Plans submitted for revised infrastructure layout at Edinburgh Marina (Granton Harbour) in ‘significant change to the masterplan’, says The Cockburn Association, Edinburgh’s civic trust.
You can view and comment here on the Planning Portal: https://bit.ly/3nh8n8T
The last date for comments is 5th February 2021
After an especially tough year, English Heritage is encouraging the public to do as their medieval ancestors did and leave up their festive adornments until Candlemas on 2 February. This opposes the theory that leaving decorations up beyond Twelfth Night is bad luck, which is a modern take on the tradition.
The charity will be following its own advice at several of its historic places, with decorations remaining in place throughout January at Audley End House in Essex, Framlingham Castle in Suffolk and Osborne on the Isle of Wight.
Falling exactly 40 days after Christmas, Candlemas (or the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary) was observed as the official end of Christmas in medieval England.
The date itself was a great feast day and is so-called because candles intended to be used in churches in the coming year would be blessed on that day. There were also candlelit processions in honour of the feast.
Evidence that decorations were kept up until the evening before Candlemas is well documented. To this day, Christmas cribs remain in place in many churches until Candlemas, and their removal is described in an early 17th-century poem:
Ceremony Upon Candlemas Eve, Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the bays and misletoe;
Down with the holly, ivy, all
Wherewith ye dress’d the Christmas hall;
That so the superstitious find
No one least branch there left behind;
For look, how many leaves there be
Neglected there, maids, trust to me,
So many goblins you shall see.
Dr Michael Carter, English Heritage’s Senior Properties Historian, said: “In the Middle Ages, houses would be decorated with greenery for the Christmas season on Christmas Eve day. The feast of Christmas started at around 4pm on Christmas Eve afternoon and continued until the Epiphany on 6 January.
“But contrary to popular belief, the Christmas season actually continues right through to Candlemas on 2 February so there’s no real reason why you should take your decorations down earlier.
“The tradition that it is bad luck to keep decorations up after Twelfth Night and the Epiphany is a modern invention, although it may derive from the medieval notion that decorations left up after Candlemas eve would become possessed by goblins!
“I’m of the opinion that, after the year we’ve all had, we certainly deserve to keep the Christmas cheer going a little longer.”
There is no doubt, that there is a team of over 11 AMAZING regular #volunteers behind a huge success of our project.
We are very proud of them and happy that they have been recognised by Volunteer Edinburgh and received an Inspiring Volunteering Achievement Award!
Granton Goes Greener
Over 1,000 British Gas workers in Scotland will begin five days of strikes from 00.01 hours this morning (Thursday 7 January) as part of the biggest dispute seen in the sector for over forty years.
In a direct response to the ‘fire and rehire’ plan for British Gas operations laid-out by Centrica Plc Group’s Chief Executive Officer Chris O’Shea, over 10,000 GMB members across the UK four nations will take part in the action.
O’Shea has refused to accept efforts by GMB to negotiate a way forward for the business. Instead, after months of talks, workers have been told to accept the slashing of wages and conditions, or face being sacked.
All British Gas divisions and services, including Service & Repair, Electrical Services, Smart Metering, Installations, and Customer Services will be impacted.
GMB Scotland Senior Organiser for Commercial Services Hazel Nolan, blasted Centrica’s executives for their role in creating their own company crisis and exploiting workers during the COVID-19 pandemic:
“Today is CEO pay day, Chris O’Shea will take home a pre-bonus wage of £775,000, and Centrica have recorded a £901million operating profit for 2019.
“While GMB members in British Gas acted as emergency workers during the COVID19 pandemic, Chris O’Shea & the Senior Millionaires Team of British Gas were busy plotting how to slash workers terms & conditions.
“In the grip of a global pandemic, Chris O’Shea’s anti-worker, ‘fire and rehire’ agenda would set a dangerous precedent for major UK employers, opening the floodgates for widespread attacks on workers’ jobs, pay and conditions. This is not how a country builds back better.
“GMB members are being told they’ll be sacked and then forced to accept new terms and conditions – across the board cuts in wages pensions and leave. Take it or leave it. Centrica are turning a once great British industrial institution into a cowboy contractor.
“We have no choice but to fight-back.”
Centrica says contingency measures are in place.
Local area data
UK FIGURES for WEDNESDAY 6th JANUARY
62,322 new cases were reported across the UK yesterday.
There have now been more than 2.8 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK and over 75,000 people have died, latest government figures show.
However, these figures include only people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus and other measures suggest the number of deaths is higher.
