Total-ly delighted!

£84,000 will establish a Community Leadership College

The STV Appeal is the fund that just keeps on giving to projects in North Edinburgh – Total Craigroyston became the latest local beneficiary when it received almost £84,000 from the charity programme.

STV CEO and trustee of the STV Appeal Rob Woodward and Chris Wilson managing director, Retail and Private Banking, RBS, presented the cheque for £83, 980 to Total Craigroyston manager Christine Mackay yesterday.

The STV Appeal raised £2.6million in 2014 – £305,689 of this was raised by RBS branches.

Total Craigroyston is an initiative set up by the Edinburgh Partnership to improve outcomes for children and families in the neighbourhood around Craigroyston Community High School. The project is doing this by taking a three pronged approach –

strengthening services that are open to all like health, early years and schools;
strengthening support for families;
supporting local people to organise their own activities.

Now, working in partnership with charities Circle Scotland and the Link-up Muirhouse project, an idea has been developed to establish a Community Leadership College. This will help Total Craigroyston expand leadership capability amongst local residents.

Julie Crawford, Muirhouse Link Up development worker, said: “We are really excited about the opportunity that the STV Appeal has given us to turn our idea into reality. This project will help us work with local people to build on the excellent local leadership that exists at the moment and take it to the next level.”

Chris Wilson, managing director, Retail and Private Banking, RBS, said: “It’s fantastic to see first-hand the work of projects like Total Craigroyston and understand the real impact that the money from the STV Appeal will have on them. RBS is proud to support the STV Appeal and help change the lives of vulnerable children and young people in Scotland.”

The STV Appeal is committed to making a difference in the lives of children and young people living in poverty in Scotland. Across the country, 220,000 children live in poverty and figures from the Campaign to End Child Poverty show that in the city of Edinburgh it’s actually 21.1% of children – more than one in five.

Total Craigroyston is just one of the projects the STV Appeal is supporting in North Edinburgh – Pilton Youth & Childrens Project, Changeworks and Fresh Start have all received grants from the funder.

Since launch in 2011, the STV Appeal has raised over £8.2 million with 297 big and small grants distributed to projects across all 32 local authority areas in Scotland, providing much needed support to over 37,000 children. The money raised is distributed to provide practical help like food and warm clothes; create opportunities for training and employability; and enable social and emotional support for those who need it most.

Rob Woodward, STV CEO and trustee of the STV Appeal, said: “The money donated to the STV Appeal remains in Scotland and will help bring about a positive change to the lives of vulnerable children and young people on our doorstep. With the help of the extraordinary fundraising efforts taking place in communities across the country we have raised an incredible £2.6m in 2014 allowing us to make grants to 297 projects. We are extremely grateful to everyone who supported the Appeal.”

Drylaw’s looking for a local hero

It’s Tierney Award nomination time in Drylaw Telford

Do you know someone who gave up their time to help the Drylaw Telford community last year? A local volunteer who went that extra mile to support a neighbour, or a person who’s worked to improve the local environment or enhance the quality of life in the neighbourhood? If so, Drylaw Telford Community Council wants to hear from you!

The community council is now seeking nominations for the Thomas Tierney Award for Good Citizenship 2014.

Tam Tierney was a committed community activist from Wester Drylaw who was involved in many of the positive things that happening in the old Greater Pilton area during the eighties and nineties. He was a stalwart of Pilton Sporting Club, chaired Craigroyston Community Centre for many years and was also an active and enthusiastic member of Drylaw Telford Community Council. Tam was also part of the steering group and a member of the first management committee of Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre, which first opened it’s doors twenty years ago in 1995.

When Tam passed away in 1999, Drylaw Telford Community Council decided to mark his contribution to community life – not only to celebrate his achievements but also to try to encourage others to become more active within their community.

Every year since 2000, the community council has chosen a new recipient of the Award. They are all very different, and every one has been nominated for a different reason, but they share one thing in common: they freely contribute their time to do something that makes the Drylaw Telford neighbourhood a better place to live.

Former recipients have done that in many ways – helping out as a volunteer with local projects, doing their neighbours’ shopping, supporting local groups by serving on management committees … and some have done all of these things and more!

Drylaw Telford Community Council chairman Alex Dale – who himself received the award in 2012 – said: “The Thomas Tierney Award is an important date on our community council calendar and is usually the best attended meeting of the year. We are looking forward to receiving nominations and the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our local unsung heroes.”

Nomination forms are now available at Drylaw Parish Church and Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre and forms can also be downloaded at Drylaw Telford Community Council’s website.

All completed forms must be returned by 25 February.

If you think you know someone from the area who deserves recognition for their community spirit, visit the community council’s website at www.drylawtelfordcc.co.uk or email Secretary@drylawtelfordcc.co.uk for further information.

