HETRA is a community based organization working as volunteers to improve services for people in their local area, and will continue to influence the many issues that have arisen including road safety, estate inspections, rents, local improvements, funding, housing policy and much more…

HETRA are looking for new members of the community to come along to the regular monthly meetings to share their views, ideas and issues as well as explore options to instigate any appropriate changes within the area that will benefit the whole community. 

To see a list of streets  within the HETRA area, go to the bottom of this page.

Our meetings
​HETRA hold their meetings every month in the Nungate and Haddington Community Centre. 
​These meetings are used to discuss topics concerning the public and the members of the local area. 

Meeting Dates
AGM - 7pm, Monday 5th February 2024, Nungate Centre, Haddington
For agenda, see the HETRA minutes for January 2024 below.
Project Work

Buddying Project
Haddington East Tenants and Residents Association is happy to announce that they have been awarded a total amount of £2500 to support their new and innovative ‘Buddying Project’. Both Haddington and Lammermuir Area Partnership and Dunbar and East Linton Area Partnership have awarded their ‘Buddying Project’ £1250 each to enable this project to support people experiencing mental health issues across these areas. 
 
In recent times the group have been struggling to meet due to the lockdown, but have been getting and giving support to each other by telephone one by one. We are all keen to be able to meet again when allowed and are delighted that the new head Steven at Meadow Park School has agreed we can continue to use the annex of his school when the rules allow. We are so pleased we will get back to our original venue which we much valued. Anyone wishing to find out more please contact [email protected] or Alan Dunton 01630822533. 
 
The Mental Health Peer Support Project is a unique resource for mental health support and due to the constant changes in Guidance, they have developed a ‘buddying’ programme for people to meet in ‘pairs’ on a rotational basis in order to continue to keep people engaged, reduce isolation and loneliness, encourage going outside of their home in order to help keep their mental health as ‘good’ as possible. The group always adhere to the Government Guidance around Covid-19 and adapt accordingly. 
The group promote ‘acceptance’ and being non judgemental of each other and others’; and how all of the community can be supportive of each other whether they have a mental health issue/illness or not. 

Here are some of the comments by participants: 

"It is a reason to get up in the morning"
“it is a safe space to go and just be"
“I have learned how to cook"
“ it is the only time in the week I socialise with others"
"it definitely improves my own mental health"
"made new friends"
"companionship"
"starting this group, not realising that I may really need it at some point"
"gets you out of the house"
"stops me from being depressed"
"comfort from sharing experiences"
"I receive supportive listening and responses from people who have had similar experiences"
"I am more confident to do other things in my community"
"it is fun"

Originally (2017), based in Meadowpark Annexe and with great support from the headteacher, the group has had success in drawing in people from Haddington, Dunbar and further afield. It has worked co-operatively with the school to secure £8000 of funding from new build projects to build a wildlife and community garden at the school. It has also received funding from Haddington and Lammermuir Area Partnership in the early days as well as Tesco Bags for Life Project and the local Rotary club. HETRA and the Peer Project were finalists in the TIS annual awards in 2018 and 2020 and won the ELTRP – Sparkle Award - Contribution to the Community in 2020. 

Members find out about the group from word of mouth, Eastspace, Facebook etc., and can self refer with just a message or phone call.  At the present time, the group has a core group from Haddington and Dunbar, North Berwick and others’ who drop in and out. Each of these members has an equal say in decision making and the group functions by consensus. 

Covid-19 has had a very disruptive effect on the group and they have worked very hard to overcome the impact it has had on the functioning of the group and the mental health of individual members. The ‘buddying project’ is a programme that has been developed that allows the group to meet as peers to support and be supported by one another, addressing issues of isolation and loneliness, with the capacity to adapt quickly to changing Covid-19 threat levels and mixing and distancing advice. We have run trials of different aspects of the programme and these have been popular and successful in achieving our objectives. 
 
This is really exciting for HETRA and the Mental Health Peer Support Group to take forward in 2021 and beyond. 

Local Park 
Haddington East TRA has been working with Cllr Akhtar to develop and upgrade their local park. Together they have attained enough funding for a complete overhaul. This is what Cllr Akhtar had to say: 
​
“As a Councillor I passionately believe in working alongside your local community to help make a difference. And this was a perfect example of a local issue that needed to be addressed and the local community deciding how best to take it forward. Our starting point was a large park area with some of the play equipment having to be removed due to its safety. This left a big park space and a clear message from the local community to improve the local facilities for the children and families in the area.

In this situation, Haddington East Tenant’s & Residents Association (HETRA) and the Nungate Gala were the perfect local organisations for me to work with to take this forward. I was delighted to work with Alan Dunton, Chair of HETRA who organised an open community meeting.

At the first meeting there was a great turn out and the opportunity to talk to local residents who told us what they would like to see in the playpark. HETRA worked with the local community to come up with ideas as to what they wanted to see in their local area.

This gave me enough evidence for an application to the Local Housing Partnership who agreed to fund £50,000 towards the play equipment. The playparks team produced a number of options for the local community to decide upon.

For the next stage I’m hugely grateful to Liz McDougal from the Nungate Gala who let me hold a stall at their Santa’s Grotto and Christmas tree lighting ceremony. I put the options on display and hundreds of children and families told us their views. The playpark options were also at the Library in Haddington to enable anyone who missed the Christmas event. This helped to determine which option to take forward and it being very clearly decided by the local community.
And here we are a new playpark that will be ready over the next week for children to enjoy during the summer holidays. That’s how to engage with the local community and make a difference.”

Cllr Shamin Akhtar, Haddington & Lammermuir Ward [email protected] 07718 669 395
Haddington East TRA would like to thank Cllr Akhtar for all her hard work and they are looking forward for the playpark to be completed over the coming months. 

*** 
The Play Park was opened at the end of the summer and proved a hit immediately.
We now have another to think about. A small one near Lamamuir Crescent, which we identified at a past Estate Inspections as needing upgrading, had now been certified as unsafe and will shortly be demolished. We will be working as soon as we can meet safely to plan it's replacement and to find sources of money to pay for it. 

Our area: 

If you live in any of the following streets, you are welcome to join Haddington East Tenants & Residents Association (HETRA): 
Seggarsdean Park 
Seggarsdean Crescent 
Seggarsdean Terrace 
Seggarsdean Court 
Amisfield Park 
Amisfield Place 
Bearford Place 
Monkrigg Road 
Monkrigg Place 
Monkmains Road 
Whittinghame Drive 
Gifford Road 
Nungate Gardens 
Briery Bank 
Gifford Gate 
St Martin's Close 
St Martin's Gate 
St Martin's Place 
St Martin's Court 
Lynn Lea Avenue 
Lammermuir Crescent 
Lennox Road 
Bridge Street 
Ford Road 
Tyne Court 
Dunollie Gardens 
Park Road 
Kirk View 
Priory Walk 
Goodalls Place 
Artillery Park 
Craig Avenue 
Traprain Terrace 
Abbots View 
Riverside Drive 
Riverside Place 
Dunbar Road (even numbers 2-44 & odd numbers 31-53) 
Goatfield (odd numbers 23-29) 

Contact Us 

Our Chair is Alan Dunton, if you live in the area and would like to know more, contact Alan: 
​
Alan Dunton 
40 Nungate Gardens 
EH41 4EE 
07749 773 828