Day: June 10, 2014

Referendum Registration Roadshow’s at North Office tomorrow

referendum flags

The Scottish Independence Referendum takes place on Thursday 18 September. To take part you must be registered by Tuesday 2 September.

To make sure you use, and don’t lose your vote, why not come along to a Registration Roadshow? You can check if you are registered or update your details if you have moved home.

The events are taking place in the city council’s local offices:

10am – 2pm, Wednesday 11 June, North Neighbourhood Office

11am – 3pm, Tuesday 17 June, South West Neighbourhood Office

10am – 2pm, Tuesday 24 June, Leith Office

10am – 2pm, Wednesday 25 June, West Neighbourhood Office

11am – 3pm, Monday 30 June, East Neighbourhood Office

11am- 3pm, Wednesday 2 July, City Centre Neighbourhood Office

You can also register by contacting the Electoral Registration Office on

0131 344 2500.

 

Penny for your thoughts: cash to support North Edinburgh Theatre production

 

masks (2)

North Edinburgh Arts has been awarded £11,794.00 from the People’s Health Trust towards the North Edinburgh Theatre project’s 1d Tenement Opera, which will be performed in January 2015.

NEA’s Theatre Group will be hosting an information-sharing, discussion and fundraising session this Friday evening to support the exciting  initiative.

The 1d Tenement Opera is a story based on the lives of people who have
lived in a tenement in Edinburgh over two centuries. The tenement
eventually becomes part of Edinburgh Corporation’s Slum Clearance
Programme: some of the tenements were sold for just 1d (a penny), and in 1959 one of the last tenements collapsed and a little boy was killed.

Local people told stories of being in the bath and the end of the room falling
away, others spoke of desperately trying to save their babies and children as the floor boards started to slope away from under them. This was known as the Penny Tenement collapse.

The 1d Tenement Opera is devised with the local people of North
Edinburgh, some of whose families had been living in the city centre
before the Slum Clearance Programme.

North Edinburgh Theatre project is delighted to be working with the
following artists for this project: designers Ali Maclaurin and Alice Wilson,
musical director Lynda Peachey, dancer and choreographer Monica de
Ioanni, and dramaturg Lynne Clark. Stephanie Knight is the project
director.

The North Edinburgh Theatre project was developed in 2011 after
research into the requirements of local people. The main finding of this
research was that local people wanted to make theatre again, after a
history of using theatre and other art forms to create work which
highlights their community and its needs and aspirations. In November
2011 North Edinburgh Theatre project developed Yes We CanCan – a
Cabaret of Resistance which was the cementing of the project.

Since then, North Edinburgh Theatre project has participated in a
number of performances including Theatre Uncut in 2012 & 2013 and the
project regularly offers Sharing-of-Work and Work-in-Progress events.

The opportunity to develop 1d Tenement Opera through the support of
the People’s Health Trust is an exciting and important development for
North Edinburgh. It supports the participants’ aspirations and hard work
for well-being and full creative lives, making strong contributions to their
own communities as well as participating in the North Edinburgh Theatre
project.

The funding includes additional resources to develop the Theatre Skills:
Life Skills course that is currently running in parallel with workshops and
preparations for the performances.

‘Kate Wimpress, Director at North Edinburgh Arts, said: “The enthusiasm and commitment shown by the participants of the North Edinburgh Theatre group has been overwhelming for the staff team here at NEA and it was fantastic news when the project won the support of HealthShow, part of the People’s Health Trust.

“We are sure the 1d Tenement Opera will bring out a renewed sense of pride in the participants and their community and look forward to being able to
share this with everyone during the performances in January 2015.”

share

The North Edinburgh Theatre project invites you to the short Sharing-of-Work, discussion and fundraiser this Friday (13 June) at 7pm. There will be tea and cakes for sale, with funds going towards the 1d Tenement Opera production.

The Health Lottery is operated for and on behalf of 51 Community
Interest Companies across England, Scotland and Wales, all holding
society lottery licenses issued by the Gambling Commission.
www.healthlottery.co.uk

People’s Health Trust is an independent charity addressing health
inequalities across Great Britain. It works closely with each Community
Interest Company distributing grants. www.peopleshealthtrust.org.uk

Niko defies the odds to become Student of the Year

Niko pictured with his wife Eva (left) and cousin Joanna
Niko pictured with his wife Eva (left) and cousin Joanna

An Edinburgh College student who came to Scotland for a fresh start and a chance to create a better life has fought against the odds to be named Student of the Year.

Niko Sadlowski – who studies NC Early Education and Childcare and is originally from Poland – received his award alongside 50 other prize winners at the Edinburgh College Further Education Awards ceremony at The Hub in the city centre. Niko was nominated by his lecturers because of his determination to succeed.

Niko, who also works part time at The Action Group charity for people with additional support needs and disabilities, said: “I was delighted and totally overwhelmed to find out I had won Student of the Year at the Further Education Awards.”

Niko added: “I left home as a teenager as I wanted to reduce the financial burden on my parents. I first came to this country at the age of 23 without knowing a word of English and I’ve worked really hard, in many low paying jobs, to create a life for myself and my family here.

“I grew up with deaf parents which meant I learned to communicate with them through sign language. I think this first triggered my interest in supporting people and their families with additional needs because I could understand the kinds of barriers they could face. My son was recently diagnosed with autism, so I also know what kind of support carers and their families require for a better quality of life.”

Edinburgh College childcare and social care lecturer Linda Paechter said: “Niko is an extraordinary student. His knowledge, skills and rich life experiences have been inspiring to his fellow students and I’m so pleased that he has been given the award of Student of the Year as part of the NC Early Education and Childcare course. His unwavering dedication to his studies has been incredible and he truly deserves the award.

