From the Nepal earthquake, Charlie Hebdo and extreme weather to austerity, the refugee crisis and the November attacks in Paris, 2015 was an unforgettable year – but all too often for the wrong reasons. How many of these events do you remember? Continue reading 2015: The year in pictures
Month: December 2015
Local bus diversions
Pennywell Gardens: 14 and 37 buses diverted
Due to a road closure at Muirhouse View to repair a burst pipe buses are currently unable to serve Pennywell Gardens and are instead being diverted via Pennywell Road, Muirhouse Parkway and Silverknowes Parkway.
Scotland braced for Storm Frank
Members of the public are being advised to prepare for heavy rain and strong winds as Storm Frank sweeps across the country today. Continue reading Scotland braced for Storm Frank
Let’s get the party started!
Some Street Party tickets still available
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay organisers Unique Events are advising revellers to buy and pick up their Street Party tickets soon, rather than the day itself.
While tickets for Concert in the Gardens, Candlelit Concert and the Old Town Ceilidh are already sold out, tickets for the world famous Street Party are still available. The Street Party event sold out last year, however, so if you want to be there – get your ticket NOW!
Our local Living Landscape: opportunities to get involved
As part of the Edinburgh Living Landscape project (see below) I was recently appointed by the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh as their Urban Biodiversity Project Officer with the aim of developing projects to benefit people and wildlife in the city (writes Leone Alexander). Continue reading Our local Living Landscape: opportunities to get involved
Terrific year for PlayTalkRead
PlayTalkRead, the Scottish Government’s early years campaign, has reached a record number of new families in 2015, the Children’s Minister Aileen Campbell has revealed. Continue reading Terrific year for PlayTalkRead
Letter: Give us the power!
Dear Editor
There can be very few households in the UK who are not worried by their gas and electricity bills. The advice usually given is to shop around for lower tariffs, but this is no permanent solution. The absolute necessity for everyone to afford adequate fuel supplies is overwhelming but it seems that a few major suppliers have a near monopoly on the industry – and have been making millions of pounds profit.
Just a few examples:
£139 million Scottish Gas, February 2015
£549 million SSE, November 2015
£528 million British Gas (first six months 2015)
£860 million EDF, February 2014
£1.5 BILLION Southern Electric, Jan 2014
And yet there are perhaps millions of people who cannot afford adequate heating!
By any measure, this situation cannot go on like this in the 21st Century. As an essential necessity energy supplies MUST become publicly-owned industries, working in the interests of everyone; profits made not for private individuals or groups of investors but used to reduce prices and to maintain efficient industries.
Energy supplies must be seen as important to the people of the UK as the NHS has proved to be. Maximum unity of working people is needed to press for these vital public services: it is up to us.
A. Delahoy
Silverknowes Gardens
Ewing hails community energy schemes
But the GMB union argues that we need more than renewable energy to keep the UK’s lights on
Community energy can go from strength to strength following a strong year for the sector, Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said yesterday. From large scale wind farms to small scale hydro projects, over £10 million was last year ploughed back into communities from renewable sources. Continue reading Ewing hails community energy schemes
Trinity CC December newsletter
Trinity Community Council met on 14 December. Here are the main points:
Crime Down, But …
While there have been a few house break-ins this month, numbers are down on last year. Police believe this is because several known perpetrators are behind bars or subject to curfew arrangements.
But statistics are no comfort if your house is broken into – so take all reasonable precautions including those in Police Scotland’s leaflets (see below). If you have an alarm make sure its switched on and if you would like to be kept fully up to date with real time Police alerts sign up here.
A notable trend has been to break into houses in order to steal the owner’s car rather than the house contents. This is likely done to order so take extra care about where you leave your car keys.
Just outside our area, two people were arrested after an altercation on Ferry Road while investigations into an attack at Steadfastgate are ongoing. If you’re at all worried about being on the street in the dark evenings you might wish to purchase a personal alarm as a useful deterrent. A possible stocking filler at roughly £5!
Make Friends with Victoria Park!
The meeting this month to set up a Friends of Victoria Park group was well attended with presentations on what was involved and what the potential might be. After an enthusiastic and lively Q&A, a number of people volunteered for a Steering Group to complete the formalities of forming the new Friends Group.
A further public meeting, probably in February, will sign this off, whereupon all interested can then become Friends of Victoria Park (still time to join!) This is really encouraging – 2016 looks like being a great year for Victoria Park!
Trinity Academy Students Council
TCC had a further meeting with Trinity Academy Student Council which again proved lively with the students themselves eager to raise points.
