They came from schools, from projects, from churches and from nice warm houses – they came from all over Muirhouse on a mission: to plant thousands of bulbs on Muirhouse Avenue.
The gardeners braved chilly winds and showers over Friday and Saturday to plant their bulbs. The fruits of their labours won’t be seen until springtime – but it’s sure to be worth the wait!
I started crawling back towards our lines, and I had never seen so many dead men clumped together. That was all I could see and I thought to myself, ‘All the world’s dead – they’re all dead – they’re all dead’. That’s all I could think as I crawled along. Everywhere I passed, to my left and my right were dead men laying on the ground.
Pte Charles Taylor, 13 Battalion, Yorks and Lancs
One summer evening after the Battle of the Somme had started the guns were rumbling and there was a terrible nose of battle in our ears. Yet where we lay, just thirty metres from the trenches, there were mountains and peace, and hardly any shooting. We could see the French soldiers, and one night a Frenchman started to sing – he was a wonderful tenor. None of us dared to shoot and suddenly we were all looking out from the tranches and applauding, and the Frenchman said ‘Merci‘!
It was peace in the middle of war, and the strange thing was that – just a few kilometres northwards – the terrible battle of the Somme was going on.
Captain Herbert Sulzbach, German Artillery
We were still fighting hard and losing men – we knew nothing of the proposed Armistice, we didn’t know until a quarter to ten on that day. As we advanced on the village of Guiry a runner came up and told us that the Armistice would be signed at 11 o’ clock that day, the 11th of November. That was the first we knew of it.
We were lined up on a railway bank nearby, the same railway bank that the Manchesters had lined up on in 1914. They had fought at the Battle of Mons in August that year. Some of us went down to a wood in a little valley and found the skeletons of some of the Manchesters still lying there. Lying there with their boots on, very still, no helmets, no rusty rifles or equipment, just their boots.
Marine Hubert Trotman, Royal Marine Light Infantry
It wasn’t like London, where they all got drunk of course. No, it wasn’t like that, it was all very quiet. You were so dazed that you just didn’t realise that you could stand up straight and not be shot.
Corporal Reginald Leonard Haine, 1 Honourable Artillery Company
The Armistice came, the day we had dreamed of. The guns stopped, the fighting stopped. Four years of noise and bangs ended in silence. The killings had stopped.
We were stunned. I had been out since 1914, I should have been happy. I was sad. I thought of the slaughter, the hardships, the waste and the friends I had lost.
Sgt Major Richard Tobin, Hood Battalion, Royal Naval Division
The Matter is a new way for young people to tell their councils and governments what they think about issues that concern them, and a group of local teenagers unveiled the first edition of their new publication and presented their findings at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre last month.
Commissioned by the Total Craigroyston initiative, six young people from North Edinburgh Young People’s Forum spent six manic weeks researching, consulting, interviewing, writing and producing their very own newspaper – The Matter – to articulate younger people’s views on how their voices can be heard in the Forth community planning process. The teenagers did receive some assistance – The Matter was supported by design agency Snook in partnership with Young Scot and Firstport.
We promised last month that the young journalists would produce their own article about the project for NEN – and here it is:
Matters2us article
Matters2us is our group name for the newspaper that expresses young people’s voices. We as young people got the privilege of becoming the first ever pilot group to have produced a paper with the team called: The Matter. Our deadline was 6 weeks, so you can imagine how strenuous the whole process was!
We were given a client, an editor and a designer to help us produce the paper and went out to explore the Forth Neighbourhood Community and ask a question. That question that was given to us by the client – Tim from Total Craigroyston/Edinburgh City Council – the question was ‘How can young people’s voices be heard successfully in the Forth Neighbourhood Community Planning Process?’
We consulted with roughly 200 young people around the area and out all of the ideas into the paper. With the ideas the young people gave, we produced 3 big ideas and on our launch night we explored these ideas in greater detail with the audience. The launch night was about highlighting the achievement of us making a newspaper and getting it known to the local community more, whilst also letting the public know about our process of the paper.
In the audience were members of the general public from the community, Edinburgh City Council workers, Councillors, young scot, snook and young people. The outcome was fantastic: people want to support us in finding funding to do a second print and praised us on the work we had done.
We as a group extremely enjoyed this experience and hope to do it again sometime in the future!