“Professionals within childcare are predominantly female, yet the involvement of both male and female carers, educators and practitioners is incredibly important to allow for positive role-models for children. Niko is a wonderful ambassador for the benefits of more men in childcare and I know he has a very successful career ahead of him.”

Around 150 guests attended the Further Education Awards, which were hosted by Denise McAdam, celebrity hairdresser to the stars and presenter of the BBC programme Hair.

Denise, who studied hairdressing at Edinburgh College, has an impressive list of clients including Cindy Crawford, Grace Kelly, Princess Diana, Yasmin le Bon, and Naomi Campbell.

Staircase

Care in crisis: charities issue wake-up call

carer

All across Scotland a huge but invisible army is caring for increasing numbers of older, ill or disabled loved ones, new research has revealed. The report highlights a crisis of carers struggling without support and huge gaps in national understanding of growing social issue.

Research published to mark Carers Week 2014 (9 – 15 June) reveals worrying public ignorance of the rising call on families to provide unpaid care.

The reality is that 6.5 million people in the UK – 657,000 in Scotland – are already caring for a family member or close friend who is frail or facing long-term illness or disability.

The Carers Week/You Gov poll shows that adults of all ages drastically underestimate the issue, with only a tiny fraction (11%) of Scottish adults correctly stating the true scale of unpaid, family care.

And while numbers across the UK are predicted to rise to 9 million by 2037, most adults don’t think caring will happen to them. Only around a third of adults in Scotland who are currently not carers (35%) believe it likely they will become carers in the future, the survey found.

Speaking on behalf of the nine charities behind Carers Week 2014, Simon Hodgson, Director of Carers Scotland said: “The reality is that all of us, at some point in our lives, will either be carers or need the help of carers. This survey is a wake-up call, clearly and alarmingly showing that as a society we need a much wider understanding of the realities of caring.”

The survey also asked what would be of greatest concern if a loved one did come to need care

Scotland’s Top 3 Caring Worries are revealed as:

1 Money worries – Being unable to cope financially
2 Emotional strain – Finding it too stressful/upsetting
3 I wouldn’t know how – Not having the experience or skills to be a carer

The views of current carers gathered through the same poll, reveal carers across the country are struggling behind closed doors without adequate help. Worryingly, over half (53%) of carers polled across the UK said they were not receiving enough support. Their experiences included:

“My brother cares full time for both my parents. My father’s 91 and unable to walk without assistance. My mother’s 86, has severe dementia and needs help 24/7. I help at weekends and one evening a week. My brother’s spoken to the doctor about care for my mother and was told the dementia nurse has a full case load. He’s contacted a charity who have agreed to help for two hours per week.”

“My daughter has spina bifida and is a full time wheelchair user….. At 60, it can be hard for me to push a manual wheelchair plus carry shopping up a hill. …”

“I have been looking after my disabled wife for 13 years. … I work part time and my physical health is not great and sometimes I feel like I am cracking up.”

Simon Hodgson added:“We need to understand what carers are doing day in and day out, the impact caring can have – and the difference we as individuals and organisations can make. That is why during Carers Week we are calling on the public and professionals across the UK to reach out to carers in their local communities.”

www.carersweek.org

Jobs alone will not eliminate poverty, report warns

shops

New jobs alone will not tackle the chronic problem of poverty in Scotland, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has warned. The report was published yesterday – 100 days from the Referendum – and authors say Scotland’s public services must improve to support families and make work pay, whatever the outcome of September’s vote.

Latest research shows by the mid-2020s, one in seven working-age adults and children could still be below the poverty line – two thirds of them in working families.

The findings are detailed in the third and final referendum briefing written by the New Policy Institute (NPI) and published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) today. The research looks at the challenge that Scotland would face to tackle poverty, even with a much higher employment rate.

Scotland’s employment rate has remained at or above the UK’s employment rate for the last eight years. It currently stands at 73.5% and on rates of growth achieved in the ten years to 2007, it could reach 80% by 2025. At current population levels, this would mean an extra 300,000 jobs in the economy.

The report authors analysed the impact of this growth, looking at what would happen to poverty levels under two scenarios, depending on whether the extra jobs were full or part-time. They found:

  • If the 80% benchmark was reached by the creation of only part-time jobs, poverty among working age adults and children could fall from 800,000 (19.4%) to 670,000 (16.2%).
  • But if most of those extra jobs were full-time, the number in poverty would fall further, to 600,000 (14.6%). 65% of them would be in working families.

The lower poverty rate of the second scenario (of full-time jobs) shows the importance of a higher ‘work intensity’ – where families are able to access jobs with more hours. But this brings problems of its own: policy makers will need to ensure there are sufficient high quality, flexible and affordable public services such as transport, childcare, adult social care and health services, to make it possible for a family to work longer hours.

Dr Peter Kenway, Director of NPI and report co-author, said: “As employment levels rise, post-referendum Scotland must avoid replacing a problem of material deprivation with one of inflexible services and a lack of time: families short of cash are often short on time as well. Both sides of the independence campaign have to address the long-term challenges faced by struggling families of finding secure work that pays sufficiently.”

Jim McCormick, Scotland adviser to JRF, said: “These scenarios highlight the challenges that Scotland must meet if poverty rates are to decrease. Much higher employment would cut poverty, but jobs alone will not eliminate it while low pay and inadequate working hours remain so widespread.

“We need to ensure work pays enough to be a route of out poverty. Working more hours is only part of the answer: housing costs, rates of pay and the tax, tax credit and benefit systems are all implicated. Scotland after the referendum will need policy responses to all of these, whether independent or not.”

JRF poverty-work-scotland-summary