Due to the pandemic restrictions the main North Edinburgh Arts venue will remain closed, but the NEA Pantry (in the old Co-op building on Pennywell Road) is open today from 10-2pm for new members, resuming usual hours from next Wednesday 13 January.
FRESH START PANTRY
New opening hours for Fresh Start Pantry on Ferry Road Drive
If you need help or advice, please call our North Edinburgh phoneline on 0131 356 0220 and we will help or signpost to who can!
GRANTON:HUB PANTRY
The first pantry of the New Year took place yesterday (Wednesday 6th January) from 11 – 12pm.
The pantry will continue to run on Wednesday’s on a fortnightly basis – next one will be Wednesday 20 January.
Thank you for the produce supplied by FareShareRoyal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Edinburgh Food for Good/Refugee Community Kitchen.
For more information contact community@grantonhub.org
There’s also daily food support from Leith-based Empty Kitchens Full Hearts:
The BBC is set to deliver the biggest education offer in its history across more of its platforms. It will bring together BBC Two, CBBC, BBC Red Button, BBC iPlayer and online to deliver a new education offer to children, teachers and parents as a third national lockdown begins.
Reacting quickly to the news of UK schools moving to remote learning, the new offer from the BBC will ensure all children can access curriculum-based learning, even if they don’t have access to the internet.
Starting on Monday 11 January, each weekday on CBBC will see a three-hour block of primary school programming from 9am, including BBC Live Lessons and BBC Bitesize Daily, as well as other educational programming such as Our School and Celebrity Supply Teacher and much loved titles such as Horrible Histories, Art Ninja and Operation Ouch.
BBC Two will cater for secondary students with programming to support the GCSE curriculum, with a least two hours of content each weekday.
Content will be built around Bitesize Daily secondary shows, complemented by Shakespeare and classic drama adaptations alongside science, history and factual titles from the BBC’s award-winning factual programming units.
Bitesize Daily primary and secondary will also air every day on BBC Red Button as well as episodes being available on demand on BBC iPlayer.
Tim Davie, BBC Director General, says: “Ensuring children across the UK have the opportunity to continue to follow the appropriate core parts of their nation’s school curriculum has been a key priority for the BBC throughout this past year.
“Education is absolutely vital – the BBC is here to play its part and I’m delighted that we have been able to bring this to audiences so swiftly.”
This TV offer sits alongside a wealth of online content which parents, children and teachers can access when and where they need it:
Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, says: “The BBC has helped the nation through some of the toughest moments of the last century, and for the next few weeks it will help our children learn whilst we stay home, protect the NHS and save lives.
“This will be a lifeline to parents and I welcome the BBC playing its part.”
Educational content for all nations will also be available.
With tighter restrictions and national lockdowns back in place, I want to reassure you that we are doing everything we can to keep you and our colleagues safe when you shop with us (writes Sainsbury’s Chief Executive SIMON ROBERTS).
Everyone must wear a mask in our stores
Keeping you and our colleagues safe is our absolute priority and we are looking again at all of our safety measures in stores.
We continue to limit the number of people in our shops at any one time and we have greeters outside every supermarket to help with this.
We are also asking all customers to please wear a mask and to shop alone. This will help us limit the number of people shopping at any one time and help everyone shop and work safely.
We’ll also have posters and tannoy messages making it really clear that everyone must wear a mask, unless you have an exemption.
Convenience stores will also have colleagues at the store entrances to help customers and manage numbers. All our stores have hand sanitising stations available for you to use at the entrance and please be assured our colleagues continue to regularly clean trolleys and baskets.
Ramping up online capacity
As people are being asked to stay at home, more people want to shop online and we’re doing everything we can to support you with this. We have increased slots from 340,000 last March to over 800,000 per week now and we’re doing everything we can to increase that number, across both home delivery and click and collect. We continue to give elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers priority access to these slots.
Please shop for others and only buy what you need
We have good availability of products in our stores and online and we have new stock arriving from our suppliers every day. You can still feel confident that you can find what you need at Sainsbury’s and if we all continue to buy just what we need, there will be enough food for everyone.
It’s been really heartening to see so many of you and our colleagues doing what you can to help elderly and vulnerable people in your communities. With clinically extremely vulnerable people required to shield once again in many areas, I would like to encourage everyone to please shop for others if you can. Our Volunteer Shopping Card can help you do this without needing to use cash.
