR / Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved)

    Featured image: Bishop Báez is seen with pilgrims at World Youth Day in Panama, January 2019. Image credit: Silvio José Báez Facebook page (Used by permission)

    https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/29/baez-30may2009/

    #anniversary #AuxiliaryBishop #BishopSilvioJoséBáez #consecration #DiscalcedCarmelite #episcopalLineage #friars #Managua #ministry #pastor #StPaul

    #stpaul #pastor #ministry #managua #friars #episcopallineage
  27. Carmelite Quotes @[email protected] ·

    For me, the episcopal ministry has been a very special grace, the opportunity God gives me to be able to serve as a pastor to God’s people. The most difficult thing has been to fight against my egoism, my own sin, my human limitations, my imperfections, but as Saint Paul says, when we are weak, then we are strong (Cf. 2 Cor 2:10).

    Bishop Silvio José Báez, o.c.d.
    Auxiliary Bishop of Managua
    Titular Bishop of Zica

    Silvio José Báez, o.c.d. is one of nineteen living bishops who are affiliated with the Discalced Carmelite order; he is the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Managua.

    Bishop Báez began his Discalced Carmelite formation in the General Delegation of Central America in 1979 and was ordained a priest on 15 January 1985. He pursued advanced studies in Sacred Scripture, biblical geography, and archeology, not only in Rome but also in Jerusalem.

    In 1999, Bishop Báez defended his doctoral thesis in biblical theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on the subject, Tiempo de callar y tiempo de hablar: el silencio en la Biblia Hebrea (A time to keep silence, and a time to speak: Silence in the Hebrew Bible).

    Going on to serve as a seminary professor, Bishop Báez authored numerous articles and books, and has been a frequent speaker at conferences and retreats. He also served as a member of the Council of the Discalced Carmelite friars’ General Delegation of Central America.

    In 2006 Bishop Báez was appointed Vice-President of the Pontifical Faculty of Theology Teresianum in Rome, where he was a Professor of Sacred Scripture, also teaching Biblical Theology and Spirituality; in addition, he was the editor of the theology journal Teresianum. On 9 April 2009 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Managua and Titular Bishop of Zica.

    On 30 May 2009 Silvio José Báez, o.c.d., was consecrated bishop in the Cathedral of Managua. The principal consecrator was Archbishop Leopoldo José Brenes Solórzano, Archbishop of Managua; the principal co-consecrators were the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Henryk Józef Nowacki,  and Bishop César Bosco Vivas Robelo, Bishop of León en Nicaragua.

    You may view Bishop Báez’s episcopal lineage here.

    The coat of arms of Bishop Silvio José Báez, o.c.d. reflects his background as a native of Nicaragua — seen in the image of the volcano and the lake on the left — and as a Discalced Carmelite friar, exemplified by the emblem of the Order on the right. At the base of the shield is the scripture with the Greek letters Alpha and Omega (Rev. 22:13). The bishop’s motto is, “Por tu Palabra” (By thy Word).
    Image credit: SajoR / Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved)

    Featured image: Bishop Báez is seen with pilgrims at World Youth Day in Panama, January 2019. Image credit: Silvio José Báez Facebook page (Used by permission)

    https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/29/baez-30may2009/

    #anniversary #AuxiliaryBishop #BishopSilvioJoséBáez #consecration #DiscalcedCarmelite #episcopalLineage #friars #Managua #ministry #pastor #StPaul

    #anniversary #auxiliarybishop #bishopsilviojosebaez #consecration #discalcedcarmelite #episcopallineage
  28. DoomsdaysCW @[email protected] ·

    My #FollowFriday list for this week has an emphasis on #EarthDefenders, #ClimateJustice and #ClimateNews! I've included descriptions from respective accounts. Suggestions welcome for the next round...!

    @davidho
    “#Climate scientist working on the #ocean #carbon cycle and verification of ocean carbon dioxide removal (#CDR). Founder, Bamboo #Bike Project; co-founder and Director of Science at [C]Worthy. Professor at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa; also at Columbia University in NYC and École normale supérieure in Paris.”

    @brianpjcronin
    "#Environmental Reporter for The Highlands Current: An award-winning, non-profit, independent newspaper in New York's Hudson Valley. I also teach journalism at Marist College. Not actually a cat."

