Community Employability to close

The Community Employability office in Ferry Road Drive will close it’s doors for the last time tomorrow. The local employment and training organisation lost out as the city council restructured employability service delivery across the city. It’s understood that some staff have applied for positions with succesful bidder Community Renewal and may be interviewed early next month.

Community Employability came into being when national organisation Working Links decided to pull out of the North Edinburgh in July 2010. A partnership between Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and North Edinburgh Trust saw the local employability service saved then, but there will be no reprieve this time round and the office closes tomorrow.

Community Employability’s current clients – around 300 people – have now been referred on to Pennywell Shopping Centre-based Community Renewal, which was part of the four-agency consortium that won the employability contract.

Lead organisation Stevenson College, Community Renewal, FourSquare and Volunteer Centre Edinburgh will now deliver Edinburgh’s integrated employability service for the next two years. It’s thought that the contract will save Edinburgh taxpayers at least £150,000.

No word yet of what will happen to Community Employability’s office on Ferry Road Drive – landlords Pilton Central Association are considering a number of options, including looking at the feasibity of using the premise as a resource for community organisations.

Bye, bye Bert!

Community Employability staff (see article above) will be interviewed for positions with the successful consortium early next month, but there will be no place for Bert Craig, for so long a familiar face through Working Links’ ‘Where’s Bert?’ feature in the NEN. Bert, who is now 67, finished up with Community Employability last week after ten years working in North Edinburgh.

“It’s very sad”, he said. “I think we did a pretty good job here over the years and we were never driven by targets or figures but concentrated instead on doing the very best we could to support people, helping them to make the right choices about what options were best for them and then supporting them all the way through. Some clients need a lot more support than others but that’s the nature of the job – every person who walks through our door is different, has different needs. For some, it’s maybe just a wee confidence boost that’s required or help with job applications or filling in forms, but there’s a huge sense of job satisfaction when a client you have been working intensively with finally lands that dream job which had seemed impossible just a few months before. Those are the ones you remember most”.

Bert hopes to find work and doesn’t plan to settle into retirement just yet. “I still feel I’ve got something to offer, and I hope my working experience and contacts here in North Edinburgh could be put to good use by a local organisation. We all know how difficult it is to find work just now, though – times are hard, and the telephone hasn’t rung so far. I’m here if anyone needs me, though – I love working in this area, feel part of the community and I feel I’ve got more to contribute. I’m just not ready to walk away yet”.

All the best, Bert – and who knows, maybe that telephone call may yet come?

NEYPF event report

Danielle Ward reports on North Edinburgh Young People’s Forum’s (NEYPFs) latest event:

The forum event got into full swing with lots of food and juice for everyone so that everyone could mingle, then we moved onto our presentation which everyone took part in which explained how we done our ‘Barrie, Radge ‘n’ Mingin’ project. Then we moved onto the more exciting part of the evening which was our vote… which involved each young person having two tables of their two project ideas and everyone that attended got two votes. The young people put so much effort into their proposed project stalls it was really great to see young people being so ambitious and involved in an issue that affects them. At the end of the evening we counted up the votes which decided on our next project which came out on top as privatisation/community cuts. There was also a memo table at the event for everyone to leave comments and a young person primary school age has asked for a younger forum so the forum are also going to be focusing on doing some research into a younger forum for primary aged children. So watch this space…

And a big thank you for everyone who took their time to attend the event; we appreciate the support.

Danielle Ward, North Edinburgh Young People’s Forum

Letter – Changing Society

Dear Editor

A look at our history shows how society has changed; for example from serfdom, to feudal, to what we have now, capitalism. There is no reason to suppose that capitalism, in turn, will not be superceded by the most likely system of socialism.

When challenged, those in control of each system struggled very hard to maintain that control. The capitalist leaders are no different: they have powerful means to retain that control, but are savvy enough to allow general improvements to take place depending on the amount of pressure put on them.

Rapid industrial development throughout the 19^th century, followed by the technical developments of the 20^th century and the digital developments of the 21^st century, have brought problems of trying to manage the vast volume of goods produced – they cannot do so, The only solution they see is to close down places of work, and this, as we know, creates massive poverty and misery. Other capitalist countries act likewise.

As in previous centuries those who own or control the means of production and the land are resisting social changes in society; in fact they are trying very hard to undo much of the collective social progress that has been achieved.

The new social system will not automatically come into existence: it has to be shown to be wanted by the majority, and to work on behalf of the majority.

A. Delahoy

Silverknowes Gardens

Police seek help to find Craigleith woman's family

Lothian and Borders Police are appealing for help in tracing the relatives of a woman who was found dead in her Edinburgh home on Tuesday (April 24).

Eighty-one-year-old Margaret Holme died in her flat in Fettes Court, Craigleith Road, sometime between Monday (April 23) and Tuesday afternoon. There are no suspicious circumstances, and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.

