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Keeping communities safe during firework season

The City of Edinburgh Council has joined forces with Lothian and Borders Police and Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service to ensure people in Edinburgh enjoy fireworks responsibly.

The lead up to bonfire night is a busy time for all emergency services, and while it is hoped everyone has fun, police will be working alongside colleagues in the fire and rescue service to highlight the nuisance and dangers associated with the illegal use of fireworks.

In the run up to 5 November, police and Trading Standards officers will be visiting retailers to remind them of the legislation surrounding the sale of fireworks. Fire safety talks will be given at schools across the city and joint patrols will be carried out to dismantle any potentially dangerous bonfires.

Councillor Cammy Day, Community Safety leader for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “The proactive approach taken by our community safety teams in dismantling unauthorised bonfires in previous years has been really successful and this work will continue leading up to 5 November. We would remind people to only attend organised displays, remember the dangers involved in handling fireworks and enjoy their celebrations responsibly. It’s one of the busiest nights of the year for the fire service and it’s important they can carry out their vital role without the threat of anti-social behaviour.”

Chief Inspector Andy McLaughlin of Lothian and Borders Police said: “Young people and the community should look forward to bonfire night, and be able to enjoy it fully and safely. Although it is an exciting time, the risks involved in playing with fireworks should always be remembered. This is traditionally a busy time of year for all emergency services, but many calls could be avoided if people were more aware of the safety of themselves and others. It should be remembered that fireworks are, in essence, explosives, and should only be bought from reputable retailers and used in a safe, controlled environment. We have seen a reduction in these types of incidents in recent years, and we hope that our work with school children and shop owners will help continue this trend.”

Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service Community Safety Manager Steve Harkins added: “We want people to enjoy themselves safely this year. We recommend attending an organised bonfire night display to reduce the risk of accidental injury from fireworks. Be aware that bonfires must be supervised by an adult at all times. If they are not we will extinguish them. We will also put out any bonfires we believe may pose a risk to people or nearby buildings. Lastly, we ask that people respect firefighters as they respond to these calls. Any incidents of anti-social behaviour or violence to crews will be reported to the police. We are there to keep communities safe from fire so please let us do our job safe from interference or harm.”

Anyone with any concerns regarding dangerous bonfires, or the illegal sale of fireworks, should contact their Safer Neighbourhood Team on 0131 311 3131.

City of Edinburgh Music School Open Day this Saturday

The City of Edinburgh Music School at Broughton High School, East Fettes Avenue will throw open it’s doors on Saturday (3 November) to welcome people in to see for themselves what makes this renowned school so popular and successful. Between 10.30 and 12.30 students, staff and parents will be on hand to answer questions and demonstrate various activities that take place throughout a normal week.

The City of Edinburgh Music School is unique. It is the only specialist Music School that covers the whole age range from 4 to 19 and is totally funded by the Scottish Government, so it does not charge any fees. Entry is by audition and the gifted children selected receive specialist tuition in all aspects of music while based full-time at newly built state-of-the-art facilities in Flora Stevenson Primary and Broughton High Schools.

The school was selected to become the first UK All Steinway School of Excellence in the UK and has 25 Steinway pianos – at least one in every teaching space. There are also professional standard recording studios, rehearsal rooms and performance spaces seating up to 500.

Students from the school were recently invited to perform at the 2012 Olympic Celebrations in London, accompany the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq’s first British tour with Julian Lloyd Webber, take part in both the International and Fringe Festival and have also been featured on national radio and television programmes!

Sir Simon Rattle, CBE is the patron of the Music School. Financial assistance is given for travel if students live further afield, and there is also a trust fund to provide scholarships and resources for specialist music students.

With all the advantages of expert individual tuition and the social mix of a large, successful state school – each child’s gift for music is developed in a well-balanced and happy environment.

For more information contact:

Tudor Morris (Director) 0131 332 7805

www.edinburghmusicschool.co.uk

musicschool@broughton.edin.sch.uk

Clearing up confusion over waste collection?

Following yesterday’s ‘stink’ about refuse collections in North Edinburgh Pippa Milne (pictured below), the city council’s Waste Services manager, explains what’s been done – and what’s being done – to make the new waste collection service work efficiently:

“Recycling Advisors door knocked 2,375 properties on 13 August to advise residents of the change to Managed Weekly Collections and offer recycling advice. Further engagement was carried out within the first two weeks after 10 September following reports of excess waste being presented and bins out for collection on the wrong day – we also cleared the excess.