    @pvonhellermannn
    "#RegenerativeAnthropology and/as #ClimateAction
    #ClimateDiary; writing book about palm oil; political and historical ecology, climate justice, commoning"

    @primonatura
    "A passionate #Environmentalist curating a daily news feed about the #Environment & #ClimateChange.
    My hobbies include using my DSLR camera, mapping on Open Street Maps, listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks on topics such as #Geology, #Nature, #Geoscience, #Sustainability, #Climate, technology & privacy."

    @rahmstorf
    "Head of Earth System Analysis at the Potsdam Institute for #ClimateImpact Research; professor of Physics of the Oceans at Potsdam University; dad. Opinions my own!"

    @Snoro
    "#environnement #Montréal #Québec #changementsclimatiques #gay #vélo #polqc #climat #LGBTQQIP2SAA #pollution #égalité #femmes #gai #gauche #équité #justice "

    @ambiente
    “Le notizie più importanti e gli alert mondiali sull'ambiente e l'ecologia selezionate dagli utenti di diggita.com”

    @godsouza
    “Sustainable Mid Peninsula, compost, diversity, cooking, bikes, subsistence, pedestrian cities, half earth. Born 309 ppm of CO2”

    @ZLabe
    “#ClimateScientist (Atmospheric) PhD | Postdoc at Princeton University & NOAA GFDL | UC Irvine and Cornell University alum | Sharing data-driven stories | Be kind | Views are my own”

    @[email protected] [Account defunct]
    “Your guide to #ClimateCollapse.”

    @ExtinctionR
    “Global non-violent direct action movement demanding a response to the climate and #ecological emergency. Donate at bit.ly/supportxr”

    @UnicornRiot
    “Independent media amplifying stories from the frontlines of social and environmental struggles."

    @PariaSansPortefeuille
    “« Si vous voulez aider la planète, plantez un arbre. Si vous voulez la sauver, plantez un riche » - François Avard”

    @fff
    “#FridaysForFuture – oder auch: "Dreimal F, F ist am sechsten Platz im Alphabet, also in dem Fall 666, da weiß man ja auch wieder, wer dahinter steckt.”

    @ClimateMigration
    “Follows and boosts #climate and #ClimateScience experts.”

    @Bentley
    “Host of @ClimateHubYYC's A Climate of Change zoomcast and The Climate Lens podcast, AB Regional Organizer for @Reality_Canada. Tweets are my own. #yyc”

    @xrfrance
    “Mouvement international de Désobéissance Civile Non-Violente pour la protection du vivant ”

    @earthfirst - Sadly, this account hasn't posted in a while...
    "The Earth First! Journal is the voice of the radical environmental movement. Published quarterly, it contains reports on direct action; articles on the preservation of wilderness and biological diversity; news and announcements about #EarthFirst! and other radical environmental groups. Follow for updates about the EF! Journal, snarky ecoposting, and updates on the struggle to minimize and adapt to climate catastrophe."

    #FridayFollows #ClimateJusticeAccounts

    #followfriday #earthdefenders #climatejustice #climatenews #climate #ocean
  29. RetroGralnia @[email protected] ·


    Po wielu latach przerwy powraca Tydzień z Retro – w nowej formie – programu informacyjnego. Czy się przyjmie? Zobaczymy!

    💰 WSPARCIE:
    tipply.pl/u/retrogralnia
    patronite.pl/RetroGralnia
    youtube.com/retrogralniapl/joi

    Na forum AtariAge pojawiła się informacja, że dostępna jest nowa wersja portowanej już od 2018 roku na Atari kommodorowskiej gry 'Flimbo’s Quest.

    Linki:
    forums.atariage.com/topic/3530
    forums.atariage.com/applicatio

    Włostała udostępniona trzecia publiczna wersja alpha języka programowania AMOS Pro oferującego obsługę chipsetu AGA z obsługą ekranów w niskiej i wysokiej rozdzielczości w 256 kolorach i trybie HAM8, możliwość wczytywania i zapisywania obrazów o powyższych parametrach i wielu wielu innych bajerach.

    Linki
    ppa.pl/aktualnosci/amos-profes
    amos-professional-unity.freder

    Grupa TND wydało nową grę na Commodore 64 o nazwie „Lunar City”; Jest to tytuł z gatunku strzelanek kosmicznych zainspirowana grą Atlantis dla komputerów ATARI.

