Finding Scotland’s Real Heroes is back tonight

The third series of RBS: Finding Scotland’s Real Heroes returns to STV tonight to celebrate people whose tireless effort, resourcefulness, and kindness has improved local communities across Scotland.

The series, sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland, begins with a special launch show tonight at 8pm – RBS-How to be a Real Hero, where actors Jayd Johnson and Ron Donachie catch up with four winners from the 2014 series to see how being voted a winner has changed their lives, and the projects they work with.

The show also gives advice to viewers on how they can get involved in helping in their local communities and become real heroes themselves.

The series continues on Monday 26 October featuring the individuals who have been nominated by the public and selected by a special jury. Across the five episodes, a line up of ‘star reporters’ including Richard Wilson (One Foot in the Grave), actress and singer Clare Grogan and Commonwealth Gold medallist swimmer Hannah Miley will visit each of the nominees and interview them about their work in the community and their thoughts on the nomination for an award.

This year’s shortlist includes deserving Scots from across the country, from Stonehaven to West Calder, and Nairn to Cupar. Categories including RBS Community Project of the Year and Hero Animal of the Year will return again this year as well as two new additional award categories including Hero Mum or Dad and Fundraiser of the Year.

At the end of each programme, viewers are invited to vote for the nominees they believe most deserving of an award, with the overall winners being announced at a glittering, star studded televised awards ceremony later in the year.

Elizabeth Partyka, deputy director of channels at STV, said: “The time has come to highlight the outstanding work modestly carried out by each of this year’s nominees. We look forward to celebrating the enormous achievement of each of these individuals who make a real difference in their local community. Each story tells of a remarkable accomplishment and is very moving – all the finalists are considered to be most deserving however it is the STV viewers that decide who will receive an award.”

Chris Wilson, Royal Bank of Scotland’s Managing Director of Branch and Private Banking in Scotland said: “Everyone at Royal Bank of Scotland is looking forward to finding out more about this year’s incredible finalists. We think it’s important to celebrate those people who go that extra mile for their community. Each one of the finalists is deserving of recognition and we are all looking forward to seeing who the public choose.”

Power to the People: autumn update

The Power to the People group has been busy …

Power to the People is a group for adults in North Edinburgh who are interested in social history, current affairs and the arts.

We have been meeting together since 2012 and enjoy getting together to learn about things we are interested in and getting involved in issues which concern us. The group is friendly, informal and free and new members can join any time.

Over the last year, we have been learning about North Edinburgh’s early history through studying archive material, visiting exhibitions, watching films and inviting guest speakers to our group.

We are currently working on a heritage leaflet and a short film for STV’s history programme documenting key aspects of North Edinburgh’s history which will allow us to share the area’s fascinating history with a wider audience.

We also enjoy getting out and about and going to different places of interest. Last week we went on a visit to Wester Hailes to learn about their social history project.

Over the last few years, the project has been involved in digitising and publicising back copies of the Wester Hailes Sentinal and have established a local blog and Facebook page.

The project have also been involved in developing social history walks in the area in conjunction with Wester Hailes Health Agency and has installed Scotland’s first digital totem pole (above) which contains QR codes which allow people to access further information about the area’s history via a smart phone.

We have recently developed a new programme of information and discussion sessions dealing with issues we are concerned about such as fracking on the Forth, the proposed abolition of the Human Rights Act and the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The first of these sessions will take place tomorrow – Tuesday 6 October, from 10am – 12.30 – in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre.

The next session will take place early in November and will be held in the evening to allow people to attend who are unable to get to day time sessions. A free crèche will be provided by Royston Wardieburn Community Centre to allow people with children to participate.

We have also organised a screening of the Glasgow Girls, (see above), the true story of a group of school pupils from Drumchapel, who led a successful campaign to save their friend from deportation. The film developed into a powerful human rights movement which resulted in changes in immigration practices in Scotland.

Following the screening of the film, we will be joined by Roza Salih, one of the Glasgow Girls, for a discussion about the issues raised. The screening will take place this Thursday 8 October at 6.30 in North Edinburgh Arts. There is no charge for attending this event and transport and a crèche have been organised. Please call 552 5700 to book.

For those of you who enjoy getting out and about and enjoy the company of others, our next visit will be to the National Library of Scotland on Tuesday 27 October. We will be viewing an exhibition on the life and times of Thomas Muir, a radical political reformer known as ‘the father of Scottish Democracy’.

