On 28 February Forthview Primary’s I-BIKE crew organised a Superhero Day as part of the The Big Pedal, a national competition to see which schools in the UK bring the most bikes and scooters to school.
There will be three Big Pedal days at Forthview, where the numbers of children, parents and staff bringing their bikes and scooters to school will be recorded. Superhero Day was the fantastic first day, and this will be followed by further Big Pedal days on Friiday 8 March and Wednesday 20 March.
Primary 7 pupils from Davidsons Mains Primary School were delighted to show some of the equipment that the school bought with vouchers from the Sainsbury’s Active Kids 2012 scheme.
Active Kids is a voucher collection scheme that enables nurseries, schools, Scout and Guide groups and sports clubs to collect vouchers and redeem them for sports, cooking and gardening equipment and active experiences.
Vouchers can be earned for every £10 spent in main stores, in petrol stations and when you buy groceries online and for every £5 in convenience stores (exclusions apply). Vouchers will be issued until 22 May.
David Bainbridge, Sainsbury’s Blackhall Store Manager said: “It’s important to help keep children enthused about all different kinds of activities – from play to sport – and we’re confident that Active Kids 2013 will help achieve this goal.”
Mark Lazarowicz, MP for North and Leith, visited a ‘pop-up’ food bank outside the Houses of Parliament this week, and earlier today he at the Kirkgate collecting signatures for a petition to highlight the issue of growing poverty and the increased reliance on food parcels across the UK.
Mr Lazarowicz said: “Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK are now forced to get support from food banks. Leith is the latest area where a food bank is being set up. I have enormous respect for the dedication of staff and volunteers who are helping through food banks to meet the growing need for food aid but that need is a clear sign of Government failure.
“The depressed state of the economy combined with cuts in welfare support have led many people, both in and out of work, to turn to food banks as a last resort. The growth of food banks is stark evidence of the failure of Government economic and employment policy. Food banks show just how much people in our community care for the most vulnerable but they shouldn’t have to be a substitute for Government action. That’s why I am supporting this petition, which calls for the government to ensure there is an accurate count of the number of people using food banks in Scotland and for Government action to ensure that no families in the UK go hungry.”
Before Christmas, the North and Leith MP took part in food collection drives at local supermarkets and he recently attended a meeting at South Leith Parish Church Halls to look at setting up a food bank in Leith.
Britain’s largest network of food banks, the Trussell Trust (which is involved in the proposal to set up a food bank in Leith), estimates that they will need to support in excess of 260,000 people over the next year.
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Police Drop Ins will be held at Blackhall Library on Hillhouse Road on
Tuesday 5 March from 11am – 3pm
Wednesday 6 March from 5-7pm
This is an opportunity to meet some of your local community officers face to face and have a chat.
A fifteen year old was knocked over by a car on Ferry Road at lunchtime on Friday. The boy was taken by ambulance to the Royal Infirmary for treatment and was later discharged.
Given the damage to the vehicle it appears the boy had a lucky escape.
This weekend sees four local football sides in action.
Muirhouse based Civil Service Strollers are playing host to borders side Selkirk FC in the King Cup, Selkirk find themselves near the bottom of the First Division and Civil Service are occupying fourth spot in the Premier League. Civil will be hoping to bounce back from their dire weekend last week where they were beaten 7-3 by Midlothian club Whitehill Welfare.
Spartans travel to Peffermill to play Edinburgh University in the King Cup also, Spartans were also beaten last week by Stirling University and they will be hoping to return to winning ways tomorrow.
Match of the day has to be the Craigroyston v Leith Athletic fixture, Leith and Craigroyston are contenders for promotion from the first division and played each other at the tail end of last year in the Alex Jack Cup Final which leith ran out one nil winners.
All the games kick off at 2.30pm and you can find more information at the East of Scotland FA website
A project initiated by the Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust will see the tunnel at Granton (behind Morrisons) transformed from bare walls to an Innertube map art extravaganza.
The project which is being managed locally by the Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre will see a design which is featured around the Innertube Map painted onto the walls in the tunnel.
Leith-based artist Chris Young has been commissioned to come up with the design, work with local young people to develop the design and implement it. Chris has been involved a variety of community lead projects and is looking forward to starting at the Granton site next week.
The design that Chris proposed at the site was then taken to local young people at Fet Lor Youth Centre and they had a chance to make comments and even have their own artwork included in the plans.
Last night Chris attended their youth club and they had the opportunity to prepare a design and painting their design. Around 13 young people took part and these young people will all be involved in the implementation of the project on the tunnel.
Don’t worry, if you would like to have the chance to get involved or fancy doing some painting at the tunnel with Chris then please contact Thomas Brown at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre on 0131 315 4989 or email thomas@drylawnc.org.uk Over the coming weeks we will be updating on the progress at the tunnel and keeping you informed how you can get involved.
You can see a short video below of what the young people made at Fet Lor and also see their finished product.
Total Craigroyston are running a training session on housing options for local staff. The session is on 20th March, registration at 9.30 am, at Spartans Community Football Academy.
This session will cover Housing Options, homelessness prevention, early housing intervention, issues around welfare reform, as well as housing support and advice services.
The session is aimed primarily at staff whose clients could be affected by homelessness or experience other problems with their housing.
If you would like to go to the training then please get in touch with info@totalcraigroyston.co.uk.
Tuna sandwiches may be the cause of an outbreak of illness at Granton Campus – the former Telford College – yesterday afternoon. Seven students and staff were taken to hospital suffering from an allergic reaction which is being linked to tuna.
Head of Communications at the college Moira Findlay said “An isolated incident occurred this afternoon at Granton Campus of Edinburgh College, where a small number of students and staff suffered an allergic reaction.
The incident is currently under investigation, but it is believed that this may be linked to a batch of tuna sandwiches.
An ambulance team from Scottish Ambulance Service attended to a small number of patients on site, who responded well to treatment. Almost all have been admitted to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, for observation.”