Thomas Tierney Award Poster

An Open Goal? Fans involvement in football clubs

Working group makes final recommendations

A group set up to look at how to get fans and communities more involved with the running of Scottish football clubs has published its final report.

The Working Group for Supporter Involvement in Football Clubs was set up by the Scottish Government in April 2014. Its remit was to identify, consider and recommend ways to increase and improve supporter involvement in Scottish football clubs

The group was chaired by Stephen Morrow, Senior Lecturer in Sport Finance at the University of Stirling. It comprised of representatives from the Scottish Football Association (Scottish FA), Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), Supporters Direct Scotland and sportscotland.

The recommendations include:

• Development of an annual Supporter Involvement Award
• All clubs should give consideration of the best ways that supporters can get involved in how they are run
• Training and guidance should be given to supporters’ representatives
• That the Scottish FA consider as a matter of priority how best supporters can be represented in its formal governance structures
• Clubs to make various key pieces of information available, including names of all board members, their involvement in the club and the reason for their appointment, details of the number of board meetings held and the number of directors attending
• All SPFL clubs to declare the identity of their beneficial owner
• That best practice guidelines be developed for community clubs
• To explore the establishment of a Business, Community and Football Enterprise unit to provide legal and financial support to supporters and club owners

Development and implementation of these recommendations will be overseen by the working group and taken forward by the clubs, governing bodies and relevant associated organisations

Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement, and Mental Health said: “Supporters should be at the heart of their football clubs, but too often they have felt marginalised and excluded. We established this working group because we wanted to find ways of making supporter involvement easier, and of strengthening the relationship between clubs and the communities they represent.

“The group has come up with some interesting recommendations and it is now dependent on everyone involved, including the Scottish Government, to make these work.

“These are challenging times for Scotland’s football clubs. The Scottish Government agrees with the working group that a legislative approach to addressing many of these issues is simply too prescriptive and not desirable or necessary at this stage.

“I thank and congratulate all those involved for taking part in this working group, and for taking the important issue of supporter involvement seriously. By working together to implement these recommendations I am confident both fans and clubs can bring about real improvements in how they engage and operate at all levels. ”

Stewart Regan, Scottish FA Chief Executive, said: “The Scottish FA acknowledges the need for greater supporter involvement in the national game. It is also supportive of the need to enhance fan engagement, not just in-stadia but expanding our digital provision. We have been pleased with the commitment shown by our colleagues in the working group and look forward to working together to implement the recommendations contained in the report.”

Neil Doncaster, SPFL Chief Executive, said: “Supporters are the lifeblood of the game in Scotland. We welcome initiatives that are designed to increase fans’ engagement with their clubs.”

Andrew Jenkin, Acting Head of Supporters Direct Scotland, said: “Supporters Direct Scotland were pleased to be an active member of this Working Group. We believe supporters are integral to the game of football and should continue to be further involved in the decision making with the group offering us the opportunity to shape future recommendations.

“The report rightly states that community ownership of clubs can come in many forms and brings a number of benefits to clubs, supporters and local communities. In Scotland there are various models and examples of fans joining together and offering new solutions in the future ownership of their clubs, from fully owned debt free Clyde, to the Foundation of Hearts”.

Stephen Morrow, who chaired the working group, said: “It is clear that Scottish football is in a period of transition. For example, after a period of great instability it is exciting to see one of our biggest clubs, Hearts, embarking on a journey towards supporter ownership. At the same time, another of our major clubs, Hibernian, is actively considering radical changes to its ownership and governance; proposals which are particularly interesting given that they are not emerging in response to financial crisis.

“One of the areas the Working Group focused on was how to reduce barriers to supporter ownership in circumstances where there is demand for this ownership structure. But it is important to stress that our group did not take the view that there was an ideal ownership model for Scottish football clubs.

“Our emphasis was on how best to encourage broader involvement of supporters, irrespective of the particular ownership structure adopted by a club and I am very grateful to the members of the Working Group for working so constructively to come up with proposals which have the potential to greatly enhance supporter involvement and supporter accountability in practice.”

The full report can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/ArtsCultureSport/Sport/football/WorkingGroupSupporterInvolvment

Making Work Pay event – a few tickets left

The Edinburgh Partnership is hosting an event at Tynecastle Stadium next Wednesday (4 February) to promote the Living Wage. Ann Budge, owner of Heart of Midlothian FC, will be keynote speaker at the ‘Making Work Pay’ breakfast event and a few tickets are still available.

Ann Budge will be outline the reasons why Hearts have recently adopted the Living Wage, and other local Living Wage employers including Standard Life, Rabbie’s and Bluebird Care will also share their perspectives.