A police spokeswoman said: “We are appealing for anyone who may know of Margaret Holme, or have information regarding her family, to contact us on 0131 311 3131.”

Anyone with information should contact Lothian and Borders Police on 0131 311 3131, or the charity Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111.

Police seek help to find Craigleith woman’s family

Lothian and Borders Police are appealing for help in tracing the relatives of a woman who was found dead in her Edinburgh home on Tuesday (April 24).

A police spokeswoman said: “We are appealing for anyone who may know of Margaret Holme, or have information regarding her family, to contact us on 0131 311 3131.”

Anyone with information should contact Lothian and Borders Police on 0131 311 3131, or the charity Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111.

Young Scot to stage Olympics at Craigroyston!

Young Scot Youth Legacy Ambassador Bina Radhi is hosting an Olympic-themed day at Craigroyston Primary School next month.

Bina, who is 18, explained “On 11 May, myself and Jodi, another YLA from Edinburgh, will be hosting an Olympic themed sports day at Craigroyston Primary School for the primary sevens who are in transition to moving to high school. Since it’s the year of the Olympics, we have decided to host an Olympic themed day, by allocating each class with an Olympic country for the chance to compete against one another. There will be a mixture of different stations, from trying out sports such as football, javelin throw, as well as educational activities, where pupils will have to test their knowledge and learn some fast facts about each country!”

She went on: “As it is a transaction event, we have been working closely with the Active Schools Coordinator to invite other cluster primary schools in the area to come along, so that they can meet other young people that they will be going to high school with. Since then, we have had confirmation for a couple of schools to say they are coming. We also have all equipment, photographer, music, some media, sponsorship money (hopefully), all organised for the day! The event is on the 11th of May and will run from 9.30- 11.30am. We hope to see around 120 pupils come along and have already recruited around 30 volunteers.”

Sounds like a lot of fun!

Granton Youth Centre stages drama at North Edinburgh Arts

Just Like Everybody else – A6 Flyer

‘You look after your pals and they look after you – if you don’t who else will?’

Granton Youth Centre are staging ‘Just Like Everybody Else’ tomorrow at 2pm and again at 7pm in North Edinburgh Arts Centre.

The young participants performed an excerpt of their drama at a recent Forth Neighbourhood Partnership meeting and it’s well worth seeing. Produced by GRIP, the project is supported by Cashback for Communities and tickets are £3/£2 (concessions) for the evening performance, with some free tickets available for the afternoon event. Contact Jane at Granton Youth Centre for more information, jane@grantonyouth.com or telephone 467 5854.

Where have all the voters gone?

The Local Goverment Elections take place a week tomorrow, but so far hustings meetings have failed to attract local voters.

A Forth hustings held at Muirhouse Millennium Centre last week attracted just twelve people, while Inverleith events have fared little better – fourteen people attended Craigleith Blackhall Community Council’s event and just ten hardy souls turned up at Drylaw Telford’s hustings last night.

Candidates from across the political spectrum have expressed concern at the level of apathy ahead of next week’s vote, and with all political parties having agreed that there will be no lamp-post posters reminding the electorate to vote, there are gloomy predictions about the turnout next Thursday.

Forth voters have another opportunity to meet their candidates when Royston Wardieburn Community Centre stages a hustings event tomorrow evening at 6.15pm. All welcome.

Are hustings events still relevant? Will you be voting next Thursday? If not, why not? Let us know!

North Edinburgh's story goes world-wide

North Edinburgh Social History Group’s research archive is now available on-line. The group amassed a wealth of material whilst undertaking research for their ‘Never Give Up’ book, published last year, and the documents and photographs can now be found on-line following a collaborative project with lifelong learning agency Scran.

Scran, part of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, enables online access to resources from museums, galleries, archives and the media, supporting learning and teaching at all ages.

Scran’s Helen Foster worked with the local Social History Group to make their extensive resources available to a wider audience, and the online exhibition was launched last Saturday at North Edinburgh Arts Centre.

Social History Group member Roberta Blaikie explained: ‘It took us two years to produce ‘Never Give Up’ – the book, DVD and photo exhibition – and we realised it was important that all this research was saved for future generations and made available for others to access easily. We are all rubbish with computers, but thankfully we met up with Helen at Scran. We did a lot of talking, Helen listened and did all the hard work and now we’ve been able to get everything digitized!”

Brian Robertson, another enthusiastic group member, added: ‘We’re delighted that this material is now available on-line. Some of the pictures in the book are quite small and we had to leave some things out because of the limited space available, so it’s great that all the information we gathered over such a long time is now available on the internet for everyone interested in our area’s history’.

The collection was launched before Saturday’s performances of ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ and was accompanied by a new protest song penned and performed by group member Ian Moore.

Access to Scran’s archive is available through Edinburgh City Libraries – go to http://yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk/capital-collections. You’ll find North Edinburgh Social History Group’s archives under Local and Family History.