“The following day the Recycling Advisors visited the area to advise residents of the correct presentation days, offered collection day calendars, further recycling advice, took orders for additional recycling boxes and extended an offer of general support. There were 111 requests for additional or replacement boxes and the additional recycling box requests are all complete.

“The residents have had access to recycling facilities – both kerbside and on-street – for a number of years and we have also conducted satellite deliveries of boxes where all the properties were delivered a leaflet informing of a location and time to pick up boxes.”

Are you still experiencing bin collection problems? Are you now recycling more?

Let us know!

Well, well, well – appeal for St Bernard’s

A fundraising appeal to help complete the restoration of an historic well on the Water of Leith has been launched. A revamp of St Bernard’s Well, which sits inside a Roman-style temple near Dean Village, will cost over £230,000 – and after contributions from Edinburgh World Heritage and Edinburgh City Council, £50,000 is still needed.

St Bernard’s Well has a fascinating history. The natural spring was discovered by three boys from Heriot’s School in 1760 and it soon became a popular visitor attraction. The spring minerals were believed to have healing powers and people flocked to “take the water”.

Lord Gardenstone, a rather eccentric Law Lord with a pet pig and an excessive fancy to snuff, bought the well and commissioned Alexander Nasmyth to design a building for it in 1789. Nasmyth drew inspiration from the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli and placed a sculpture of Hygieia, the roman goddess of health on the upper level.

Lord Gardenstone also appointed a keeper for the well who would be responsible for charging the visitors their due fees for the water, and control the specified opening times. Subscribers were welcomed in the morning and the afternoon, all others in the hours between. However, “Upon a proper certificate from any regular physician surgeon, or apothecary of Edinburgh, the keeper shall supply poor persons with water at any time prescribed.”

Some claimed that the water could cure everything from a bruised leg to ‘total blindness’, but others described the taste as having the ‘odious twang of hydrogen gas’ or even like ‘the washings from a foul gun barrel’!

Now over 220 years old, St Bernard’s Well is in need of some care and attention and it’s hoped the appeal can restore the iconic site to it’s former glory.

Richard Lewis, Edinburgh City Council’s culture leader, said: “By restoring this unusual and quite beautiful well, we will be preserving a significant Edinburgh landmark for future generations.”

Adam Wilkinson, director of Edinburgh World Heritage, said: “St Bernard’s Well has to be one of Edinburgh’s most picturesque and tranquil locations, an elegant classical temple in a charming bucolic setting only minutes from Princes Street. We hope that people will come forward now to help us restore this important part of Edinburgh’s heritage for future generations to enjoy.”

Warm homes for winter

Up to 10,000 extra Scottish households will be given free help to cut their energy bills this winter, Nicola Sturgeon said today. The Deputy First Minister has allocated a further £6 million to install vital energy efficiency measures, such as loft and cavity insulation into Scottish homes.

Also, from this week, a Scottish Government cash back voucher scheme will go live benefitting up to 35,000 Scottish households. This will allow individual householders to apply for £500 vouchers to contribute to the cost of new energy efficiency measures in their properties.

Ms Sturgeon said: “With temperatures dropping and colder weather beginning to bite, households across Scotland will be worrying about their winter energy bills. Solid action is absolutely imperative. That is why we have ploughed an additional £6 million into providing up to 10,000 households with free insulation that will make their homes warmer and cheaper to heat and invested millions into a cash back voucher scheme that is due to go live later this week.

“This is the kind of vital help which can make a real difference to those struggling to make ends meet and demonstrates we will do whatever we can within devolved powers to tackle fuel poverty. Anyone looking for help with their heating bills can contact our Home Energy Scotland Hotline on 0800 512 012 for further assistance.”

The £6 million funding is for the Universal Home Insulation Scheme (UHIS) – an initiative administered by local authorities.

Ms Sturgeon continued: “We all need to work together to tackle fuel poverty. Local authorities have been extremely effective at administering these schemes and I welcome their positive approach. I hope again that they will be able to deliver maximum results with this extra money. But our efforts are being held back by punishing price rises imposed by energy companies. The UK Government – who has responsibility for this area – is simply not doing enough to regulate the market, and this has to change urgently.

“With winter approaching, we need an end to mixed messages and confusion from Westminster, which frankly has done nothing to inspire confidence among worried householders.”

