Day: June 12, 2016

Celebrating our magnificent MoonWalkers!

Thousands ‘Swing Their Tartan’ to support cancer charity

PRESS RELEASEMoonwalk Scotland 2016

Thousands of women and men wearing bras decorated with a “Swing your Tartan” theme Power-Walked through the streets of Edinburgh at midnight, raising money and awareness for breast cancer charity Walk the Walk.

Among the throng was Walk the Walk Founder and Chief Executive Nina Barough CBE, who appeared on stage before the start of the walk (above).

Wearing decorated bras adorned with all things Scottish – from Highland Coos to Thistles, Saltires to Scottish food, plus of course, lots and lots of tartan – walkers set off from Holyrood Park at Midnight to take on a quarter, half, full or double marathon, raising money and awareness for breast cancer. Before the first step had even been taken, more than £400,000 had been raised.

These amazing people joined in a huge hooley led by rock Ceilidh band Bahookie. Women, men and children from the age of ten upwards showed off their fabulous Scottish costumes – knowing that most of the money raised by The MoonWalk Scotland stays in Scotland to help improve the lives of people with cancer.

Legendary Scottish tartan rocker Alan Longmuir of the Bay City Rollers met a team of fans taking on The MoonWalk – the Boob City Strollers – and offered his support: “The MoonWalk is an amazing thing for people to do. I’ve lost a few very good friends to breast cancer myself and I want to wish good luck to everyone taking part.

Nina Barough CBE, Founder and Chief Executive of Walk the Walk said: “It’s been a magnificent night! We had lots of children taking part in the quarter marathon New Moon and it was great seeing the children getting their medals! All our walkers have done magnificent times and everyone came through smiling and enjoying the experience. We had more people taking part than last year and it’s very special to see people in Scotland uniting together to make a difference.”

More pictures on our Facebook page

PRESS RELEASEMoonwalk Scotland 2016

Saving Granton Castle’s Walled Garden and other stories

Hi folks,
A while since we have sent out any news, so a lot to impart as we have been busy!
Articles about ‘Granton’s Lost Garden’ now published, recent presentations have met with a good response which has been publicised on our wordpress page finding-grantons-lost-castle-garden Still time to fill in the ideas survey if you haven’t done already as it will be open until midsummer, the link can be found on the wordpress page.
The Friends Group have had two meetings recently with the developers who own the walled garden, the most recent of which was very positive in its outcomes. Is there a glimmer of hope for the future of the walled garden and its restoration? The Community Empowerment Act outlines many ideals we hope can allow our voices to be heard, the ‘last of Scotland’s lost gardens’ is too precious to develop for 17 luxury townhouses.
  • Council petition!!!, save_granton_castle_walled_garden open to sign by anyone resident in Edinburgh. We need 500 signatures to be heard again at the city chambers, but there is a strict time limit … so please sign and share with those you think may be interested.
NEAC plot June 2016
On a brighter note, recent seedfunding has allowed some practical gardening sessions to be run locally to help promote our Friends Group and actively involve local people and community groups in organic horticulture and community growing. Beautiful results for everyone to share, berry picking soon, North Edinburgh Arts centre plot (pictured above, Mondays from 1-2pm and West Pilton Community Garden on Fridays 10am -12 noon.
Hope to post details of our next Friends Group Meeting venue, date and time soon, likely to be the end of June. Please get in touch if you want to come along to any of the gardening workshops, meetings or have any questions.
Best wishes,
Kirsty Sutherland

End of term celebration for Circle’s ISSEP

Ben Macpherson, Deidre Brock at Circle

Circle’s Inter School Social Education Project (ISSEP) works with primary-aged children supported by volunteer mentors who are 5th/6th year students.

For children, ISSEP provides a consistent 1:1 mentor one afternoon per week for the entire school year to support homework and a positive approach to learning, as well as providing a range of fun activities.

Mentors get a lot out of ISSEP too. It provides a first-class opportunity for volunteering, which is undertaken by some as part of accredited schemes such as Duke of Edinburgh and it helps to increase confidence and skills in working with young children. 

The ISSEP project has been a great success, and last week West Pilton-based Circle held an end of term celebration, as the project’s Claire Martin explains: 

Holly and Emma

Circle’s ISSEP Project enjoyed an end of term celebration on May 31st. Around 90 people joined the party at North Edinburgh Arts Centre. It was a fantastic way to celebrate the achievements of the 30 mentors and 30 children involved in the mentoring project this year (writes Circle’s Claire Martin).

The sun was shining and everyone enjoyed face painting, food, certificate presentations and a slideshow of the year’s highlights! Highlights included Zumba sessions at the mentors’ school and several visits to the Edinburgh International Science Festival.

Thank you to the mentors from George Heriot’s School whose fundraising efforts made these outings possible. We also enjoyed planting vegetables in the newly developed raised beds at Muirhouse Avenue thanks to Centipede Project.

Lots of special friendships have blossomed throughout the year and the feedback from parents, teachers, children and mentors involved has been extremely positive. Thanks to Ben Macpherson MSP and Deidre Brock MP for joining us to celebrate, as well as teachers from local primary schools and George Heriot’s School.

We wish the mentors well as they move on from secondary school. We look forward to the project starting up again after the summer.

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