1962 – Jim Cunningham reminded me of another story where my brother came to the rescue. Jim was playing with pals on a rope swing in the Hedgie. which was above the Tannery Falls as shown in the photo.

The Hedgie was an area that was inaccessible to everyone, except the boys, because it had a very high wall at the back of one of the house’s on Dean Path, which housed the bin’s Area.

Jim’s pal Ian Reid was swinging out over the river when the rope snapped and he fell into the river. They pulled him out not knowing that both his wrists had been broken ! The only way to get him out of the Hedgie was to climb over the high wall where the Mackins family lived at the top of Dean Path.

They couldn’t get Ian Reid over the wall so the Mackin children fetched my brother Ian who managed to get him over the high wall, which was really difficult, given the severe pain that Ian Reid was experiencing.

In 1977 the Hedgie was opened to the Public and is now part of the “Water of Leith Walkway”.