Chair of the National Insulation Forum (Scotland), Wilson Shaw said: “The National Insulation Association warmly welcomes this announcement -it’s really good news, not only for the thousands of households that will benefit, but also for the industry.

“It will really help insulation firms and their employees in Scotland, giving them greater continuity of work between current programmes coming to an end and the Green Deal and ECO getting going.”

The £6 million will be allocated to the Universal Home Insulation Scheme – an energy efficiency initiative administered by local authorities. The new funding is due to the success of the Scottish Government’s Energy Assistance Package in attracting energy company obligation funding to Scotland under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target.

From 1 November, householders across the whole of Scotland will be able to apply for a cashback voucher for up to £500 towards the cost of installing energy efficiency measures which are recommended through an EPC or Green Deal assessment.

Just magic – Glow in the Park participants are record breakers!

Royal Blind are world record holders! Participants in Saturday’s ‘Glow in the Park’ event at Fettes helped the charity become world record holder of the Largest Magic Lesson in the World, with 1063 people successfully taking part. Magic!

A spokesperson for Royal Blind explained: “‘Glow in the park’ is our annual children’s event that launches Light Relief Week. It is a magical sponsored walk for the children to take part in whilst fundraising for Royal Blind.

“This year’s theme was ‘Magic & Illusion’ and there was some amazing fancy dress on display! We attempted to set a new Guinness World Record for “The Largest Magic Lesson” – the record was held by China and was 435 but thank you to all the people that adhered to the strict rules set out by the Guinness World Record and helped us successfully pass and take the New World Record with 1,063!!

“We saw the grounds of Fettes College transformed into a beautifully lit and enchanted walk and magic and illusion activities for the children around every corner, with a lot of the children especially enjoying the bunny rabbit at the top of the climbing wall!!! Images will be uploaded soon from this year’s event, however you can still view more images from our 2011 event click here . Thank you to all the companies that helped make Glow in the Park 2012 happen, and an extended thank you goes to Fettes College and Blacklight.”

Jewellery theft at Western General

Lothian and Borders Police are appealing for witnesses following the theft of two rings worth £10,000 at the Western General Hospital last week.

The incident happened around 3.15pm last Tuesday (23 October). A 33-year-old woman was in one of the bathrooms and took off her wedding ring and eternity ring off to wash her hands. After leaving the bathroom, she realised she’d left her rings inside and when she returned to retrieve them, she found they were gone. Neither item was handed in to security, so the woman has contacted police to report them stolen.

The wedding ring is a platinum band with a single one carat diamond while the eternity ring is platinum with around 24 diamonds around the circumference. The rings (pictured below) have a combined value of around£10,000.

A police spokesman said: “The woman has been left devastated at the loss of her rings and is desperate to have them returned to her as soon as possible. Anyone who comes into possession of the rings is asked to hand them in to their local police station. We would also ask that anyone who can assist with our enquiries into this theft contacts police immediately.”

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

A rubbish protest or a protest about rubbish?

A war of words has broken out between a senior local councillor and community groups following a ‘dirty protest’ outside the council’s North Local Office in West Pilton this morning. TIE committee convener Lesley Hinds dismissed the protest as a poorly supported publicity stunt, but campaigners say they will escalate their activities if demands are not met.

Two local tenants groups – Tenants and Residents in Pilton (TRIP) and Tenants and Residents in Muirhouse (TRIM), supported by campaign group North Edinburgh Fights Back – urged local residents to support a campaign to get weekly bin collections restored by staging a publicity stunt at the local council office. Local people were encouraged to bring along their black bags and bins and ‘dump’ them on the council’s doorstep.

Speaking before the protest TRIP secretary Jon Black (pictured above) said: “The Council has mismanaged the changes to refuse collection, and its unacceptable. We shouldn’t have to be cleaning up our own streets, but this is what it has come to. Its a public health hazard, and the Council needs to sort it out. We are demanding that the Council re-introduce weekly collections, and we want adequate recycling facilities provided in the area. We also want the Council to clear up all the rubbish that has been missed.”

Around a dozen people supported the event, which attracted media attention – but Councillor Lesley Hinds, convener of the Transport, Infrastructure and Environment Committee, said the protest was a damp squib.

