The Inverleith Summer Programme is packed with things to do over the summer holidays (see details below)
Registration is on Monday 22 June 6pm at Broughton High School so get your skates on!
Day: June 16, 2015
Museum opens up window to the past
The Museum of Edinburgh, located on the Royal Mile in a series of 16th and 17th century houses, has unveiled two new interactive exhibits.
The City of Edinburgh Council owned and managed Museum has partnered with Edinburgh-based Insurgent Studios to bring the stories behind some of the city’s treasured artefacts to life.
Designed to faithfully recreate historical locations to provide an original addition to the city’s museum collection, the free-to-enter exhibits blend history and technology to enhance the overall enjoyment of a trip to the Museum.
Visitors can discover the life and times of Edinburgh-born WW1 British Commander Earl Haig, who created The Royal British Legion and raised funds for the welfare of ex-servicemen after the war. A second installation focuses on the Museum’s secret Courtyard which opens to the public for the first time in more than a decade.
The Courtyard has been landscaped with the help of local volunteers and community service workers, and a digital window onto the re-opened Courtyard will allow visitors to view life in the Canongate through the centuries.
Councillor Richard Lewis, Convener for Culture and Sport said: “With the exciting addition of these interactive exhibits and the pull of the popular Greyfriars Bobby collection, the Museum of Edinburgh is going to be a must-visit this summer.
“This digital trial is a first for the Council’s museums and galleries service and will be an exciting opportunity to discover how our cultural offering might be able to use new technology to shape our knowledge of the past. Appealing to visitors of all ages, the hands-on experience will allow anyone with an interest in Edinburgh’s history to physically connect with some of the Museum’s artefacts.”
Craig Hunter, Managing Director of Insurgent Studios, said: “The Council shares our enthusiasm to use the latest technology to enable the telling of old stories in new ways. We worked carefully to put the visitor at the centre of the experience, allowing them to ‘touch’ the objects we recreated in virtual form, to experience the installations at their own pace and in a variety of languages.
“The visitor is rewarded for engaging closely with the collection by the award of ‘achievements’ throughout the experience. Our approach to digital conservation allowed us to work with the team at the Council’s Museum of Edinburgh to showcase some items from the collections which would not otherwise be on display. We believe that these installations will appeal to everyone by literally putting history at their fingertips.”
Insurgent has also launched a microsite to detail the experience of creating the exhibits and using them.
The Museum of Edinburgh is open Monday to Saturday 10am-5pm and in August it is also open on Sundays 12 noon-5pm.
And it’s FREE!
It’s Water of Leith clean up time!
Water of Leith Clean Up
Sunday 28 June 11am – 1.30pm
Meet at clock at Canonmills clock (foot of Brandon Terrace) at 10.45. Wear long sleeves and long trousers (nettles!) – and bring a picnic!
Local Community Learning & Development Worker Callum Mcleod said: “It’s normally a fun day and if you can make it along I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself!”
Charity begins at Edinburgh College!
Events Management students raise thousands for charity
Edinburgh College’s Events Management students have raised more than £20,000 for charity this year by holding events around the city and surrounding areas as part of their coursework.
The students worked in 38 teams to arrange an event each in aid of a range of charities. Events included everything from a mini festival and club nights to speed dating and fashion shows.
Events Management lecturers celebrated their success this week by awarding a trophy to the most successful event team.
The winning team, called Festival Events and based at Sighthill Campus, organised a sell-out mini fringe festival at the Voodoo Rooms, where a variety of acts including a magician, DJ, reggae act and flamenco folk band, entertained the audience. To promote the event, the students worked together with dancers from the University of Edinburgh Modern Dance Society to organise a flash mob outside the Usher Hall. They also worked with students from the college’s audio visual courses, who documented the event by recording it for a video that helped them pass their course.
The team raised £1,100 for Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, which was match funded by BP to make £2,200, after students contacted the firm.