North Edinburgh Young People’s Forum
NEYPF@hotmail.co.uk
Easter Drylaw Residents Association will be holding their AGM in Drylaw Parish Church on Monday 19 November from 7 – 9pm. All welcome!
Organisers of this summer’s West Pilton and Muirhouse Community Gala have been nominated for an award.
In a post on the group’s Facebook page, the committee announced: ‘Great news… The gala has just been nominated for an event award with Edinburgh City Council, and the committee have been invited to the awards ceremony at The Assembly Rooms on Wed 21st Nov … ‘
Good luck, guys!
Supported by EVOC, Forth Voluntary Sector Forum brings together representatives of voluntary groups and community organisations to discuss issues of common concern. Forth VSF meets regularly and is currently chaired by North West Carers’ Sarah Mavor.
The next meeting of Forth Voluntary Sector Forum will be held in North Edinburgh Arts on Wednesday 14 November at 10am. New faces/organisations are always welcome!
For further information about Forth Voluntary Sector Forum contact EVOC Neighbourhood Partnerships Development Officer Kate Kasprowicz on 555 9100 or email kate.kasprowicz@evoc.org.uk
Live in Inverleith? What are your views on local transport issues? Whether it’s bus services, cycling, car parking, potholes or routes for walkers Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership wants to hear your opinion!
Transport is the theme of the annual Inverleith Community Conference and organisers insist that views expressed at the meeting will help influence city council transport plans – senior transport officials will participate in informal workshops at the Broughton event.
‘On the Move in Inverleith’ takes place on Thursday 15 November from 6 – 9pm in Broughton High School and places are still available – to register for the conference call Anne Brown on 332 6316, email anne.brown@ea.edin.sch.uk or download a booking form at www.edinburghnp.org.uk/inverleith
With an evening of ‘lively debate, big ideas, fun and refreshments’ on offer, would you really want to miss ‘On the move in Inverleith’?
The Muirhouse Centipede has been in touch asking us to remind readers that there’s a touch of ‘guerilla gardening’ taking place in Muirhouse Avenue tomorrow.
Working with the city council and North Edinburgh Arts, Muirhouse Centipede project has organised a community bulb planting weekend tomorrow and Saturday and they could do with a hand – the green-fingered group has no less than 9000 spring bulbs to plant on Muirhouse Avenue!
Working with local artist Natalie Taylor, Friday’s session is from 1 – 3pm and on Saturday it’s 10am – 2pm. Many hands make light work, and your labours will help produce a beautiful ‘painting’ come the Spring
Hot drinks and biscuits will be available for everyone who joins in, and groups from Craigroyston Primary School, Oaklands School and Muirhouse Millennium Centre have signed up to kick off the project tomorrow – come and join them!
For further information call North Edinburgh Arts on 315 2151 or visit www.northedinburgharts.co.uk
North Edinburgh Theatre Group is offering performance without barriers in an innovative piece of Theatre Uncut later this month. And what exactly is Theatre Uncut, I hear you cry? North Edinburgh Theatre Project’s Stephanie Knight explains all:
“Theatre Uncut was established last year in response to cuts in UK public spending outlined by the coalition government. For one week in March over 800 people performed Theatre Uncut plays simultaneously in more than 80 venues across the UK, USA, Germany and Ireland: the plays were performed in theatres, universities, community centres, schools, on the streets, in living rooms – anywhere and everywhere!
This year playwrights from Greece, Syria, Spain, the US, Iceland and the UK have penned short dramatic responses tackling a range of issues including the Eurozone crisis, the state of global capitalism and the Occupy movement – so uncut also takes on the meaning of uncensored in this exciting 2012 season of brand new work.”
North Edinburgh Theatre project will be presenting a rehearsed reading of
Spine by Clara Brennan (UK)
A tender musing on the real cost of closing our libraries
and some improvised scenes based on
The Breakout by Anders Lustgarten (UK)
Abrickfallsoutofacellwall,offeringitsinmatesaviewof thepotentialoftheworldbeyondthebars
The performance takes place on Friday 16 November at 7pm
in North Edinburgh Arts Centre.
Stephanie adds: “The participants are really excited to be part of this international initiative and it would be great to see a lot of people here. The World Café is also selling some wonderful food until 7pm on Friday 16, so if you come earlier you can have something yummy to eat before watching Theatre Uncut!”