    Linki
    richard-tnd.itch.io/lunar-city

    Jeśli chcecie zagrać sobie na nowszej konsoli w jakiegoś shoot them upa, to właśnie na Ps4 i switcha…nie za nowe te konsole w sumie…pojawił się Mad Shark, gra będąca klonem Raidena z początku lat ‘90.

    Linki:
    timeextension.com/news/2023/08

    Frogger na Amidze? To możliwe? Oczywiście. I to nie taki zwykły frogger, ale port wersji arcadowe jeden do jednego, oparty na analizie oryginalnego kodu maszynowego dla procesora Z80 i przepisany dokładnie dla procesora Motorola 68000.

    Linki:
    rmjoejoe.itch.io/frogger500

    Pamiętacie tą magiczną karte SD, tą magiczną dystrybucję linuxa, która zamienia w prosty sposób Raspberry pi 400 w Commodore 64 i nie tylko? To Combian 64! Mam dobre wieści – właśnie została wydana jego kolejna wersja – wersja 2.8.

    Linki:
    cmaiolino.wordpress.com/

    Coś dla fanów zastępowania działających płyt głównych w starych konsolach i komputerach – nowymi ich odpowiednikami, Dzis nie C64, nie atari, nie amiga, ale Famicom.

    Linki:

    Famicom Motherboard Replacement by Retro Game Restore

    RGR Famicom HVC-CPU-07 Main Board repro

    8bit do wypuścił właśnie dongle, który po włożeniu do Sony PS1 i PS2 pozwala Wam na używanie z tymi retro konsolami współczesnych.

    Linki:
    8bitdo.com/retro-receiver-for-

    Jeśli za młodu graliście na swoim Game Boyu w grę – Bill & Ted’s Excellent Game Boy Adventure -możecie w nią zagrać na Commodore 64 – dzięki nowemu portowi.

    Linki:
    romwer.itch.io/billandted

    🔴 ZASUBSKRYBUJ NASZ KANAŁ!
    youtube.com/retrogralniapl?sub

    🔴SERWER DISCORD RG

    Discord

    ✅ FACEBOOK:
    FB.com/RetroGralnia

    ✅ STRONA:
    retrogralnia.pl

    ✅ MUZEUM GRY I KOMPUTERY MINIONEJ ERY:

    Muzeum Gry i Komputery

    🎵 Muzyka w tle:
    youtube.com/c/momentvm

    #RetroSprzęt #RetroGaming #TheGameIsNotOver

    https://retrogralnia.pl/%f0%9f%93%b0-tydzien-z-retro-program-informacyjny/

    #Atari #Atari2600 #atariGry #atariNoweGry #atariRetrogralnia #gryAtari #gryNaAtari #gryRetro #konsolaAtari #konsolaAtari2600 #konsolaAtari2600NaXxiWiek #konsolaAtariRetrogralnia #nowaKonsolaAtari #nowaKonsolaAtari2600 #noweAtari #noweGryNaAtari #reroGry #retro #retroGryAtari #RetroGaming #retrogralniaAtari #retrogralniaStaraKonsole #retrogralniaStareKonsole #retron77 #stareKonsoleRetrogralnia #TheGameIsNotOver #tydzieńZRetro

    #tydzienzretro #thegameisnotover #starekonsoleretrogralnia #retron77 #retrogralniastarekonsole #retrogralniastarakonsole
  30. Psychology News Robot @[email protected] ·

    DATE: May 20, 2026 at 06:00PM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
    -------------------------------------------------

    TITLE: Can tuning music to 432Hz really heal you? Scientists explain the viral trend

    URL: psypost.org/can-tuning-music-t

    If you scroll through social media for long enough, you’ll probably find videos claiming that listening to songs tuned to “A 432Hz” can provide an amazing sense of calmness or healing.

    It’s even claimed that listening to music tuned to this frequency can align your internal frequencies to those of the universe. It’s an alluring idea – that simply listening to music tuned in a specific way could improve your health.

    But does it have any scientific basis?

    An ancient idea

    Firstly, what does it even mean if songs are tuned to A 432Hz?

    Hertz (or Hz) is a measurement of frequency, or the number of times sound waves vibrate per second. Sounds are transmitted as waves through the air which hit our eardrums to create the sensation of hearing. The more quickly those sound waves are vibrating, the higher the pitch of the note.

