Contact us

About us

Group of mature men and woman laughing outdoors

About us

The Eric Liddell Community is an Edinburgh care charity and community hub founded in 1980, in memory of the inspirational Olympic gold medallist, Eric Liddell whose win in the 1924 Paris Olympics was the subject of the film ‘Chariots of Fire’.

The charity is housed in a beautiful converted former church giving home to our caring services and community hub.

About us

Our clients and our community are at the core of everything we do: we provide a specialist dementia Day Care Service, along with further dementia support programmes and a wide ranging programme of support for unpaid carers.

All of the services we run are designed to bring us closer to our vision to live in a community where no one feels lonely or isolated. We listen to the people who use our services and use that feedback to continuously improve the services we offer to them.

We have a growing staff team who all bring their professional and lived experience to better meet the needs of those people in our community who need us most. We live out our values in our work; we are compassionate, respectful, inclusive, people-centred, sustainable and led by integrity.

We welcome and invite the local community to join a range of health and wellbeing and community activities from parent and baby groups, fitness classes and yoga hosted in our vibrant Community Hub. We also offer a range of rooms which can be hired for functions or longer-term use, as well as office space.

Our in-house community café, Café Connect, is led by our Chef and Nutritionist, who prepares wholesome meals to our visitors Monday to Friday. The café is open to the public to drop in for lunch or coffee and cake.

Two people enjoying coffee together
Woman laughing while drinking coffee with a friend
Two people laughing over food
Group of mature people laughing outdoors
Father and daughter laughing together

Our Vision

To live in a community where no-one feels lonely or isolated

Our Mission

To bring people together in their local communities to enhance health and wellbeing and have a positive impact on their lives

Our Values

A Heart representing the Eric Liddell Community Compassion value

Compassionate

We care for each other and our community

Two speech bubbles representing the Eric Liddell Community respectful value

Respectful

We treat everyone with dignity

Group of people representing the Eric Liddell Community inclusive value

Inclusive

We ensure fair treatment and opportunity for all

Persons figure representing the Eric Liddell Community people centred value

People Centred

We keep our community at the heart of everything we do

A Heart representing the Eric Liddell Community Compassion value

Sustainability

We look after our people and our planet

Hands shaking representing the Eric Liddell Community integrity value

Led by Integrity

We keep our promises

Meet our team

Two smiling staff members from The Eric Liddell Community
Close up of two Eric Liddell Community staff members smiling
The Eric Liddell Community team members group photo
Smiling Eric Liddell Community staff member
3 Eric Liddell staff members

Dementia and Carers Team

Building Operations Team

Fundraising Team

Finance Team & Support Team

Our Patrons
& Trustees

We are delighted that our charitable work is recognised and supported by our Patrons, Lord David Puttnam CBE, Professor Alexander McCall-Smith CBE, Sue Liddell Caton and HRH The Princess Royal who is the Patron of our The Eric Liddell 100.

Our Board of Trustees have overall control and management of our charity and are responsible for making sure that we work to deliver our charitable purposes.

Exterior of The Eric Liddell Community Hub building

About our building

At the time of its naming, there were four churches situated on the four corners of the road junction linking Colinton Road and Morningside Road, thus earning the name ‘Holy Corner’.

The Community’s building was formerly Morningside North Parish Church and it has been extensively modified to meet the needs of the charity and community which use the building.

One striking feature that remains from the former church is the stained glass which comprises an interesting and varied collection by a number of important 19th and 20th century artists. The windows were restored in 2008 with help from Historic Scotland and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

When the church was built it would probably have been glazed with windows to the pattern of the remaining leaded coloured glass windows. As funds became available, or spaces for memorial windows were required, the original leaded lights were removed and stained and painted glass windows installed.

We are proud to house several exquisite stain glass windows, some of the best examples on 20th Century stain glass in Scotland by artists such as William Wilson RSA (1905-1972) Herbert Hendrie (1887-1947) John Duncan (1866-1945) Margaret Chilton (1875-1962) Marjorie Kemp (1886-1975) and John Richard (1827-1913).

The names of Dickson & Walker, an Edinburgh firm which made leaded windows, appear on the original drawing so it is reasonable to assume that they were responsible for the original glazing. The individuals who were responsible for commissioning artists obviously had considerable knowledge and ensured that the windows matched harmoniously within the building.

There is a book available with high quality colour photographs of the windows and details of the artists.

For information about coming to view our windows, please contact Front Desk at frontdesk@ericliddell.org or call 0131 447 4520.

Our Supporters

We would like to thank the following funders for their ongoing support which allows us to provide vital services to people living with dementia and their carers.