Today Sainsburys Blackhall presented a cheque for £2351.30 to their Local Charity Partner, Muirhouse Youth Development Group.
Checkout Manager Louisa Higgins, (pictured centre) would like to thank colleagues and customers for their help in raising the money.
Pictured (l-r) Gail Wilson, Dean Shanks, Louisa Higgins, Katie Tuff and Megan McGowan.
Stockbridge Library has been selected as one of five Scottish libraries to benefit from a new permanent artwork as part of Book Week Scotland 2014.
The purpose of the installation, which will be unveiled on the first day of Book Week Scotland on 24 November, is to make libraries more visible in their own communities and to raise awareness of them as important assets for local people to enjoy.
The artwork will be created by Glasgow-based artist Rachel Barron and will be inspired by Dear Library, a poem written by best-selling Scottish author and playwright Jackie Kay as part of Book Week Scotland’s Love Your Library! campaign. Dear Library highlights the important role that libraries can play at every stage of an individual’s life, from childhood to old age.
Rachel has been given one verse of the poem to inspire her, which is written from the perspective of an expectant mother, and it is hoped that the resulting artwork will encourage the local Stockbridge community to visit their library to begin or continue their reading journey.
Councillor Richard Lewis, Convener for Culture and Sport, said: “I am delighted that Stockbridge Library has been selected for this project in support of Book Week Scotland 2014. Naturally, Edinburgh’s public libraries champion reading all year long with a host of activities to help people develop a love of books – but we are also proud to welcome a number of cultural and community events through the doors of Edinburgh’s libraries. We hope this event will entice people to visit their local library in Stockbridge to view Rachel’s art, and let people realise how much more there is to their local library.”
Sophie Moxon, Deputy CEO of Scottish Book Trust, the organisation delivering Book Week Scotland, added: “Following the success of our Reading Murals project in 2013, we are delighted to be unveiling five original artworks by young artists in libraries across the country for Book Week Scotland 2014. Jackie Kay’s ‘Dear Library’ beautifully illustrates the knowledge, inspiration and comfort that libraries can provide for people of all ages and we hope the artworks will too.”
Commenting on the commission, artist Rachel Barron said: “I am delighted to be part of the Artwork for Libraries project, as this is my first opportunity to create a permanent artwork within a public space. I am really looking forward to meeting and engaging with the local community in a series of creative workshops inspired by my current practice and vision for the permanent artwork.”
Rachel lives and works in Glasgow and Gothenburg, Sweden. She graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) from Edinburgh College of Art’s Painting Department in 2011, and since then she has exhibited across Scotland. Her work encompasses print, sculpture and installation through exhibitions and participatory projects that engage directly with the public. Recent projects have transformed gallery spaces into live print workshops, which invite the public to participate by contributing their own artwork to the exhibition display. She aims to encourage artistic expression within people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities; providing the opportunity and environment to uncover the creative potential in everyone.
The other four artworks to be unveiled will be in Musselburgh, Saltcoats, Lennoxtown and Shetland.
And the poem …
Dear Library
1.
See when ah wiz wee
ma faverit day wis
Wednisday, library day,
when Ma an me wid go tae ma library
an I wid get to pik ma book
an get it stampd oot
efter the ither yin had been stampd in
and I hid ma very ain card
which wiz a wee magic envlope
that took me tae anither world
awthegither fu o’ caracters an creatures, auntie lopes,
big broon bears, loins and tigrs, new wurds
an anythin an aw’thin I wants tae ken aboot
the moon, stars, sea, the hale galaxy, the wide wurld
wiz at the tip o my fingers in ma locall library.
2.
Always a new book to wolf down in the dead of night,
a borrowed book to read by torchlight…
In the morning, last night’s saved page turns
to who last had this book out
and the date returned, 9 June, this year.
This same book in a stranger’s hands, half-known.
Those readers, kindred spirits, almost friends.
You are in transition; you are on the threshold.
The library is the place that gets you. Pure gold.
You are Holden, you’re Lyra, you’re White Fang,
you’re Kidnapped, you’re Skellig, you’re Refugee Boy.
