ROLL UP, ROLL UP!
Here are some of our amazing raffle prizes for this years summer fair!
On Sale now at the CCC charity shop.
Or get them at the Fair on the 21st of June.
Draw is at 2.30pm
As the nation looks for inspiration at the Chelsea Flower Show, many will head into their own gardens to dig, plant, and improve their outdoor spaces. But while gardening and DIY can be rewarding, they also come with hidden risks that are often overlooked.
According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents recent Safer Lives, Stronger Nation report, over half (55%) of all accidental deaths occur at home, compared to just 0.6% at work. The most common causes include falls, poisonings, and burns, all of which are preventable with the right precautions.
Therefore, RoSPA is urging households to be aware of the dangers that lie within the home and garden—especially ahead of the May Bank Holiday, when many people take on home improvement projects.
The report also revealed that accidents cost the UK £12 billion annually, including £6 billion in NHS medical care.
The most common domestic accidents are:
Brian’s Story
Brian, 50, a sales manager, has shared his experience to highlight the importance of safety in the home setting.
On a warm Sunday, while using his Flymo lawnmower, Brian stepped backwards and tripped over his grandson’s trampoline stairs.
He slipped on water from a paddling pool, causing him to fall and accidentally bring the lawnmower towards himself. Brian suffered severe injuries, losing two toes and requiring multiple surgeries. His story underscores the need for caution and proper safety measures when using garden equipment.
Speaking of his accident, Brian said: “I’m so careful now doing anything remotely risky around the house.
“We tend to do things like mow the lawn or climb on chairs or ladders on autopilot, but every task is done now with a lot of thought and consideration. I was very lucky that I didn’t chop off my entire foot.”
Adrian Simpson, Head of Policy at RoSPA, said: “Brian’s story is just one example of the thousands of accidents that occur in homes across Britain every year.
“Whilst we rally the government to take on board the asks in our recent Safer Lives : Stronger Nation report , we advise anyone looking for tips on staying safe – be it in the home, at leisure or at work – to get to grips with our learning resources and advice that can be found online.”
RoSPA’s key tips for having a safe Bank Holiday
Falls
Accidental poisoning
Using tools and electrical equipment
Smoke and fire risks
Other threats to breathing
Play safety
I want to make my surgeries as inclusive and accessible as possible.
That is why every so often I hold virtual surgeries.
To find out more and to attend please contact my team.
The Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) has launched its ambitious fundraising campaign KEEP RHET FREE, aiming to raise £50,000 by December to ensure that children across Scotland continue to access free, unbiased, high-quality rural and food education.
The campaign was launched at a food and farming day at Bonnington Farm near Peebles last week (15 May), where close to 100 school children, farmers, teachers, and RHET supporters gathered to celebrate the hands-on learning that RHET has delivered for over 25 years.
The campaign was developed to support RHET to evolve and focus on securing a new rigorous, long-term fundraising stream alongside Scottish Government funding.
“RHET is free for schools — but it’s not free to run,” said Katrina Barclay, RHET’s Executive Officer. “With rising costs and increasing demand, RHET needs to find new and robust funding streams to continue its important work.”
Each year, RHET engages children through farm visits, classroom talks, and food education activities, helping young people understand where their food comes from and how the countryside works.
RHET Chairman, Hugh McClymont, says: “Every year, over 80,000 young people across Scotland experience something they’ll never forget thanks to the Royal Highland Education Trust.
“But without new avenues of support, these important experiences for children to learn about food, farming and the countryside could be at risk.
“I’m asking for individuals and businesses to dig deep and support a charity that makes a real and lasting difference in the lives of young people and supports vital storytelling for the agricultural industry.”
RHET’s goal is to give every child in Scotland the chance to learn about food, farming, and the countryside, to create a wider understanding of the environmental, economic, and social aspects of rural Scotland.
