Beethoven and Brahms at St Stephen Centre this Friday
Day: October 19, 2015
Hair today … College staff and students get the chop to support children with cancer
Edinburgh College Rapunzels have let down their hair for a good cause and donated their locks to make wigs for child cancer patients who have lost theirs.
Students from HN Sport Therapy and Fitness, Health and Exercise courses joined their lecturers to have the chop to help children’s charity the Little Princess Trust, which makes wigs for children undergoing chemotherapy.
Lecturers Laura Craig and Louise Ball, Louise’s sister Denise Farrell, and five students went under the scissors to donate at least eight inches of their hair each. Altogether, they gave two metres of hair to the charity.
Laura Craig said: “Donating their hair was a scary thing for most of my students because they have had long hair all of their lives. I think everyone looks great with their new haircuts, especially Louise, whose hair hasn’t been this short since she was a teenager. We are now trying to raise money to help pay for the wigs to be made.”
Students from the Level 3 Hairdressing course provided the haircuts under the watchful eye of their lecturer Rosemary Martin, and also styled the newly shorn hair at the Granton Campus training salons. This follows a great run of community engagement by hair and beauty students last year, which included last year’s Level 3 students helping George Watson’s College pupils with their own Little Princess Trust donations.
Each Little Princess Trust wig costs £350 to make, and the charity relies on donations to help make these. To make a donation in support, visit Laura’s fundraising page www.justgiving.com/laura-craig4 or the Little Princess Trust.
Pictured:
(Top) Edinburgh College lecturer Louise Ball and her sister Denise Farrell show off their donations.
Hairdressing students Gillian Muir (right) and Amy Lothian (left) gave haircuts to sports and fitness students Kelsie Boyle and Shannon Leishmann (centre).
What can we do to make Scotland fairer?
There’s another opportunity to have your say on creating a fairer Scotland this week. Pilton Community Health Project will be hosting a session at their office on Boswall Parkway this Thursday from 10 – 11.30am.
All welcome – come along and share your views!
Scottish SPCA invites dog lovers to meet super staffies
‘Staffies are actually friendly, affectionate and loyal’ – Mike Flynn, Scottish SPCA
The Scottish SPCA is inviting dog lovers to visit its Balerno centre to meet its Staffordshire bull terriers in need of new homes.
Scotland’s animal welfare charity launches its annual Staffie Awareness Week today and is urging potential new owners to meet the “fantastic breed”.
Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn said, “Last year our Balerno centre rehomed 21 staffies and have more looking for homes. However, we know many people still overlook them because they think they may be aggressive.
“Staffie Awareness Week is our opportunity to highlight that staffies are actually friendly, affectionate and loyal.
“Many people who visit our centres looking to rehome a dog tell us they have already discounted the breed. But when they meet a staffie their opinions often change once they have been showered with kisses and affection.
“Lots of our staffies have found new homes after people have got to know them and that’s why we are inviting anyone thinking of taking on a dog to visit our centres.
“We are sure if they spent just a small amount of time with a staffie, they’d see what a fantastic breed they are.
“Just like other dogs in our care, some of our staffies have been mistreated and need particular homes but we also have many who would suit a family home with children and pets.
“We are challenging the negative labels staffies have been given because it’s truly heart-breaking to see how many of them are living in our kennels instead of the loving homes they deserve.”
Those interested in giving a staffie a loving home can visit the charity’s Balerno centre which is open seven days a week between 10am and 4pm.
Trevor (above) has been in our care for nearly a year now and we can’t understand why he is overlooked as he is such a great, loving dog.
Trevor is very much a people dog who enjoys spending time with his human friends. He is looking for someone who can continue his training and socialisation and will require a home with an enclosed garden. He is a joy to walk on the lead and will give you heaps of affection!
Trevor would like to live in a home without any canine companions as he’s not keen on other dogs and can get very worked up when walking past them.
NOTE to Trevor:
Ditch the rugby ball – following yesterday’s heart-breaking defeat most Scots won’t want to see one of those things again for a long, long time!
Finding new ways to tackle food poverty
New group will explore ways to reduce reliance on foodbanks
The scourge of food poverty and possible solutions to Scotland’s increasing reliance on foodbanks will be investigated by a new group when representatives from poverty organisations and charities convene for their first meeting today.
