City primary schools on their marks for sports event

ActiveMore than 1,000 primary school pupils will compete in one of the biggest ever school sports events in Edinburgh next week. The P6 pupils are taking part in the Games @ THE HUB event at Forrester High School Community Sports Hub next Wednesday (12 June).

Clyde, the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games mascot, will also be making an appearance at the start of the event to welcome all the pupils.

This is the first event of its kind delivered by Active Schools and its purpose is to promote participation in sport in the build-up to Glasgow 2014. Pupils will compete in ten different sports: hockey, football, rugby, basketball, netball, gymnastics, cricket, volleyball, boccia and  tennis.

As well as the pupils taking part over fifty volunteers from the Young Ambassador programme – which is delivered by sportscotland in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust – and school sports leaders from across the city will be lending a hand to ensure everything runs smoothly on the day.

Jodi McGinty, a platinum Young Ambassador and torch bearer at the Olympics, will be presenting the shields to the winning teams. Jodi is also on the Young People’s Sport Panel, which is led by sportscotland in partnership with Young Scot.

One of the events is the Paralympic Sport Boccia which 10 of the teams will be trying out. Boccia is related to bowls and was originally designed to be played by people with cerebral palsy but now includes athletes with other disabilities.

Primary schools will send teams of 10 P6 pupils, both boys and girls, to take part in a competitive session in the morning and then a participative event in the afternoon. These sessions will be run by Children & Families’ Sports Development Officers, National Governing Bodies and local community clubs.

Active Schools hope this will be the start of an annual event. Each year, primary schools across the city will be able to take part in the competitive session of each sport where the winner will be presented with a shield.

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Councillor Cathy Fullerton, Vice Convener for Education (pictured above), said: “Glasgow 2014 presents us with a fantastic opportunity to promote a variety of sports across the Capital and this event is a great way of promoting this. I’m going along on the day to see everyone taking part and am delighted that so many primary school pupils are getting the opportunity to experience Games @ THE HUB.

“The facilities at Forrester/St Augustine’s are second to none and I know everyone will have a great time. Hopefully many of the children will be inspired to take up some of the sports outside of school and I want to thank everyone involved especially all the volunteers.”

Jacqueline Lynn, sportscotland’s Head of School and Community Sport, said: “The Games @ THE HUB event is sure to be an action-packed day of sport and physical activity and it will by wonderful to see so many pupils taking part.

“We are committed at sportscotland to increasing the opportunities for children and young people to participate in school sport, and significant progress is being made through our Active Schools Network and Community Sport Hub initiative. The Active Schools team in Edinburgh has done an excellent job in organising this event and we commend them for their efforts.”

 

Women city councillors unite to walk the Moonwalk

Lesley Hinds Ward 5 Inverleith Ward

This Saturday I will be participating in the MoonWalk. There is a cross party group of women Councillors walking as a team and we have created an online Fundraising Page for The MoonWalk Edinburgh Scotland 2013.

To show your support for this effort and raise funding for breast cancer in Scotland, please donate at

http://www.walkthewalkfundraising.org/strident

This Team Web Page will be active until 29 Oct 13.

Thank you for uniting against breast cancer

With good wishes and good health,

Lesley Hinds

Sing out with The Piltones!

Listen to this!!   ‘take a look

This song was written by a group of local women who sing at the PCHP project.  It is performed by them and a group of P7 girls from Granton Primary School.

They have formed a group ‘The Piltones’ that anyone can join.  They meet on a Tuesday morning from 9.30 – 11 to sing their favourite songs and have a chat.  Anyone can jon – get in touch on 0131 551 1671

http://www.pchp.org.uk/the-piltones/

Info:  Ann Confrey

Have your say on media coverage of violence against women

Ever wanted to have your say and help improve the media (and get paid for it)? Can you offer advice and/or innovative ideas about a fair media?

Well here is your chance to have your voice heard! Zero Tolerance are conducting focus groups to try and improve media coverage of violence against women and we want to hear your opinion, suggestions and what you’ve always wanted to say but never had the chance to.

If you are 18+ and willing to get involved, or to find out more, just drop us an email to:

alessia.tranchese.zt@gmail.com or info@zerotolerance.org.uk)

or visit http://zerotolerance.org.uk/news/1/249

Alternatively, you can reach us by calling 0131 248 2410. We look forward to hearing from you!

ZeroTolerance

Mark Lazarowicz praises volunteers

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Mark Lazarowicz MP has expressed support for volunteers working in Edinburgh North and Leith as part of this year’s Volunteers’ Week. 

Volunteers’ Week is a UK-wide week to celebrate the work of millions of volunteers who give up their time to help others. You can find out more about UK Volunteers week at http://volunteersweek.org/

Mark said: “Volunteers are crucial to so many organisations in our community. Their work helps make our society a better place, and volunteers themselves also benefit tremendously from the experience – learning new skills, getting back into paid work, improving physical or mental well-being, or simply meeting interesting people and having fun.

“A good example of the importance of volunteers will be seen over the next weekend during the Leith Festival. On Leith Gala Day in particular, on Leith Links from 11 am on Saturday (8 June), hundreds of local volunteers will be showing the work of their organisation to the local community – publicising their work, raising funds, recruiting more volunteers, and generally meeting the public.”