Other teams organised events including children’s fun afternoons, club nights, fashion shows and an afternoon tea. A runner-up prize was awarded to a Milton Road Campus team, 505 Events, which organised a sports event around the Scotland vs. England Rugby match in aid of the charity Simpson’s Memory Box Appeal (SiMBA). Another Milton Road team received a highly commended award for its work, which included organising a speed dating event in aid of the British Heart Foundation.
Lecturer Iris Aitchison said: “We are immensely proud of all the fantastic work that our students have put into organising all their events, and we were blown away by the amount raised for charities. This is the first time we have awarded a prize for best event, as we felt that these achievements deserved to be recognised.”
In total, 21 charities benefited from the students’ efforts, including Scottish Autism, the Eilidh Brown Memorial Fund and the SickKids Foundation.
Pictured: Students from the winning teams with Events Management lecturers. L-R Caroline Patterson, Katrina Pugh, Javier de la Cruz (from the winning Festival Events team), Alana Laidlaw (from the runner up team, 505 Events), Iris Aitchison, Sarah Thomson.
The college offers events courses at NC, HNC, HND and BA (Hons) level in association with Queen Margaret University.
Organ donation project funding extended
Scottish Government appeal to black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to donate
The Scottish Government is encouraging the black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to consider organ donation. Only one per cent of Scots on the NHS Organ Donor Register are from the BME communities, but around 8% of people on the organ donation waiting list are from that group.
Nearly 400 people from black, asian and minority ethnic communities in Scotland have signed the NHS Organ Donor Register over the last year, as part of a drive funded by the Scottish Government.
The initiative, run by Kidney Research UK, was set up last year to address the chronic shortage of organ donors from these communities and the Scottish Government has announced it will commit £22,000 to fund the project for another year.
Kidney Research UK have recruited peer-educators to speak to people about organ donation in locations such as Gurdwaras (Sikh places of worship) , Mandirs (Hindu temples) and the annual Mela festivals in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
It is also working with the Muslim community through engagement with the Muslim Council of Scotland.
On Sunday, the team was present at the Glasgow Mela in Kelvingrove Park to talk to people about organ donation and encourage them to consider becoming an organ donor.
Over 2 million people in Scotland have joined the NHS Organ Donor Register, but only around 2000 people are from black, asian and minority ethnic communities.
Kidney failure is up to five times more common in people from black, asian and minority ethnic communities, with South Asian people with diabetes ten times more likely to suffer from kidney failure than white people.
Public Health Minister, Maureen Watt, said: “In Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, the shortage of donors from black, asian and minority ethnic communities is a real issue, so it’s vital we continue to engage with people to explore the beliefs that can act as a barrier to donation.
“The peer educator programme has so far been extremely successful, but we want to go further and train up more peer educators to talk to communities about organ donation.
“Just over one per cent of Scots on the NHS Organ Donor Register are from black, asian and minority ethnic communities, but this group account for nearly 8 per cent of people waiting on a transplant. Crucially, there is a much greater success rate when transplants are carried out within the same ethnic group.
“Of course, it’s an individual choice, but we want to ensure people have the right information to make an informed decision and that’s why education and projects like this are vitally important.”
Kidney Research UK’s Peer Educators have been trained to talk to their communities about kidney health and the risk of kidney disease, working closely with individuals, families, community groups and faith groups.
They offer practical help and advice, explaining the reasons for the increased risk and suggesting lifestyle changes that could help to prevent disease.
They also challenge some of the myths surrounding organ donation, and highlight the shortage of compatible donors in their communities.
Neerja Jain, Kidney Research UK’s Health Improvement Project Manager, said: “The passion of our Peer Educators is really helping to move this work forward considerably. Their amazing drive, enthusiasm and physical and mental energy is truly amazing. As volunteers, what they do, is really making a difference.”
Further information on BAME organ donation and transplantation is available at www.organdonationscotland.org