The short term working group will identify the issues which push people into food poverty and discuss how they can be addressed.
The group, chaired by the Secretary of the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council Rev Dr Martin Johnstone, has been asked to make recommendations to the Scottish Government by February 2016 on the actions required to eradicate food poverty in Scotland.
The first meeting coincides with the Poverty Alliance’s annual Challenge Poverty Week which runs from October 17 to 23 and aims to challenge the stereotypes around poverty and increase public support to combat it.
The latest statistics from the Trussell Trust show that a total of 117,689 people picked up a three-day supply of groceries from their Scottish foodbanks in 2014-15. Of those, 36,114 were children. This is more than EIGHT TIMES the number helped just two years ago.
Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil said: “It is heart breaking that anyone should be left hungry and unable to afford to feed their families in a country as prosperous as Scotland.
“UK Government welfare cuts and benefit sanctions have continually pushed more and more people into food poverty and increased the demand and number of food banks in Scotland. This shocking trend has to stop.
“By bringing together a range of experts who support people in food poverty we hope the group will come up with a food strategy that will reduce the need for foodbanks over time.
“Food poverty cannot be solved overnight which is why the group will look at how we can address some of its long-term causes and whether we can take a more joined up approach to welfare benefits advice, health and employment support services.
“I look forward to hearing the group’s recommendations on how we can ease the pressure on food banks, tackle food poverty and create a fairer Scotland.”
The Scottish Government currently invests £1 million into the Emergency Food Action Plan which helps support 26 local emergency food aid projects and the charity Fareshare to redistribute surplus food from retailers to communities across Scotland.
The group’s recommendations will feed into the Scottish Government’s Social Justice Action Plan. This will be published in the new year with milestones to the next Parliament and beyond to help tackle poverty and create fairer opportunities for all.
The chair of the group, Rev Dr Martin Johnstone, said: “I am delighted to be chairing this independent Working Group on Food Poverty, whilst appalled that in a country as wealthy as Scotland the number of people going hungry is increasing by thousands each year.
“Our starting point will be that we need to reverse that trend. The group will bring together people with a wide variety of experiences of tackling food poverty including, critically, those with direct experience of what it means not to have enough for you and your family.
“I hope that together we can highlight what is working, what needs to change and what the Scottish Government and others can do to bring about a hunger free Scotland.”
Peter Kelly, director of the Poverty Alliance said: “The growth of foodbanks in recent years is the surest sign that we need to do more to tackle poverty in Scotland.
“Challenge Poverty Week is aimed at highlighting that solutions to poverty do exist, and the work that volunteers across Scotland do week in and out providing emergency food aid shows that people are committed to tackling the scandal of food poverty.
“But it is necessary that we find longer term solutions to food poverty. So we welcome the Scottish Government convening this new group to find lasting solutions to the problem. Through it we will be able to draw on the experience and expertise of those volunteering in foodbanks, people using emergency food aid and those involved in community food projects to make a real difference in the future.”
University Open Days at Edinburgh College
University advice at Granton Campus tomorrow
Edinburgh College will be hosting a series of university open days to give students, school pupils and members of the public the opportunity to find out which routes to university would be best for them.
Representatives from universities across Scotland will be on hand to provide advice on the courses they have to offer. The Scottish Institute of Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland will also be there to talk about the support they provide for students. There will also be a chance to talk to SAAS about funding options.
The university open days will take place at 11am-2pm at Edinburgh College’s Granton Campus (20 October), Milton Road Campus (21 October) and Sighthill Campus (22 October).
Attendees:
Granton: Tuesday 20 October. 11am-2pm.
University of Edinburgh, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh Napier University, Queen Margaret University, University of Stirling, University of Dundee, Glasgow Caledonian University, SAAS, Scottish Institute of Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland.
Milton Road: Wednesday 21 October. 11am-2pm.
University of Edinburgh, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh Napier University, Queen Margaret University, SAAS, Scottish Institute for Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland.
Sighthill: Thursday 22 October. 11am-2pm.
University of Edinburgh, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh Napier University, Queen Margaret University, University of Stirling, University of Dundee, Glasgow Caledonian, Glasgow School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Abertay Dundee University, University of Aberdeen, SAAS, Scottish Institute for Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland.