UPDATE: Police are pleased to confirm that Peter Macquarie has been traced safe and well. We would like to thank the public for their assistance.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Police Scotland is appealing for information to trace a vulnerable man missing from Edinburgh.Peter MacQuarie, 65, was last seen around 4.50pm today, Wednesday, 26 May, in Hayfield, East Craigs.
He is described as white, around 5ft 10, bald with a short grey beard and moustache. When he was last seen he was wearing a grey jacket, green jumper, black jeans, brown shoes and a blue beanie hat.
Inspector Caroline Flynn, Drylaw Police Office, said: “We are growing increasingly concerned for Peter as this is out of character for him and just want to know he is okay. He is very vulnerable, can get confused and is unsteady on his feet.
“He does not have a mobile phone with him, however does have a bus pass. When he travels, he tends to take the bus and has been known to take the number 31 bus towards the Bonnyrigg area.
“We are working with the relevant travel companies, and checking CCTV, to see if he has travelled, however would appeal for anyone who may have seen a man matching his description to get in touch with us.”
Anyone with any information should contact Police via 101, quoting incident number 2899 of Wednesday, 26 May, 2021
Edinburgh Western MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton has welcomed an announcement from the First Minister that the Scottish Government will save Edinburgh’s historic Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion.
This U-turn comes after a hard fought community and cross party campaign and after the Lib Dems secured a vital commitment towards a replacement facility from the Scottish Government, as part exchange for Liberal Democrat votes for the Scottish budget, earlier this year.
In those negotiations, the Lib Dems persuaded the Government to protect specialist eye services within the City of Edinburgh as well as securing a massive boost to mental health funding. In this afternoon’s announcement, the First Minister made good on that commitment and promised “the renewal and replacement of health facilities across Scotland – including the Edinburgh Eye Pavilion.”
Commenting, Mr Cole-Hamilton said:“This is a huge victory today, not just for the cross party MSPs who worked to save the Eye Pavilion, but also for everyone across Edinburgh and the Lothians who fought to see the promise of a replacement facility in the capital made real.
“The First Minister’s announcement is welcome, but it should have come much sooner. Even after securing the protection of specialist eye services, the Scottish Government was attempting to rail road a more casual set up, with different treatments and services dispersed across the Lothian region.”
“I know from both constituency correspondence, and conversations on the doorsteps throughout the recent election campaign that this was a major issue for local communities. The thought of losing the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion was genuinely upsetting for people, especially those who are affected by full or partial sight loss.”
“I am delighted that Edinburgh no longer risks being the only capital city in Europe without a dedicated eye care centre. This demonstrates what can be achieved when politicians seek to work productively, on a cross party basis, for meaningful change.”
Scottish Ministers will enter structured talks with the Scottish Green Party, supported by the civil service, with a view to reaching a formal Co-operation Agreement.
The initiative is part of a refreshed pledge to change politics in Scotland for the better by working with opposition parties to find the best solutions to the toughest of problems, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.
In the weeks leading up to the next Parliamentary Recess talks will be ongoing and focus on agreeing policy areas which the government and the Scottish Green Party will co-operate on.
During a statement to Parliament this afternoon the First Minister told the Chamber that she is committed to compromise and constructive conversations as she extended an open offer to collaborate with all of the elected parties.
A cross-party steering group on Covid Recovery has already been established by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery to welcome all contributions to secure a strong recovery from the pandemic.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “In Scotland and across the world we have massive challenges to confront and overcome: a global pandemic, the climate emergency, and the need to build an economic recovery that is strong, sustainable and fair.
“In the face of all of that, people across Scotland expect – indeed, demand – a grown-up and co-operative approach to politics that puts the interests of the country first.
“We want to reach out and find the best solutions to the toughest of problems. Our duty is to co-operate and not to find the lowest common denominator, but as a way of raising the bar higher.
“I can confirm that the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party will enter structured talks, supported by the civil service, with a view to reaching, if we can, a formal Co-operation Agreement.
“Exactly what the content, extent and scope of any Agreement will be is what the talks will focus on but what we hope to achieve is potentially groundbreaking.
“The key point for today is that we are both agreeing to come out of our comfort zones to find new ways of working for the common good to change the dynamic of our politics for the better, and give meaning to the founding principles of our Parliament.
“What we are embarking on will require compromise on both sides but it will also require us to be bold and given the challenges we face, that is a good thing, in fact it is the whole point. By working together we can help build a better future for Scotland.”
Responding, Scottish Greens Co-Leader Lorna Slater MSP said: “Scotland desperately needs a green recovery from the pandemic that leaves no-one behind, while time is running out for meaningful action on the climate emergency.
“The Scottish Greens have always worked constructively with other parties, delivering meaningful change like free bus travel for young people, and earlier this month the public returned the largest ever Green group to parliament to take that work further and faster. We hope that through these talks we can deliver real change.”
The Greens have drawn from the experience of their colleagues in Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, and have held discussions between the two-parties’ Co-Leaders in recent weeks.
Patrick Harvie MSP said: “Politics does not have to be about point-scoring and short-termism. Green parties across Europe and in countries like New Zealand have in recent years rolled up their sleeves and worked with other parties to deliver a better future.
“But they have also shown that there is more than one way for government and opposition parties to work together, without losing the ability to challenge one another. We believe the people of Scotland want to see grown-up politics like this, and will approach the forthcoming talks in this spirit”
Talks between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party are expected to conclude before the next Parliamentary Recess.
The Scottish Government are undertaking a huge piece of research into the response of Volunteering and Third Sector Organisations to the Covid-19 pandemic.
They are very keen to hear from volunteer involving organisations on their experience of volunteer involvement, good and bad, over the period of the pandemic. In order to build as clear a picture as possible it is important that as many organisations in Edinburgh as possible respond.
The deadline has now been extended to Tuesday 1 June.
This survey aims to gather information about:
How volunteering has contributed to the Third Sector response to the pandemic;
The challenges that the sector has faced in continuing to support volunteering during this time; and
Organisational perspectives on what is needed to support volunteering during the recovery period and beyond.
Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said:“These figures show the devastating affect that Covid-19 has had on Care Homes in Scotland.
“My thoughts are with all the families whose loved ones have died from Covid-19 throughout the last year.
“SNP Ministers were completely unprepared for Covid-19, with a lack of PPE and unclear guidance for care homes.
“The decision by SNP Ministers to move Covid-19 positive hospital patients to care homes, without being tested, is the single biggest failure throughout the pandemic.
“The Scottish Conservatives have called for a full public inquiry into care home deaths in Scotland and these figures reinforce the need for that inquiry.”
27 Edinburgh-based projects are sharing in over £607,000 of National Lottery and Scottish Government funding through Creative Scotland in the March and April rounds of Open Fund awards.
Designed to support creative people, projects and organisations across Scotland to adapt and respond to the current changing circumstances brought about by Covid-19, awards made through the Open Fund are helping to sustain creative development at this challenging time.
Edinburgh-based artists and creative practitioners include:
The Cymera Festival – an annual celebration of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (SFFH) writing, bringing together writers and readers to share ideas, create stories and share insights.
Cymera is the first of its kind in the UK, and 2021 is its third instalment. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the programme will once again be digital.
Festival organiser Ann Landmann said: “We are excited to return to the digital space from 3rd to 6th June 2021. Thanks to the funding from the Creative Scotland Open Fund, #Cymera21 is a jam-packed weekend and our most international programme yet, with speakers joining us from all around the world.
“From internationally bestselling authors to Scottish debuts, our programme is a smorgasbord of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror writers to suit all tastes.”
The Dance Audition! is a new interactive online performance piece. Inspired by A Chorus Line, the 1985 American musical drama film, The Dance Audition! will be choreographed by Dance Ihayami’s Artistic Director, Priya Shrikumar using popular Indian dance forms.
Audience members will be encouraged to follow the journey of performers, learn the choreography and participate as a judge to identify the dancers for the final 5-minute dance creation, choreographed by Priya.
Choreographer, Priya Shrikumar (top) said: “Now is the best and in a way a positive time for this form (Indian dance) to be viewed and enjoyed by a larger audience – something accessible and enjoyable.
“It will bring colour and wonder to a world which is a bit colourless at the moment, due to the pandemic.”
Re·creation: A Creative Opportunity for Queer Poets is a new work from Edinburgh-based writers Éadaoín Lynch and Alycia Pirmohamed, with independent publisher Stewed Rhubarb Press.
This project will identify and commission Covid-affected queer creatives to write poems, develop their craft, build a community of poets, and be published in a landmark poetry collection.
The project leads are also the co-editors of the anthology, planned for publication in summer 2022. Éadaoín Lynch is an early career researcher with a PhD in poetry from the University of St Andrews; Alycia Pirmohamed is co-founder of the Scottish BAME Writers Network, and winner of the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award 2020.
The collection is planned to include 30 poets: 10 commissions, and 20 selections from an open call for submissions. Workshops, 1-to-1 mentorship, and a round-table feedback session will be provided as part of the project. More information can be found on the website here: https://recreation-anthology.co.uk/
Project lead, Éadaoín Lynch says: “The project title has its roots in play, refreshment, recovery, restoration, invigoration, and creating, all of which are long overdue in a Covid-affected world, particularly for those in the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Funding has also been awarded to Edinburgh-based visual artist Alison Grant for a period of research to develop a new body of work looking at coastal communities across the 11,000 miles of Scotland’s shores.
From Viking graffiti artists who anchored in the best fishing areas to the contemporary work of today’s Blue Carbon visionaries, the project will look at best practice from the past to inform how we consider our coastlines in the future.
Visual artist Alison Grant says: “I am delighted to have received funding from Creative Scotland for 11000 Miles, a project conceived during lockdown this winter.
“It is important at this time of climate crisis to look locally to our own coastline for sustainable solutions to some of the problems we have created. I want to engage with these issues to use my creativity to communicate ideas, not just to as wide an audience as possible but also to our local communities, to look anew at our relationship with the sea.”
Strategy: Get Arts. 35 Artists Who Broke the Rules is a new work from Studies in Photography (part of the Scottish Society for the History of Photography).
Edited by Christian Weikop, Senior Lecturer, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA), this book will be the first print publication to consider the formation of the ground-breaking exhibition Strategy: Get Arts (SGA), staged at ECA in 1970, when thirty-five German post-war artists (including Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Blinky Palermo, Klaus Rinke, and Günther Uecker) staged a provocative takeover of ECA, transforming the college into a ‘total work of art’ through their ‘actions’ and installations.
Featuring essays by academics, senior National Galleries of Scotland staff, and those involved in curating the exhibition, the publication will include photographs by Monika Baumgartl, George Oliver, and Richard Demarco, many never seen before.
Alex Hamilton says: “As Chair and Co-Editor of Studies in Photography, I am delighted to be able to publish this book. The exhibition held for me, particular importance as one of the gallery assistants.
“It changed many people’s lives… After 50 years and during the anniversary of the birth of Joseph Beuys we are delighted that the amazing stories behind this ground-breaking event can finally be revealed.”
The work is due to be published later in 2021.
These examples are some of the 105 projects in total that have been awarded over £2.3million of National Lottery and Scottish Government funding through Creative Scotland in the latest rounds of Open Fund awards.
Iain Munro, CEO, Creative Scotlandsaid: “Thanks to the generosity of National Lottery players, who raise £30 million for good causes across the UK every week, alongside equally welcome funding from the Scottish Government, these Open Fund awards are helping artists, creative organisations and communities to develop and share their work, and to keep culture and creativity at the heart of people’s lives as we look to recover from the challenges of the pandemic.”
Staff from the Utilita Energy Hub in Leith say a special thank you to NHS workers on the frontline at the mass vaccination centre and Chalmers Dental Hospital
Staff from the Utilita Energy Hub in Leith, Edinburgh, have gifted 180 ‘thank you’ boxes to NHS staff working on the frontline giving mass vaccinations at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC).
A further 80 boxes were also gifted to Chalmers Dental Hospital which has been delivering dental care throughout the pandemic.
Inside each box contained a range of items to provide a gentle morale boost, from light refreshments such as luxury hot chocolate, tea and coffee, to personal care including soothing hand cream and shampoo to a stress ball for more challenging moments.
Sharon McDonald, Assistant Service Manager Chalmers Dental Hospital, said:“I just wanted to thank you for making my teams day at the Edinburgh Dental Institute – the frontline staff were over the moon with the boxes with goodie, it really lifted everyone’s spirits – like the whole of the NHS it has been a really due tough year for our teams.”
Photo caption: Steve Lawson, Security Officer at EICC (right), Maxine Clark, Energy Expert from Utilita (middle) and Julie Ann, NHS Senior Lead EICC (right)
Debra Clason, Hub Manager of the Utilita Energy Hub in Leith, Edinburgh, commented: “After over a year caring for patients suffering with Covid-19 on the frontline, we hope our donation puts a smile on the faces of our unsung heroes during this challenging time.
“We know NHS staff have limited time to go to the supermarket, so we hope essential items like these will give them some rest bite.”
Since the start of the pandemic, staff at the Utilita Hub in Leith have delivered over 1,500 hot meals for ‘Empty Kitchens, Full Hearts’; dropped off food parcels to elderly vulnerable people via the Pilmeny Development Project, ‘Leith Lives’; delivered PPE to small community groups from the Umbrella Group; given snacks to NHS staff at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary from the Hibernian Community Foundation; and taken part in The Prince’s Trust ‘Future Steps’ challenge to complete 10,000 steps a day each to raise money for young people.
