Month: May 2021

Open Fund awards support for creative Edinburgh-based projects

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. 

A full list of recipients of Open Fund awards is available on the Creative Scotland website.

Iain Munro, CEO, Creative Scotland said: “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.”  

Utilita donates over 250 Care Boxes to NHS staff in Edinburgh

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.

Find out more: www.utilita.co.uk/energyhigh5

Covid recovery: Scottish and Welsh FMs urge Boris Johnson to ensure “meaningful” summit

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 –

  1. 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;
  2. 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.

Edinburgh homeless charity appeals for local volunteers

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.

Paul McCay, a CARDS volunteer for seven years said; “The people we work with are socially isolated, many have anxiety and are disconnected from their communities.

“Just having someone who consistently shows up, without judgment, to listen, have a chat, listen to music, go for a walk or a coffee can’t be underestimated. The regular contact that volunteers provide can be both life-changing and life-saving.” 

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: 

https://rowanalba.org/volunteering-for-cards/.

Letters: Benefits of play for our children

Dear Editor,

Now, as we approach summer with hopefully fewer restrictions, we can start to make plans about how we will spend time with family and friends.

Following the challenging year we have experienced, we could all do with a bit more play in our lives. Play is a hugely important part of childhood and has a whole host of benefits, including improving physical and mental health and wellbeing.

Throughout this pandemic, children have had to deal with so many difficult challenges; some having to stay in unsafe homes and many living with families who are struggling with health worries and financial issues. Children have told Childline that they have struggled to cope and their mental health has suffered as a result.

It doesn’t matter how people choose to play this Childhood Day (11 June), whether it’s organising a sponsored kickabout in the park, a game of cards, a musical get-together or an online gaming tournament, we just want as many as possible playing and raising money to help us keep children safe.

We look forward to hearing how your readers plan to support the NSPCC and children across Scotland this Childhood Day.

To find out more and download a fundraising pack, visit:

www.nspcc.org.uk/childhoodday 

or search online for NSPCC Childhood Day.

Paul Cockram,

Head of Fundraising, NSPCC Scotland

Youth clubs safely back at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre

Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre’s Junior Youth Clubs are allowed indoors once more although weather permitting we are still encouraging outdoor play.

Due to current guidance all our Junior Youth Clubs are running at reduced numbers.

P1 – P2 Tuesday 15.15-16.45

P3 – P5 Wednesday 15.15-17.15

P6 – P7 Thursday 15.15-17.15

Wednesday is currently full but there is a reserve list.

Due to restricted numbers we are only allowing two weeks no show before spaces are given to a young person on the reserve list.

Places must be pre booked and registration is currently only by phone – speak to Lynda on 315 4989.

Edinburgh mum tackles fear of water in memory of beloved son who drowned

The brave mother of Christopher Nelson, who sadly drowned in 2015, has tackled her fear of water by completing a swimming relay in the loch where her son’s ashes are scattered.

Christopher, 24, tragically died after falling into a canal in Amsterdam while on holiday in the city with his fiancé.

Now, his mother Donna – who previously could not swim and who has had an immense fear of water since her son’s death – has swam a 27km relay with friends and family in St Mary’s Loch in his memory.

Donna’s swim was originally planned for May 2020 but had to be rescheduled due to Covid. To prepare for her challenge, she learned to swim by attending adult swimming lessons with instructor Jen Henderson at Lasswade Centre.

Donna said: “This challenge was the worst one mentally and emotionally for me that I have ever done by far, considering I couldn’t swim before and Christopher drowned in open water but I crossed that finish line for my boy!

“Before I started my lessons, I hadn’t been in a swimming pool since Christopher died. Even when I stood in the shower, I couldn’t put my face under the water. There hasn’t been a morning in the last six years where I’ve stood in the shower and not thought about what happened to my son.

“It was such an emotional swim but the support of my team, Steven Nelson the Water Safety Crew Manager and Niall Cassidy from Driftwood Adventures and his team were phenomenal. All of us felt so safe in their capable hands.

“We couldn’t believe how kind the weather was to us considering the week we’d had – I think my boy had a wee hand in that for his mum!”

Donna’s swim was a fundraiser for Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC), which supports the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People – a charity close to the family’s heart.

She added: “Christopher was a mad sports person as a little boy, so we were on first name terms with the A&E staff at the Sick Kids as he had so many sports-related injuries.

“He was very athletic and used to really inspire me to do things I would never do. He was my inspiration for most things in life. He would never believe that I would take swimming lessons, and especially not that I would swim in open water.

“When I complete my challenges, I’m always sobbing my eyes out but also have such a sense of relief. Afterwards, I always look up to the sky and say ‘love you son’ and have a moment with him – this one was no different.

“I can’t thank everyone enough who has donated and supported us for this mammoth challenge for my boy.”

The grieving mum and her family and friends – also known as ‘’Donna’s Prosecco Posse” or #teamnelson – have so far raised over £40,000 for ECHC by completing a series of fundraising challenges since 2015, including Tough Mudder and a 200-mile cycle. Her swim has so far raised over £9000.