“This is so much more than a school trip,” said Nicki Istephan, a local teacher from Peebles. “RHET brings the curriculum to life. It helps children see the real world beyond the textbooks. It is important that our curriculum reflects our local community and provides the children with life-long skills”
Every pound raised via the KEEP RHET FREE campaign goes directly to delivering rural learning experiences across Scotland’s 12 RHET Countryside Initiatives.
To find out more, donate, or get involved, visit www.rhet.org.uk/keep-rhet-free.
FOREST SCHOOL HIRE
Did you know that we have an extensive Forest School Area?
Contact us now on 0131 332 8001 or info@northedinburghchildcare.co.uk or via our enquiry form at https://forms.office.com/e/gR9Ec0Yvvw
Betty the Shark, an e-waste sculpture created by artist Johnathan Elders, has made another surprise appearance – this time at Edinburgh’s St James Quarter.
The spectacular basking shark, created using electronic waste, is promoting its future attendance at this year’s Edinburgh Climate Festival.
The free event is taking place at the Edinburgh Meadows on June 28th from 12 – 7pm and, much like Betty, aims to ignite community conversation on climate related issues.
The shark was sculpted as a metaphor for the appetite we hold for the latest tech, shining a light on overconsumption and the consequences of the waste we produce.
You can join Betty’s next journey in celebrating and inspiring climate action at the Edinburgh Climate Festival this June.
During the day you can also enjoy a variety of family-friendly performances, stalls, talks, free activities as well as other art installations alongside the sculpture.
The festival serves as a platform for locals to engage with & discover remarkable climate initiatives, just like Betty the Shark, that are taking place in Edinburgh whilst also enjoying an exciting day out with their families.
Franciele Sobierai, ECF’s Event Coordinator, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Betty the Shark to this year’s Edinburgh Climate Festival.
“Her powerful message about overconsumption and e-waste really captures the spirit of what our festival is all about: inspiring change through creativity, education, and community action.
“We invite everyone to come along, see Betty up close, and be part of a day that celebrates climate action in fun, engaging, and meaningful ways.”
You can find Betty the Shark at Edinburgh’s St James Centre until June 23rd, when she will be getting ready to swim over to the Edinburgh Meadows for her spot at the Edinburgh Climate Festival on the 28th.
You can learn more about the festival & get involved by visiting the links available here
Betty the Shark was created using discarded waste collected by CCL North and is supported by Cognition Art, Edinburgh Remakery, Edinburgh Science, Outer Spaces & Creative Edinburgh.
The Edinburgh Climate Festival is brought to you by Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC) & Networking Key Services (NKS), through the Communities’ Reduce Reuse & Recycle (C3R) Project.
The festival is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund’s Climate Action Fund and is supported by The University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Napier University.
Dear Editor
As a schoolboy, which was not yesterday, I undertook work experience at the National Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh in a building on Queen Street that now functions as serviced apartments
My task was to catalogue pictures relating to an event which, to my shame, I had never heard of – the Quintinhsill Rail Disaster.
Taking place on 22nd May 1915, at the height of the First World War, the event occurred at the Quintinshill signal box near Gretna Green and remains the worst rail disaster in British history. A train packed with nearly 500 members of the Leith Battalion of the Royal Scots travelling from Larbert collided with a local passenger service at Quintinshill.
Straight afterwards, a Glasgow-bound express train smashed into the wreckage at Quintinshill, setting off a devastating fire which engulfed the troop train. In total, around 226 people were killed (215 of whom were soldiers) and a further 246 people were injured.
Some bodies were never recovered, having been wholly consumed by the fire, and when the bodies of the men of the Royal Scots were returned to Leith, where they were buried together in a mass grave in Rosebank Cemetery.
As we mark the 110th anniversary of this disaster, it is heartening to see continued recognition of this event, including a new exhibition at the Drill Hall in Dalmeny Street, Leith.
Yours faithfully
Alex Orr
Marchmont Road
Green aircraft engine developer ZeroAvia is to establish a major manufacturing base in Scotland, creating around 350 jobs.
The US company’s Hydrogen Centre of Excellence will be sited in the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS) in Renfrewshire and produce advanced fuel cell systems for its hydrogen-electric aero engines. The facility is expected to begin operating by 2028.
