Two free fun events are taking place in North Edinburgh today.
First up, Royston Wardieburn Community Centre in Pilton Drive North is holding a Fun Day from 11 – 2pm with lots of fun activities for all the family and an opportunity to see the fantastic facilities in the area’s newest community centre.
Then from 1 – 4pm MYadventure will launch Cyclone, Edinburgh’s newest mountain bike trail, at Gypsy Brae. Be among the first to come and try it out – there are prizes for age-specific races and lots of free fun side shows – a must attend event for mountain bikers and families alike!
A team of Spartans Community Football Academy volunteers head out to Africa on the journey of a lifetime next week. Three staff and a senior volunteer will join nine young people to spend two weeks working with a support project in Tanzania.
“Our patron Gordon Strachan hosted a very successful charity dinner last year (pictured above), which raised an incredible amount of money. That has enabled us to do a lot of things here at the Academy, including our extension, but it has also given us the opportunity to send a small group from Spartans to help in a project in Tanzania”, explained Kenny Cameron, who is Community Programme Manager at Spartans Community Football Academy.
“We have links with a very successful Edinburgh-based charity called YES (Youth Empowerment through Sport) Tanzania. Their aims and objectives are very similar to our own, and in the past we have sent footballs, strips and boots over there. But now, thanks to the support of some very generous supporters – and the brilliant fundraising efforts of the Spartan Army volunteers themselves – we can take a small group over there to help out.
“The guys will have a very full programme over the two weeks – delivering Young Leader training and a coaching education programme, visiting schools and an orphanage. They will also spend some time in a shanty town and will see first hand the grinding poverty of daily life in what is one of the poorest nations on earth. As you can imagine the facilities are not great in Arusha, where the pilot project is based, so in time we also hope to build a football pitch and fund their development worker post for a year – we can make a real difference.”
Although the Spartans team have a very busy schedule they won’t be working non-stop and they have a real treat to look forward to.
“We have built in an overnight safari as part of the trip. It’s our way of saying thanks to these young people – who all live locally – who have given up a lot of hours of their own time over two and three years to volunteer here with us. It will be an amazing experience, the adventure of a lifetime”, Kenny went on.
“Our motto this year is ‘Dream Big, Dream Fierce’ and the Tanzanian experience kind of sums that up – who would have thought that a wee group of young folk from North Edinburgh could travel halfway across the world and make a difference to peoples’ lives there? The message we are trying to convey to everyone who comes into contact with the Community Football Academy is: Believe – anything can be achieved.
“Tanzania will be an experience our volunteers will never forget, and the hope is that they will pass on what they learned there and share their experiences when they get back to North Edinburgh, inspiring the next generation of Spartan Army volunteers”.
If you’d like to support the Spartans Tanzania initiative visit
Police Scotland Edinburgh Division is appealing for information in tracing a Russian student who has been missing from her address in the capital for over a week.
Yulia Solodyankina, (22), who has been studying Physics at Edinburgh University, was last seen at the Wee Red Bar in Lady Lawson Street on June 7 and was first reported missing last Wednesday (12 June).
Since her disappearance police have been carrying out extensive enquiries in order to trace her whereabouts, and continue to urge anyone with information to contact them. Her friends have also organised a social media campaign to track her down.
Yulia speaks fluent English with a strong Russian accent, and is described as being of medium build, with long dark brown hair. She is about 5ft 6ins tall, and has a small mole on her left cheek. Her ears are pierced and she wears a number of rings on her fingers, in particular a distinctive thumb ring, which is shaped like a small spoon.
When last seen Yulia was wearing a dark jacket, dark trousers, white trainers and carrying a large dark coloured rucksack which appeared to be full.
Chief Inspector Mark Patterson, of Police Scotland Edinburgh Division, said: “It has been a week since Yulia was first reported missing, and despite our enquiries and appeals for information from the public, we still have no information as to her current whereabouts.
“Yulia’s father had travelled to Edinburgh to visit his daughter and help plan her graduation celebrations, but instead he is distraught by her disappearance, and has left the Capital without ever making contact with her.
“We have been heartened by the level of interest in her disappearance, helped by her friends organising their own appeals through social media, and we remain keen for any information that can help us trace her whereabouts.
“I would urge anyone who has seen or heard from Yulia since she went missing, or who has any other information that can help us, to contact Police Scotland on 101, or the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
First books, now bin bags! Compostable food waste bin liners are now on sale at libraries across Edinburgh at a bargain price in a bid to boost recycling figures.
Rolls of the liners can be bought over the library counter for £1 in response to public feedback suggesting that they can be costly to buy in shops.
The majority of households in the Capital will have access to food waste recycling when the latest stage is rolled out by the end of this summer, which will help to reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill.