These included:
lack of litter bins in Victoria Park and on the pathway between Newhaven Road and the school,
existing bins not being emptied sufficiently frequently
safety on the Walkway, especially after dark,
occasional motor/quad bike on the Walkway, (call 999 as these have almost always been stolen)
enthusiasm for the new tennis courts in Victoria Park
interest in engaging with a Friends of Victoria Park group.
agreement to run a competition for the design of a logo for TCC.
We will be pursuing many of these points with CEC and look forward to a continuing constructive relationship with TASC in 2016.
Goldenacre Planters
Discussions continue concerning the placing of planters outside the old RBS branch at Goldenacre.
Second Hand Car Dealing – 144 Newhaven Road
Far less encouraging, two meetings of the Licensing Sub Committee heard but dismissed the arguments from objectors (including Trinity CC). We are deeply unhappy about how the process has been conducted which has felt very one sided including keeping (unpaid) objectors waiting for several hours and only token notice of a site visit. A licence has been granted with conditions, similar to those attached to the 6 months temporary licence in 2012/13.
We are concerned about the implications for a conservation area and that an unfortunate precedent has been set. We believe that planning permission may also be necessary in this case and will be discussing the matter with local residents before deciding whether to pursue this point.
Edinburgh Association of Community Councils
This body represents all of Edinburgh’s 45 community councils and should fill important roles in encouraging best practice and projecting a common voice to the city council on shared concerns. A new Constitution is being developed and a new Chair (Eric Dobbie) and Secretary (David Bewsey) elected. We look forward to working with Eric and David to help them fulfil this crucial role.
Denham Green
After discussions with council officials, trees have now been trimmed and – hopefully by the time you are reading this – the damaged streetlight at the north end of Denham Green Place will be back in operation. Further work on these lights and the pavements is planned for 2016.
Lower Granton Road
Run by Sustrans under the auspices of CEC, a walkabout and two workshops were held this month to discuss how Lower Granton Road and its immediate surrounds might be improved and made safer. Various suggestions were floated which will hopefully enable some improvements to be designed.
While supportive of this initiative, we highlighted to the CEC officials present that there is a wider and deteriorating east-west traffic problem in North Edinburgh and reminded them of previous council studies which could usefully be revived. Unfortunately we still have no word of any activity to review the 2008 North Edinburgh Traffic Plan.
Much more at our next meeting on Monday 11 January at 7 pm in Wardie Parish Church, Primrose Bank Road. Open to all. Come along and give us your thoughts. Or contact a Community Councillor – we need to know your views so that we can represent them!
Did you find this bulletin useful or informative? If so, why not show it to a neighbour? Anyone in Trinity can subscribe to the bulletin simply by emailing
tcc-comms@outlook.com
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Silent Night: a soldier’s Christmas story
Christmas Eve 1914: Rifleman Graham Williams of the London Rifle Brigade was on sentry duty in the forward trenches on the Western Front …
I was standing on the firestep, gazing towards the German lines and thinking what a different sort of Christmas Eve this was from any I had experienced in the past. In the ordinary way of things, my father would be making Rum Punch from an old family recipe, which had been written out by his grandfather – and was kept, of all places, in the Family Bible!
Earlier, after the evening meal, we would have decorated the living rooms and hall with the traditional greenery and would now be looking forward to wishing one another a ‘Happy Christmas’ and toasting the occasion in the result of my father’s labours.
Instead of this, here was I, standing in a waterlogged trench in a muddy Flemish field and staring out over the flat, empty and desolate countryside with no signs of life. There had been no shooting by either side since the sniper’s shot that morning, which had killed young Bassingham. But this was not at all unusual.
Then, suddenly, lights began to appear along the German parapet, which were evidently some makeshift Christmas trees, adorned with lighted candles which burnt steadily in the still, frosty air!
Other sentries, of course, had seen the same thing and quickly awoke those on duty, asleep in the shelters, to ‘come and see this thing, which had come to pass’. Then our opponents started to sing Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht. This was actually the first time I heard this carol, which was not then so popular in this country as it has since become.
They finished their carol and we thought that we ought to retaliate in some way, so we sang The First Nowell, and when we finished they all began clapping; and then they struck up with another favourite of theirs, O Tanenbaum.
And so it went on. First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until when we started to sing O Come All Ye Faithful the Germans immediately joined in, singing the same hymn to the Latin words Adeste Fideles. And I thought, well, this was really a most extraordinary thing – two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war!
A Happy Christmas to all our readers