Anyone wishing further information about the group or any of the activities planned this term should call Lynn McCabe, on 552 5700 (Tuesday – Thursday) or email Lynn at lynn.mccabe@ea.edin.sch.uk

Balancing the books: your city, your say

It really doesn’t seem like a year since the last consultation, but here we are again …

Edinburgh residents are being asked for their views on how the Council spends and saves money as part of public engagement on proposals for the 2016-20 budget.

This year people will also get the chance to contribute ideas of their own on how city services are provided, using the online ‘Your City, Your Say’ dialogue page.

The web page will form part of a ten-week engagement period, beginning today, allowing the public to feed back on proposals for the Council’s 2016-20 budget, which aim to address an overall shortfall of £126m.

People will be able to submit suggestions and views on topical issues, creating solutions to challenges and ideas for better serving the public and saving money. Users can also rate and comment on others’ posts, helping the Council to gather opinion on where it should invest in future.

If successful, the resource will be extended after the budget is set, crowdsourcing public opinions on different matters on an ongoing basis.

A new online planner will also seek views on how the Council should deliver services, including the way parking is charged and how the Council works with voluntary and third party organisations.

By prioritising some services using the planner, the public can see how this impacts on other services, and how saving in one area can allow additional spending in another.

Councillor Alasdair Rankin, Finance Convener, said: “We really want to hear how people want the Council to invest and save money – your views will always help us to deliver services in a way that will benefit and improve lives.

“By doing things differently and introducing our new online engagement tools, we’re making it easier than ever for people to contribute their views and ideas, and to understand the different challenges there are in setting the budget.”

Councillor Bill Cook, Finance Vice Convener, added: “Everything you say will be taken into account when we draw up the final budget proposals to be put to the Council in early 2016, so we are extremely interested in hearing your views. Whether it’s via the planner, ideas forum, survey, phone, letter, email or social media we welcome all feedback.”

At a meeting of the Finance & Resources Committee on Thursday 24 September, councillors approved a report on the draft budget, along with a set of budget proposals for public engagement over the coming months.

The full budget proposals, the budget planner and forum tools can be accessed at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/budget.

You can have your say by:

going online to comment on proposals atwww.edinburgh.gov.uk/budget
completing the budget planner to have your say on what services you would spend or save money on in 2016 to 2020
submitting your ideas to the dialogue page
commenting on the 2016-20 proposals

You can do this by:

phone on 0131 200 2305 (8.30am to 5pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am to 3.40pm Friday)
writing to us at Freepost, RSJC-SLXC-YTJY, Budget, Council Leader, City Chambers, High Street Edinburgh EH1 1YJ
speaking to your local councillor

App-solutely fabulous support for Sick Kids charity!

Game on for Sick Kids Foundation

App development company NN4M has decided to celebrate its 10^th anniversary by raising funds for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation (SKFF) – the charity which provides £1.5 million each year to support the work of Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

Edinburgh-based developers NN4M will take part in the sixth Sick Kids Save Point – the biggest annual fundraising games event which will see volunteers take on a 24-hour video game marathon between 9 and 11 October.

The team of NN4M gamers will participate in this year’s event in a relay-style, playing both online and board games from 8am to 8pm on Friday 9 October. All 30 employees will take part, with employees gaming every 30 minutes in between their usual work tasks.

Harriet Phimister of NN4M, said: “We wanted to do something really special to celebrate our 10^th anniversary and felt this is something that would get everyone excited whilst raising money for a fantastic cause. One of our developers participated in the marathon previously and so suggested that we all give it a go.

“We thought we would combine our love of traditional board games and computer games to bring an added dimension to the challenge and can’t wait to complete the marathon. We’re all very excited to participate and raise funds for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation.”

Since it was established in 2010, the 24-hour video gameathon has raised more than £70,000 with more than 300 gamers completing the challenge from all around the globe.

This year, funds raised will allow the charity to fund KIDSnet Wi-Fi throughout the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

KIDSnet is a safe internet provider within the hospital that allows to keep in contact with each other, as well as family and friends. SKFF invests £25,000 each year in this service to help children feel less isolated in hospital and ensuring their lives are less interrupted by illness. The Wi-Fi also provides a distraction in the form of games and films – essential to combating the boredom children experience in hospital.

The event continues to grow in popularity, having gathered support from a number of Scotland’s top games companies including Rockstar North and Blazing Griffin, as well as industry giants Codemasters UK, Playstation Access, Paradox Interactive and Capcom UK, who have donated prizes for entrants.