“This has been a poorly-attended publicity stunt that neither improves the situation nor accurately reflects the needs of the community. Of course I’d be happy to meet any of the protesters to have constructive discussions on how we can improve their waste collection service, but they have made no approaches to us so far. In fact I’m told there have been very few issues in the Muirhouse and West Pilton area – which may be why only a handful of people turned out on Monday morning.”

The protesters plan to have a public meeting next month as part of a continuing campaign to get the council to meet their demands. If those demands are not met, the campaigners plan to take further action and say that they will fly-tip rubbish at the City Chambers.

Final NENgage session this Thursday

The Joy of Stats!

In the final of our series of NENgage sessions we’ll be delving into the world of online data -looking at free tools and resources that community groups and local citizens can use to gather and present data in interesting ways. We’ll be showing you;

How to create a simple online poll in WordPress or using Easy Poll.
How to do a more detailed survey of opinions and feedback using Survey Monkey
How to make an FOI request using the What Do They Know website
How to present data online using free tools like Infogram or Many Eyes.

We’ll also have some great speakers, including journalistMichael MacLeod (former Guardian journalist, STV online reporter) and James Baster, a digital programmer with an interest in innovative community projects. James will be telling us about an exciting new open data project involving the city’s greenspaces.

We’ll also have a brainstorming sessionwhere you’ll have the chance to tell us about the kind of work you do, and we’ll come up with ideas for ways that you could use these tools to good effect for your projects.

As always, tickets are free, but you’ll need to reserve a place on our Eventbrite page. The session will start at 5:45 and runs until 7:30, with drinks in the Antiquary Bar afterwards.

Hope to see you there!

Flora’s pupils take the active option

Flora Stevenson Primary School’s approach to physical education has attracted the attention of university researchers. Pupils at the Comely Bank school have opted for daily physical activity – with ‘remarkable’ results – and the successful initiative will now be rolled out to more local schools.

Over the past two years extra training has been provided for teachers and pupils have been given opportunities to be active daily. This approach has made a significant impact on pupils who are showing an increase in confidence, motivation and self-esteem, as well as physical ability.

Since 2011 the school has been working with Winning Scotland Foundation and The City of Edinburgh Council who have provided a variety of support and funding for the initiative.

Pupils receive PE lessons three days a week and an active class challenge for their ‘non-PE’ day. The week culminates with the opportunity for them to participate in an optional hour of physical activity on a Friday – incredibly nearly 80% of all pupils now choose to participate in active options which include a wide variety of activities from fencing to football and hip-hop to tae kwon do.

Edinburgh University has been so impressed with this approach it is studying the impact it is having on training teachers within their own school.

Councillor Paul Godzik, Education Convener said, “This project has really had remarkable results so far. Alongside the great uptake of activities at school and the positive impact this is having on pupils, many are now choosing to partake in sports outwith school time. This means they are more likely to be physically active regularly and continue to be so in the long-run; this is an invaluable lifestyle change for them. This is a great example of how working with other organisations can lead to positive change.”

The project has allowed Flora’s to work closely with parents and other schools within the local community, one of which is Broughton High School (one of three school based Community Sports Hubs in Edinburgh). Sport can play an extremely important role in assisting children’s transition from Primary School to Secondary school.

Angela Hutt, PE Specialist at the school is delighted that her initial idea was developed and came to fruition thanks to the support and commitment of Shelagh Dow, Depute Head Teacher and her fellow teachers. Angela said; “The Curriculum for Excellence had given us the flexibility to provide pupils with opportunities to be active daily. As Friday’s activities are a reward for good behaviour we are seeing a positive impact on behaviour throughout the week. This is an ambitious project and wouldn’t be possible without support. A big thanks to everyone who has worked with us on this.”

Morag Arnot of Winning Scotland Foundation said, “This project has had a remarkable affect on the children involved and believe it could act as a blueprint for getting every child in Scotland active every day. We have been pleased to be able to support the project since its inception. We look forward to seeing how the project continues to develop across other schools and the impact it can have on more children.”

Cath Morrison, Senior Health Policy Officer, NHS Lothian said, “The advantages of children being physically active are well known but what Flora’s has done is package it up in such a way that it becomes part of their everyday life and influences behaviour outwith that time also. We are proud to be able to fund this programme and look forward to working with new schools on future projects also.”

Additional funding from Winning Scotland Foundation & the NHS has allowed the project to continue this year at Flora’s and to be introduced to Stockbridge Primary. It is hoped to further extend it to the remaining two cluster schools in August next year.