September 2013 CA Publicity Poster
North Edinburgh Childcare Academy’s latest course starts on 11 September and places are still available; see poster for details:
Author: davepickering
Edinburgh reporter and photographer
Sing out with The Piltones
Pilton Community Health Project’s singing group resumes next week – and new members will be made most welcome.
See poster for details …
Travelling Gallery to visit Drylaw
The Travelling Gallery embark on its Scottish tour this Friday (23 August) with ‘THIS LAND’, a new autumn exhibition presenting a beautifully alternative view of the Scottish landscape – and it’s stopping off at Drylaw on it’s travels. You can catch the exhibition at the local centre next Thursday (29 August) afternoon from 2 – 5pm.
Inspired by the Year of Natural Scotland, the Travelling Gallery’s autumn exhibition presents an alternative view of the Scottish landscape, through works by artists with a diverse range of practices.
Exhibits will include paintings by Henry Coombes and a series of works exploring the history, geology and politics of the island of Rockall by Andy Holden. Hannah Imlach uses sculpture and photography to explore new environments and find connections between the landscape and the human body, while Michael Reisch and Iain Sarjeant both show photographs which focus on interaction between natural and man-made environments.
Visitors will also be able to enjoy a complementary programme of films, postcards, sketchbooks and other works to support the exhibition.
The Travelling Gallery is a custom-built, mobile, contemporary art space inside a big beautiful bus. Supported by Creative Scotland, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the City of Edinburgh Council, the Travelling Gallery brings high quality contemporary art exhibitions and events to schools and communities throughout Scotland.
Edinburgh will be the first stop on the gallery’s Scottish-wide tour, stationed in a variety of locations around the Capital between 23 and 30 August.
Councillor Richard Lewis, the city’s Culture and Sport Convener, said: “Yet again the Travelling Gallery curators have devised a fascinating exhibition which I am sure will delight crowds across Scotland. As a Council we’re committed to making art and culture as accessible as possible to a variety of people, and what could be more accessible than a mobile gallery? I hope everyone takes the opportunity to pay the Travelling Gallery a visit when it comes to town.”
The Travelling Gallery will be open to the public at the following venues in Edinburgh, as part of Edinburgh Art Festival:
Friday 23 August City Art Centre, Market Street, 11am – 6pm
Saturday 24 August City Art Centre, Market Street, 11am – 6pm
Tuesday 27 August Hawes Promenade, South Queensferry 11am – 5pm
Wednesday 28 August Festival Square, Lothian Road, 11am – 5pm
Thursday 29 August
Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre, Groathill Road North 2 – 5pm
Friday 30 August High Street, Portobello 11am – 5pm
The Travelling Gallery will then tour to the following areas:
2 – 13 September – Highlands
16 – 20 September – Lewis and Harris
23 – 24 September – Uists
28 September – 3 October – Shetland
7 – 11 October – Perth & Kinross
21 – 25 October – Renfrewshire
28 October – 8 November – South Ayrshire
11 – 15 November – Midlothian
18 – 22 November – Renfrewshire
25 – 29 November – Edinburgh
3 – 7 December – Angus
10 December – West Lothian
See www.travellinggallery.com for all the details,
Follow the Gallery on Facebook or Twitter @ArtinaBus
Enter the Muirhouse labyrinth!
Muirhouse St Andrews Parish Church and Muirhouse Centipede Project will formally launch the grass Labyrinth which the Centipede Project have installed in the church grounds at a fun day next month.
Linda Dunbar explained: “We are holding a fun day – Enter the Labyrinth – on Saturday 7 September, from 12noon – 3pm in the church grounds.
As well as lots of Labyrinth activities, there will all be the church’s annual community BBQ, teas, bouncy castles (including one big enough to take adults!), free activities, stalls, and a car-boot-stall type section.
Entry will be free, the BBQ and teas will be by donation, the bouncy castles will be 50p a go, and the stalls will have goods for sale. On top of all of this there will be a number of free activities and crafts, AND the will be free helium balloons.
We are also looking for community groups to come along and take advantage of free tables to promote their work, raise funds, meet people etc etc. These spaces are free for community groups, but need to be booked by emailing
This is going to be a great day and we hope lots of folk from the community will come along and share in the fun.
If anyone wants to book one of the car-boot-style tables (the will be NO room on site for cars themselves), they will cost £7, and can be booked by emailing
No love game as tennis row festers
‘You cannot be serious …’
Tennis fans have reacted with fury on hearing that they will not receive a refund despite play at June’s Champions of Tennis event in Stockbridge being a wash out.