Councillor Jim Orr, Transport and Environment Vice Convener, said: “Food waste recycling has been supported really well by residents, and if we want to encourage more to take it up, then it should be made as easy as possible to do. An average household bin contains around one third of food waste, which releases harmful greenhouse gases when it ends up on landfill sites. Recycling it, however, can generate electricity to power homes and businesses.
“Feedback from the public has suggested that some find the price of food bin liners prohibitive. Hopefully, by selling them in accessible libraries at a bargain price, I hope that this will be one less barrier to people who want to help the environment.”
The wealthiest households in Scotland are 273 times richer than the poorest – Oxfam
A new report by Oxfam Scotland says that instead of tackling inequality and poverty in Scotland, the existing economic model is making them worse and needs to change. Our Economy: Towards a New Prosperity says too much power and wealth is held by too few people.
The report challenges politicians, policymakers and businesses to focus on what is really good for the country rather increasing economic measures like Gross Domestic Product , and argues that for too many Scots work is no longer a route to a better life. Some 40% of those living in poverty in Scotland are in work – a figure that has risen substantially in recent years.
It also highlights the growing inequality at the heart of our economy, with the wealthiest households in Scotland 273 times richer than the poorest households.
Judith Robertson, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “The existing economic model is not working. Despite decades of economic growth, and a myriad of anti-poverty policies, the reality for too many Scots is a cocktail of high mortality, economic inactivity, mental and physical ill-health, poor educational attainment, and exclusion from the decisions that affect them.
“This is a structural problem caused by our economy. If we are serious about tackling these issues, then our politicians and policymakers need to make a fundamental change. Without that change, poverty and inequality will continue to shame us and drag all of us down for generations to come.”
paper outlines a series of policies which together challenge economic behaviours which damage Scotland’s collective prosperity, whilst promoting positive interventions.
The report is based on Oxfam’s work with local partners in Scotland. It shows that people in local communities have the appetite and ability to start building local economies that meet their needs, but need more help from government and greater recognition that their contribution goes beyond profit.
The proposals contained in Our Economy include:
Putting a duty on all public authorities to make sure their policies and initiatives reduce poverty and inequality – monitored by a new Poverty Commissioner for Scotland.
Building on the work of the Oxfam Humankind Index for Scotland to create a new measure of economic success, beyond GDP, which reflects what really matters to people.
Creating a Scottish Ethical Business Initiative (SEBI) setting out key aspects of acceptable behaviour for businesses operating in Scotland.
Judith Robertson added: “We need to create a new prosperity that will benefit everyone in society.
“At the heart of this new prosperity would be community-led economies which focus on the quality and distribution of growth – creating livelihoods for the many, not profits for the few. Our Economy shows this is practical and achievable. We just need the will to work together to make it happen.”
Our Economy is being launched today at Oxfam partner The GalGael Trust, which provides training in traditional woodworking skills for people left without work for long periods of time.
Gehan Macleod of GalGael said: “The current economic structure simply doesn’t provide enough good jobs. Our experience shows it isn’t people from under-resourced communities that are deficient, it is the economy which is deficient in providing opportunities for all – opportunities that recognise people’s inner need to contribute to their communities as well as their outer need for a living wage.
“We’ve seen time and again how those who’ve been labelled work-shy or unemployable love to graft if there is respect and dignity in the work. That is what the work in Our Economy looks like.”
The report has won support from across Scottish civil society.
Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary, said: “If Scotland is to rebuild a fairer, more equal and sustainable economic and social model it is essential that strong civic voices contribute to the debate. This report, covering key areas such as employment and tax, forms one such contribution. Policymakers at all levels should take note and act”.
Martin Stepek, Chief Executive of the Scottish Family Business Association, said: “I applaud Oxfam Scotland for producing the challenging and radical Our Economy report. The current situation is morally and socially unacceptable. We have to change some fundamentals to create a fairer, happier society for all.”
James Proctor, Strategic Relations Officer at Co-operatives UK, said: “Scotland was the birthplace of early co-operative enterprise and the principle of working together for shared benefit is a fresh and vital one for our times. We warmly welcome this call for a new model of wealth creation, based on co-operative values of openness and equality.”
Drylaw’s lonesome stone bench is moo-ving on to pastures new. The striking stone bench – which features the heads of a sheep and a bull (or maybe a ram and a cow!) to signify the area’s past use as farmland – will make the short journey east from Drylaw Field to a new home at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre after repeated attacks by vandals.
The stone bench was the centrepiece of an upgrade to Drylaw Field six years ago – the bench was unveiled by then Lord Provost George Grubb in September 2007 (pictured below).
