MONDAY 28 MARCH at 3pm
Plaque unveiling at Granton Castle Walled Garden
Author: davepickering
Edinburgh reporter and photographer
Spartans launch Easter Egg Appeal
Spartans Community Football Academy are collecting Easter Eggs for our local community.
If you have any donations we’d be delighted to accept them at The Academy up to 5th April.
Many thanks
Immediate benefit support for those fleeing the invasion in Ukraine
The Department for Work and Pensions is laying emergency regulations today (Monday 21 March 2022) so those arriving in the UK from Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion can access Universal Credit and jobs support immediately.
Ukrainians will also be eligible for Housing Benefit, Pension Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Child Disability Living Allowance and Carers Allowance, and Attendance Allowance. Contributions-based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), and Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) are also available for those Ukrainians who meet the criteria.
Translation services are available to help new arrivals with phone applications, with Work Coaches in DWP Jobcentres on hand to support people making claims online.
DWP staff are also delivering additional face-to-face assistance to those who need it – including tailored support to find work and advice on benefit eligibility – and will continue to do so.
Without the emergency legislation people arriving from Ukraine would be subject to the Habitual Residence Test, meaning they would have to wait up to three months before being able to receive income-related benefits, including Universal Credit.
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Thérèse Coffey said: “My priority is that people fleeing the unimaginable horrors in Ukraine to seek safety here get the support and help they need from day one to move forward in their lives immediately.
Financial Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Frazer said: “It is vital that families coming from Ukraine can support their children from the moment they arrive, and by adjusting child benefit rules and ramping up our support, the tax system is pivoting to ensure this happens.
Salvation Army Refugee Response co-ordinator Major Nick Coke said: “We welcome the news that Ukrainians coming to the UK will be able to access benefits immediately and for those who are able, help to find suitable work.
“With offices on the ground in Ukraine and the border countries providing emergency food and shelter, The Salvation Army sees first-hand the trauma those displaced by war have experienced.
“It is fitting that they receive targeted help when seeking refuge in the UK.”
Edinburgh Leisure launches Movement for Good challenge
As part of their commitment to keeping people active and well, Edinburgh’s leading sport and physical activity charity, Edinburgh Leisure, is launching a new month-long physical activity challenge that aims to inspire people to get active every day this May.
The Movement for Good challenge is aimed at everyone, not just their members. It’s well-evidenced that moving and being physically active benefits our overall health and wellbeing, but putting it into practice can be hard, with family life, work commitments and household chores often taking precedence over exercise.
Helen Macfarlane, in the newly created role as Edinburgh Leisure’s Director of Wellbeing explains: “Whether people are new to physical activity or need a helping hand to get back into the swing of things, then our new Movement for Good challenge is for them.
“It’s designed to give participants a period of focus when they start to make small consistent changes by being active every day. This is the start of forming healthy habits so that regular activity becomes part of their daily routine, and they build the motivation to stay active because they feel good.
“Being active doesn’t have to mean running a marathon or joining a bootcamp. Even small changes can make a huge difference. Participants are encouraged to find an activity or activities they love, enabling them to create healthy habits and providing them with the motivation they need to stay active. So, for example, someone might wish to step it out, boogie on the dancefloor, or dip their toes into the pool or pump some iron throughout May.
“Participants can also use their challenge to do some good by raising sponsorship money to support local people who need a bit more help through Edinburgh Leisure’s Active Communities programme, so they too can experience the benefits of an active life.”
This includes enabling care experienced children to enjoy the active childhood they deserve, to helping people with cancer and other long term health conditions to manage their symptoms and have a better quality of life, to ensuring older adults can stay active and connected for longer.
Participants signing up to the month-long Movement for Good Challenge, will receive a pack full of useful resources, along with hints and tips on how to get the most out of your challenge. This will help ensure participants have fun, keep motivated and experience the health and wellbeing benefits of becoming more physically active.
Sign up today to join the May Movement for Good Challenge and reap the benefits of an active life – www.edinburghleisure.co.uk/movement-for-good
Social Security Scotland: Adult Disability Payment pilots begin today
The new Adult Disability Payment will open for applications today (Monday 21 March) for people living in three pilot areas.
