‘It’s just vital’: Edinburgh activists rally to protect Astley Ainslie’s green space

The grounds of the city's 100-year-old convalescent hospital, under threat from development, are home to thousands of trees, some endangered

Fiona Brownlee and her grandchildren were among the first to sign up to help protect the rare and endangered trees that populate the grounds of Astley Ainslie, a century-old convalescence hospital in south Edinburgh being eyed up by housing developers.

Harry Brownlee, four, befriended a Lawson cypress; Carys, seven, a Holm oak; Ella, five, a white willow and Ava Strachan, eight, a horse chestnut. Fiona, a retired paediatric occupational therapist who started her training at Astley Ainslie in 1966, grabbed a Spanish chestnut. Her grandchildren, who live locally, play in the landscaped grounds of the hospital.