Author: davepickering

Edinburgh reporter and photographer

Edinburgh ready to remember

Edinburgh will join the rest of the world in observing Remembrance Day on Sunday – a commemoration of the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war.

Two minutes’ silence will be marked on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month – a date which marks the anniversary of the ending of the First World War in 1918.

Scotland’s national remembrance ceremony will take place at the Stone of Remembrance on the Royal Mile. In attendance will be the Rt Hon Donald Wilson, Lord Lieutenant and Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, the Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP, First Minister of Scotland and the Rt Hon Michael Moore MP, Secretary of State for Scotland.

Lord Provost Donald Wilson said: “On Remembrance Sunday, people the length and breadth of Britain will pay tribute to all those who have fought and died – and who continue to do so – in order to keep this country safe.

“Whether it’s by attending a Remembrance Service or Parade, or simply by taking a moment of quiet reflection, we can all show our gratitude and appreciation for the enormous sacrifices being made every day on our behalf by so many courageous men and women.”

Some of the Remembrance services and parades taking place across the city on Sunday include:

Royal British Legion Remembrance Day parade

When? 10am

Where? Meeting in St Giles Street

Details: The parade will head eastward to the Stone of Remembrance at the City Chambers where they will be met by civic dignitaries and representatives of various public bodies for the Act of Remembrance and a wreath laying ceremony. This will be followed by a service in St Giles Cathedral.

Corstorphine Remembrance Day service

When? 10am

Where? Close to the War Memorial at Corstorphine Kirk, Kirk Loan

Davidson’s Mains Remembrance service and parade

When? 12.30pm

Where? East Barnton Gardens, near to Cramond Road South)Details: The parade will move towards the War Memorial situated in ‘The Green’, where the Remembrance Service will take place.

Heart of Midlothian Remembrance Day service

When? 10.30am

Where? Grosvenor Street, from the junction at West Maitland Street

Details: Wreaths will be laid at Grosvenor Street (and later moved to Haymarket Junction). The Salvation Army Band will then march from Caledonian Place and Dalry Road to Grosvenor Street, where a one-minute silence will be observed.

 

World Cafe returns with a double helping!

The World Cafe is back! Black Community Development Project’s monthly dining event at North Edinburgh Arts was hugely popular, offering local people the opportunity to meet informally and taste foods from all over the globe. The Cafe was one of the victims of CORE’s recent closure, but the transition group subsequently established has decided to resurrect the global dining experience – and they’re kicking off with a double helping, with TWO World Cafes this month!

The Transition Group is keen to hear the views and gather the opinions of North Edinburgh’s BME residents and promise an afternoon of ‘workshops, food and entertainment’ for participants at the two World Cafe events.

The first World Cafe will tak place at North Edinburgh Arts Centre on Friday 16 November from 3 – 7pm, and this will be followed by a second World Cafe at a new venue on a new day – Saturday 24 November sees the first World Cafe at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre from 3 – 7pm!

Booking is essential, so to book or for further informaiton please contact:

Adil Ibrahim on 07533 790 126 or email adilabuelseed@hotmail.com or Deborah Clark at ELREC, dclark@elrec.org.uk

TG Event Flyer 6th Nov 2012-FINAL

Is alcohol costing you or someone you know more than money?

Most of us like a drink from time to time and it doesn’t cause any harm, but for others alcohol is like a poison which affects every part of their lives.  There are various options available for those who have a drink problem and one of those is Alcoholics Anonymous. 

If you think you have a drink problem or work with people who abuse alcohol AA is holding a free public meeting on:

Saturday 24 November 10.30am – 12.30pm in Augustine United Church on George IV Bridge, Edinburgh 

At the meeting you will find out about AA and how it works. Everyone is welcome and it is free.

If you don’t have a drink problem or you’re not an alcoholic it is difficult to understand why some people can’t seem to stop drinking. AA shows us that alcoholics have a mental obsession with alcohol and a physical allergy once a drink has been taken into the body. This describes the problem and the solution is a twelve step programme of recovery.