Hundreds of spectators were left drookit – and seriously out of pocket – as the heavens opened and torrential rain poured through a temporary £100, 000 ‘roof’ at Edinburgh Accies’ Raeburn Place stadium. Four hours play was lost as staff tried in vain to mop up the court with towels, and instead of seeing three top quality matches, fans – some of whom paid £100 for the day’s ‘entertainment’ – were served up a shambles.
Play, such as it was, started at 6pm, with match durations slashed to just one set as light deteriorated.
Before the tournament tennis lovers had been promised big names, but in the event they were sorely let down. Fans favourite John McEnroe played one just set, Ivanisevic never even started his game and the third match featuring Mark Philippoussis was also scrapped.
However furious fans have now learned that there will be no refund.
NEN reader Sarah Fox was there. She writes …
‘I’m sure you heard about the disaster that was Brodies Champions of Tennis on the Saturday, you may have even been there yourselves. After nearly two months they have finally some back to ticket holders offering no refund.
With all the profits that a firm like Brodies makes and they take it out on the tennis lovers who were unable to see the tennis due to the completely unsuitable ‘roof’. Please see pathetic response below from the tournament director…..
Dear Ticket Holder
Thank you for supporting Brodies Champions of Tennis and for your patience while we have carried out a thorough review of the inaugural tournament.
We share your frustration at the disruption caused by bad weather on Saturday, June 22, and your disappointment that more tennis was not played within the original match timings. We believed that the purpose-built canopy would allow play to continue in the event of rain. Unfortunately, due to the squally conditions on the day, water did get on to the court and we were advised by the umpire to suspend play to ensure the players’ safety.
Under the terms and conditions of our ticket refund policy, refunds would only be issued if less than 40 minutes of play took place. Despite the adverse weather conditions on Saturday we made every effort to minimise disruption so that fans could see as much tennis as possible. As a result, we were able to put on just under two hours of play on Saturday.
Whist it was disappointing only two hours of tennis were played, disruption due to bad weather is a risk at any outdoor event. No matches were cancelled on Saturday 22 or any of the other days so refunds are not eligible .
We assure you that lessons have been learnt.
Viki Mendelssohn, Tournament Director
Sarah goes on: ‘Anything you can do to help us Saturday ticket holders have a voice and ensuring the tournament feel some consequences from this disaster and therefore making sure this incidence doesn’t happen again would be very much appreciated.’
Chris Ross received the same letter, and he too was less than impressed. He has since responded to the organisers, and told NEN:
“I’m very disappointed with the organisers’ response, both in the inconsistencies and the disingenuous statements it contains. Yes, they can say that no matches were cancelled on Saturday but the McEnroe match was reduced to a set, although it was advertised as the best of three. The Enqvist Ivanisevic match – originally scheduled for the Saturday night – did not take place until the Sunday morning, so presumably Saturday ticket holders would therefore not have been able to get in to watch this match so, from our perspective, it might as well have been cancelled.”
He added: “Somebody made a mistake in relation to the roof, and It may be that the thinking behind the ‘no refunds’ approach is that the negative publicity will blow over and that it will all be forgotten by the time of next year’s tournament. However, there are a lot of very unhappy people and I don’t think they will forget in a hurry. If the organisers really have learned lessons I hope that they will reconsider their current stance and try to achieve a middle ground.”
Chris is still awaiting a reply.
Tournament organisers are understood to be considering a ‘goodwill gesture’, although they have not specified what this might be – perhaps reduced price or even free tickets to next year’s event. Dissatisfied fans, however, are now considering legal action.
And the way it was …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LHq6W0lzY
Quiz and Karaoke at North Edinburgh Arts
North Edinburgh Arts will be hosting a fun Quiz and Karaoke evening at the Centre in Pennywell on Friday 20 September.
Dinner from 5.30pm and quiz starts at 7pm
With Quiz Compere – Nick Gardner
And Quiz Assistant – Joanne Stewart
Team Prize for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners
Raffle Prizes
Teams 4-6 persons
ALSO karaoke with Kim Edgars & Lissa McIntyre
£7 per person (includes hot meal – meat or vegetarian – and dessert)
More information next month
Emma Thomson is new PASS patron
British superstar and Oscar award winning actress Emma Thompson has become the new face of Edinburgh College’s Performing Arts Studio of Scotland (PASS). 
The Nanny McPhee and Sense and Sensibility star (pictured above), who is also a screenwriter and well-known human rights activist, has shown her support towards the performing arts arm of Edinburgh College by accepting the honour of being its patron.