Supporting our communities
With your help, our ‘Help Brighten a Million Christmases’ campaign raised nearly £6 million for over 800 local charitable partners as well as Comic Relief and FareShare. Thank you for all of your support and donations.
To continue to support our communities as we head into this third lockdown, I’m pleased to let you know that we’re creating another £1 million local community fund for all our stores to donate to charities and other good causes in their local area over the coming months.
We are also continuing to support the government’s free school meal vouchers scheme, helping children who qualify for free school meals have access to these meals while schools are closed.
I want to thank all of our colleagues who continue to deal with these challenges that affect their everyday lives while also carrying out a vital role in helping to feed the nation. Thank you too for helping us to keep you and our colleagues safe.
As always, if there is anything you think we could be doing better please let me know.
Best wishes
Simon
The Scottish Government has been urged to act quickly on the public demand for a ban on single-use plastic items in Scotland.
A 12-week public consultation which ended on Monday 4th January was seeking views on the introduction of restrictions on the sale of items including single-use plastic cutlery, plates, straws, drink stirrers and balloon sticks. Exemptions are likely for products such as plastic straws provided for medical use and to support independent living.
Experts estimate that each year in Scotland, we use an estimated 300 million plastic straws, 276 million pieces of plastic cutlery and 66 million polystyrene food containers. Campaigners say that any delay to action will mean millions more pieces of plastic will end up in landfill or potentially polluting our beaches and waterways.
Under the EU’s Single-Use Plastic Directive, Member States have to introduce restrictions on the sale of some of the most environmentally-harming single-use plastic products by July 2021. The Scottish Government announced in their 2019-2020 Programme for Government that it planned to meet or exceed the standards set out in the Directive.
More than 1900 people who took action online via Friends of the Earth Scotland backed the Scottish Government’s plans to ban single-use plastic items. They also called for a Just Transition for workers in Grangemouth with the phasing out of fossil-fuel-based plastic production. Ineos is the UK’s largest producer of plastic using fracked gas transported from the USA.
Friends of the Earth Scotland Plastic and Circular Economy Campaigner Sarah Moyes said: “The public response clearly shows that people are concerned about plastic pollution in Scotland and want to see action to tackle these persistent polluters. The knife and fork we use for a quick bite to eat shouldn’t endure beyond our lifetime sitting in landfill for hundreds of years.
“Plastic pollutes at every stage of its life cycle from the oil and gas extracted to produce it, to the end products which litter our environment. In order to get to the heart of the plastic problem, we must also look beyond this list of products and address the fact that Ineos, one of the biggest producers of plastic in Europe is right on our doorstep.”
The Single-Use Plastic Directive is part of wider work to reduce waste in Scotland. Campaigners raised concerns about how other measures to tackle waste such as the Deposit Return Scheme introduction have been delayed, the Circular Economy Bill was shelved and a ban on biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill was pushed back by 4 years.
Sarah Moyes said: “Scotland could soon be on our way to having communities across the country freed from litter and waste, and that’s why it’s imperative that the Scottish Government moves quickly to ban these polluting plastic items.
“Even a delay of just six months will lead to hundreds of millions of extra pieces of disposable plastic circulating in Scotland. The longer we invest in or support the fossil fuel industry, the longer we lock Scotland into increasing emissions that fuel the escalating climate crisis.
“If we want to avoid further climate breakdown then we must redirect support away from the plastic industry, like Ineos, instead planning and managing the shift in partnership with trade unions, workers and communities to ensure a Just Transition to a clean industry that moves us towards a circular economy.”
Working from home, especially during extended periods can be difficult to adjust to. For many of us, it means learning how to manage our different areas of work under new circumstances.
While we all experience and learn to adapt to new situations and environments differently, there are some challenges that we are all facing.
We’ve put together some top tips on how to get the most out of working from home while looking after yourself and your mental health.
Create a morning routine that brings you up until the moment you begin work for the day. It may sound trivial, but this helps you mentally prepare for the day ahead and get into the “I’m going to work” mindset.
You probably have a routine when you get to work, so creating a routine at home is also a good idea.
It could be making a cup of coffee. It might be returning home after a jog, or doing some mindfulness sessions. It could be getting dressed (although it may be tempting to stay in your pyjamas, it may not be the best look for those video conference calls!).
Whatever it is, setting yourself up for the day can improve your state of mind and psychologically prepare you to start work.
Why not try mindfulness or meditation to get your morning started: Headspace – Weathering the Storm.
2. Establish boundaries
It is easy to lose track of time when working from home, so set a schedule, and stick to it…where you can.
