John Gray Centre

10/06/2026

‼️EVENT NOTICE‼️
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The Local History Centre has had an overwhelmingly swift booking response for this event.
RESERVATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.
Apologies for any disappointments.🙏
Please do look out for future events. Thank you.

09/06/2026

💡Local History Centre 50th Anniversary Newspaper Spotlight:
📰Courier front page this week 50 years ago featured Chief Scout Sir William Gladstone with some Cubs in Gifford.✨

08/06/2026

🎉Local History Centre 50th Anniversary Event🎉
LECTURE: JOHN BELLANY HRSA - 1960S & SELECTED WORKS
Date: 6 July 2026 (Monday)
Time: 5.30 to 6.30pm
Venue: Star Room, John Gray Centre, Haddington
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✨The Local History Centre and the John Gray Centre Museum are delighted to announce that Dr Alexander (Sandy) Moffat OBE RSA will be giving an illustrated presentation on John Bellany, celebrated artist from Port Seton. Sandy will speak about Bellany's activities in the 1960s as well as on some of Bellany's paintings currently on display in the Museum temporary gallery.
✨Sandy himself is a renowned painter, author, teacher, master of the fine arts and is a close friend of John Bellany. Together, they emerged as Scottish Realists because of their social awareness and rejection of the decorative principles that defined much of Scottish art during the first half of the twentieth century.
✨Joining Sandy at the event will be Sandy Wood, Head of Collections at the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA), who will introduce Sandy Moffat and provide insight on this enlightening topic.
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‼PLACES ARE LIMITED TO 40, SO BOOKING IS COMPULSORY.
Please email [email protected] OR telephone: 01620 820680 (Haddington Library).

04/06/2026

03/06/2026

📣LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE 50TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT
✨LH50 Celebrations continue with a special workshop with the Scottish Women's Institute (SWI) .
✨As many will know, the Scottish Women's Institute, historically known as the Rural, was founded in 1917, at Longniddry, by Mrs Catherine Blair, suffragist and member of the Women Social and Political Union (WSPU) during WW1.
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✨To mark LH50 and to celebrate the role that the Scottish Women's Institute plays in women's history in general, and East Lothian's history more specifically, the SWI East Lothian Federation members will be facilitating a flower arrangement and decoupage workshop for members and non-members.
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✨THIS WORKSHOP IS OPEN TO A MAXIMUM OF 10 NON-MEMBERS.
Date: 22nd June 2026 (Monday)
Time: 5.30 to 6.30pm
Venue: Star Room, John Gray Centre
✨THIS EVENT IS FREE-OF-CHARGE. MATERIALS WILL BE PROVIDED.
If you are interested in getting creative or wish to learn something new:
Email: [email protected] or
Tel: 01620 820680 TO BOOK A PLACE.

02/06/2026

💡Local History Centre 50th Anniversary Newspaper Spotlight:
📰Courier front page this week 50 years ago featured the clean-up process on Haddington High Street after the town's first open market.✨

29/05/2026

Look at this gorgeous memory board!

If you have memories of The Brunton that you would like to share - be it attending the panto, giving blood, working there or whatever - get yourself along and pin them up on the board.

If you can't make it along in person, the Archive service are collecting memories as part of the project too. Check out https://www.johngraycentre.org/celebrating-the-brunton/ to see how you can contribute and watch out for our upcoming event & film showcasing those treasured memories already submitted

To celebrate the 55th anniversary of Brunton Hall, we are inviting EVERYONE to share their favourite memories. These stories will help create a lasting legacy, shaping the spirit and story of a brand new building for the future.

To make sure these memories don’t get lost, we have teamed up with East Lothian Council Arts Service to create The Brunton Encore - a fun memory board designed to look like a theatre stage. We are also working with John Gray Centre's Archive service to collect and record images, memories and memorabilia.

So if you have a Brunton memory to add then share it with us using or visit the Brunton foyer within office hours! ✨

26/05/2026

💡Local History Centre 50th Anniversary Newspaper Spotlight:
📰Courier front page this week 50 years ago featured the presentation of the Division III Championship Shield to Haddington R.F.C.✨

25/05/2026

📣LOCAL HISTORY EVENT REMINDER📣:
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⭐️THE HISTORY & ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE TRANENT-COCKENZIE WAGGONWAY
Date: 1st June 2026 (Monday)
Time: 5.30 to 6.30pm
Venue: Star Room, John Gray Centre
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✨THERE ARE STILL PLACES AVAILABLE - HURRY AND MAKE YOUR BOOKING!
Email: [email protected] OR telephone: 01620 820680
Join us for this enlightening community event!

21/05/2026

Screaming Man 1963 by John Bellany, HRSA (1942-2013, oil on canvas.

This painting is part of our current exhibition, John Bellany, HRSA. It was painted when Bellany was a Third-Year student at Edinburgh College of Art, He may have been inspired by Courbet’s self-portrait (The Desperate Man) which he became acquainted with during a visit to Paris in the Spring of 1963.

A similar self-portrait drawing by Bellany from 1963 was exhibited in ‘A Life in Self Portraiture’ at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh in 2025.

The exhibition is part of RSA200: Celebrating Together a partnership project bringing together hundreds of artists, partners, galleries and institutions to mark the bicentenary of the Royal Scottish Academy in 2026. Find out more: royalscottishacademy.org.

John Bellany HRSA opened Friday 17th April and runs to to Saturday 19th September. The museum is open Thursday and Friday from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm, and Saturday from 10am to 1pm and 1.30pm to 4pm.