MIkaeel memorial at Linear Park tomorrow

‘Loss, like love, never fades away into nothingness’ – Bangarpet Krishnaswamy, Mikaeel’s grandfather

A memorial service for Mikaeel Kular will be at Muirhouse Linear Park tomorrow, with a minute’s silence at 6.15pm. Members of the wee boy’s family will light a candle at the event.

Bangarpet Krishnaswamy, Mikaeel’s grandfather, said: “The last year has been a very difficult one for the family — an annus horribilis for all of us. The help and messages of comfort in our time of need was greatly appreciated then as it is now.

“We thank everyone for giving so freely their time in our time of need. I want to express on behalf of our family my most heartfelt gratitude to the entire North Edinburgh community for organising the memorial service to Mikaeel. Their tireless efforts and unconditional love have made a meaningful contribution to Mikaeel’s short life.”

All set for Disabled Access Day

Tomorrow is Disabled Access Day and there’s lots and lots to do!

Disabled Access Day is all about getting out and visiting a venue that you’ve never been to before – whether a cinema, coffee shop, sports centre or anywhere else!

Disabled people and their friends and families are being encouraged to visit somewhere they’ve never been before on Saturday.

More and more businesses and attractions are getting involved in Disabled Acceess Day. The following venues are hosting events in Edinburgh:

Barclays Bank, Princes Street

Check out Barclays accessible services, from ‘high vis’ debit cards to Talking ATMs and more!

Caffè Nero (Multrees Walk & Fort Kinnaird)

Selected Caffè Nero stores are offering a hand crafted Espresso, Caffè Latte, Cappuccino, Americano, Standard Hot Chocolate or Tea for free!
More information

Camera Obscura & World of Illusions, Castlehill

Camera obscura offers free admissions to carers.

Try out the hearing loops at the reception desk and in the Camera Obscura show – they’re keen to know what you think!
Access Information

Drumbrae Library Hub, Drum Brae Drive

On Saturday 17th January, Drumbrae Library are offering a free cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit for Disabled Access Day.

Libraries – The City of Edinburgh Council

Ratho Library (School Wynd, EH28 8TT), Sighthill Library (Sighthill Road, EH11 4PB), and Wester Hailes Library (Westside Plaza, EH14 2ST) are promoting Disabled Access Day by offering assistance to visitors in using the library facilities and equipment.
There will be demonstrations of their iPads for visually-impaired customers.
Information about hearing aid batteries and bus passes.
Books in large print and books on CD will all be promoted on the day.
There’s free tea and coffee provided too!

Lothian Buses (at Ocean Terminal)

Check out their accessible buses! An accessible bus, driver and member from their Customer Services team will be available.
Pick up a voucher for their Edinburgh Bus Tours accessible city tours.

Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre, Leith

11.00 – 14.30 Demonstrations and guided walks from Canine Partners, Hearing Dogs for Deaf People and Guide Dogs.

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

11.00 & 14.00 Free guided Winter Garden Walk. Prebooking recommended.
12.30 – 15.30 RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, Real Life Science Studio.
Mobility scooters and wheelchairs available to book in advance and there will be a British Sign Language expert at the Garden all day.
More information
Access information

Palace of Holyroodhouse & The Queen’s Gallery, Royal Mile

Free admission, with a pre-booked ticket, for disabled visitors
Amplified short talks for visitors with hearing loss and a verbal description audio tour for blind and partially-sighted visitors.
More information
Access information

Royal Yacht Britannia, Leith

Visit the UK’s No.1 attraction with 20% discount on entry. Voucher required.
More information
Access information

The Scotch Whisky Experience, Castlehill

20 free places on our barrel ride with a tasting of a dram in the shop
Please note both barrel ride and shop are on the ground floor, our lift is currently undergoing maintenance.
Register online

The Scotsman Hotel – North Bridge Brasserie

25% discount off all food between Monday – Thursdays in Jan/Feb/Mar 2015 in North Bridge Brasserie. Voucher required.

The Scottish Parliament, The Royal Mile

Guided tours available throughout the day.
2 for 1 hot drinks vouchers for the Public Café
10 % discount voucher for the Parliament Shop
Access information

The Yard Adventure Centre, Eyre Place Lane

The Yard Adventure Centre in Edinburgh will be recommending accessible places to their visitors on Disabled Access Day.

