Month: May 2019

Get fit for life with Edinburgh Leisure

If your new year’s resolutions of getting fit never materialised, it’s not too late to get started. Instead of wishing and wanting, start doing and resolve to get fit for life, not just for the summer.

Edinburgh Leisure’s new membership offer could be just the promotion to help you get started.  With 30 venues across the capital, their May promotion will give new members a month free, when they join before the end of May 2019.

New members joining between 1 and 31 May 2019, will get June free.* The deal is available online and in venue.

Edinburgh Leisure is also running a ‘refer a friend’ offer for existing members. If a member refers a friend and they sign up during the time of the offer, the member will get £30 cash back (£20 cash back if they are members of Jack Kane, Queensferry or Kirkliston). This deal is only available in venue.

With 1 world class climbing centre, 6 golf courses, 8 saunas and 4 steam rooms, 10 swimming pools, 13 state of the art gyms and 800+ fitness classes per week across the various centres, Edinburgh Leisure is the biggest club in town, with something for everyone to enjoy moving and getting fitter.

David McLean, Fitness Manager at Edinburgh Leisure said: “Past research carried out by Edinburgh Leisure has revealed that those who attend regularly in the first two months of membership are significantly more likely to sustain the fitness habit.

“And rather than focusing on getting fit for the summer, why not make a pact with yourself to get fit for life.  Our helpful Edinburgh Leisure staff will be on hand to offer new members support and advice to help you enjoy increased physical activity in the long term and work out a programme that’s achievable, whatever your goal.”

For further information visit www.edinburghleisure.co.uk

Wella in! Edinburgh College student reaches final of national hairdressing competition

An Edinburgh College hairdressing student is on the path to becoming a national champion after winning a regional heat of a major competition.  Level 3 Hairdressing student Gintare Dambrauskaite was one of four student winners at the Scotland, Ireland and North-East heat of Wella’s XPOSURE competition which was held at Granton Campus yesterday. Continue reading Wella in! Edinburgh College student reaches final of national hairdressing competition

Emergency cash paid out to 326,000 households across Scotland

poverty family JRF

Nearly a third of a million low income households have accessed emergency funding to help with the costs of essentials such as food and heating in the past six years.

The Scottish Welfare Fund has paid out in excess of £190 million to more than 326,000 households since its first payment on 1 April 2013. Continue reading Emergency cash paid out to 326,000 households across Scotland

Garden plant of the month: Fragrant Showstoppers

Broom (Cytisus), lilac (Syringa), Lantana, garden rose (Rosa) and Mexican orange blossom (Choisya) not only have fabulous flowers, but all bring a further experience to a garden or terrace with their remarkable fragrance. All five are woody plants that are easy to care for, and can be planted both in beds and in pots, containers and tubs. The scent and colour attract bumblebees, honeybees and butterflies, so these fragrant feature plants also liven things up a little more, and contribute to a healthy biotope in their environment. 

Continue reading Garden plant of the month: Fragrant Showstoppers

Healthcare in Crisis: Four Seasons goes into administration

Four Seasons Health Care, one of the country’s biggest heath care organisations, has gone into administration.  The company, which has been struggling to tackle massive debt, says the move would not affect care arrangements or lead to the closure of homes.

Four Seasons employs around 20,000 staff who support approximately 17,000 patients and care home residents. It runs three care homes in Edinburgh: Gilmerton (above), North Merchiston and Guthrie House.

Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs MSP said: “Residents in the five Edinburgh care homes and their families will be very concerned about Four Seasons going into administration and what this presents for the future provision of the care homes.

“This is yet another example of the care crisis engulfing Edinburgh. We need to see urgent steps taken to stabilise the situation and support find a future for the company.

“It is crucial that the Scottish Government ensures operations at these care homes continue.”

Responding to the announcement, GMB Scotland Senior Organiser Drew Duffy said: “This is yet another case in point of the crisis in our care sector.

“Our immediate priority is the safeguard of our members’ jobs and conditions across Four Seasons homes in Scotland and to help tackle any uncertainty for an estimated 1,800 service users and their families.

“That’s why we have asked for an urgent meeting with the Scottish Government and COSLA representatives. We will also continue to work with our union across the rest of the UK and in our engagements with the employer, administrators and the UK Government.

“Four Seasons is just the tip of the iceberg and there is a far wider debate that needs to be had about the sustainability of our care sector in its present form.

“Let’s be clear that the public purse is largely funding these failing providers and the financiers behind them, while the rights of workers at the coal face, mainly low paid women, are constantly under attack. This is a toxic mix for staff and service users alike.

“If we leave this unchallenged then we will only continue to revisit the problems we are facing today in Four Seasons elsewhere in the sector. This must stop and the sector must change.”