Edinburgh actor Tom Freeman, organiser of the event, said: “With plans afoot to transfer services to a flash new hospital in Little France, the work of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation will be vital in smoothing the transition from a building many people across the country will have strong emotional ties to. That’s why this year Sick Kids Save Point is pushing to have our best year ever.

“Sick Kids Save Point is the biggest charity gaming marathon in the UK. I’m proud we’ve raised around £72,000 for our local children’s hospital. This year we want to get that figure to £100,000 and show the world games are for everyone.

“Don’t believe the naysayers: playing games for 24 hours is not easy! It’s not too late to sign up and take on this unique marathon challenge, playing games past the fun barrier and raising money to support sick children and their families.”

Rachel McKenzie, head of community fundraising at SKFF, said: “I’m thrilled that the developers at NN4M have decided to join our community of fundraising gamers and taking part in our sixth SKSP gameathon.

“Sick Kids Save Point has helped raised a tremendous amount of money over the last five years and we’re extremely thankful to the individuals – and teams – who are getting involved this year as we try to raise a further £30,000 for our KIDSnet equipment.”

To support NN4M visit https://www.justgiving.com/GameathonNN4M/.

For more information about Sick Kids Save Point visit www.sickkidssavepoint.org or follow the event on twitter@SKsavepoint or on facebook at @SickKidsSavePoint.

Lloyds Bank shares to go on sale next Spring

We bailed it out and basically bought it – and now we can can buy it all over again!

HM Treasury has announced today that a retail sale of Lloyds shares will be launched next spring, with applications available online and by post.

The taxpayer – you and me – saved Lloyds from collapsing at the height of the financial crisis in 2008 with a £20.5bn bailout, leaving the UK government with a 43% stake.

The Treasury has since recouped almost three-quarters of public funds used to rescue the bank by selling shares to institutional investors, and now it has announced plans for a public sell-off.

In a statement, HM Treasury said: “It is the government’s intention to fully exit from its Lloyds shareholding in the coming months, and as part of this at least £2bn of shares will be sold to retail investors. Members of the public will be offered a discount of 5% of the market price, with a bonus share for every 10 shares for those who hold their investment for more than a year. The value of the bonus share incentive will be capped at £200 per investor. People applying for investments of less than £1,000 will be prioritised.

All proceeds from share sales are used to pay down the national debt.

Military personnel and their spouses stationed overseas will be able to participate in the sale, where possible. This is in line with the government’s armed forces covenant, which ensures that members of the armed forces should not face disadvantage in the provision of public services.

HM Treasury has also launched a dedicated campaign webpage for potential investors, where members of the public can pre-register and receive email updates about the sale. This can be found at www.gov.uk/lloydsshares.

As always, share sales are dependent on market conditions.”

Dads Rock are having a party – and you’re invited!

Dads Rock Halloween Party

Saturday 31 October from 4 -6pm

Royston Wardieburn Community Centre

Our Free Halloween party is on Saturday 31 October (4 – 6pm) at Royston/Wardieburn Community Centre. We’ll have … a bouncy castle, fancy dress, food, games, live music, mad scientists and potions!

The party is open to all Dads/Granddads and kids aged 0-5, even if they’ve not yet come to our playgroups. Our Glasgow dads are coming through to join the party as well.

If you know anyone who’d like to join us, ask them to get in touch to put their names down!

Reading’s right for our preschool children

Study reveals growing popularity of using books with very young children

Hundreds more parents and carers in Scotland are using books to play, read to and engage with their very young children, according to a major Scottish Government-funded study carried about by ScotCen Social Research.

Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) – which has followed the lives of two groups of children from across Scotland for the last 10 years – shows a significant increase in the number of parents and carers who use books when engaging with their children at the age of 10 months.

Extensive research has highlighted the positive impact of reading to children in their pre-school years. Previously published GUS data has shown that children who are frequently read to in the first year of life score higher in assessments of cognitive ability at age 3-4.

The PlayTalkRead campaign was launched by the Scottish Government in 2009. It aims to encourage parents and carers to play, talk and read with their children from birth to boost their development and learning. The campaign uses advertising and social media and provides free items to support parents with the website receiving more than 130,000 visits in 2014-15. The roadshow features three buses which travel across Scotland delivering face-to-face sessions to parents and carers, offering them advice and support.