Scottish Enterprise has awarded a grant of £9 million to the project, building on an earlier £20 million investment in the company from the Scottish National Investment Bank. The grant will unlock significant multiple investments from ZeroAvia as it develops the facility and operations, with the company targeting a multi-billion pound global export market.
ZeroAvia’s engines can reduce operating costs for airlines and would cut aviation’s contribution to global warming by emitting only water. The company hopes an engine for up to 20 seat planes will enter service in 2026 and it is working on a powertrain for 40 to 80 seat aircraft.
First Minister John Swinney visited Glasgow Airport to meet with ZeroAvia and partners supporting the project and Scotland’s green aviation agenda.
The First Minister said: “Scotland has the skills, the talent and the innovation to be at the forefront of efforts to tackle the climate emergency while developing significant new opportunities to grow the economy.
“ZeroAvia’s decision to establish a base in Scotland – creating 350 highly-skilled jobs in the process – is the perfect illustration of Scotland’s growing reputation in the global transition to net zero.
“Attracting inward investment is critical to economic growth and we will continue to work with Scottish Development International and other partners bring more high quality jobs to Scotland.
“By setting out a strategic vision in priority areas such as the hydrogen we are sending a clear statement to investors and businesses that Scotland is at the heart of the green energy revolution. The Hydrogen Centre of Excellence will be at the forefront of fuel cell technology and offers a hugely promising and exciting proposition for sustainable aviation.”
Val Miftakhov, Founder and Chief Executive, ZeroAvia said: “Scotland has some unique advantages for ZeroAvia with strong aerospace and engineering skills, a burgeoning hydrogen sector and a clear aviation strategy with potential for early adoption of zero-emission flights.
The aviation industry is on the cusp of the biggest transformation since the advent of the jet age, with entirely new propulsion systems set to power the next era of aviation – cleaner flights, better economics and better experiences for all.”
“With this new facility, Scotland has a big role to play in driving this transformation. We welcome the grant award from Scottish Enterprise and the support of our equity investors that has enabled us to move into another phase of manufacturing readiness as we progress towards certification of our first engines.”
Scottish Enterprise Chief Executive Adrian Gillespie said: “It is fantastic that we’ve been able to attract ZeroAvia to Scotland, not only for the jobs they will be creating, but for the hugely important role they can play in ensuring Scotland maintains its reputation for fostering innovative green technologies.
“Making aviation sustainable is crucial to a successful green economy and Scottish Enterprise is fully committed to backing ambitious companies with innovative ideas.
“ZeroAvia’s decision to come to Scotland is a real boost to our energy transition leadership, as well as being a further example of why Scotland is such a great place for inward investment.”
WEDNESDAY 28th MAY from 10am – 12pm
New figures released by Trussell reveal that nearly 240,000 (239,503) emergency food parcels were provided to people facing hardship across Scotland between April 2024 and March 2025. This is equivalent to one parcel every two minutes and double (+101%) the number of parcels provided a decade ago.
The annual figures also show significant numbers of parents struggling to afford the essentials, with more than 140,000 (140,221) parcels distributed to families with children. The number of parcels provided to children has more than doubled (+111%) compared with a decade ago.
Many food banks in the Trussell community are now reporting severe levels of hardship that are ‘heartbreaking’, with some parents forced to ration their own food to ensure they can feed their children, as well as people in such desperate situations that they open food parcels and eat before leaving the food bank.
The charity reported a dip (-10%) in the total number of emergency food parcels provided across Scotland compared with the previous year, but the need for emergency food is still persistently high.
Lori Hughes, Project Manager at Perth and Kinross Foodbank, said: “Our food bank has distributed 4,089 emergency food parcels this year to individuals, couples and families across Perth and Kinross – that’s over 100 more than the previous year. We are seeing far too many people experiencing hunger and hardship in our local communities, forced to turn to us to help them through difficult days.