Almost since it’s introduction, however, the sculpture has been the targeted by vandals. It’s been spray-painted, graffiti has been scrawled on it, attempts have been made to set it on fire and it’s been physically attacked with rocks and boulders – it now looks like it has gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson and it’s a sorry sight (below).
Given the punishment the animal seat has taken over the years, Drylaw Telford Community Council has reluctantly decided to find a safer new home for the beast.
“It’s sad that we’re having to do this, but the bench was being slowly but surely destroyed and the community council agreed that this was the only course of action we could take”, said Alex Dale, chair of Drylaw Telford Community Council. “I spoke to Roy Douglas, manager at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre and they are happy to take the bench there. The bench won’t be as visible as it was in Drylaw Park, but local residents will still be able to see it when they visit the Centre and at least it will be safer there – the Neighbourhood Centre has CCTV and other security measures so we hope there may be a good few years left yet in the Drylaw bench.”
Staff at the city council’s North Local Office will supervise the move later this month. It’s not known at this stage whether officers from the Scottish SPCA will also be in attendance.
Recorded crime in Scotland is now at its lowest level since 1974. The number of crimes has fallen by 13 per cent, a drop of just over 41,000 in 2012-13 to 273,053.
Statistics published today also show violent crime fell by 21 per cent and crimes of handling offensive weapons are at a 27-year low. However, the number of sexual offences recorded by police went up by five per cent. The figures also show a slight rise in the number of offences, which include driving and minor alcohol offences, of less than one per cent.
The clear up rate for crimes increased last year and is now at its highest since 1976.
Commenting on the figures, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill (pictured above) said:
“Today’s statistics show that Scotland’s communities are becoming safer places to live, with recorded crime falling for the sixth year in a row to its lowest level for 39 years. It is particularly encouraging to see violent crime dropping by 21 per cent last year and crimes of handling an offensive weapon down by 60 per cent since 2006-07. However, make no mistake, there will be no let-up in our efforts backed by record numbers of police officers – over 1,000 extra since 2007 – who are keeping communities safe and clearing up crimes more efficiently than ever before.
“We are continuing to work tirelessly to reduce knife crime and violence in Scotland, and believe education and prevention are key to tackling the root causes of violence. That’s why we are investing in the No Knives, Better Lives initiative – now in 11 areas across Scotland – and why we work with other key partners like the Violence Reduction Unit and Medics Against Violence. Together, we are working hard to change attitudes to violence and knife crime – making it clear that it is never acceptable.
“We are also taking a robust approach to enforcement –sentences for carrying a knife in Scotland are the toughest in the UK and our prosecutors are taking a zero tolerance approach. Today’s figures show these united efforts to tackle knife crime are beginning to pay off, but there will be no complacency. “While today’s overall statistics are encouraging, it is concerning to see that the number of sexual offences recorded by police have increased by five per cent. This may be down to increased reporting but the public should be assured that the Scottish Government, police and prosecutors take the investigation and prosecution of these traumatic crimes extremely seriously and are taking action to address them.
“At a Government level, we have strengthened the law around sex crimes by bringing in the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009. We are also giving £3.6 million funding to support victims of rape from 2012-15. Just yesterday, I met with the Rape and Sexual Crime External Advisory Group which now operates across Police Scotland and works closely with police officers to help inform and improve rape investigations. Meanwhile, the Scottish Police Service has launched a new National Rape Taskforce to further improve the investigation of rape and other sexual crimes right across the country.”
For those too young to remember, The Rubettes were at Number One with ‘Sugar Baby Love’ in June 1974, ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Blazing Saddles’ were the most popular films and Scotland even qualified for the World Cup finals in Germany! (We also became the first ever country to be eliminated from a World Cup Finals without having lost a match …)
The Spartans will be among the twelve clubs selected to compete in the new Scottish Lowland Football League, the Scottish Football Association has announced.
Twenty-seven clubs from the East of Scotland and South of Scotland Leagues, as well as members of the Scottish Junior Football Association, expressed an initial interest before 17 formal applications were submitted.
The new league is part of the major restructuring of Scottish football which includes plans for play-offs between teams from the Scottish Third Division, the Scottish Lowland Football League and the Scottish Highland Football League from the end of season 2014/15.
Joining Spartans in the new Lowland League are Dalbeattie Star, East Kilbride, Edinburgh City, Gala Fairydean Rovers, Gretna (2008), Preston Athletic, Selkirk, Threave Rovers, University of Stirling, Vale of Leithen and Whitehill Welfare.
The Project Steering Group, made up of the Scottish FA Executive, licensing committee and club representatives, selected the twelve succesful applicants based on their ability to meet Scottish FA club licensing criteria and their decision will be ratified by the Board of the Scottish FA at its meeting on 27th June.