Kiki MacDonald, Co-Founder at EuansGuide.com, commented: “We’re very proud to be the lead sponsors for Disabled Access Day. Promoting good disabled access is at the core of what we do, so this campaign is close to our hearts. We hope many people get involved with the initiative, and feel inspired to see a part of the country they’ve never seen, or engage in activities that they don’t typically do.”

Visit www.EuansGuide.com to find out more.

Ads the way to do it!

Radio students make real adverts for Edinburgh College

Edinburgh College students have made their debut on the airwaves and used skills learned in the classroom for a real-life radio campaign to promote the college’s courses.

First-year radio production students devised, wrote and produced radio adverts to advertise college courses starting this August and information days taking place this month. Working with acting students, they recorded them at the college’s recording studio and will now hear their voices transmitted on Edinburgh radio stations. The adverts are live now on Forth One and Capital FM.

The college’s Marketing team set the radio students a brief to develop adverts to promote August courses as part of the college’s wider advertising campaign, which is currently underway. Working with their lecturers, the group of HNC Creative Industries: Radio students took the brief and created two adverts to promote the courses and Course Information Days, based on the campaign theme ‘Make it happen with Edinburgh College’. The students pitched their ideas to the Marketing team, took feedback and developed them to meet the college’s needs.

The students work on similar projects as part of their course, but this is the first time their work is being used on air.

Radio lecturer Conor Wright said: “Giving students real practical experience like this is what further education is really good at. It’s not just about theory work but about giving them real-world skills and an understanding of what’s expected of them in a workplace.

“They had to work to a proper brief from a real client and deliver to a professional standard so there was pressure to make sure the work was good. They were getting real feedback and had to push themselves, but they did a great job and the end result is excellent. This has really benefited the acting students too, as well as the radio students.”

Radio Production student Iona Fotheringham, 17, from Dunfermline, who was one of the writers, producers and actors, said: “Doing the adverts was great experience and it was a good chance to turn what we’ve learned in college into practice for a real project. The thought of our work going out is kind of scary but I’m excited to hear it on the radio.”

Forth 1 DJ Mark Martin, who does the weekday Home Run slot from 3-7pm and studied radio at Edinburgh College, said: “We’re playing the students’ adverts now and they’re great. They’ve done a fantastic job. Getting this kind of experience while they’re studying is really important and means they’re better prepared for when they leave college and start work. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the college and everything I learned there, and I’m delighted to see the students continue to get such excellent training.”

Hear the adverts here:

Radio Advert 1

Radio Advert 2

And watch a video made by the college about the recording here: http://vimeo.com/114778791

The college is offering hundreds of courses beginning in August at levels to suit all needs – from HNC and HND level and associate degree programmes that lead on to university study, to Access courses and programmes designed to get people back into education, community-based courses and industry-approved qualifications.

Applications for courses starting in August will open on 2 February. The deadline is 15 May.

Anyone interested in a course is invited to Course Information Days on 27 January from 2-6.30pm at Sighthill Campus and on Wednesday 29 January from 2-6.30pm at Milton Road Campus. Each event will have information about all curriculum areas.

More information about the college curriculum and courses is available at www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk

Drylaw Telford CC meeting date

Drylaw Telford Community Council will hold their first meeting of 2015 on Wednesday 28 January at 7pm in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre. All welcome.

AGENDA

1 Welcome

2 Attendees

3 Apologies for Absence

4 Approve Minutes of the last meeting (26th November 2104) & any matters arising

5 Reports :-

• Police Report
• Councillors Report
• Treasurer’s Report
• EDRA (Easter Drylaw Residents Association)
• Telford Reps Report

6 Parking Issues Drylaw Shops (Update)

7 Thomas Tierney 2015

8 Correspondence

9 Date of Next Meeting (25th Febuary 2015).

Voluntary Sector Forum meets on Wednesday

Forth and Inverleith Vountary Sector Forum will meet next Wednesday (21 January) from 10am – 12pm in North Edinburgh Arts.

AGENDA

Present and Apologies
Minutes of the last meeting
Matters arising
Election papers for new Chair – discussion
New Local Community Plan – hard copies of plan and discussion
CEC Budget
Childcare
Training opportunities
Information Exchange
A.O.B.
Date of next meeting

For further information contact EVOC Community Planning development worker June Dickson on 555 9114, email june.dickson@evoc.org.uk

060814 FINAL – USE

Tell George Osborne what he can do with his Budget!