The most popular fields for regular volunteers are sports and exercise; hobbies, recreation, arts and social clubs and religion.

During Volunteers’ Week organisations will be taking the opportunity to recognise the contribution of their volunteers through holding awards ceremonies, recruitment fairs, celebration events, training opportunities and volunteer taster sessions.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of many organisations, and work in communities in organisations such as sports clubs, community groups and museums, as well as public sector bodies, schools and hospitals.

Muirhouse Millennium Centre’s Cathy Ahmed and North Edinburgh TimeBank were among the volunteers recognised at a City Chambers reception hosted by Lord Provost Cllr Donald Wilson last night. Congratulations to you all!

Timebank Choir in fine voice at the City Chambers  PIC: Vicki Redpath
Timebank Choir in fine voice at the City Chambers
PIC: Vicki Redpath

 

Johnstone welcomes debate on ‘hidden GM’

AlisonJohnstoneMSPGreen MSP Alison Johnstone is welcoming confirmation from the Scottish Government that it intends to hold a debate in parliament on food labelling, amid growing concerns about GM materials hidden in everyday foods.

Alison recently tabled a motion in parliament highlighting the fact that major supermarkets have scrapped policies that prevented animals fed on genetically-modified crops reaching the shelves.

In a parliamentary answer to Alison received yesterday (5 June) the environment minister admits the issue is not covered by labelling regulations, which means customers have no idea if the products they’re buying have been fed on GM feeds.

Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothian and food spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, said: “While a debate on labelling is welcome it’s a shame it won’t happen till September at the earliest. This is an important consumer issue; there is increasing interest in where our food comes from and what it contains.

“A recent Food Standards Agency survey found 67 per cent of consumers want meat, eggs and dairy labelled to show whether they come from animals fed on GM feed. I urge the Scottish Government to challenge the retailers to improve their labelling so that we can at least choose not to buy these products.”

Volunteers’ Week: Saluting the unsung heroes

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Drylaw Telford Community Council chairman Alex Dale was presented with the Thomas Tierney Award for Good Citizenship at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre last week. Alex was joined by friends and family, members of the Tierney family and community councillors at a short reception to celebrate the event. 

Tam Tierney was a celebrated community activist from Wester Drylaw who was heavily involved in many of the positive things that were happening in the Greater Pilton area in the eighties and nineties. Goodness, we are talking about the last century here …

To mention just a few of Tam’s many community activities, he was a mainstay of Pilton Sporting Club, chaired Craigroyston Community Centre, was an active member of Drylaw Telford Community Council and was also part of the steering group – and then a member of the management committee – of Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre which opened in 1995.

Tam’s death came as a real blow; of course to his family, but also to Drylaw and the wider community. After all, Tam was involved in so much: he had huge experience and a legion of useful contacts he’d built up over the years. No-one’s irreplaceable, but Tam’s passing left a considerable void.

Drylaw Telford Community Council wanted to mark Tam’s contribution to community life in Greater Pilton, not only celebrating his achievements but also to try to encourage others to become active within their community. We came up with the idea of the annual Thomas (note the ‘posh’ use of the Sunday name!) Tierney Award for Good Citizenship.

Every year since 2000, the community council has chosen a new recipient of the Award. They are all very different, and each was nominated for a wide variety of reasons. The one thing they have in common, however – indeed the one thing they must have in common – is that they do something that makes the Drylaw Telford neighbourhood a better place to live. Individuals do that in so many ways – helping out as a volunteer with local projects, doing their neighbours’ shopping, supporting local groups by serving on management committees … there are lots of ways to do things for your community.

Last week, Alex Dale became the latest recipient of the award. Alex’s nomination was well-deserved. He first got involved in community activities shortly after his retirement from the Forestry Commission – and I don’t think he’s put his feet up since!

Alex got involved when he opposed a proposal to build houses on designated green spaces in Drylaw, and it was a natural progression that he went on to get involved in the community council’s fledgling Open Space sub-group in 2006.

In the Open Space sub group the community council worked in partnership with other organisations including the Pilton Partnership and Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust to map all of Drylaw Telford’s green spaces, then consulted with local residents to find out what we should try to do with these spaces. It was no small task – indeed, it was the biggest initiative the community council had ever undertaken, by far – but it proved worthwhile, with open spaces in both Easter and Wester Drylaw upgraded with the ongoing support of the city council.

Volunteers like Alex helped to make that Open Space initiative a success, and all that legwork clearly didn’t put him off – he joined the community council at the last elections and became Chair last May. He’s also an active and enthusiastic member of North Edinburgh News’ board of directors.

I’ve never known anyone to have a greater appetite for meetings than Alex. I think he lives by the philosophy: ‘a day without meetings is like a day without sunshine!’ But the key to successful participation at meetings is to understand what is being discussed, make a contribution and then report back in a way that your colleagues can understand – and Alex is excellent at this. Whether it’s Neighbourhood Partnerships, NEP group or Transport Forum, Alex will attend, comprehend and then explain what transpired there. Our community council is now possibly the best informed in Edinburgh!