Sue is only 24 years old but has had a difficult time because of the way alcohol affected her. “I started drinking with friends and really liked the effect it had on me. I had more confidence, could talk to boys and felt free to do whatever I wanted. It wasn’t long before I was getting drunk and out of control. I would do things and say things I would never have done without having had a drink – some of it was stupid but some of it was very dangerous. I got into situations where I could easily have been killed or raped. I also started having blackouts when I couldn’t remember what happened the night before. Friends told me what I had done but I didn’t want to hear because I was so embarrassed.

I realised that I had a drink problem but didn’t know what to do about it. Someone suggested Alcoholics Anonymous but I wasn’t interested as I didn’t think I was an alcoholic. However it got so bad that I was willing to do anything to take away the mental pain I was in. I went to AA and found it very strange. There weren’t many young people but I kept going because I had nowhere else to go. People in AA were very friendly and supportive and through their help I’ve not had a drink for four years and my life is so much better.”

Peter who is 63 has another tale to tell:

“I started social drinking when I was at school. I used to hang around with older guys and go to the pub at weekends, especially where there was music. Sometimes I got drunk but not all the time. I went to college, got married, had children and embarked on a career. The first time I noticed something was wrong was when I bought a bottle of cider and took it to the bottom of the garden and drank it in secret. No one was telling me to stop drinking and to this day I don’t know why I did it. I started drinking heavily in my early 20s when my marriage broke up. I moved to Edinburgh where my whole social life was geared around drinking. I had some really good friends and a lot of good times. There came a time when my drinking became out of control and I had to stop socialising because I didn’t know what I would say or do. I drank at home or on my own in pubs.  Eventually I started drinking in the mornings when the hangovers were so bad it was the only way to feel better. My health deteriorated but I still had a good job and was well respected in my profession.

I sought help from the Andrew Duncan clinic, psychologists and psychotherapists but nothing worked. I read a lot of books on self development and some biographies of people who had overcome their problem with drink but all of these people had been saved by religion and I am an atheist so that wasn’t any good for me. I even went to AA to get my partner off my back but I didn’t understand what was going on so didn’t hang around. Five years later I was in such state that I went back to AA but I didn’t think I was an alcoholic, I just had a drink problem. This time something changed and I realised that I was an alcoholic. I did what was suggested by AA– I went to meetings, I got myself a sponsor – someone who helped me work the 12 steps which is AA’s programme of recovery. I got involved and helped other people in AA. My health improved dramatically but I still had a long way to go to change the way I thought and acted. Today I have been sober for 20 years, one day at a time, have a great relationship with my partner, my ex wife and children, have the job of my dreams and am “normal” which is all I ever wanted to be. I am still an atheist which shows that AA works for anyone who is willing to be honest and practice AA’s simple 12 step programme of recovery. In AA I learnt about alcoholism and I now understand why I drank, which gives me the freedom to be the person I always wanted to be.”

The free public meeting is a great way of finding out how AA works.

AA Public Meeting flyer

For further information on AA go to http://aa-edinburgh.org.uk/

Muirhouse free family film nights

North Edinburgh Arts has teamed up with Link Up and Muirhouse Library to produce a top billing of free family and adult cinema this month. The programme got under way last weekend but there’s lots more to come for all the family in November.

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 6pm this month, adults can enjoy:

Tuesday 13 Nov – Carlito’s Way

Wednesday 14 Nov – Departed

Tuesday 20 Nov – Bladerunner

Wednesday 21 Nov – Avatar.

The family cinema programme – screenings at 1pm:

Saturday 10 November – Muppets

Saturday 17 November – Brave

Saturday 24 November – Shrek

Free films for all the family! What are you waiting for?

For further information call North Edinburgh Arts on 315 2151 or visit www.northedinburgharts.co.uk

 

Warm welcome for Muirhouse photo exhibition

Borga Prada Garcia’s eagerly-awaited photographic exhibition opened at North Edinburgh Arts Centre on Tuesday. Friends, colleagues, local residents and at least one of Borja’s photographic subjects came out in strength to support the ‘Welcome to Muirhouse’ event.

Borga spent the best part of a year photographing people and buildings in Muirhouse and Pennywell while studying at Telford College, and the ‘Welcome to Muirhouse’ photo-essay for his Photography HND achieved top marks.