This is the first event to be hosted under Edinburgh Partnership’s new ‘One City’ Corporate Social Responsibility Framework. The target audience is businesses of all sizes and sectors who operate in Edinburgh.

To register, go to:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-work-pay-a-one-city-edinburgh-event-tickets-15003804784

Active Kids is back at Sainsbury’s

Active Kids is back at Sainsburys Blackhall. Customers can collect vouchers in store from 28 January – 5 May to help registered schools, groups and clubs across Edinburgh receive active and cooking equipment and experiences.

The scheme, which is celebrating its 10th birthday, is supported by double Paralympic gold medal-winner Ellie Simmons, world record breaking sprinter Jonnie Peacock and Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge.

Active Kids is designed to inspire and enable children to take more exercise and to eat healthily. Launched in 2005, the voucher collection scheme is open to all nursery, primary and secondary schools, as well as Scouts, Girlguiding groups and sports clubs in the UK.

Since it launched, over £150 million worth of equipment and experiences have been donated to registered schools, clubs and organisations.

The programme continues to evolve and reflect changes to the curriculum, with developments such as additional cooking equipment and toolkits introduced to support this new emphasis in the classroom.

Community Regeneration: what is it all about?

Blue sky thinking: Granton Improvement Society calls for real community planning

The idea of “community regeneration” certainly is not new but at this time in Scotland, with new Scottish government legislation on Community Empowerment, the time is now better than ever before for communities to take more control of assets. We can shape our community involving all who live, work and play within it. Now that would be real community regeneration!

Politicians talk about regeneration but do they deliver? What does that mean for the residents of North Edinburgh? We have a badly needed housing development in Muirhouse but without complementary services. The rest of the locality is left to decay with budget cuts making it harder for politicians (the council) to regenerate the larger area.

The people of the area know what is needed to regenerate their environment and it is not just housing. The Granton on Sea project can be the corner stone of such development. A project that provides benefits across a wide spectrum of issues that have been unresolved over the past 20 years – even though the area was designated as a major regeneration area within the City of Edinburgh.

A community regeneration project requires the assets of the community to be in total, outright ownership of that community: this is not in place.

Why then, when Scottish government policy is to transfer assets to communities have EDI, chaired by Councillor Frank Ross who is also convenor of the Economic Development committee, denied the project Granton on Sea the opportunity to begin one of Scotland’s largest and most ambitious regeneration plans?

The EDI Finance Director and Waterfront manager both recommended that Granton Improvement Society be given a two year period where it would fully develop the project with the Lottery’s Growing Community Assets unit. After eighteen months it would begin to provide employment, training, tourism opportunities, visitors and more economic benefits to North Edinburgh.

How will the project bring benefit?

The acquisition of the land by the Granton Improvement Society will see the development of 54 luxury houses stopped and replaced with an International Garden Festival and create artisan studios in green space on the adjoining plot of land.

The proposal will provide upwards of 100 permanent full time and part-time jobs, training and education in horticulture and other professions and trades. It will be an opportunity for local people to start up business in affordable workspaces. The unique visitor attraction of the International Garden Festival where each year it is different will ensure returning visitors to the project. That influx of tourists both national and international will see their spending retained in the local economy.

The real main benefit that the Granton on Sea project will bring is a local charity The Granton Improvement Society, whose main objective is the regeneration of the North Edinburgh area. It will manage the income from the artisan village and the Garden Festival for the benefit of other projects throughout the North Edinburgh area.

What do we need from you, the community?

This community has waited for regeneration benefits for decades with the community being told that the benefits are coming, this has clearly not happened. We are not giving up! We are asking you to join the Granton Improvement Society and create a place for people to live work and play!

Application forms for the Granton Improvement Society can be downloaded at

https://grantonimprovementsociety.wordpress.com/

and are available from the secretary, email

info@grantonimprovementsociety.org

More cracking news from Craigie!

Positive Inspection Report for Learning Community around Craigroyston Community High School

The ‘Learning Community’ surrounding Craigroyston High School was inspected by Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education at the same time as the High School and also received a very positive report.

The inspection looked at services provided by Community Learning and Development and partners in the voluntary and public sector . Areas highlighted were:

Strong focus on prevention and support for families and children.
Breadth and range of voluntary sector contribution to the learning community.
Total Craigroyston having a positive impact on partnership working across the area and improving outcomes for learners.
Improvement in key indicators such as attainment, children’s and young people’s literacy and numeracy, positive destinations and reducing school exclusions.
Increasing number of opportunities delivered by local people that are creating positive role models.

Inspectors particularly noted the range and strength of partnership work. The full report can be found at:

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/

and a link will be put on the Total Craigroyston blog.

I tell you, you wait ages and ages for a positive report to come along and then two come along at once! Congratulations, again!