You’re Callum, a nought, you’re Catch 22.
You’re Chris Guthrie. You’re Hyde. You’re Boo Radley.
It’s not Accidental. You are those books. Those books are You.
Inside your mind you’re strong. Safe.
Toss a coin: heads, reader; tails, writer.
The library is the young writer’s first home.
You read pertinent sayings, make your own.
The cool teenager is a member of the library.
3.
I go to my library to find out about the baby
growing like a story inside me: 37 weeks!
My baby is likely to be sucking his thumb, her thumb.
My tight tummy is a drum, a drum.
The child who I will one day – hopefully –
bring back to this library, ah wee one, is turning.
I’ll get her a first library card, bless,
and sit where I’m sat now, reading, to test
the books I’ll soon read to him, fingers crossed.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
The Runaway Bunny, Goodnight Moon
37 weeks: my tummy – boom, boom, beating time!
Come soon wee baby; wee baby come soon.
Come dream in your basket under the shy moon,
My hungry caterpillar, my goodnight gorilla.
My dear wee daughter, my good little fella.
4.
A book borrowed, kindly given.
A book swapped, loved, exchanged.
A book you will always hand back.
A book is a coat for your mind.
You’ve reached the age, 50 something, when you look back
on borrowed books as if they were old friends –
with nostalgia, with affection, intimately known.
The time when you read The Raj Quartet, or Han Suyin
Toni Morrison or Memo for Spring,
Things Fall Apart or Fire on the Mountain.
Poor Madame Bovary. Poor Anna Karenina.
Your life: many characters, bleak houses, long day’s journeys.
Your life of mixed fates, give and takes;
What you borrowed last month, you return today.
5.
Dear Library, you want to say, Dear Library, you have served me
well all my life. You are magnificence, munificence.
You are a book festival every day. There is no way, me an OAP,
could ever value what you’ve given me by money.
There is no measure for the enriching of the mind, friend.
Faithful and trusty, Dear Library, you are a heart stopper, a kind giver.
I treasure your lively silence; your very pleasant librarians.
They represent what a public service is truly, libertarian.
Impossible, did I say that already, to put a price on that. Again,
stop me if I am repeating myself, your staff will tell
me of a Saramago Street in a nearby town.
Browse, borrow, request, renew – lovely words to me.
A library card in your hand is your democracy.
If you were to shut, Dear Library, it would break my heart.
A library user all my life, I’d be lost without my library.
A closed library could only welcome a closed mind.
Is there a kinder place that you can find than your local library?
I want to say, and I do. I pick up my pen and write to you.
Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership recently awarded a community grant to local sports club Blackhall Athletic. The club used the funding to equip some of their teams with new tops, and INP Convener Councillor Nigel Bagshaw called in to a training session at Broughton High School to meet players and coaches last week.
Nigel said: “It’s great to support local initiatives like this. Community grants can make a real difference to small organisations and we’re delighted to be able to help Blackhall Athletic, who are doing a great job with our young people”.
Blackhall Athletic’s John Adams said: “We spend an awful lot of time trying to raise funds to support club activities but everyone knows how difficult that has been in recent times. We are constantly working at it and we hope to be self-sustaining in the future, but in the meantime this grant is really welcome. Quite simply, without this support we would not be able to continue to do what we do – so we are all really grateful to Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership”.
Blackhall Athletic is run by twenty-five adult volunteers who carry out a variety of tasks including coaching, first aid, administration and and committee duties. The club
currently has five teams, four boys and one girls, and they plan to start two more over the coming months – giving well over one hundred local boys and girls the opportunity to regularly take part in active sport.
John added: “As well as the sporting element, there are other benefits too. All of our boys and girls will, through training and playing, undertake over 180 hours of physical activity which is a health benefit.
“And then there’s teamwork. Our players come from all over the area; they go to different schools and come from different backgrounds but they are all the same when they put on the club strip. This teaches them that they must all work together to achieve success and the young people learn the life skills they will need as they grow into adulthood.”