Diligent, reliable and conscientious may not be exciting adjectives, but activists who possess these qualities are worth their weight in gold; every community needs one and Drylaw Telford is very lucky to have one in Alex.

Dedicated activists are thin on the ground – North Edinburgh has lost two leading lights this year in Billy Anderson and, more recently, Brian Robertson – and it makes you appreciate all the more those unsung heroes who quietly go about their business to make their neighbourhood a better place to live – not for personal gain or reward, but because they care for and about their communities. Commitment like that is needed just as much now as it ever was.

All types of people do still give up their time, joining together to campaign for improvements – often uniting over threats or unwelcome intrusions into their communities, but sometimes coming together to campaign for positive things too: like the upgrading of green spaces or a new Neighbourhood Centre in Drylaw – or the reopening of a community asset like Leith Waterworld. In Drylaw, we can identify with and feel the pain of the Splashback campaigners – we’ve tasted that bitter taste of defeat on occasion too. Community activism can sometimes feel like one step forward, two steps back – but it does mean that, when you do win a small victory, it tastes even sweeter. You remember the ones you win because they don’t come around too often.

So many thanks and congratulations to Alex, indeed to volunteers everywhere – and with community council elections looming let’s hope a few like him can be encouraged to step forward: your community needs you!

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Living memories of adventures in Leith

St Nicholas Court

A book has been launched recounting the memories of eight Leithers. ‘An Adventure! – Happy Days in Leith’ has been produced by the Citadel Arts Group and tells the stories of residents of Port of Leith Housing Association’s (PoLHA) St Nicholas Court Sheltered Housing Complex. 

A launch event was held at the complex on Monday, when musician Laure Paterson entertained residents and a class of Trinity Primary School pupils who called in to join the celebrations and bring the generations together.

Maureen Tait, Senior Sheltered Housing Co-ordinator with PoLHA who manages the complex, said: “It is nice for the children and staff to hear stories of the past from the tenants and tales of things that we’ll never experience. The children are so good, always polite and helpful.  It means a lot to the tenants here.”

‘An Adventure! – Happy Days in Leith’ is a collection of memories about childhood, school days, first work experiences and family life collected by Citadel Arts Group living memory workers, Laure C Paterson and Liz Hare.

The book features St Nicholas Court residents Rita Falconer, Bertha Glancy, Margaret McKinlay, Annie Mulvaney, Mary McNicol, May Stevenson, Jean Tait and Frances Veitch (pictured above)  – each of whom shared their memories of Leith past and present with the book’s authors. Margaret said: “Things have changed a lot over the years and it’s been great to share those stories”.

The book is the culmination of seven weeks of sharing, recording and transcribing the stories of the eight residents. Citadel Arts Group’s Liz Hare said: “The tenants generously shared their memories and we have collected them into this book which will be a resource for the whole community.  Each member of the project will receive two copies and copies will go into Trinity Primary and local libraries. It has been one of the most enjoyable projects we have been involved in.”

The project is funded by The Robertson Trust.

LeithLibrary

 

All’s well after flying Pie’s cross border drama!

'Pie'

Magpie boards London to Edinburgh train!

An injured magpie found by a holidaymaker and smuggled aboard a London to Edinburgh train has been released back into the wild by the Scottish SPCA.

An elderly woman discovered the fledgling being attacked by crows when she was visiting family in the Kilburn area of London and took him in as he was too young to feed himself. The bird lover was still concerned for the magpie when she was due to return to Scotland and decided to take him on the train in her handbag.

She later contacted Scotland’s animal welfare charity and the bird was taken to its National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Clackmannanshire. The Edinburgh woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “The
magpie was very traumatised when I found him. I knew he was too young to feed himself so I took him in and began hand-feeding him. I even nicknamed him ‘Pie’. When I was due to leave he still wasn’t self-feeding, so I cleared out my handbag and popped him inside.

“I don’t think anyone on the train realised I had a baby magpie with me. My family have always looked after birds and I initially thought Pie wouldn’t survive, which was really upsetting. People have always said I’m eccentric and I’m sure they’d think that even more so if they knew about this! I’m so happy to hear he’s been released and I’m very grateful to the Scottish SPCA for helping him, they’ve done a fantastic job.”

SSPCA Centre manager Colin Seddon said: “Usually we advise people to leave fledglings alone, but in this case the magpie was being attacked by other birds and had sustained injuries. We’d recommend anyone who finds a bird in need of help to contact an animal rescue organisation such as ourselves for advice and assistance. While it was certainly unusual to take the magpie on the train, this lady had taken very good care of him and it’s clear she must care a great deal about birds. The magpie made a fantastic recovery and it was wonderful to release him back into the wild fit and healthy after his rather long journey.”

Will Pie choose to stay in Scotland or will he head back down south? Will the referendum issue affect his decision? Sadly, we’ll never know!

Anyone who discovers an injured or distressed animal should call the Scottish SPCA Animal Helpline on 03000 999 999.

Magpie being released by Lorraine Gow, Head of Birds

Pictures courtesy of SSPCA