Day: March 10, 2020

GoFitba kicks off this Friday

Local children from Forthview Primary School are to have the opportunity to participate in an exciting 12-week community project delivered by The Scottish Football Partnership Trust and The Spartans Community Football Academy.

GoFitba is a free to access football-based health and wellbeing project for Primary schoolchildren developed by The Scottish Football Partnership Trust and delivered by community football clubs.

The project aims to support the Curriculum for Excellence’s Health and Wellbeing outcomes as set out by The Scottish Government’s Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007.

Through a fun and progressive structure and delivery, the weekly two-hour project offers young children a platform of regular and fun physical activity and an understanding of the importance of leading a balanced and healthy lifestyle through diet and nutrition.

The project also aims to increase the young people’s self-motivation, improve their self-confidence, further develop their social and interpersonal skills and improve their general self-esteem.

The project timetable provides one structured afternoon per week and takes a holistic approach to teach the children the benefits of regular physical activity within a football environment.

The youngsters participate in an hour of fun football activity, and during the second hour of each session they take part in an interactive educational journey to explore the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle through diet and nutrition.  Each session ends with the children being served a hot, healthy meal and an opportunity to enjoy some social time with their peers.

Stuart McCaffrey, Chief Operating Officer at The SFP Trust said “The sport of football when used positively can act as a significant tool for personal and community development.

“We are excited to be delivering this project with (name of club) – a club truly at the heart of the community – and to be given the opportunity to positively engage with local school children to encourage them towards a healthy and active lifestyle.”

Douglas Samuel of The Spartans Community Football Academy said: “We are delighted to be working in association with The SFP Trust on this project which will see The Academy welcome 20 local schoolchildren over the next 12 weeks.

“Spartans Community Football Academy is always looking for new ways to engage with the local community and the GoFitba project is a fantastic way to showcase what we can offer to young members of our community at our excellent facilities here at the Academy.

“Participation in sport can bring a lifetime of benefits and we look forward to working with the children from Forthview Primary School to Get Fit, Get Healthy and Have Fun!”

Colour and Light: new exhibition at City Art Centre

This May, Edinburgh’s City Art Centre presents the first major exhibition in nearly a century dedicated to the Scottish painter and print maker Charles Hodge Mackie (1862-1920), one of the most versatile artists of his generation.

Charles H. Mackie: Colour and Light is a major new exhibition that sets out to re-evaluate Mackie’s significance and contribution. Timed to coincide with the centenary of the artist’s death, it charts the progress of his career and creative development, from the rural Scottish landscapes of his youth to his spectacular late Venetian scenes.

The retrospective brings together over fifty artworks from public and private collections, including loans from the National Galleries of Scotland, the Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture and Perth Museum & Art Gallery.

Showcasing the breadth of Mackie’s creative vision and talents, it is the most comprehensive public display of his work in almost a century.

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Born in Aldershot and brought up in Edinburgh, Mackie (above) trained at the Trustees Academy School of Art. He remained based in Edinburgh throughout his career, although he travelled often and embraced an international outlook.

As a mature artist, he worked across an impressive range of media, not only producing oil paintings and watercolours, but also murals, woodblock prints, book illustrations and sculpture.

His influences were similarly diverse, drawing inspiration from French Symbolism, the Celtic Revival movement and the landscapes of his European travels.

Mackie was well-connected and respected in contemporary artistic circles. He was close friends with E.A. Hornel and other members of the Glasgow Boys, and he met Paul Gauguin, Édouard Vuillard and the Nabis while working in France.

In the 1890s he was commissioned by Patrick Geddes to produce murals for Ramsay Garden in Edinburgh’s Old Town, as well as illustrations for the pioneering journal The Evergreen. In later years, Mackie spent time in Yorkshire, where he joined local artists groups and provided support and tuition to the young Laura Knight.

He was a founding member and Chairman of the Society of Scottish Artists, and was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1917. He exhibited his work widely, both in Scotland and further afield. However, despite his many achievements, he has always been treated as a peripheral figure in the story of Scottish art.

Curator Dr Helen Scott said: “This exhibition is the culmination of many years of detective work.

“We’ve been able to reunite finished paintings with their preparatory studies, giving insights into Mackie’s working methods, and we’ve also been able to explore the ways in which he pursued key themes across different types of media – shifting from oils and watercolours to printmaking and back again.

“Highlights of the exhibition include several paintings that have recently undergone conservation treatment, such as Artis Ancilla, a large-scale composition of a nude reclining in the artist’s studio, which is part of the City Art Centre’s own fine art collection.

“Also featured on display is Deux Ouvrieres dans l’Atelier de Couture (Two Seamstresses in the Workroom) by Édouard Vuillard, a small oil painting gifted to Mackie by Vuillard, which is now owned by the National Galleries of Scotland. All in all, the exhibition is a wonderful, rare opportunity to celebrate Mackie’s life, connections and achievements.”

Mackie biographer and researcher Pat Clark said: “This exhibition is the first major public retrospective since the artist’s Memorial Exhibition in 1921.

“Charles H. Mackie RSA RSW was a well-respected artist in his day and well-connected in artistic circles in France and Scotland. The works on display trace his development and responses to the places he visited and the people he met.

“The exhibition will draw together all the stages of Mackie’s life and career, from early Scottish landscapes in Kirkcudbright to the magnificent large-scale oils executed in Venice. Colour and Light will be a long-overdue tribute to one of Scotland’s outstanding and unjustly neglected artists. The exhibition will showcase this achievement. It will bring me untold joy to share my passion for Mackie’s art with those who visit the City Art Centre between May and October.”

Councillor Donald Wilson, Edinburgh’s Convener of Culture and Communities said: “As we mark the centenary of Charles Mackie’s death, we are very proud to host this major study of his work in the City Art Centre.

“Bringing together over 50 artworks it promises to be a significant tribute to one of Edinburgh’s own. I’m sure ‘Colour and Light’ will captivate many visitors as well as inspire them through the accompanying programme of events and activities.”

Charles H. Mackie: Colour and Light opens on 16 May 2020 and runs until 11 October 2020. Admission is free.

The exhibition is being presented as part of Edinburgh Art Festival 2020, and it is accompanied by a varied programme of public events and activities.

Last chance to enter your marvellous moggy for national award

Cat lovers have just three days left to nominate their furry friends for the biggest event in the feline calendar – the National Cat Awards 2020.

Run by the charity Cats Protection, the annual event celebrates the nation’s most marvellous moggies, with heart-warming tales of devotion, courage and companionship.

Owners have until noon on Thursday 12 March to nominate their cat in one of five categories:

  • Hero Cat – Cats that save the day
  • Most Caring Cat – Cats that positively impact a person’s health or wellbeing
  • Furr-ever Friends – Tales of friendship between children and cats
  • Outstanding Rescue Cat – Fabulous felines adopted from animal charities
  • Purina® Better Together – Celebrating the special bond that has transformed and enriched the lives of both a feline and human.

Cats Protection’s awards organiser Kate Bunting said: “The awards are a chance for us all to celebrate what makes cats such wonderful pets. Whether it’s providing vital emotional support to owners, being a lifeline for people with health conditions or helping small children cope with big challenges, cats can have an exceptional impact on people’s lives.

“There’s still a bit of time left to enter and we’re looking forward to hearing from more cat owners about what makes their cat special.”

The difficult task of choosing the winners will be down to a panel of celebrity cat lovers.

Finalists will be invited to London to follow in the paw-prints of Jeffree, who won National Cat of the Year in the 2019 National Cat Awards. Jeffree (above) was a life-changing moggy from Coventry who helped teenager Finn Hackeson, who has Asperger syndrome, cope with the death of his father.

The awards are sponsored by PURINA® and owners of the winning cats will be presented with their trophies at a star-studded daytime ceremony at London’s Savoy Hotel on Thursday 6 August.

Calum Macrae, Regional Director UK & Ireland at PURINA®, said: “At Purina, we’re passionate about enriching the lives of pets and the people who love them so we’re thrilled to be supporting the National Cat Awards for the ninth year.

“The awards are a wonderful celebration of everything we love about cats, shining a spotlight on the incredible bond between pets and owners. We’re looking forward to reading the fantastic entries that Cats Protection will no doubt receive this time around.”

For information about the awards email nationalcatawards@cats.org.uk or phone 03000 12 12 12.

Anyone wishing to nominate their cat should visit www.cats.org.uk/national-cat-awards

Edinburgh ‘slowest city in the UK’ 

A new report (see below) showing that Edinburgh is ranked alongside London as the UK’s slowest city must act as a wakeup call for city chiefs, says Scottish Greens Parliamentary Co-Leader Alison Johnstone MSP.

The INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard shows that drivers lost an average of 98 hours in the capital city in 2019, with last mile speeds of just 10mph on an average journey, costing the city’s economy £177million.

Lothian MSP Alison Johnstone said: “Edinburgh’s ranking as the UK’s slowest city won’t come as a huge shock to many in the city, but it must come as a wakeup call to city chiefs who have for far too long prioritised getting cars into the city centre rather than investing in improving public transport, tackling congestion, and making it safer for people to walk and cycle.

“Lothian buses is a well liked service but buses are all too often delayed by the appalling congestion in the city. It’s time buses and trams were given priority over cars.

“The current consultation on the City’s Mobility Plan will help decide the future of the City.  We need a bold and visionary approach that doesn’t consider issues in isolation, and we need funding to bring about the change. We need too to stop wasting money on the dinosaur transport projects of a bygone era.

“In light of this report the city/region deal partners must now listen to my calls to scrap the proposed £120million flyover at Sheriffhall, a new road that will only make congestion worse, and instead invest those funds in congestion busting public transport across the region.

“Investment in safe walking and cycling routes in and around the city has been sorely lacking. We know that lots of people would cycle to work, or let their children cycle to school, if there was safe segregated infrastructure but all too often this isn’t the case.

“The budget deal secured by the Scottish Greens recently ensured that the Scottish Government’s cycling budget hit £100million for the first time. I know that Scottish Greens Councillors on City of Edinburgh Council will be lobbying hard to ensure the city gets its fair share of that funding too.”

 https://inrix.com/press-releases/2019-traffic-scorecard-uk/

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Johnson statement on Coronavirus

Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the following statement yesterday …

This morning I chaired a meeting of the government’s COBR emergency committee on the Coronavirus outbreak.

The First Ministers of Scotland and Wales and the First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland also attended and we agreed to continue to work closely in the weeks and months ahead.

We received a detailed briefing from the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Advisor. And again I repeat my gratitude to both Chris and to Patrick.

There have now been four deaths from coronavirus in the UK, and our deepest sympathies are obviously with their friends and families.

Our action plan as you know sets out the four phases of our approach to tackling the virus: Contain, Delay, Research, and Mitigate.

We remain in the Contain phase of the outbreak, but watching what is happening around the world, our scientists think containment is extremely unlikely to work on its own, and that is why we are making extensive preparations for a move to the delay phase.

We are preparing various actions to slow the spread of this disease in order to reduce the strain it places on the NHS. The more we can delay the peak of the spread to the summer, the better the NHS will be able to manage.

Patrick and Chris will give you some more detailed information on the latest advice we are giving the public today – and how we expect that advice to change as the outbreak develops.

As things stand I’m afraid it bears repeating that the best thing we can all do is wash our hands for 20 seconds with soap and water.

We will also take questions, because I know there are lots of things the public want to hear from our advisors about.

But before that I want to stress the following things:

First, we are doing everything we can to combat this outbreak, based on the very latest scientific and medical advice.

Second, we have a truly brilliant NHS, where staff have responded with all the determination, compassion and skill that makes their service so revered across the world. And they will continue to have this government’s full support, my support, in tackling this virus on the frontline.

Third, we will set out further steps in the days and weeks ahead to help people protect themselves, their family and in particular the elderly and vulnerable.

And finally, while it is absolutely critical, it’s absolutely critical in managing the spread of this virus that we take the right decisions at the right time, based on the latest and best evidence. So we must not do things which have no or limited medical benefit, nor things which could turn out to be counterproductive.

There is no hiding from the fact that the coronavirus outbreak will present significant challenges for the UK, just as it does in other countries.

But if we continue to look out for one another, to pull together in a united and national effort, I have no doubt that we can and will rise to that challenge.

And I’m now going to ask Patrick and then Chris to give their own perspective on where we are …