People aged between 16 and state pension age who are disabled, have a long-term health condition or a terminal illness living in Dundee City, Perth and Kinross and Western Isles council areas can apply.
Adult Disability Payment will replace the UK Government’s Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in Scotland.
People with ongoing awards of Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance do not need to make an application for Adult Disability Payment. Their awards will transfer to the Scottish social security system automatically from summer 2022.
Further council areas will be introduced in phases until Adult Disability Payment is rolled out nationally on 29 August 2022.
Minister for Social Security Ben Macpherson said: “Social security is a human right and none of us know when we might need it – it is a shared investment to help build a fairer society, together. We are developing a system that is rooted in trust to make sure people can access the support that they are entitled to.
“Launching this first Adult Disability Payment pilot is a significant milestone, as we start to deliver our biggest and most complex benefit. We are taking a positive and compassionate approach to delivering disability assistance, centred around our principles of dignity, fairness and respect.
“We know people have found applying for disability benefits stressful in the past. That is why we have listened to their experiences and have designed our service to work for people, not against them.
“We are ensuring that accessing Adult Disability Payment is as straightforward as possible and we will always start from a position of trust. Importantly, in the Scottish system no one will be subject to Department for Work and Pensions style assessments and we will never use the private sector to carry out health examinations.
“There won’t be any degrading functional examinations, such as asking a client to ‘touch their toes’.. These changes have been welcomed by those with lived experience, who we have worked with to design this benefit.
“People will only be invited to a consultation on occasions when we require more information so we can make a decision. This will be a conversation with a health and social care professional to understand how an individual’s disability or health condition impacts them.
“We are committed to giving people timely decisions, but our priority is making the right decisions first time and sometimes this may take a bit longer. This will reduce the need for people to go through a redetermination or appeal.
“Adult Disability Payment is there to support people to live well and provide security at the most difficult of times. I would encourage those who think they could be eligible to check and apply.”
Tracy McNally, Director of Dundee Citizens Advice Bureau said: “Helping people with social security payments, and disability payments in particular, is one of the biggest things we do and we’re excited that Dundee is one of the pilot areas for the roll out of adult disability payments.
“It’s really important that the new system is rooted in dignity and respect for applicants, and doesn’t cause unnecessary stress or anxiety.
“We’d encourage anyone who may eligible for the support to apply, and if anyone ever needs help or advice on social security issues, your local CAB is here for you.”
Twinkl Scotland celebrates World Gaelic Week
Global educational resources publisher, Twinkl, has a Gaelic-speaking team publishing resources in the language throughout the year.
From the 21st to the 27th of March, Seachdain na Gàidhlig (World Gaelic Week) is going to be enjoyed in Scottish classrooms and beyond.
The event is a wonderful way of shining a light on a significant part of Scottish heritage, and to celebrate an aspect of Scottish culture. The aims of the week are to encourage learning Gaelic, and to promote the cultural richness associated with Gaelic.
Gaelic is prominently used in the Highlands and islands of Scotland. There are also many urban Gaels using the language in Scotland’s cities. Gaelic is actively spoken in schools, among friends & family, as well as in shops and restaurants.
According to the last census, over 87,000* Scots were able to speak, read or understand Gaelic. As a minority language, it has had a large impact on Scottish culture for centuries, right up to the present day.
Twinkl has created learning materials that fit into five themes to help the language come alive. The themes can be used each day in the school-week when Seachdain na Gàidhlig takes place.
These are: Celebrate Gaelic, Learning the Language, Gaelic in the Real World, Gaelic in the Media, and Arts & Culture. These themes were created to support the teaching and the learning of Gaelic.
Twinkl is an EdTech company with a mission to ‘help those who teach’. The organisation has its own Gaelic-speaking team, dedicated to creating educational materials in the Gaelic language throughout the year. There are resources designed for fluent Gaelic speakers as well as learners.
Julie-Anne Mackenzie, Twinkl Alba’s Product Owner said, “World Gaelic Week is a fantastic way of boosting the language’s profile, as well as celebrating its stories, music, and much more. It is an opportunity for both learners and fluent speakers in a variety of contexts to celebrate and share their learning, whatever stage they are at.”