That sounds like a home ‘win, win’ for both Blackhall Athletic and the wider Inverleith community.
Neighbourhood Partnerships – Making it happen
Following extensive consultation, the Forth and Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership’s new local community plans for 2014-17 will be launched on Monday 27 October!
These will be available online at www.edinburghnp.org.uk/forth or www.edinburghnp.org.uk/inverleith, from your local library or from your North Neighbourhood Office at 8 West Pilton Gardens.
Working with communities and partners, Neighbourhood Partnerships aim to tackle priority issues and make neighbourhoods a better place to live. They bring together the community, Police, Health, Fire, voluntary sector and elected members, and are supported by officers from the Council.
To find out how to get involved in your local Neighbourhood Partnership, visit one of our events, attend a Neighbourhood Partnership meeting or talk to us face to face. Please call 529 5050 or email jim.pattison@edinburgh.gov.uk (Forth NP) or elaine.lennon@edinburgh.gov.uk (Inverleith NP) for more information.
You can also contact us online – tweet us your thoughts @north_team or @Edin_NPs
A third man has been charged with attempted murder following an attack on a Chinese takeaway shop owner in West Pilton last week.
Jie Yu, 37, was punched, kicked and stabbed in a horrific attack last Wednesday evening in in West Pilton Park. The owner of the Pekin Garden in Ferry Road Drive remains in a “serious but stable” condition having now been moved to St John’s hospital in Livingston.
Since the attack Police Scotland has followed a positive line of enquiry and senior officers were confident that the attackers would be tracked down.
Police Scotland confirmed that a 19-year-old man has now been arrested and charged with attempted murder. He will appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court later, as will another 24-year-old man who was charged yesterday.
An 18-year-old man was charged with attempted murder and appeared before the Sheriff Court on Monday.
Angry Pilton residents demand action over crime and antisocial behaviour
Local residents packed into West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre last night to demand that firm action is taken to tackle a wave of crime and vandalism that is blighting the area. Police, politicians and council officials say they will continue to work in partnership with the community to resolve the problems – but add that the justice system must also do more to help communities.
Last night’s event was scheduled to be an ordinary monthly West Pilton West Granton community council meeting, but recent local events meant that the regular business agenda was ditched as dozens of angry residents packed the meeting. The attempted murder of local business owner Jie Yu in West Pilton last week brought matters to a head and has galvanised local people to say – enough is enough: we won’t accept this any more. The community is sick of what they see as a lack of activity in tackling crime in their area, and listening to comments last night Pilton sounds like an area under siege. Speaker after speaker talked about slow or non-existent response to calls to the police, the scourge of motorbikes, a lack of punishment if wrongdoers are caught and primary school-aged children wandering the streets after midnight. 
They talked of gangs of youths – many of whom live outside North Edinburgh – roaming the streets at all hours, leaving local children too afraid to go out to play. Older people afraid to leave their homes, vandalism, break-ins, assaults, robberies and threats – all things that undermine and can ultimately destroy any quality of life. The meeting was well-attended by those whose job it is to support and protect communities like West Pilton. Senior police officer Chief Inspector Bob Paris, local PC Stuart Mitchell, North and Leith MSP Malcolm Chisholm and local councillors Cammy Day – who is also council community safety spokesman – and Vicki Redpath were all there, as was Ruth Stanley, community safety manager at the local North Neighbourhood Office. They can have been left in no doubt over the mood of the meeting. 
What happens next? Unbeknown to most residents, the Forth area is currently served by a Task Force, established earlier this year to tackle many of the issues raised at last night’s Neighbourhood Centre meeting. Members of that Task Force will now be invited to attend a local public meeting to both hear the concerns of residents for themselves and explain what exactly they are doing to address crime and antisocial behaviour in the area. Malcolm Chisholm will also be seeking an urgent meeting with the local area commander on her return from holiday. You get the impression that reassuring words about effective partnership working just won’t wash this time around – a community has reached the end of it’s tether and is calling for action. Punish the wrongdoers. Enough is enough. 