Scottish FA chief executive Stewart Regan, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for all 12 clubs, and another step forward for league reconstruction in Scotland. It’s important that ambitious clubs are given opportunities to progress. With the Scottish Lowland Football League running in tandem with the Scottish Highland Football League from next season, we are on track to create a pyramid system feeding into the senior leagues.
“The hard work now continues with the creation of the new league board, appointment of office bearers and detailed planning ahead of the start of the new season in August. On behalf of the Scottish FA, I wish all 12 clubs the very best of luck for the new season and beyond.”
It was inevitable. And while the international wrangling over who should administer the process may go on today, be clear – Hearts are going into administration.
The fragile edifice that was the complicated financial world of Vladimir Romanov has finally come crashing down. First Ukio Bankas, then UBIG and now – Heart of Midlothian FC, formed in 1874.
It seems hard to believe now, but when Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov took control at Tynecastle back in 2005 there were some who welcomed him as a saviour. Now, eight years and SIXTEEN managers later, dreams of building a side to challenge the might of the Old Firm at home, and the cream of Europe abroad, lie in tatters. The challenge now is simply to stay alive.
In a game that lives by clichés, it’s been a rollercoaster ride. From the highs of Scottish Cup wins in 2006 and 2012, European adventures – and a 2005/6 season that might even have seen Hearts crowned SPL champions if only Vlad hadn’t started meddling with team selections and sacking managers – to the lows of unpaid bills, unpaid wages and now the ignominy of liquidation, there’s never been a dull moment under Vlad’s reign; for a while he was the man who gave the Hearts fans a dream.
But now, though, the dream is well and truly over. In the cold light of day reality has kicked in and the scale and complicated nature of Hearts’ predicament is truly frightening.
The Club owes £25 million to two of Romanov’s other companies – UBIG and Ukio Bankas, both of which went into liquidation last month, thus bringing the financial woes at Tynecastle to a head. Hearts also owe an undisclosed amount to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, having only partially paid an outstanding tax demand for £50 million, and last week the club’s players and staff found that their wages and salaries would not be paid on time.
Against this background the entire Hearts squad was put up for sale last week and an appeal went out to fans – unsurprisingly, despite Hearts’ fans undoubted loyalty, season ticket sales have been slow.
So what happens next? There are a number – perhaps as many as four – serious prospective purchasers, but meaningful negotiations have been hampered by the club’s complicated financial setup. What exactly would potential investors be getting for their money – what are the assets, and what potential time bombs may be unearthed within the club’s accounts? Until that becomes clear, it’s unlikely that any bid will be forthcoming.
While fans loyalty has been stretched to the limit they continue to rally to the cause, but they too should think before committing their own hard-earned cash: by donating money are they supporting the survival of and future of the team they love, or are they pouring cash down the drain as lawyers and accountants pick over the carcass of a once great club and argue expensively back and forward between Edinburgh and Vilnius?
While the current situation is bleak, it’s certainly not hopeless and Hearts will surely survive in some form. A fifteen point deduction at the start of the forthcoming season is probably the least of their worries; after all, SPL chiefs will surely at long last restructure the league setup at the end of the season, because the current ‘model’ certainly isn’t working.
For Hibs fans who are revelling in the Jambo’s current plight, I would only ask: what are the games you look forward to most every season, the games that get your pulse racing and your mouth dry with nervous anticipation? No, Kilmarnock or Ross County don’t really do it for me, either. Take away the Edinburgh derbies and the whole season is not quite meaningless, but seriously devalued. Derby games may well be p*sh – and they usually are – but there’s atmosphere and excitement that is lacking at so many other games. So should the unthinkable happen, I for one won’t be gloating.
And for fans of other clubs, beware – given the parlous state of football finances in Scotland, it could well be your lot next.
Good luck, Hearts. Here’s hoping you’ll aye be ‘making your mark’ for a good few years yet.
By the way, those managers were: John Robertson, Steven Pressley/John McGlynn, George Burley, John McGlynn, Graham Rix, Valdas Ivanauskas, Eduard Malofeyev, Riabouas Eugenijus, Valdas Ivanauskas (again), Anotoly Korobochka, Stephen Frail, Csaba Laszlo, Jim Jeffries, Paulo Sergio, John McGlynn (yes, once again!) and Gary Locke.
Craigroyston Community High School will be staging ‘Alice in Wonderland’ TONIGHT at 7pm.
Marie McGarrol, drama worker at Craigroyston Community High School, said: “Craigroyston Community High School’s senior Drama club is putting on a public performance of Alice in Wonderland at the school tonight at 7pm, adult tickets £2, children’s tickets £1.50. The students involved would really appreciate any external support as the school as not seen a performance of this nature for many years. Please could you pass this email on to your colleagues that work in the area”.
For further information contact Craigroyston Community High School:
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