Day: November 28, 2012

Top speakers lined up for Craigroyston conference

There are still places available at Saturday’s Anti-Poverty conference at Craigroyston Community High School, and organisers are dleighted with the varied programme of speakers and workshops lined up for the event.
North Edinburgh Fights Back’s Willie Black (pictured above) is one of the conference organisers, and he’s looking forward to a day of debate and discussion with some great speakers lined up.
” We’re delighted that Owen Jones, author of ‘Chavs: The demonisation of the  Working Class’, has agreed to speak at the conference – he recently appeared on BBC’s ‘Question Time and his attendance at Craigroyston is a real coup for us.
“Kezia Dugdale MSP will be speaking about her motion to parliament on pay day loans. It’s coming up for Christmas when money is even more tight, so this will be a topical contribution!”
Food is another topical issue in North Edinburgh – dare I say a ‘hot potato’?
Willie went on: “Mike Small from Fife Diet will be telling the conference about community  gardening, food co-ops and allotments in Fife – how they got started and are now such an influential movement. He will be giving us some ideas to possibly take  forward an ‘Edinburgh Diet’.
“This is especially important as our local Co-op – near the  school where we are holding the conference – is about to be closed. It is the only  place to buy fresh fruit and veg for miles. North Edinburgh Fights Back held a well supported petition and campaign stall outside the Co-op in Pennywell Road today (Wednesday) and people coming out of the shop and passing were shocked that the only large store within walking distance is to be closed. Many petition sheets were filled, and we will be raising this at the conference on Saturday.”
“Andy Wightman, author of ‘Who Owns Scotland’ and ‘The Poor have no  Lawyers’ and who appeared as the expert on land ownership in the documentary  ‘You’ve Been Trumped’ will be speaking to the conference about land ownership  and the rights to common land that are being legislated against by the  government. This legislation could result in local communities having the right to use land for their own use and plans. Locally selling the available land on the foreshore with planning permission to an off shore property company for just over 2 million instead of its original price of 40 million pounds will mean even less democratic control over what is built in our local area. we are not the only community facing this question of how land is bought and sold over our heads.”
Another ‘hot’ topic is fuel prices and fuel poverty. The conference has got this covered too:
“The Edinburgh Tenants’ Federation will be holding a workshop on  fuel  poverty and housing. They are having a ‘Warm-In’ at the east end  of Princes Street at 5pm this Thursday (29 November) to highlight the  horrendous effect that the rise in fuel prices will have on those who are  already struggling to pay their bills and eat (and buy Christmas presents). Latest figures for fuel poverty are to announced tomorrow and the action is part of many protests across Britain.”
So a lot of issues, and a lot to debate – the conference takes place at Craigroyston Community High School this Saturday from 10am – 4pm. See flyer below for details of how to register:

Happy birthday GYC!

Just how do you capture the ten-year history and list all the achievements of Granton Youth Centre in just an hour? That was the tough task set for organisers of the local youth centre’s tenth birthday celebration last Friday – but they passed the test with flying colours. And one young lad managed it in three simple words!

Granton Youth Centre’s special anniversary was marked by a civic reception, requested by Forth councillor Vicki Redpath and hosted at the City Chambers by Lord Provost Cllr Donald Wilson on 23 November.

The Lord Provost congratulated GYC on reaching a significant milestone and said: “As a teacher of thirty years experience I can say that nothing is more important than raising young peoples’ aspirations and self-esteem. It’s vital, and Granton Youth Centre has been delivering this service in an area of high deprivation for ten years – that is a great achievement. Many congratulations, and I’m delighted to welcome you all here today.”

GYC’s chairperson Liz Hair has been with the organisation since the beginning and she was the ideal person to talk about the Centre’s memorable events, progress and achievements – the drama productions, street work, volunteer training and employment support initiatives, the outreach work and counselling services … a programme that continues to offer a wealth of activities and opportunities for young people in North Edinburgh.

Liz also made a surprise presentation to former manager Vicki Ridley, who moved on to pastures new after a very successful ten year career in Granton.

Who better to summarise what GYC means to them than the young people who use the service themselves? Paul Carnie – a young person first attended the centre as a callow youth (!) before moving on to become a volunteer youth worker and then a member of staff – made a short documentary about the Centre, talking to staff, supporters, partners of the organisation and of course the Centre’s young people to neatly capture the essence of what GYC is all about.

Gavin Crosby, Youth Work Strategy Implementation Manager, presented awards to GYC’s successful INIT8 youth work course participants and encouraged more people to get involved in the rewarding world of youth work, and Superintendent David Carradice of Lothian and Borders Police spoke of this pleasure at attending the reception. “The police must be part of the community and so part of the everyday life  of centres like Granton, so I am chuffed to bits to be here. I’m also delighted to see our local community beat officers here today too. Working with children and young people is crucially important to our communities – it can help children change their lives and move forward, so we want both to thank you and support you in the work you do.”

Perhaps the longest remembered words, though, came from young Jake in the documentary. Asked to sum up Granton Youth Centre in three words there was a long pause then … ‘an … amazing, minted, place!’

And that’s it in a nutshell, really – three words to sum up ten successful years!

Congratulations and happy birthday to all at Granton Youth Centre

Bump Start Annual Review

Bump Start is a support service for pregnant women, with two bases in North Edinburgh at Pennywell and Leith. 

The project has two main ways of helping women and their families. A Bump Start worker can work with individual families and help with a whole range of topics, and there is also a weekly group for pregnant women and their partners, parents and supporters called ‘The Pregnancy Café’ where everyone can learn more about being pregnant and preparing to be a parent. Dads – to – be are particularly welcomed at the café.

The team has public health workers from NHS Lothian, the CLD Health Literacy team, and Stepping Stones all working together to deliver the service and the project works very closely with the local midwives. If you are pregnant and think this type of support would help you please contact your midwife and she will then put you in touch with the Bump Start team in your area.

The picture shows the Bump Start team at their annual stakeholders event in Spartans Football Club, where the team was presenting the project’s independent evaluation which was carried out by COMAS.

A number of organisations were represented at the event including Multi-Cultural Family Base, CEC Community Learning and Development, Public Health NHS,  Stepping Stones; CEC Social Work, CEC Early Years, Community Midwifery and Mellow Parenting.

Cathy Wood, North West Local Health Partnership