Wild Horses wouldn’t keep her away!

Susan Boyle serenades residents during music session

Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle, who has sold over 20 million albums since being discovered on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009, made a surprise visit to specialist health and social care service Penumbra Milestone last week.

Grammy-nominated Susan took time out of her busy schedule to visit the ten-bed residential service for people recovering from alcohol related brain damage (ARBD). During her visit she was given a guided tour by Service Manager Lesley Forbes and spent time listening to a residents’ music group.

The singer, who is due to head into the studio to record a new album later this month, was invited to visit Penumbra Milestone by a former service user.

Dr Mathew Hicks, who runs the music group at Penumbra Milestone, said: “Our music therapy group aims to encourage recovery from ARBD. Performing and listening to music helps residents to improve memory, coordination and motivation.

“When we told residents that Susan Boyle was coming to the therapy group they thought we were joking. When she arrived they were amazed.

“Susan listened to the music and chatted to staff and residents. Towards the end of her visit she sang one of her biggest hits – Wild Horses. It was an amazing experience to hear her sing in person – we were mesmerised!”

Penumbra Milestone is a partnership between mental health charity Penumbra, Waverly Care, NHS Lothian and Edinburgh City Council’s Department of Health and Social Care. It is an alcohol-free 10-bedded step-down unit which provides short-term care for vulnerable men and women, aged 18+, who have a diagnosis of ARBD.

Speaking about the service Graeme Henderson, Director of Services and Development at Penumbra, said: “Penumbra Milestone is an innovative step-down unit which bridges the gap between hospital and community based care. The service has been designed to ease the pressure on acute hospital beds caused by the lengthy stay of people diagnosed with ARBD.

“This joined-up approach makes the NHS more efficient and improves the care provided to people by drawing on the valuable range of skills in the third sector, NHS and council services.

“Penumbra Milestone offers the ideal environment in which people experiencing ARBD can be supported, allowing them to transition back into the community when they are ready.”

While Penumbra Milestone began accepting referrals late last year, it will be officially opened next Thursday (23 April) when actress, comedienne and campaigner Elaine C. Smith – who coincidently played Susan Boyle in a musical based on the singer’s life – will be the special guest.

for more information about Penumbra visit www.Penumbra.org.uk

Twitter (@Penumbra_Scot)

and Facebook (Facebook/PenumbraScotland).

Over £1 million in the bag!

Monday (20 April) is the six month anniversary of the single-use carrier bag charge

Scotland’s Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead has announced that four retailers have donated more than £1 million to good causes as a result of the single-use carrier bag charge, which came into effect almost six months ago.

The indicative figure has been revealed following retailer reports that single-use carrier bag usage has been reduced by more than 80 per cent since the charge was introduced on October 20, 2014.

Nationwide retailers that signed up to Zero Waste Scotland’s Carrier Bag Commitment – an agreement to disclose information on the charge, and donations made, to a central publicly available portal – are reporting that various charities up and down the country have also benefited from funds raised by the charge.

Mr Lochhead made the announcement at an Asda store in Elgin. Over the coming months, Zero Waste Scotland will collect data on carrier bag use and funds raised for good causes ahead of the first official figures being released later this year.

Presently, Asda is indicating a more than 90 per cent reduction in single-use carrier bag use, while raising £350,000 for two social enterprise charities – Social Investment Scotland and Foundation Scotland. The Co-operative Food has used the 5p charge to raise £375,000 for community projects across Scotland, reporting a usage reduction of 80 per cent.

Marks & Spencer has raised £214,374 for good causes, with £88,446 going to the Marine Conservation Society, £88,446 going to WWF, including the Orkney sustainable Fishery Improvement Programme, and a further £37,482 going to a range of local Scottish charities. The retailer is reporting an overall usage reduction of around 50 per cent in the past six months, which is significant as it comes in addition to the reductions already achieved by the introduction of a 5p charge on larger food bags in 2008.

Morrisons has also reported an 80 per cent reduction, and funds raised for the Morrisons Foundation – which will donate to good causes in Scotland – in line with the levels reported by the other retailers.