The Twinkl Alba team speaks Gaelic throughout the working day. Alongside the Gaelic resources that are made, emails are written, and meetings are hosted in the language. The team features content writers, graphic designers and editors dedicated to supporting teaching and learning in the language throughout the year. Employees come from a variety of educational and linguistic backgrounds throughout Scotland and beyond.
Julie-Anne said, “It is a privilege to work on a team that creates thousands of educational resources in Gaelic a year. Gaelic is the primary language we use in a business setting, no matter the project we are working on.
“There are even English Twinkl employees who have enjoyed picking up some Gaelic words and phrases when working alongside us!”
“Learning Gaelic is a fun challenge, and Twinkl Alba are here to support learners and teachers with a vast array of engaging resources. This is to supplement and enhance the learning experience. Why don’t you give it a try?”
For more information about World Gaelic Week, you can take a look at Twinkl’s World Gaelic Week Category Page.
Community Campfires project to spark new stories
Scottish Book Trust, the national charity changing lives through reading and writing, has launched their Community Campfires residencies project.
It marks the 14th year of Scottish Book Trust’s annual Your Stories campaign and four intensive story making residencies will take place in communities across Scotland via the Story Wagon.
The Community Campfires residencies will work in partnership with four different library services. Over five days, the charity will support people in the community to tell the stories from their lives that matter to them. The residencies are supported by EventScotland as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022.
Scotland’s Year of Stories spotlights, celebrates and promotes the wealth of stories inspired by, written, or created in Scotland. Stories are vital to every part of Scotland. Every community has its own tales to tell, places to highlight as inspiration for well-known books and films, visitor attractions that showcase our literature, poetry and storytelling heritage and all kinds of places and spaces where stories, old and new, can be enjoyed.
The Story Wagon will tour: Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire; Greenock, Inverclyde; Lochgelly, Fife and the Western Isles, gathering real life stories from the public. Luke Winter, Navigation Officer of the Story Wagon, will be joined by a team of digital storytellers, filmmakers and podcasters producing content in English and Gaelic.
Story Wagon stops:
- Monday 18 April to Friday 22 April, North Ayrshire
- Monday 25 April to Friday 30 April, Inverclyde
- Monday 23 May to Friday 27 May, Fife
- Monday 30 May to Friday 3 June. Western Isles – Barra, South Uist and Eriskay, Benbecula and North Uist.
Culture Minister Neil Gray said: ‘Every community has a story to tell and it’s exciting to see Scottish Book Trust working with local libraries to bring these to life as part of their Community Campfire residences.
‘Our partners, Scottish Book Trust, have a fantastic track record when it comes to using stories to transform lives and I’m sure those that emerge from this project will make an important contribution to Scotland’s Year of Stories.’
Luke Winter, Navigation Officer of the Story Wagon, (top) said: ‘I’m incredibly excited for Story Wagon to be visiting four areas of Scotland with Scottish Book Trust as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories with EventScotland.
“As craic catalysts, Story Wagon encourages people to explore and create stories. The Your Stories programme from Scottish Book Trust has done a brilliant job of collating treasure troves of stories across Scotland over the past fourteen years.
“We are incredibly excited to be joining with them to meet with the public across Scotland and to help collect personal stories from the extraordinary times we’re all living through.’
Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, said: “‘The Your Stories programme has always been a cornerstone of Scottish Book Trust, giving a platform for the public to share personal experiences and for some, be published for the first ever time.
Through the Community Campfires residencies project, we will be able to connect directly with these important stories and share them with a wider audience. We’re grateful to EventScotland for funding this programme and we look forward to celebrating stories from North Ayrshire to North Uist.’
Each residency will conclude with a celebratory ‘community campfire’ for each local authority. These events will allow the public to come together and share their stories through a wide variety of formats such as print, audio and film.
On Friday 1 April, Scottish Book Trust will open their national Your Stories project, which encourages the public to submit their real-life experiences, tied in to Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022.
A selection of these stories will be published in a free book that is distributed during Book Week Scotland (14–20 November 2022). Information about submission will be shared on Scottish Book Trust’s website.