The project became a labour of love, and Borja’s affection for the people he met during his time in the area shines through the images on display at North Edinburgh Arts. It’s taken a lot of work over the last few months to get the exhibition open, but Borja is delighted that his work is on view in Muirhouse.

“I am so pleased that the exhibiiton is here in North Edinburgh Arts Centre. I wanted my pictures to go on display in Muirhouse before they go anywhere else and for local people to see them first – it was important to me”, he said.

Borja wanted to portray Muirhouse in a positive light, and his work achieves that. “I was aware of the very negative image of Muirhouse, but I found it a fascinating place with many warm and welcoming people who I now call friends. It’s too easy to just make assumptions about people and places: I hope I show the real Muirhouse – the place and the people who live here – in my images.”

Borja decided not to make a formal speech to open the exhibition. “I am still working on my English language and I would prefer the occasion to be informal and friendly. I thank everyone for coming, of course, but yes, I will let the photographs tell the story themselves.”

Welcome to Muirhouse can be seen at North Edinburgh Arts on Tuesday – Friday from 10am – 8pm and from 10am – 1pm on Saturday. Until 30 November.

Letter: Word of praise for recycling service

Dear Editor,

With all due respect to  Mr Pickering’s  laudable concern for the impact on working conditions of privatisation, may I venture a word of praise for  the recycling service implemented by the   Council, now augmented by the long overdue and very welcome provision of  food recycling?

Surely a very positive outcome of fortnightly collections could be a heightened effort on the part of all responsible citizens to reduce the bulk  of their refuse.  While I concede that it is comparatively easy for  me to reduce the bulk of my refuse given that  my family have grown up and left home , nevertheless I take pride in the fact that with determination and commitment to caring for our environment, I now  find it possible, given the comprehensive provision  of recycling services, to put out  my green bin – containing at most two black bags of refuse –  only once  every second month.

As citizens we  cannot with impunity continue piling mountain upon mountain of stinking refuse into landfill.  It distresses me to witness householders  loading  up their green bins with    recyclable material when the Council is providing such  detailed support in terms of recycling bins and literature, and when there are recycling points within walking distance of all able-bodied inhabitants of North Edinburgh.

Joyce Gunn Cairns, West Pilton

SAHELIYA – a friend indeed

BME womens group Saheliya celebrate their twentieth birthday later this month. Saheliya is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘women friends’, and the project has been a true friend to many hundreds of women since it was established in July 1992. 

Manager Alison Davis explains that, although some issues being encountered are changing, the need for the support service remains as great as it ever did:

“Since 1992 Saheliya has been providing support to BME women in Edinburgh who have mental well-being issues – mainly women who are not accessing mainstream services. During these twenty years the profile of our service users has changed: now our average service user has moderate to severe rather than mild to moderate mental well-being problems. Their problems relate mainly to experiences such as racism, Islamaphobia, honour violence, in-law abuse, forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), trafficking, torture and other organised violence. Compared to only 1% five years ago, presently 38% of our service users are from refugee communities. For eighteen years, we had only one case of FGM; we now have FGM survivors on waiting lists for our services.

“We provide a wide range of learning activities to sustain recovery and to maximize social and economic integration; this includes accredited childcare training with the potential of work experience placements in our childcare service.

“Through our therapeutic and case work support and because of our organisational focus, we are able to identify changes in the local demographic profile and in needs for specialist services that are not easily identified by mainstream agencies or generally acknowledged by BME community organisations. Our organisational statistics and our specially devised database and monitoring and evaluation systems enable us to map mental health support needs, prevalence of harmful cultural practices, and effective support packages. Saheliya is an important resource for mainstream policy makers and service providers in planning responses to population changes and for service delivery.

“We believe that our wrap-around services, move-on opportunities, and collection of statistics makes us an important organisation for Edinburgh and for Scotland as a whole if we are to ensure inclusive services and achieve integration.”

The organisation is holding a

20th Anniversary Celebration Stakeholders Event

on Thursday 15 November from 9.30am to 1.30pm

an opportunity to meet staff, learn about Saheliya’s work and participate in workshops. 

For further information about the anniversary event, or about Saheliya’s range of services, telephone 556 9302 or email info@saheliya.co.uk