Other founding signatories include:

Scottish branches of national retailers such as McDonalds, Premier Stores, Waitrose, Argos, Austin Reed, Papyrus, Jaegar, Ted Baker, Adidas, Mango and T. M. Lewin & Sons
Local businesses including McEwen’s of Perth, EUSA Potter Shop, the Highland Soap Company, J&G Coia Sweetshop in Edinburgh, Taylors of Banchory, Pentland Foods, Andersons of Inverurie, and R&K Stenhouse in Clackmannanshire.
Top tourist destinations such as Gleneagles, The Green Welly Stop, Edinburgh’s Camera Obscura & World of Illusions, Kilmartin Museum and all sites run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

Mr Lochhead said: “I’m delighted that in just six months the carrier bag charge is already making such a big impact in Scotland.

“I very much welcome the dramatic reductions in carrier bag use being reported by these major retailers. It suggests that many consumers are now in the habit of reusing bags, which should reduce the amount of litter that blights our communities and natural environment, and costs a fortune to clean up.

“This primary purpose of this legislation is to clean up our streets and beaches by cutting carrier bag use. But it’s also fantastic that the charge has already raised so much money for worthy causes from just these four retailers alone. This is just the tip of the iceberg and I am looking forward to seeing fuller figures later in the year – but in the meantime I encourage all retailers to sign up to the Carrier Bag Commitment to ensure that shoppers can have full transparency over where the money being raised from the charge is going.”

Iain Gulland, chief executive of Zero Waste Scotland, said: “Over the past six months, we’ve seen an incredible change to shopping habits in Scotland. Shoppers have embraced the 5p charge and rapidly reduced their consumption of single-use carrier bags more readily than we ever hoped.

“I’d like to thank all the founding signatories published today, to our Carrier Bag Commitment, and urge more retailers to join them. Initial feedback from signatories suggests that more than £1 million has been raised for good causes in Scotland and by embracing the 5p single-use bag charge, businesses and shoppers are helping reduce waste and repair the damage already done. We can all be proud of that.”

By signing up to the Carrier Bag Commitment, signatories can gain access to Zero Waste Scotland’s reporting portal which is an easy way of meeting the legal obligation to record data on the number of bags sold, amount raised and how the proceeds were used, which applies to retailers employing 10 or more full-time equivalent staff.

Asda’s Senior Director for Scotland Kevin McBride said: “At Asda, we want the carrier bag charge to have long-term social – as well as environmental – benefits. By working with our partners, Social Investment Scotland and Foundation Scotland, we have the opportunity to invest innovatively in our local communities, helping to grow the social enterprise sector and supporting local projects in every Asda mile.

“By working in partnership in this way, we can ensure that the carrier bag charge delivers meaningful, sustainable benefits for Scotland, helping to drive growth, create jobs and regenerate communities for the long-term.”

Muirhouse Zumba class for people with disabilities

In the three months our website was down participation in this class has rocketed! A total of 19 (with 3 regulars off due to illness) attended this morning with people coming from all areas of Edinburgh and two buses from the city council supplying the transport (writes James McGinty).

Ally & Lara have to be congratulated for their techniques and the way they have of making this a fun-filled session – this is the only Zumba for people with disabilities known to us in the whole of the U.K.

Well done, Ally & Lara – you both deserve a medal !!

Council plan to speed up housebuilding

Proposals to accelerate the building of rented homes through a new ‘arm’s-length’ housing company are to be considered by the City of Edinburgh Council and its partners next week.

The idea builds on the capital’s current affordable housing programme, which has trebled the number of affordable homes delivered by housing associations and the Council to around 1,500 each year. Partnerships with developers to deliver around 1,000 new rented homes for working households are also under way across the city.

There is high demand for quality and well managed rented housing that building new homes for rent would help accelerate house building. Other Councils in the UK like Manchester have already taken forward similar proposals.

Members of the Health, Social Care and Housing Committee on April 21st will be asked to approve a bid, outlined in a report, to explore the feasibility of developing an arms length housing company to support delivering new market housing for rent.

The company would develop sites for investors and funders, and act as a guaranteed buyer from developers of homes to rent. If the report to committee is agreed, the model for Edinburgh Homes would be consulted on with stakeholders.

Councillor Cammy Day, Housing Convener, said: “We’re already investing a lot of money into building high quality affordable homes across the city, and with our housing association partners, have actually built record numbers in recent years. But we are a growing city and meeting the need for new, good quality, good value homes across all tenures is a top priority for this Council.

