Gullane & “The Fire School"
How could anyone fail to be impressed by this building?
Imagine the excitement in the village in 1899, when the Hopes of Luffness announced they were to build a hotel in Gullane right next to the railway terminus, then only a year old
The railway was to bring visitors in their thousands, some 20,900 were counted through in 1900 along with a measure of prosperity to the village. As the work proceeded, imagine the gossip amongst the 500 or so inhabitants, the exclamations at the beautiful woodwork, the lofty rooms, the sweep of the magnificent staircase, the “tower” with its prospect for miles around
Move on through two world wars, when the army requisitioned it, to peace in 1945 and the hope that once again, the Marine Hotel, Gullane, would bring employment and status to the village. For a few years, it did so. Molly Alderson, who was to work at the Fire School in later years, but had come through from Dumfries after the war to work for the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers at Muirfield, remembers the dances she was invited to at the Marine by the golfers who stayed there. But it was not to be sustained and with its closure in 1951, the prospect was of a crumbling white elephant, a depressing ruin on the approach from the east
To the rescue came the Trustees of the “Fire Service Research and Training Trust”, a U.K body. They were persuaded by the Scottish Home and Health Department of the Scottish Office to provide £13,500 in 1953 to acquire the former hotel, as well as 3 acres of adjoining land “for recreational purposes” at £306 7s. 2d (to include legal fees). This would enable the Scottish Fire Service Training School to move from unsuitable premises at Moredun, Paisley, to pastures new in Gullane and signalled the beginning of a relationship with the village that was to be to the benefit of both parties