TODAY’s community lunch … is our annual BBQ!
We are excited to share a delicious BBQ with you. Friday’s BBQ will include meat and vegetarian options, and Halal sausages, along with homemade salads and desserts.
In true Scottish fashion, we’ll be enjoying our BBQ rain or shine – with an indoor option should the rain arrive!
Please check the boards or ask our volunteers about allergens. And just a heads-up, our food is served until it runs out!
Do come along and enjoy. Thank you!
Four men have been arrested and charged in connection with culpable and reckless conduct following a police operation yesterday – Thursday, 18 June.
It follows an investigation into an incident on Tuesday, 26 May, 2026, when a lorry crashed into a house on Brand Drive in Edinburgh. No-one was injured in the incident.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, officers from various departments and policing divisions executed warrants across East Ayrshire.
Six properties were searched by police in the Kilmarnock and Darvel areas resulting in the arrests and seizure of items in connection with the incident.
The men, aged 24, 31, 39 and 41 are due to appear before Edinburgh Sheriff Court today – Friday, 19 June, 2026.
Detective Inspector Gavin Howat said: “Criminality affects the lives of local people on a daily basis. Operations such as these disrupt criminal activity as well as addressing the concerns raised by local people.
” I would like to reassure everyone that we will continue with our proactive, preventative approach to tackle crime and its associated impact.”
First Minister John Swinney will today call for a new collective approach to reduce deaths and harms from drugs and alcohol, as he addresses a summit on drugs deaths in Edinburgh.
It comes as a new Alcohol and Drugs Fund, which will provide £36.9 million to frontline services and organisations working with people affected by alcohol and drugs, is launched.
The summit, organised by Public Health Scotland, will bring together health board chief executives, local authority leaders, justice representatives and third-sector partners alongside people with experience of drug and alcohol use, including representatives from family organisations and recovery groups.
Speaking ahead of the event, the First Minister said: “This new fund will provide more than £36 million over the next three years, supporting prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery.
“It will reach organisations of all sizes – from grassroots groups to larger partnerships – with particular emphasis on improving support for children, young people, and families. I have heard from the third sector about the need for stability and longer-term support – this multi-year funding recognises that.
“We have increased residential rehab capacity, with funded placements now close to our 1,000 target, set new treatment standards, opened The Thistle – the UK’s first safer drug consumption facility – and improved surveillance of the most potent and dangerous drugs entering circulation.
“But it is clear we now require a different collective approach and we need to go further. I am determined we make the change and new ways of working needed – and I am focused on confronting the need for reform of how our public services deliver.
“I am clear there should be a ‘no wrong door’ approach. If someone needs help, our system should be easy and quick to navigate – wrapping around the person rather than making people fit into the system.”
The fund is open to third-sector organisations and public bodies working directly with people who use alcohol and drugs, people in recovery, and their children and families.
It supports delivery of the Alcohol and Drugs Strategic Plan 2026–35, a joint Scottish Government and COSLA initiative backed by more than £160 million in 2026–27, which sets out a 10-year approach to reducing deaths and harms caused by alcohol and drugs.
Corra Foundation Chief Executive Carolyn Sawers said: “It is a privilege for Corra to deliver this fund on behalf of the Scottish Government. High-quality support for people affected by drugs and alcohol is vital to collective efforts to reducing harms, realising rights and supporting recovery.
“Corra looks forward to working closely alongside people with lived and living experience of drugs and alcohol as we deliver this fund.”
Preventing Harm, Promoting Recovery: Scotland’s Alcohol & Drugs Strategic Plan 2026 – 2035