“Edinburgh is an attractive and desirable city but people wanting to live here can find themselves priced out of the market. Setting up Edinburgh Homes would provide much needed housing and also bring much needed investment into the city.”

Ana is the people’s choice!

Ana’s composition is a real draw!

An Edinburgh College illustration student has won the people’s choice award in a competition to design a children’s book cover for city publisher Floris Books.

The Kelpies Design & Illustration Prize 2015 challenged entrants to design a new book cover for Allan Campbell McLean’s classic cold war spy adventure The Hill of the Red Fox.

Edinburgh College HND Visual Communication: Illustration student Ana Elez Rodrigo (above) won the People’s Choice award, receiving more than 1,200 votes in an online poll, and received a £75 cash prize. Fellow illustration student David Lymburn was also shortlisted in the competition.

Lewis Copland, a communication design student at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen took the top prize, with professional designer Brad Newsman taking the highly commended prize.

The winners were announced at a ceremony at Leith’s creative business hub Creative Exchange, run by Edinburgh College and the City of Edinburgh Council.

Anna’s design was praised by the judges for her use of a strong colour palette and textured background to depict a red fox against a rugged highland landscape. David was commended for his bold use of composition, colour and typography.

Anna said: “For my design I got inspired by the landscape in Skye and the north of the Highlands. I played with the title of the book to make this kind-of mysterious and intriguing fox.”

As the novel is set in the fifties, Anna used stylish colours of the time along with wrinkled paper to add texture. She said she was “excited and really happy” to have done so well in the competition.

Leah McDowell, design and production manager at Floris Books, said: “The shortlisted designs of Anna Elez Rodrigo and David Lymburn display great talent for two people in such early stages of their careers. Their interpretations of the competition brief show a good understanding of what was asked of them as part of this pressured live project.

“Floris Books felt that the Creative Exchange was the perfect place to host the shortlist exhibition, not only because of the qualities it encourages and represents – creativity, innovation and collaboration – but also because the ground floor space acted as the perfect environment to show off our contemporary children’s book cover designs.”

Image Caption: Overall winner Lewis Copland (front left); Anna Elez Rodrigo (front right); Edinburgh College entrant David Lymburn (second from right, white shirt)

The 12 shortlisted designs will remain on display at Creative Exchange, 29 Constitution Street, Leith until 30 April (Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm).

Edinburgh College offers a wide range of design and illustration courses from introductory to HND level. Students work on exciting and challenging briefs to equip them with the technical and creative skills associated with their chosen professionalism, and are encouraged to enter competitions to hone their talents and expose their work to a wider audience. Applications are currently invited for these courses and more than 900 other courses across the curriculum offered by the college and starting in August on its four campuses.

See www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk for more info on how to apply.

Getting crafty in Muirhouse

Muirhouse Community Centre Social Crafting Club

It can be said that crafters can never have enough crafting stash or time – that is a true statement for many crafters. It can also be said that crafting can be an isolating hobby because it is easy to start a project and completely lose hours at a time in the blink of an eye. Again something that crafters will recognise as true (writes club organiser Eileen Carr).

Here at Muirhouse Community Centre’s Social Crafting Club we aim to bring crafters together in an informal way to socialise with other crafters, to craft, learn new skills, discuss crafting (amongst other things), and build our confidence in trying new craft ideas and equipment.

The Craft Club is open from 11am-3pm on a Friday in the Youth Wing – you can stay for the 4 hours or even just pop in for ½ hour. We ask that people donate £1 a week towards the tea (biscuit/cake) fund and any extra money raised is used for craft equipment and ‘stash’ for communal use.

Although we do have a supply of craft ‘stash’ and equipment it is usual for people to bring their own craft projects and work on them whilst chatting to the other crafters, enjoying a cup of tea and demonstrating their skills. There is always something new to learn whether it’s a technique or how to use a piece of equipment.

Between us we are confident (in varying degrees) in card making, scrap booking, stamping, die-cutting, iris folding, colouring (using aqua markers/alcohol pens/spectrum noir pens and pencils), plaque decorating, general paper-crafting, book folding, knitting, crochet, jewellery making, beading, scented crafts, sewing and cross stitch and we are happy to help out where we can – as well as learning new things ourselves.

Come and join us – all welcome!