The Scottish Government-funded scheme Bookbug, which promotes reading to children, including babies, launched in 2010.

A new paper published to the mark the 10^th birthday of the landmark GUS study shows that the number of parents and carers using books when their child was 10 months old grew from 66% before the launch of Bookbug to 69% after the start of the scheme – the equivalent of more than 1700 babies being read to every year.

It will be published at an event at Edinburgh University tomorrow.

Children’s Minister Aileen Campbell said: “Improving literacy in our children and young people is a key priority for this Government and we know that learning begins long before school.

“Therefore it is extremely heartening to learn that hundreds more parents and carers across Scotland have embraced the crucial role books can play in helping children to develop and acquire important pre-school skills and attributes such as speaking, a sense of curiosity and a life-long love of books.

“In June this year we committed a further £2.7 million for pre-school programmes to improve literacy in children. This included the record-breaking PlayTalkRead campaign – whose website and outreach buses attracted 160,000 visits in 2014 and book gifting scheme Bookbug. We are also piloting plans to make every child in Scotland a member of their local library.

“Such valuable work, combined with the good progress reflected in the GUS report, leaves me in no doubt that the number of parents and carers using books to give their children the best start in life, will only continue to grow.”

‘Tackling Inequalities in the Early Years: Key Messages from 10 years of the Growing Up in Scotland study’ will be published in full on Tuesday, October 6.

Yes, you CAN!

Have you got an idea that would improve the community? Something you could do and would help you build up your skills? CAN (Community Action North) can help support you with:

Training

Mentoring

Possible payment

Want to find out more? There’s still time to get in touch – contact Julie Crawford on 315 6405 or Julie@mydg.org.uk

What do you think of Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre?

Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre survey

Are you are a regular visitor to Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre? Have you attended groups or events in the Centre in the past? Or maybe you’ve never heard of Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre!

Whatever your experience, Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre want to hear from you – there’s a free entry to a prize draw for everyone who completes the survey (below):

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DrylawNC

Bus Lanes: all change!

Life in the fast lane? Changes trialled to make life ‘simpler’ for city drivers

Changes to the city’s bus lanes are to be trialled from TODAY.

One trial will see most all day bus lanes changed to peak period lanes in order to standardise operating hours while another will open the majority of bus lanes to motorcyclists at all times.

Changes follow a review of Edinburgh’s 65km of bus lanes, 60% of which are currently peak period only, which took into account the views of a variety of organisations representing bus lane users.

Transport Convener, Councillor Lesley Hinds, said: “The different operating hours that apply to bus lanes can cause confusion. We are therefore running a trial to have 90% of bus lanes operating at peak periods only. The purpose of this is to see if standardised operating hours will make it simpler for drivers, without impacting adversely on bus journey times or compromising the safety of cyclists and pedestrians.

“By allowing motorcyclists to use bus lanes we will also be making their journeys both safer and quicker, with little or no impact on buses. Both trials will be closely monitored throughout to assess the impact on all road users.”

Since the 1990s, the Council has invested heavily in bus lanes, which improve journey reliability and save time for buses, encouraging people to travel by bus rather than car.

However, following the introduction of bus lane camera enforcement in 2012, it was found that many drivers were confused over operating hours of bus lanes in the city.

Proposals for the trials are based on a subsequent review of Edinburgh’s bus lane network, which took into account the views of a variety of organisations representing bus lane users.

The review proposed allowing motorcycles into bus lanes and changing around a third of the city’s bus lanes from all day to peak period operation.

Final plans were approved by members of the City of Edinburgh Council’sTransport and Environment Committee last month, making Edinburgh the first city in Scotland to allow motorcycles in bus lanes.

Under the trial, all day bus lanes, which currently operate:

7:30am – 6:30pm on Mondays to Fridays; and
8:30am – 6:30pm on Saturdays.

Will be changed into peak periods bus lanes which operate:

7:30am – 9:30am and 4:00pm – 6:30pm on Mondays to Fridays.

All vehicles will still not be able to use 24 hour bus lanes and bus gates (stretches of road which only buses, taxis, cyclists and emergency vehicles can use).

These trials are expected to last at least nine months. This will allow comprehensive data to be collected to assess the actual impact of the changes on all bus lane user groups prior to making any decision on permanent changes.

Further consultation with major user groups will be undertaken as part of the assessment of the trials. A report on the outcomes of this assessment will be presented to the Council’s Transport and Environment Committee in Autumn next year.