The NHS ‘thank you’ boxes are their most recent charity efforts, with plans to roll out further brilliant work to help community groups this summer.
As a direct response to the Coronavirus pandemic, Utilita – the only energy company created to help households use less energy – helped 567,000 times to provide financial assistance for customers facing difficulty. It also helped top-ups go further, by holding 200 energy advice interactions with customers every day.
Central to helping people save money is the Utilita Energy High 5 movement, which enables every household to use around £163 less energy each year by making five free and easy-to-follow changes at home.
More than two million households have engaged with the movement so far – every household can benefit – not just Utilita customers, to start saving today.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her Welsh counterpart Mark Drakeford have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling for greater clarity and substance around a proposed four-nations Covid recovery summit currently scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday).
The full text of the letter is below:
Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing about the proposed 4-nations summit on Covid recovery, which you have suggested should take place this Thursday afternoon.
We are both deeply committed to taking part in such a summit and to working appropriately together on Covid Recovery – but, as we are sure you do, we want the meeting to be a meaningful discussion with substantive outcomes, and not just a PR exercise.
Our view is that this will be best achieved if further detailed preparation is done in advance.
In particular, we would propose early discussion to reach agreement on the following –
A detailed agenda. Your office sent a very rough proposed agenda only yesterday morning and our view is that further work is needed to agree key issues for discussion and any supporting papers to be prepared;
What outcomes/further process we are seeking to achieve as a result of the summit discussion.
Further discussion between our officials – leading to the summit taking place on an agreed date, perhaps as early as next week – would allow for a much more meaningful exercise, and avoid the risk of it being just a PR or box-ticking exercise. We are sure that is what we all want.
We are copying this letter to Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill.
Homeless charity Rowan Alba is appealing for local volunteers to support its CARDS befriending service which works with people across the city, providing vital support and social contact to reduce isolation.
The Community Alcohol Related Damages Service (CARDS) was set up by Rowan Alba in 2010. Those who are referred to CARDS by health care specialists, GPs, hospitals and mental health services have, for various reasons, become isolated and developed a problematic relationship with alcohol. CARDS volunteers are there to provide vital social contact and to listen without judgment.
A team of 60 volunteers deliver 1-1 befriending support to 80 clients across the city, usually meeting once a week to provide emotional support, helping clients build their social skills and confidence to engage with their local community.
Since getting support from CARDS, 69% of clients have reported improved mental health, 77% have reduced their alcohol intake and 80% said life was less chaotic. 69% said they have spent less time in hospital.
As a crucial befriending service for older people with long term alcohol issues and at risk of crisis, CARDSis just one of a number of services delivered by Rowan Alba in supporting some of Edinburgh’s most vulnerable, isolated and homeless people. The charity aims to break the cycle of homelessness for people deemed ‘un-houseable’ by other services.
Rowan Alba pioneered the home for life concept with Thorntree Street in Leith, providing permanent homes for older men with a long-term history of rough sleeping and street drinking. The charity’s second home for life property will open in Peffermill in 2022.
Rowan Alba also provides temporary supported accommodation at Stramullion in Pilton, supporting women with complex needs to move out of homelessness and into their own home.
The charity has years of expertise working with older people with alcohol issues; these issues may stem from years of health inequality, trauma, homelessness, family breakdown, mental health issues time spent in prison or abuse. Many have developed Alcohol Related Brain Damage (ARBD), which has left them physically and emotionally damaged and socially isolated.
Tracey Stewart, Volunteer Service Manager at Rowan Alba said; “We have all faced periods of isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic but for those who are referred to CARDS, social isolation is something many have lived with for years.
“The 1-1 befriending service provided by our volunteers provides vital emotional support, helping clients to re-learn how to manage a trusting relationship with another person.
“CARDS urgently needs more volunteers to support our clients across Edinburgh, so we are looking for people who can provide compassionate support for individuals who have had a difficult relationship with alcohol now or in the past.
“Ideally you will have had experience in a role where managing relationships is key. Being able to listen without judgment and understand the benefit of human contact is vital.
“Our best volunteers are the kind of people whom you end up chatting to at a bus stop and go away being moved by the interaction. It’s as simple as that. We provide all the support, training and guidance that you need.
“Half of our staff started as volunteers and 85% of people who were looking to get in to social care as a career find themselves within employment within the first year after volunteering Those who come for the experience hang around for much longer. It’s a community in itself.”
Comprehensive training and support are provided and volunteers are asked to make a time commitment of at least 1 year.
Full details of the application process are available at:
