Month: March 2023

Edinburgh Seafood Festival officially opens at St James Quarter

St James Quarter’s Edinburgh Seafood Festival has officially launched today and will run until Sunday 2nd April.

Eager seafood lovers descended on the market this morning and were some of the first to enjoy the culinary seafood delights which will be available all weekend at the Quarter, with vendors including Spanish Moskito Bites, Mana Poke, SanCiro pizza and Lemon Squeezy.

There is also a pop-up from Isle of Harris Distillery and a Prosecco and Sangria Bar, as well as the chance to pick up Scottish fish and shellfish from Catch of the Day fishmongers.

As well as enjoying the freshest produce from top quality vendors, guests looking to brush up on their culinary skills can enjoy a range of workshops and demonstrations, hosted by the experts on the Seafood Stage, located on Level 1, on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd April.  

For more information on this year’s Edinburgh Seafood Festival, please visit:

https://stjamesquarter.com/event/edinburgh-seafood-festival-2023

Strachan House residents paint their Gratitude to an iconic artist

Staff and residents at Barchester’s Strachan House care home in Blackhall got creative celebrating the birthday of one of the greatest post-impressionist artists of all time, Vincent Van Gogh, on 30 March. 

Van Gogh was born in 1853 Groot-Zundert in the Netherlands and he created some of the most famous paintings in the world.  

A prolific artist, Van Gogh’s work was notable for its beauty, emotion and colour.  His paintings have been hugely influential since his death, however during his lifetime Van Gogh struggled with poor mental health, he was virtually unknown and remained poor.  He completed more than 2,100 works consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolours, drawings and sketches.

Staff and residents spent the afternoon learning about Van Gogh’s life and his distinct style of painting, then tried their hand at recreating his famous sunflowers in a vase painting. Strachan House thought this was an important piece as Van Gogh himself called the piece “GRATITUDE”

Jimmy a resident at the local care home said “what an amazing day learning some facts I never knew about the artist. The art session in the afternoon was a time for me to be able to be expressive through attempting to recreate the famous sunflower picture”

General Manager, Gordon Philp said: “We have had a fascinating day finding out all about Van Gogh, he was such a talent and created some absolutely beautiful paintings. 

“Many of our residents love to paint and they really enjoyed discussing their favourites amongst his works and trying to recreate his techniques.”

Marion Cooper, a resident, said: “We have had such a lovely day recreating one of his works. You don’t know how relaxing it is and I never thought I was much of an artist until today”

Our varied life enrichment programme keeps residents active, and provides a daily choice of engaging physical, mental and spiritual activities tailored to residents’ interests and abilities.

 Strachan House is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering high-quality care across its care homes and hospitals. Strachan House provides nursing care, residential care, respite care.

Big Book Sale and Family Fun Day at McDonald Road Library on Saturday

JOIN McDonald Road Library this Saturday 1 April 2023 for their Big #BookSale and Family Fun Day!

There’ll be #Bookbug sessions, an extended Lego Club, a sensory storytelling for toddlers and their grown-ups from Once Upon A Raindrop, competitions, crafts and more!

We’re hiking parking charges by 20% to support vulnerable residents, says council

AND NO, IT’S NOT AN APRIL FOOL JOKE!

We’ve raised some of our fees and charges in order to prioritise support for our most vulnerable residents, says the City of Edinburgh Council.

COUNCIL STATEMENT:

On 1 April, we will raise on-street parking charges by 20% for all levels except resident permits and town centres. This will raise around £800,000 which will help us to improve roads and transport while keeping costs down for other fees – particularly those which impact older people and those on low incomes.

For instance, we will freeze the cost of day care services and Garden Aid for the elderly and adults with disabilities. We will also keep the costs of burial fees, community alarms and telecare services at their current levels.

The increase in parking charges will also allow us to create a £100,000 fund for community-led cultural projects.

Meanwhile, a ‘Library Fine Amnesty’ period will be put in place to prevent potential barriers to our services. Audiobook and movie rentals plus photocopying costs will be frozen at libraries too.

This will all be possible thanks to the rise in parking fees. A full and accessible list of the new charges will be published soon, or you can view the proposals on pages 24 to 47 of this report agreed by members of the council’s Finance and Resources Committee yesterday (Thursday 30 March).

Scottish Parliament launches digital education session for schools

The Scottish Parliament has launched a new digital education offering to help schools in Scotland who are teaching Modern Studies.

Free, online classroom sessions are available for teachers to book, which includes a live interactive lesson with a Scottish Parliament education officer.

These informative sessions last around 45 minutes and cover important elements from the Modern Studies curriculum.

The digital sessions are being offered as a complementary option alongside in-person school visits to Holyrood, as well as outreach visits by Parliament staff to Scottish schools.

“Over the last few years, our team has focused on delivering a high-quality and informative online experience,” said Education Manager, Caroline Schofield.

“We know it can be difficult for some schools to get to Edinburgh, and so with these digital sessions, all you need is a screen and a webcam, and pupils can still enjoy a ‘virtual’ trip to learn about their Parliament.”

https://youtu.be/jg-kKYz2isc

Lynda Swanson, who has been teaching Modern Studies for over 25 years, and is currently at Mackie Academy in Stonehaven, said that after organising an in-person trip became “a little tricky with costs and staffing”, she took up the offer of a digital session for her class of National 5 learners.

“The session covered a lot of things we’ve covered already in class, and offered a different insight into them. It’s also helpful for revision purposes, and the presenter, Angela was very good at engaging the learners, asking them questions.”

She praised the session for being time-saving and cost-saving and recommended other teachers to consider the option.

These digital sessions are available throughout the year and can be booked for free from www.parliament.scot/education.

Book a digital education session

Watch a short trailer promoting the sessions

Regeneration: Planning application submitted for Art Works in Granton

National Galleries of Scotland submits full planning application for transformational major development in North Edinburgh

National Galleries of Scotland has submitted ambitious plans to construct a new collection storage, conservation, community space and research facility for the national collection of art in Granton,

The Art Works will allow everyone to explore, discover, and engage with Scotland’s national art collection. The historic collection of the Royal Scottish Academy will also be housed in the new building along with the home of the Demarco Archive. 

The Art Works will offer an additional 11,000m² of quality space – the equivalent of two playing fields – to make the collection more accessible to the public than ever before.  Alongside a vastly improved digital offering, the purpose-built facility will deliver a modern environment in which members of the public, colleagues, students and researchers can engage with the works stored there. 

Much more than a world-class building to care for Scotland’s national art collection, The Art Works will be created with the needs of the local community at its heart. Inside there will be spaces for public use, including social areas and amenities for visitors’ comfort and enjoyment, including a community studio, community support space, further education rooms and a Changing Places toilet, as well as collection viewing rooms and study spaces.

Outside there will be opportunities for activity areas and bringing the environment to life, including new green routes through to the Waterfront. Several projects with local partners are underway, with completed projects including a collaboration with local charities and social enterprises to make 1000 art-themed face coverings for local people and visits for nursery groups to enjoy the community orchard which is currently on part of the site. 

Located at the heart of one of Scotland’s most diverse yet socioeconomically deprived areas, the facility sits at the heart of the Granton Waterfront regeneration area and will make a significant contribution to the regeneration process. It will seek to be inclusive, connecting to other facilities and partners in the area both physically and visually. 

Sustainability is central to the National Gallery of Scotland’s vision for The Art Works. The plans include sustainable building practices which minimise energy impact and provide quality of life opportunities for the local community.

As the country’s largest building designed to the Passivhaus standard, it will go beyond what is required by the Scottish Building Standards. 

Previously known as the National Collection Facility, proposals for a building of this kind have been in the early stages of concept development since 2015.

Now known as The Art Works, the project aims to bring Scotland’s vast and extraordinary national art collection into a single, future-proofed location. Prior to and following submission of the Proposal of Application Notice in May 2022, the National Galleries of Scotland, and their consultant design team, worked closely with the local community, key stakeholders and the planning authority to prepare the planning submission. 

The collection is currently stored across several sites where access and space are extremely limited, logistics are difficult, and conditions are suboptimal for enabling the full potential for public access, conservation and research to be realised. It also means it can be challenging for works to be made available for display and loan.

The Art Works will be instrumental in addressing these issues, enabling much greater access to and engagement with Scotland’s incredible collection of art treasures and safeguarding the future of this publicly owned, renowned national collection. 

Sir John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland said: ‘National Galleries of Scotland is happy to now be able to submit a full planning application following extensive consultation with the communities of North Edinburgh.

“This is an incredibly exciting moment in the realisation of The Art Works project. This entirely new facility will provide state-of-the- art spaces for the management and distribution of Scotland’s art, deliver world-class services for staff, researchers and visitors and provide a significant, long-term contribution to benefit and enhance the local community for years to come.’ 

European experts work with Royal Blind School on 3D printing project

Vision impairment education experts from Germany, Holland and Spain visited the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh this week to create a catalogue of objects that can be 3D printed. 

The 3D-printing project, which began in 2020, will create objects that are specially designed for learners with vision impairment. The database of designs will be shared on a website with vision impairment professionals across the world.

Lauren Lockhart, the Royal Blind School’s Depute Head Teacher, explains: “We’ve come up with 25 objects that are specially designed for learners with vision impairment.

“Being able to touch and feel a 3D model helps a learner with vision impairment to understand an object and fill in those conceptual gaps. This is part of the future of vision impairment education, we are at the forefront of this, which is very exciting.

“We’ve focused on objects that someone who has been blind from birth might never be able to touch; objects that are too large, too small, too dangerous or too fragile for someone to handle. For example, a monument like the Arc De Triomph is too large. A microorganism or a human cell is too small, a porcupine or a snake is too dangerous, and an object like a human body organ – a heart or a lung air sac – is too fragile to handle. 

“The idea is any vision impairment professional can go to the website and use a 3D printer to print the object directly from there. They don’t have to do any designing because we’ve already done that work. All the designs are being tested with learners with vision impairment.” 

The European partners on the 3D4VIP project include two schools in Germany, a Dutch vision impairment organisation, and a Spanish vision impairment organisation. Representatives from these schools were working at the Royal Blind School in Morningside on Wednesday and Thursday this week. 

The website of 3D-printable designs will be launched at the project’s final meeting in Holland in June 2023. 

Lauren adds: “We’ve done lots of EU-funded projects in the past and have been part of a huge network of vision impairment professionals. This project has been hugely beneficial for everyone because although we’re working in such a specialist area, we can draw on the expertise of other organisations. 

“The website will also have advice on how to 3D print, and how to present a 3D-printed object to a learner with vision impairment. For example, one hand should be at the base of the object as a reference point, while the other hand explores the object. That gives the learner dual feedback because they’re using both hands.”

The Royal Blind School is a specialist education school run by Sight Scotland, Scotland’s largest visual impairment charity. 

For more information please visit https://sightscotland.org.uk

Biggest ever cash increase in National Living Wage to boost pay for millions

Low-paid workers across the country will receive a pay increase this weekend as all rates of the National Minimum Wage rise.

The National Living Wage (NLW) increases on Saturday 1 April by 9.7 per cent to £10.42, providing a pay rise to millions of workers aged 23 and over across the UK. 21-22 year olds will see their pay increase by 10.9 per cent to £10.18 per hour while pay for younger workers and apprentices will also rise by 9.7 per cent.

NMW rateAnnual increase (£)Annual increase (per cent)
National Living Wage (23+)£10.420.929.7
21-22 Year Old Rate£10.181.0010.9
18-20 Year Old Rate£7.490.669.7
16-17 Year Old Rate£5.280.479.7
Apprentice Rate£5.280.479.7
Accommodation Offset£9.100.404.6

These increases follow recommendations made to the Government by the Low Pay Commission (LPC) in the autumn.

The NLW increase means another significant step towards reaching the Government’s target of two-thirds of median earnings by 2024. The increase is also expected to boost the real value of the NLW, restoring most of the real value lost since April 2021.

The LPC is now consulting on National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates for April 2024 and beyond and will make its recommendations to the Government in October.

The consultation will run from 23 March to 9 June 2023. For more information, including how to submit responses, click here.

Bryan Sanderson, Chair of the Low Pay Commission, said: “From April, millions of workers will benefit from these increases to the NMW and NLW. Despite turbulent economic conditions, the labour market has remained strong and unemployment is low.

“We remain confident that this increase is unlikely to have a detrimental impact. Indeed, the high levels of inflation are felt more acutely by those on low pay who spend a higher proportion of their income on energy and food.

“The new NLW rate keeps us on track to reach the Government’s target of two-thirds of median earnings by 2024. We estimate the NLW will need to rise next year to between £10.90 and £11.43 to meet this target. We also remain committed to lowering the NLW age threshold to 21 years of age in 2024.

“In our consultation this year we are also looking beyond 2024, and inviting evidence and views on the future of minimum wage policy once the two-thirds target is achieved. The NMW is a central feature of the UK labour market and workers and employers alike will want to contribute to the debate about its future.”

The LPC has published a short report which looks ahead at what the new rates will mean, and sets out an updated path of the NLW to its target of two-thirds of median hourly earnings by 2024.

Estimating the forward path of the NLW is very challenging as earnings growth is difficult to measure and predict in the current economic climate. Our central estimate of the on-course rate of the NLW for 2024 is £11.16, within a range of £10.90 to £11.43.