A Scotland’s Stories: Community Campfires flagship event will also take place during Book Week Scotland, celebrating the stories gathered across the country.
Buy Rope donates a day’s profits to Polar Bear charity
On the 27th February, Buy Rope donated a full day of profits (£107) to an East Lothian based charity called Winton Foundation for the Welfare of Bears to celebrate International Polar Bear Day.
The Winton Foundation for the Welfare of Bears was launched in 2010.
The Foundation is working to raise awareness and collect funds to support projects around the world to help 8 species of bears, such as polar bears . They are part of the global network working to help end the abuse and exploitation of bears throughout the world and to provide care for them following rescue.
Lesley Winton BEM, Founder and Director, said: “The polar bear organisations we have supported in the past have been Polar Bears International and Cochrane Bear Habitat.
“We are supporting the work of Polar Bears International, based in the United States and dedicated to the worldwide conservation of the Polar Bear and its habitat through research, stewardship, and education. Polar Bear International provides scientific resources and information on Polar Bears and their habitat to institutions and the general public worldwide.”
International Polar Bear Day is an event launched by Polar Bear International with the aim of raising awareness of the danger climate change is posing on these arctic animals.
The date of the event coincides with the time of the year when polar bear mums and cubs are snug in their dens – their safety being another concern for activists. This celebration encourages people and companies to find ways of reducing their carbon footprint, therefore taking a stand against global warming.
Buy Rope is dedicated to helping those in need. They decided to support a different organisation each month by organising a fundraising event.
Read more about this charitable initiative here:
Actor Simon Lennon becomes Walk For Autism’s 3000th walker ahead of this year’s campaign
Bridgerton and Emmerdale star Simon Lennon has become the 3,000th person to pledge their support to this year’s Walk for Autism campaign, which kicks off next week.
The Scouser will join participants from up and down the country to take part in the event, which is in its fifth year, with Autism Initiatives hoping it will be the biggest one yet, with more than £200,000 in sponsorship being raised so far.
Those involved will walk 10,000 steps per day for eight days from March 26 up until World Autism Acceptance Day on April 2 to raise funds that go towards providing vital support and community projects for autistic people and their loved ones.
Last year, the campaign collectively saw an impressive 194 million steps walked and raised more than £621,000, making it the most successful year to date.
Simon said: “I’m so happy to be involved in Walk for Autism again – it’s a really fantastic initiative that not only provides essential funds for projects but also promotes autism acceptance and understanding more widely.”
Walkers can sign up on the charity’s website and begin their fundraising straight away, with Walk for Autism providing helpful tips on some fun and varied ways to raise money.
Head of Enterprise at Autism Initiatives Jon Gordon said: “We are delighted to reach 3,000 signups for our fifth annual Walk for Autism campaign and would like to thank everyone – including Simon – for doing their bit.
“Every year continues to show us just how amazing people are and how willing they are to support others; despite how tough the last few years has been for everyone.
“Passing these milestones is really important, as the money that is raised funds innovative specialist autism projects across the UK and Ireland.”
Autism affects more than 700,000 people in the UK and Ireland each year. Walk for Autism is a campaign led by charity Autism Initiatives Group who have been working to improve the lives of autistic people and their families since 1972.
You can get involved by visiting their website:
https://www.walkforautism.co.uk/register/walk-for-autism-2022/registrationform
Wildfire Warning Issued
Second Wildfire Warning issued in March
A wildfire warning has been issued by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as the weather pattern over the next few days is dominated by high-pressure and strengthening winds.
The warning starts today, Sunday 20 March, and lasts until Wednesday 23 March.
• West and North-East Scotland EXTREME
• Rest of Scotland HIGH to VERY HIGH
At this time of year, in mid-March, there is a lot of dead grass and heather left over from last year which can dry very quickly. People who live, work or visit rural areas are being urged to exercise caution.
Deputy Assistant Chief Officer Bruce Farquharson, the SFRS Wildfire Lead, said: “Over the next few days in high risk areas, fires could burn and spread with very high intensity due to the weather conditions.
“We know how damaging wildfires can be to the environment, wildlife and nearby communities. “We are asking people to act responsibly when enjoying the outdoors and please think twice before using anything involving a naked flame.”