Emma Thompson said: “Edinburgh College’sPerforming Arts Studio of Scotlandis an exciting, high octane, cutting edge centre that will attract much of the wealth of talent in Scotland and beyond. I’m very proud to be patron.”
The much-admired British actress became familiar with PASS after meeting Edinburgh College acting and theatre performance lecturer John Naples-Campbell when he was training as a theatre student at the Scottish Youth Theatre in Glasgow.
John said: “I first met Emma when I was 18 years old at the Scottish Youth Theatre (SYT). She came along to the theatre to hold a Q&A session with SYT students and, after listening to her talk about her career in the industry, I felt driven to continue with my career in performing arts – which is why I am anacting and theatre performance lecturer today.”
“We are absolutely thrilled to have Emma Thompson as patron as this means that our training at Edinburgh College is truly recognised by the very best in the industry. We look forward to welcoming her to our productions in the college’s theatre wherever possible, and we hope to work around her schedule to hold workshops with our students.”
John added: “Emma is an inspirational person, not only because of her many Academy Awards, but also because of her work as a human rights ambassador. Her tremendous work on stage and screen gives hope to any young person wishing to pursue a career in the arts and I know that having her as our patron will motivate and inspire our students to reach their full creative potential.”
As one of the world’s most respected actresses, Emma Thompson is known for her versatility in acting as well as screenwriting and she most recently appeared in The Boat That Rocked, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and as the voice of Queen Elinor in the Pixar animation Brave. As well as her work on screen, Emma Thompson also works as an educational ambassador for a UK-based human rights organisation, the Helen Bamber Foundation, to help rebuild the lives of, and inspire a new self-esteem in, survivors of human rights violations.
Edinburgh College offers a selection of dance, acting, technical theatre, costume design, and make up artistry courses.Former graduates from performing arts courses include Scottish actress Karen Gillan, who starred in the BBC’s Doctor Who. Previous students from PASS have also performed live at the O2 Arena and collaborated with Jon Lord at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, and have also performed live on stage with Lady Gaga.
Broughton gets set for Septemberfest
This year’s Septemberfest at Broughton High School
will take place on
Saturday 21 September 2013 from 11am to 4pm
Fun for all with free entry and lots of free activities!
Septemberfest 2013: Community Festival at Broughton High School
Lots of fun for all ages. The festival includes music and dance with pipers, samba band, rock choir, drumming, and dance workshops and displays. Bouncy castles and inflatables for all ages plus the star attraction climbing tower. Lots of sports tasters and competitions including football, rugby, fencing, tennis, basketball, table tennis and more. There will be lots of bike activities this year, with tandems, unicycles, bike obstacle courses and bike maintanence. Plus a huge craft fair with loads of fantastic handcrafted goods. Come and have a go at wet felting, leather working, jewellery making or decopatch. Come and sit in a fire engine and ring the siren. Face painting, nail bar, coconut shy, chemistry capers, henna tattoos, make-up, free fantastic balloons, the list is endless, The village café will be selling tea and cakes, BBQ, pizza and ice cream. Entry is free and many of the activities are free.
Facebook Septemberfest Broughton High School
Safety warning follows weekend fires
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service crews responded to a spate of rubbish fires across the Edinburgh area over the weekend …
These were relatively minor incidents. Scottish Fire and Rescue Service personnel responded quickly as were able to extinguish the fires before damage to life or property occurred.
Burning rubbish can however, have more serious repercussions, especially if the fire occurs in a residential premises. For example, at around 11pm the same night, a fire broke out in the bins of a four-storey block of flats in Hailesland Grove, in the Sighthill area of Edinburgh. Three fire crews from Sighthill fire station were in attendance, and two firefighters in breathing apparatus had to enter the burning building. Having extinguished the fire, crews remained at the scene to vent smoke.
Bins contain a variety of flammable materials, and members of the public should take particular care to ensure that all cigarettes are fully extinguished before putting them in bins. People should also ensure that hot items (such as burnt food) are allowed to cool thoroughly before being thrown away.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service also addressed the problem of deliberate fire-setting. “Without commenting on the causes of any of these incidents, we wish to remind the public that deliberate fire-setting is not only irresponsible and dangerous to the lives and property of others, but also a serious criminal offence that can attract severe custodial penalties.”
Double date in Drylaw
Drylaw Telford community councillors will be busy on Wednesday 28 August.
As well as the regular monthly meeting in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre at 7pm, community councillors are conducting a walkabout and discussion about 20mph zones that same morning – meet at Ferryhill School entrance on Groathill Road at 10am.
All welcome at both activities!
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