Having clear guidelines for when to start work and when to call it a day helps maintain your life-work balance. Aim to start and finish at your normal working times.
We know that those in self-isolation, who have childcare or other caring responsibilities, may need to be more flexible in the times they might work. For example, you may need to switch to some evening work so you can spend time with children during the day. Speak to your line manager about agreeing a new temporary work schedule.
3. Create your own workspace
Although it’s tempting to head to your sofa with a laptop, you’re may find setting up a work area helps you stay focused. If you can, try to set aside a specific area or space where you can work. If you don’t have a desk, use a table or worktop.
Besides making you feel like you’re at an “office,” this helps you maintain good posture, avoid distractions, and mentally leave your work behind at the end of the day. The NHS advice is that you should adjust your chair so you can use the keyboard with your wrists and forearms straight and level with the floor.
4. Set ground rules with the people you share your space with
There might be other people in your home during these exceptional times. They may be working from home too or self-isolating. You may all need to share a limited amount of space so it’s important to set some ground rules. For example, when you need access to a certain area of your home; or designated times for ‘quiet time’.
Working with limited childcare options
With schools and nurseries closed, you may find yourself needing to come up with new routines not only for your working life, but within your personal life for your children or siblings. Talk to your employer or manager about potential flexible working opportunites at your place of work. You may want to consider the following:
If children are at home, then try set some ground rules. Have clear rules about what they can and cannot do during that time, when they can come and speak to you and when you need left alone.
We also know that many schools have reminded parents not to set unrealistic expectations or goals. Its important parents take time to look after themselves too. If you are social care staff or co-parent with someone classed as a key worker, your children may still be able to go to school. Follow the Government’s most up to date advice.
5. Take breaks
Remember to take normal breaks, including your lunch break. Get up and move about, go for a short walk or make a coffee. Try setting a timer or alarm on your computer screen or mobile phone to remind you to take a break.
6. Connect with colleagues
Loneliness, disconnect, and isolation are common problems in remote work life, especially in the current uncertain and worrying situation. Making the effort to speak to your colleagues regularly can make a difference.
Conference calls, Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams are all examples of how you can keep connected. Try to pick up the phone for a real conversation rather than relying on email or instant messaging all day. Video calls in particular can help you still feel connected to your colleagues.
7. Get some fresh air when you can
For those who need to self-isolate, opening the window may help you get as much fresh air as possible. Try to choose a spot with lot of natural light to work if you can.
Follow Government advice and do some exercise outside, even a short walk can benefit you both mentally and physically. Make sure to keep a distance from others when outside and be sure to wash your hands as soon as you return home.
8. Drink plenty of water
People get dehydrated when they sit, and if you’re heating is still on in your home, then you’ll need the extra water to keep yourself physically and mentally healthy.
To ensure that you are consuming a sufficient amount of water, keep bottles of water handy to make sure you drink your recommended 1.5-2 litres per day. You can also download apps on smartphone or tablet to remind you to drink regularly.
9. Stand up and stretch
Sitting all day isn’t healthy even if you’re at the office, but working from home means you skip your commute and have fewer reasons to get up from your chair throughout the day.
If it’s possible in the area you have set up for home working, try standing up to do your work for a change of pace. Standing uses more muscles and burns more calories than sitting and it’s good for your back and posture.
If you can’t stand and work, stretching is vital for maintaining good posture, especially when working at a desk for several hours a day. Try standing up every 30 minutes or so to stretch your chest and extend your spine to reverse the hunched position of sitting.
Standing and stretching can also help to reduce back and neck pain. Here are some suggestions to help you move and be mindful: a
10. Listen to music
If you find working from home to be a little too quiet, you miss the buzz of the office and find it difficult to focus, listen to music, turn on the radio, or put the TV on quietly in the background
11. End your day with a routine
Just like you should start your day with a routine, create a habit that signals the close of the workday. You might have a simple routine such as shutting down your computer and turning on a favourite podcast, or writing the next day’s to-do list.
Whatever you choose, do it consistently to mark the end of working hours. Put your work away or shut your laptop so you know you are back in your personal home time and place.
12. Reflect on your mental health
Ensure you take time to reflect on and try to be mindful of your mental health. Look out for changes in your feelings, practice self-care and be aware of any triggers or symptoms surrounding your mental health.
Make sure you keep in touch with support networks, even a text, phone call or video chat can make a difference.
For more ways to protect your mental health during these challenging times, check out our online information hub: www.samh.org.uk/coronavirus.