Victoria Buchanan, Deputy Director of Fundraising and Marketing at ECHC, said: “Donna is hugely admirable, inspiring and brave and we would like to say an enormous congratulations to her and her friends and family for completing what we know was an incredibly tough challenge – both physically and mentally.

“We are so grateful to be Christopher’s family’s chosen charity. The money Team Nelson are raising will have a huge impact on the lives of children, young people and their families and make a phenomenal difference during their time in hospital. We cannot thank them enough for their incredible continued support.”

Donna and Christopher’s family and friends completed the 27km swim relay on Saturday 22nd May in St Mary’s Loch, supported by Steven Nelson (no relation) Founder and Manager/Activities Coordinator of Beyond Boundaries East Lothian and volunteers who very kindly agreed to be the Water Safety Crew, as well as Niall Cassidy and his team from Driftwood Adventures.

Donna’s team’s fundraising page is still open. To support them, visit: 

https://www.justgiving.com/team/teamnelson

‘Dropped into a Cave’: Save the Children report on life for low-income families during lockdown

Save The Children Scotland has launched “Dropped into a Cave”, a report telling the stories of how families with young children living on low income or experiencing low income for the first time fared in the last year:

‘We listened to parents across Scotland who had received one of the over 1500 Emergency Early Years Grants we issued since April 2020. We heard how the pandemic was a tipping point for many.

‘Now is the time for the newly elected members of the @ScotParl to ensure families on low incomes are prioritised, listened to and involved in decision making as we recover from the pandemic

‘We need commitments now to:

  • ensure holistic family support for all families, incl. financial, practical & emotional support
  • protect family incomes while working towards a minimum income standard
  • opportunities for children to play & build relationships.
dropped-into-a-cave-compressedDownload

Children’s Commissioners appeal to UK Government to end ‘discriminatory’ two-child limit on benefits

poverty family JRF

The Children’s Commissioners of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have today published a letter they have sent to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions calling for an end to the two-child limit on Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit. 

In the letter, the Commissioners state that the policy, which disallows benefits payments to the third and subsequent children born after April 2017 in most circumstances, is ‘a clear breach of children’s human rights’ that “is inconsistent with the commitments made by the UK through the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

The UK Parliament’s Work and Pensions Committee will today hear evidence from Bruce Adamson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland who will present the collective views of the Commissioners in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, that the efforts of their devolved governments to tackle child poverty are being restricted by UK benefits rules. 

He will talk about the impact of current welfare benefits on child poverty in Scotland and explain that even before Covid-19, poverty represented the greatest human rights issues facing children.  

Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland,  Bruce Adamson, said: “With more than a quarter of a million children affected, poverty is the most significant human rights issue facing children in Scotland. Living in poverty affects every aspect of a child’s life, including their educational attainment and mental and physical health.  

“The UK’s approach to poverty was examined in 2019 by the United Nations’ top expert on poverty and human rights who highlighted that it is political decisions by government that are leading to disastrous levels of poverty.

“When Professor Alston came to Scotland to meet with children and their families he heard from them about the serious impact that poverty is having on their human rights. Now after over a year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation for children in Scotland has become much worse.” 

The open letter from the Commissioners to the Right Honourable Thérèse Coffey, MP states that the two-child limit breaches children’s rights to an adequate standard of living and is contributing to a rising gap in poverty levels between families with three or more children and smaller households.

The Commissioners note that the policy also has disproportionate impacts on social groups where larger families are more common, such as some minority faith and ethnic groups and in Northern Ireland where families are larger than the rest of the UK. 

Bruce Adamson added: “The Scottish Government has taken some action to reduce the number of children in poverty including rolling out the Scottish Child Payment during the pandemic, however I remain concerned that children’s rights are continuing to be breached in Scotland by the two-child limit on child tax credit and universal credit. That is why we have taken the step of writing to the UK Government to urge that this policy is reversed. 

“We will continue to hold our devolved governments to account in relation to their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights, but these governments can only go so far in their efforts to ensure children and their families get the support they are entitled to while this discriminatory policy also remains in force at a UK level.” 

The Commissioners conclude their letter by stating that the ‘levelling up’ agenda signalled in the Queen’s Speech earlier this month must start by discontinuing the two-child policy: ‘With the focus in the Queen’s speech in May 2021 on ‘levelling up’, there can be no excuse for continuing to breach children’s rights through this discriminatory policy that will continue to harm and prevent children and families from moving beyond the impact of the global pandemic.’

Letter-from-CCommissioners-to-TCoffeyDownload

 

Two youths charged after Pennywell bus attack

Two boys aged 14 and 15 have been charged after a stone was thrown at a bus in Pennywell Gardens, smashing a window. The incident occurred around 7.10pm on Wednesday 5 May.

Inspector Johnny Elliott of Drylaw Police Station said: “This kind of behaviour is dangerous and the consequences could have been far more serious.

“As part of Operation Proust, officers have been visiting schools in the area and speaking to youths about the dangers of throwing stones at public transport vehicles. This kind of behaviour will not be tolerated and we will make every effort to identify those responsible.

“Information from members of the public is vital in helping us quickly identify those involved in this type of criminality and we would encourage anyone who witnesses an incident to contact Police Scotland through 101.

“Alternatively you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”