Month: January 2020

£1.5m Lottery boost for sports, arts and community groups

It’s a great start to the year for 219 arts, sports and community groups across Scotland, thanks to a National Lottery cash boost of £1,551,849. 

The funding comes from National Lottery Awards for All Scotland – a quick and simple way to access small National Lottery grants of between £500 and £10,000.

Five Edinburgh organisations receive awards in the latest funding round.

Leith Crops in Pots (above) received £10,000 to deliver weekly club sessions for vulnerable children, while ArtSquat, BE United, Raised Voices and The Child Brain Injusry Trust were also successful applicants.

The Linda Tremble Foundation was set up in 2014 by Colin and Anne Tremble, following the loss of their daughter, Linda, who lost her battle with Anorexia Nervosa in April 2011.

The charity will use their award of £10,000 to run support groups for people with eating disorders, as well as organising a series of information services in schools and colleges.

Co-founder and Trustee, Anne Tremble, said, “We are very grateful for this support given by National Lottery Awards for All to help us expand the range of services we provide.

“Our charity currently provides local support in Fife, Glasgow and Perth and this will allow us to expand our services to Edinburgh and Forth Valley. On behalf of everyone here and all the people we support, we cannot thank you enough.”

Thanks to an award of £3,563, Orkney Women’s Football Club will be able to discover more female stars of the future by running training sessions and taking part in competitive matches on the mainland.

Welcoming the news, Club Secretary, Annabel Bews, said, “We currently have around 60 members and this money will be a huge help to our growing club, especially our newly formed junior team.  We can now offer opportunities to more girls and women across Orkney and this is a fantastic boost for all our existing members in this coming 2020 season.”

KOR! Records is an independent record label, based in Glasgow, that gives young people with additional support needs the opportunity to create and record their own music.  An award of £9,948 means they can run a series of experimental music sessions for young people aged between 18 and 30.

Co-Director, KOR! Records, Geraldine Heaney, said, “We will now run our Friday morning sessions all the way through 2020.

“Being there week in, week out, gives us the scope to be really responsive and allows us to develop ideas whilst building trust with the young people we work with. We’re really looking forward experimenting with new styles and creating lots of great music.”

People living in Hawick will have the chance to get involved in a unique film project celebrating the town’s rich history. Local people will get the chance to learn new skills by taking part in a series of workshops.

Production Director, Rachael Disbury, said,” We’re looking forward to working with communities across Hawick to renew, revise and go on to retell the stories of our town. This funding allows us to widen access to our events and activities so more local people can get involved.”

A National Lottery Awards for All Scotland spokesperson said: “This is National Lottery money making a real impact in communities across the country.

“The 219 groups receiving funding today showcases the wide range of projects that can be funded through this programme and the difference that the smallest amounts of money can make. We wish them all the best for the year ahead as they begin to put their plans into action.” 

National Lottery Awards for All Scotland awards grants of between £300 and £10,000 to local groups.

To find out how what it could do for your community visit our website  https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/ or phone 0300 123 7110.

”People First”: Council tourism rethink?

Proposals for a new-look tourism strategy to guide Edinburgh’s visitor economy over the next 10 years have been endorsed by members of the Sustainability and Policy Committee.

Council Leader Adam McVey, who convenes the Committee, welcomed the sustainable way forward which is outlined in Edinburgh’s draft 2030 Tourism Strategy, saying it will put people at the heart of decisions made about tourism in the Capital.

Cllr McVay said: “This is a fundamental shift in policy from generating growth to managing the continued success of our tourism industry for our people, environment and sense of place. This strategy is about making the experience of tourism better for everyone – for our visitors but also the 35,000 people working in hospitality and the 500,000 people who call this city home.

“The vast majority of people who took part in the consultation process agree with the strategy’s key aims – prioritising putting people, place and environment first. It’s about fair work and a fairer and stronger footing for residents to have their say too.

“Industry should be commended for their acceptance of this ‘new normal’ and for recognising Edinburgh’s tourism success shouldn’t be taken for granted. The feedback from the sector acknowledges that the best way to create a sustainable future for tourism in the city is for all of us to work together. I’m looking forward to discussing this further at ETAG’s conference next week.”

Donald Emslie, Chair of ETAG (the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group), said: “The City of Edinburgh Council’s endorsement of the strategy is a significant milestone and their support and leadership in the development process to date has been key to ensuring that the city will continue to be recognised as an extremely successful, innovative and forward thinking exemplar of tourism development in the UK.

“The 2030 Tourism Strategy reflects this, presenting a significant step change in the approach to tourism in the city that responds to the changes, challenges and opportunities that the 2020’s will bring.

“We’re looking forward to further discussion on the strategy at the ETAG Conference, as well as hearing from Barcelona and Amsterdam on how they have created new initiatives to manage tourism success and what Edinburgh can learn from these.”

The ETAG 2020 Conference is being held in the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms on Thursday 30th January.

The city council has come in for increasing criticism for it’s stewardship of Edinburgh’s public assets. The latest of these was last night’s City for Sale public meeting, organised by Edinburgh’s civic trust The Cockburn Association.

 

Losing Out: tens of thousands lose disability benefits

More than half of new claims in Scotland for the UK Government’s disability payment are refused, with tens of thousands of disabled people completely losing their benefits.

Since the UK Government replaced Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in 2013, 167,000 new claims in Scotland have been unsuccessful, equal to 54% of all applications.

The analysis, produced by the Scottish Government, shows that the share of new claimants awarded PIP has decreased since the benefit was introduced, from 74% in 2013/14 to 56% in 2018/19, an 18 percentage point reduction.

In addition, 39,000 people in Scotland have lost their disability benefits completely (costing them between £1,200 and £7,740 per year) after losing their DLA entitlement when they were reassessed and refused PIP.

Since PIP was introduced, 30,000 people have had to undergo a stressful appeals process, with 21,000 of those having to go to court in order to receive their correct PIP entitlement.

Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “For disabled people, the stress and anxiety of the application process and face to face assessment process are already hallmarks of the UK Government’s welfare reforms.

“Now this latest analysis shows that those most in need in our society are less likely to get help or have to fight through the courts to get what they are entitled to.

“While tens of thousands of disabled people are facing greater hardship because they have completely lost their benefits.

“We will do things differently as we start delivery of disability benefits over the next 18 months.

“Social security is an investment in the people of Scotland and we want people to receive all the support they are entitled to.

“That is why we are building a new social security system from scratch – with fairness, respect and dignity at its heart.”

Scottish Government Welfare_Reform _Report

Scottish Government social security reforms – Disability Assistance

Greens: Government must ensure public funding protects community assets

The Scottish Government must take responsibility for the funding it provides to Edinburgh’s Christmas and New Year celebrations and ensure that communities and public assets are protected, according to Lothian MSP Alison Johnstone.

Ms Johnstone raised the matter at Culture Questions in the Scottish Parliament yesterday, highlighting local controversy and damage to parks and public assets caused by various events in the city, and received confirmation from the Scottish Government that it provided hundreds of thousands to support these festivities.

Alison Johnstone MSP said: “The Scottish Government must take responsibility for the funding it provides and ensure this supports our communities. Serious community concerns have been repeatedly raised about the impact of Christmas and New Year events, and we must guarantee that these issues are addressed in future.

“Clearly the primary responsibility for these events lies with the City of Edinburgh Council, but Ministers must also use their influence to ensure these events don’t negatively impact our communities.

“Princes Street Gardens’ parks are much loved and sit at the heart of a world heritage site.

“We must make sure this precious community asset is protected so that local people and visitors alike are able to enjoy these celebrations.

“The First Minister recently reminded us that wellbeing should be at the heart of our economy. If government are to live up to this, they must ensure that important public places are adequately valued.”

Letters: Mary’s Meals appeal

Dear Editor,

Mary’s Meals has launched an urgent appeal to feed chronically hungry children in Turkana, one of the driest and most impoverished parts of Kenya.

We already serve nutritious meals to more than 23,000 children in nurseries in Turkana, but primary-aged pupils have not received meals since a programme run by another organisation stopped around a year ago. 

Desperate pupils can often be found watching children at neighbouring nurseries being fed, and we have heard heartbreaking reports of children as young as three saving their food to take home for hungry siblings.

Mary’s Meals already feeds more than 1.5 million children in 18 of the world’s poorest countries every school day. We are determined to continue feeding these children while expanding, as funds allow, to reach primary school children in Turkana.

Your readers can support our appeal by visiting marysmeals.org.uk/turkana or phoning 0800 698 1212.

Best wishes,

Daniel Adams

UK Executive Director of Mary’s Meals