Did you have your say on the city council’s budget proposals? Have you got the taste for balancing the books? Well, you now have the opportunity to give Chancellor George Osborne some timely Budget advice. Read on …

What would you like to see in Budget 2015?

The government is seeking your views on what you would like to see in Budget 2015, which will take place on Wednesday 18 March.

The government encourages open and transparent policy-making, and welcomes original and innovative ideas. Your views will be considered by HM Treasury as part of the policy-making process.

Please submit your representation by filling in our short survey.

If you would prefer to submit your representation as a file attachment, please email budget.representations@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk

For information on the correct procedure for submitting your representation, please view the guidance.

To allow for full consideration in advance of the Budget, any submission should be sent to HM Treasury by Friday 13 February

Follow HM Treasury on Twitter for all of our latest news and Budget coverage.

‘Village Urban Resort’ opens it’s doors at Crewe Toll

Free fitness open weekend 24 & 25 January

The ‘Village Urban Resort’ at Crewe Toll will finally fully open for business next week after lengthy delays. The hotel and leisure complex, built on the former Helix House site, was first expected to open in Spring last year.

Parts of the operation, including the gym and leisure complex, opened opened earlier this month and work is now complete on the hotel itself – bookings can be made from 19 January.

Original owners The De Vere Group sold off its Village Urban Resort hotel brand to an American private equity company last November. An affiliate of KSL Capital Partners acquired De Vere’s group of 25 UK hotels – and three under development in Edinburgh (Crewe Toll), Glasgow and Aberdeen – for a sum believed to be around £485m.

The Village Urban Resort boasts a wide range of top quality facilities:

‘Located in the heart of the capital city, our hotel in Edinburgh is perfectly situated for those looking to see everything that the city has to offer. After a long day of sightseeing, Village Edinburgh boasts some of the finest facilities in the city to help your relax and recharge including rejuvenating spa treatments at our Viva Urban Spa. Worked up an appetite? Why not grab a bite to eat at one of our in-house restaurants?’

Facilities include:

Premium ‘Upperdeck’ room upgrade
Beauty Spa
‘Hub’ meeting and events facilities
Sealy Posturepedic bed TV with satellite channel
Desk, lamp, telephone
Hairdryer and ironing board
Tea & coffee making facilities

The website goes on to say:

Our Edinburgh hotel has been designed to provide comforts akin to its magnificent surroundings. Attractions to suit the whole family are close by, from the thrilling attractions of Edinburgh Zoo and Deep Sea World, to the excitement of Murrayfield Rugby Stadium.

Free Fitness Open Weekend 24 & 25 January

Come along for free and see what Village Health & Fitness has to offer you. There’s a whole host of events for all the family featuring exercises from all around the globe. There’s a world of fitness out there and you can sample it for free at Village! Activities include: Themed studio master classes, family fun and face painting, sports supplements tasters, exclusive spa massage offer and unbelievable joining offers.

Woman dies in Western General fire

Investigations are ongoing following the death of an elderly woman patient after a fire at the Western General’s Royal Victoria building early this morning.

Firefighters from Crewe Toll, Tollcross and McDonald Road fire stations attended a ‘small fire’ in a ground floor ward at 2.30am.

Two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the ward, dealt with the fire and an injured female patient while colleagues assisted hospital staff with the evacuation of 14 other patients from the affected ward to another area within the hospital.

The female patient, who was 75, died at the scene and SFRS Fire Investigation Unit officers are now working with Police Scotland officers to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Investigations are at an early stage following the death of a 75-year-old woman at the Western General Hospital. Officers attended after reports were received of a small fire in a room in one of the wards.”

No one else was injutred in the incident, which was brought under control at 4:45.

Western General patient’s Ebola test clear

Tests for Ebola on a Fife woman who recently returned from west Africa have proved NEGATIVE.

The woman was admitted to the Western General Hospital yesterday after developing a fever and she is now being treated in an isolation unit at the hospital’s Regional Infectious Diseases Unit (RIDU).

Melanie Johnson, Director of Unscheduled Care at NHS Lothian, said last night: “A patient who recently returned to Scotland from west Africa has been admitted to our at the Western General Hospital after they reported a raised temperature.

“As a precautionary measure, and in line with agreed procedures, the patient will be screened for possible infections and will be kept in isolation. We have robust systems in place to manage patients with suspected infectious diseases and follow agreed and tested national guidelines.”

It has since been confirmed that the patient, who lives in Fife, does NOT have the Ebola virus.