    In standard concert tuning, the note A above middle C is tuned to 440Hz. A 432Hz tuning simply means the pitch of that A and all the other notes in the music are tuned a little lower than normal.

    Some argue 432Hz is closer to natural harmonic frequencies than 440Hz and that using this tuning is therefore better for wellbeing.

    The idea that sounds or music can heal or even align us with the cosmos is not new. Long before social media, the ancient Greeks linked sound to the frequencies of the universe. Pythagoras proposed musical notes were governed by simple numerical ratios, the same ratios he believed underpinned the cosmos itself.

    Later, medieval and Renaissance thinkers built on these ideas with the concept of “music of the spheres” – the idea that sound could be used to align us with the vibrations of the planets in a kind of cosmic harmony that influenced human emotions and wellbeing.

    No magical effect

    Although the concept of cosmic alignment is intriguing, there’s little scientific support for the idea that specific frequencies have any magical effect on wellbeing.

    In one study from 2019, researchers played movie soundtracks tuned to 440 Hz to participants on one day and to 432 Hz on another day, finding that after listening to the 432 Hz tunings participants had slightly decreased heart rate and blood pressure. However, the study was limited by a very small sample and non-randomisation of participants, making it difficult to separate true frequency effects from expectancy or general relaxation responses.

    Modern research suggests the effects of sound or music on wellbeing are less about any single special frequency, and more about how we perceive and interpret sound.

    Some have theorised the use of frequencies that correspond to specific brainwave patterns such as delta waves (0.5–4Hz, associated with deep sleep), or alpha waves (8–12Hz, associated with relaxed wakefulness), can make the brain synchronise to those frequencies and achieve a relaxed state.

    However, research in support of this theory is inconclusive. One study from 2017 found no changes in electrical activity in the brain after hearing such frequencies presented as binaural beats.

    Binaural beats themselves are another form of sound that many claim can have miraculous effects on wellbeing. When two slightly different frequencies are played separately into each ear, the brain perceives a rhythmic pulse at a rate equal to the difference between the two frequencies. This is called a binaural beat.

    There is some evidence that our physiological systems (such as breathing and heart rate) synchronise to any beat that we hear. This can help lower our levels of arousal or alertness.

    That’s why most of us tend to be attracted to slower, calmer sounding music when we want to relax, for example, since the slower beat helps slow our breathing and heart rate and make us feel sleepier or calmer.

    Focusing on your own response

    Does that mean binaural beats have any special therapeutic effect? Not really.

    A recent study found binaural beats can increase relaxation and alter brain activity. But crucially, similar effects were also observed with other types of moving or spatialised sounds. The authors concluded the benefits were likely driven by general auditory features rather than the binaural beats themselves.

    It all comes down to individual preferences and perceptions. For example, binaural beats are frequently associated with meditation or mantras. And it could be this association which enhances the supposed wellbeing effects of binaural beats for some people.

    Similarly with music tuned to A 432Hz.

    Our brains tend to interpret sounds as expressions of emotional states. When humans are relaxed, our voices are usually lower in pitch than when we are excited or agitated.

    Thus, notes of a lower pitch are sometimes perceived as more relaxing than notes that are higher pitched. Again, this doesn’t mean there is anything special or magical about 432Hz tunings – just that for many people, lower pitched notes seem calmer. The same effect could be achieved by listening to other music or frequencies with a lower pitch.

    So while 432Hz might sound soothing to some ears, it’s not a shortcut to cosmic alignment. Rather than thinking about the numbers, focus on really becoming aware of your own response. Notice how different sounds make you feel, what slows your breathing, eases your body, or lifts your mood.

    When it comes to wellbeing, what works is what works for you.

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    URL: psypost.org/can-tuning-music-t

    -------------------------------------------------

    DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.

    Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: clinicians-exchange.org

    Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

    NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot

    Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: nationalpsychologist.com

    EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: subscribe-article-digests.clin

    READ ONLINE: read-the-rss-mega-archive.clin

    It's primitive... but it works... mostly...

    -------------------------------------------------

    #psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist 432HzMythScience HealingHz SoundWellbeing DebunkingMusic FrequenciesDebate MusicAndHealth BinauralBeatsReality FrequencyPerception LowerPitchCalm

    #psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy #mentalhealth #psychiatry
Next page