“People are crumbling under the strain of rising costs of essentials, benefit delays, debt, insecure housing, and the ongoing impacts of physical and mental health conditions. Families, disabled people, people in work, single parents, no-one is immune.
“Donation levels are not keeping up with the level of need and that in turn places pressure on us as an organisation. It’s not right that anyone in Scotland should be left with no other avenue than to turn to emergency food aid and the support of charities to feed their families.
“Food banks are a lifeline, but they shouldn’t need to exist in the first place. While we campaign for change to prevent people from needing to use a service like ours, we will continue to support people who need us.
“If you can, we would encourage you to play your part either by donating food or funds to your local food bank to ensure everyone is heard and no-one goes hungry. Hunger and hardship can only be defeated by coming together, and nobody in our communities should be struggling to put food on the table.”
With MPs soon to vote on the UK government’s proposals to cut essential support for sick and disabled people, Trussell is warning that these changes could force even more people to turn to food banks to get by.
Disabled people are already over-represented at food banks, with three in four of people referred to a food bank in the Trussell community saying they or a member of their household are disabled, placing them at the highest risk of hunger and hardship.
The charity is urging the government to re-think these proposed cuts and to urgently update Universal Credit to ensure that everyone has enough money to be able to afford the essentials in life. This means, for starters, bringing forward the planned increase to the basic rate of Universal Credit from April 2029 to April 2026, halving the proposed cuts to welfare support and ending the two-child limit.
Without urgent and positive action, the charity says there is a real risk the UK government will oversee an increase in hunger and hardship across Scotland and more families will be forced to turn to food banks to survive.
While the UK government needs to take action now to fulfil its manifesto promise to reduce the need for emergency food, the Scottish Government also has significant powers and must use them to turn the tide on food bank use in Scotland.
Trussell says the Scottish Government should:
· Reaffirm support for an Essentials Guarantee, to ensure that Universal Credit always covers the cost of food and other essentials
· Increase the level of the Scottish Child Payment to £40 a week
· Significantly increase funding for the Scottish Welfare Fund
· Invest the Barnett consequentials* from the extension of the Household Support Fund into local crisis support
· Commit to updating its action plan to end the need for food banks, to align with the timescales for the delivery of its 2030 child poverty reduction targets
· Use all its powers across fair work, public services, taxation and social security, to progress the delivery of a Minimum Income Guarantee.**
Cara Hilton, policy manager in Scotland at Trussell, said: “Thousands of children, families, disabled people, working people, and older people from across Scotland needed to access food banks for emergency food in the past year.
“A whole generation of Scots have now grown up in a country where sustained high levels of food bank need feels like the norm and this should be a massive wake-up call to both the Scottish and UK governments and a stark reminder of their responsibilities to the people of this country.
“The recent Programme for Government was a missed opportunity to take the bold action and change we need to see in Scotland if we are to turn the tide on hunger and hardship. The First Minister has rightly put eradicating child poverty at the heart of his government’s programme, but this ambition and commitment needs to be matched with action and at scale.
“At UK level, the Westminster Government will fail to improve living standards unless they row back on their harmful policy choices on disability benefits otherwise, they risk leaving a legacy of rising food bank need. Addressing hunger and hardship for both governments must be a priority.”
Food banks need everyone to play their part to move us towards ending the need for emergency food in Scotland.
The public can help make sure food banks can continue to provide warm, compassionate, practical support and advice in the year ahead by donating food or funds to Trussell or their local food bank to help end hunger in Scotland.
| Nation and Region | FY 2019/20 | FY 2023/24 | FY 2024/25 |
| England | 1,489,519 | 2,583,193 | 2,396,853 |
| Scotland | 238,583 | 264,778 | 239,503 |
| Wales | 136,104 | 187,983 | 171,673 |
| Northern Ireland | 45,139 | 90,525 | 77,057 |
| United Kingdom | 1,909,345 | 3,126,479 | 2,885,086 |
You can find out how many emergency food parcels were provided to people facing hardship in your local area on the Trussell website: campaign.trussell.org.uk/parcels-by-postcode
