Day: November 2, 2012

Community celebrates rapid rise of Blackhall Athletic

Broughton High School was the venue for a reception to mark the formation of a new local football club last night. It’s been a meteoric rise – six months ago Blackhall Athletic didn’t exist, but now has teams playing in three football leagues!  

Club chairman John Adams explained: “Blackhall Athletic really came about through conversations in the pub! A number of parents were talking in the Blackhall Lounge – their kids were members of a team but the boys were not always getting a game. Everyone agreed that it was important that the kids get a chance to enjoy taking part in sport, no matter their abilities. It was from those conversations that the idea for the club was born”.

John (pictured above) is retired, but remains very active within the community and he was ‘coerced’ into helping parents set up a new football team for boys from Blackhall and the surrounding neighbourhoods. In August, just months later, Blackhall Athletic had three teams playing league football.

That’s a cause for celebration and last night parents, coaches and players got together at Blackhall Athletic’s Broughton High School home to say thanks to the people who made it all possible – Carey, Peri, Blackhall Sports Committee, Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership and Craigleith Blackhall Community Council have all showed their support for the new club through sponsorship.

John added: “We’ve received tremendous support from a number of sources. To make a success of something like this you really need two things – money and dedicated people to volunteer their support. It’s been quite  lot of hard work but we have both in place and we’re now able to offer young people the opportunity to come along and get involved, enjoy a game of organised football whatever your skill level. We will never be results driven – Blackhall Athletic is very much a community football club, all about sporting endeavour and playing the game in the right spirit. Everything is set up for the boys now – we have good coaches and the facilities here at Broughton are first class.”

Robert Ure (pictured below) is the Active Schools coordinator based at Broughton High School’s Sports hub. He told guests: “Blackhall Athletic is the first club to be launched from the hub here so this is a very exciting time. We are delighted to host Blackhall Athletic, and I’m delighted they have made their home here at Broughton. Our aim is to offer sporting activities for everyone – we provide a wide range of sporting opportunities with lots of different options, from dance to rugby and everything in between, so come along and give it a try!”

Blackhall Athletics has two Under Tens teams and an Under Thirteen squad side too. Given their meteoric rise, don’t rule out more teams and age groups being added to that list some time soon!

 

Community planters wanted!

The Centipede needs you!

Muirhouse Centipede project is planning a community bulb planting weekend on 9 and 10 November and they could do with a hand – or preferably a lot of hands! The group has no less than 9000 spring bulbs to plant on Muirhouse Avenue!

In partnership with North Edinburgh Arts Centre and the City of Edinburgh Council, the Centipede Project will be holding two ‘drop-in’ (that’s people and bulbs!) sessions on Friday 9 November from 1 – 3pm and again on Saturday 10 November from 10am – 2pm.

Working with local artist Natalie Taylor, come along and help plant some of the 9,000 bulbs including snow drops and dwarf narcissi, that will emerge as a bulb ‘painting’ in the spring!

Hot drinks and biscuits will be available for everyone who joins in, and groups from Craigroyston Primary School, Oaklands School and Muirhouse Millennium Centre have already signed up to kick off the project on 9 November.

Help make Muirhouse Avenue look stunning in springtime!

For further information call North Edinburgh Arts on 315 2151 or visit www.northedinburgharts.co.uk

Pilrig Park pupils at the cutting edge!

Pilrig Park School has opened The Salon, a dedicated hairdressing training facility which will act as a base for pupils hoping to gain entry to college or an apprenticeship when they leave school.

Opening the new salon yesterday, top city hairdresser Charlie Miller said: “It gives me great pleasure to open Pilrig Park School’s hair salon. As educators it is important to give young talent recognition,  encouragement and opportunity in the areas in which they shine. This salon will  inspire some of the pupils to be hairdressers and, just as importantly, give  them the tuition on how to look after their own hair and appearance which will  be a vital part of them presenting themselves to the world when they leave  school. I would like to wish the school and the pupils all the best with The  Salon.”

The Salon is part of the development of Senior Phase in Curriculum for  Excellence where choices are built around skills for life and skills for  work. This new facility will be used to teach hairdressing skills,  which is just one of many options open to the pupils including a variety of  trades and, from next year, a working café teaching skills as part of a small  business operation.

Ellen Muir, Head Teacher at Pilrig Park School, said: “There has to be  relevance to what our pupils are doing. Courses must make an impact on them and  how they take their place in society when they leave school. Salon  skills are hugely popular and we have had interest in the course from learners  at other city schools. We hope that in the future we may be in a  position for other schools to access our Salon for training too. We are absolutely delighted that Charlie Miller was here to open our  Salon and we are extremely proud of what has been achieved so far.”

Councillor David Key, Vice-Convener for Education, Children and Families  Committee, said: “Opening this salon within Pilrig Park School will make a big  difference to its pupils. Vocational training opportunities are an  important element of our Curriculum and I would like to wish the school and the  city’s future hairdressers the best of luck with this new endeavour.”

Kimberly Smith, an S4 pupil at Pilrig Park School, said: “I started the  hairdressing course this year and I absolutely love it. I was  always interested in hairdressing but didn’t really know how I could get into it  as I don’t know any hairdressers and it’s really popular so it’s hard to get a  trainee position. Now I am learning all about it and I hope to be  able to do it full-time when I finish school.”

The school has worked with many partners and other schools on its hair and  beauty training over the past four years, which has included pupils working on  theatre productions at The Festival Theatre. Pupils will now get  similar training in their own school environment. Younger learners  will also use the salon as part of the Health and Wellbeing curriculum and  certification is built around this.