West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre is holding an Open Day this Friday (20 April) from 10am – 2pm.
Call in to to the centre in West Pilton Grove to find out the range of activities and courses available for all the family, browse through the bargains at the Table Sale and enjoy a coffee and cake in the cafe!
For more information call Linda on 551 3194.
Craigleith Blackhall Community Council’s local government election hustings event takes place this Thursday evening (19 April) at 7.30pm in Blackhall St. Columba’s Church on Queensferry Road. All welcome.
Drylaw Cooking Group’s new blog will be launched tomorrow (Wednesday 18th April) from 7-8.30pm at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre. Baking stall, recipe ideas, cooking tombola, cookery demonstrations. Be creative and you could be a winner in the Best Apron Competition – one junior prize and one adult prize to be won!
All welcome – call 0131 315 4989 for more details.
North Edinburgh Arts Centre is the place to be next Saturday (21 April) when it stages the only Edinburgh performances of the classic ‘Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’.
This hilarious, fast-paced adaptation of Robert Tressell’s classic book shares with its audience a year in the life of a group of painters and decorators as they renovate ‘The Cave’, a three-storey town house, for Mayor Sweater. It traces their hardships and struggles for survival in a complacent and stagnating Edwardian England. These workers are the ‘philanthropists’ who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters.
This enduring and absorbing classic story is brought to life by Neil Gore and Rodney Matthew, two hugely talented and experienced performers, using comedy routines and entertaining songs of the Music Hall, with a few surprises along the way!
Robert Tressell’s book has become a classic of working-class literature since its first publication in 1914. The themes and style of the piece are eternally relevant and provoking as it puts life and politics into sharp focus in an entertaining and accessible way.
Stephen Lowe’s version of the story was first seen in 1978, when Joint Stock Theatre Company toured the country playing to packed houses. The play was revived at the Half Moon Theatre, London in 1983 and again for a touring production by the Birmingham Rep in 1991.
Townsend Productions’ ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ excellent cast features Rodney Matthew who joins the production straight off the back of ‘Jerusalem’ in the West End. He has worked at many of the leading repertory theatres, including West Yorkshire Playhouse where he worked for a year and at Dundee Rep where he spent a memorable five years performing in classical, musical and new work around Scotland. Matthew is joined on stage in the two-hander by the talented Neil Gore (Song of Singapore, Chichester Festival Theatre and the West End). The production is directed by Louise Townsend, with the creative team including designs by Fine Time Fontayne and lighting by Jo Dawson.
The play has had the Backing of the unions RMT, Unite, Unite, Scotland, TUC, SETUC, GMB, PCS, Wales TUC, NUT, Accord, UCATT NASWT and the FBU.
Tickets for The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (performances at 2pm and 7pm) are priced at £10.00 Conc. £5.00 and can be purchased at North Edinburgh Arts Box Office: 0131 315 2151.
STOP PRESS
Tickets for the evening performance are already sold out and tickets for the matinée are going fast. However you can win tickets for the play – North Edinburgh Arts has two tickets to give away for the matinée and NEN has to more for the evening performance. Check out April’s NEN to find out how to win tickets to a must-see show!
Lothian and Borders Police are warning the public to remain vigilant for an ongoing scam after a local woman was defrauded.
The 42-year-old woman was in her Telford Drive home on Wednesday 28 March when she received a call from someone claiming to be from a PPI claims company. During the call, the woman was advised that she was eligible for a PPI refund and was instructed to pay a three-figure sum of money via UKASH vouchers, which she did. However, the victim never received any form of refund and detectives are now urging others to be wary of also falling victim to this fraud.
A police spokesman said: “The issue of PPI refunds is a very current topic and criminals will look to exploit any new opportunity to obtain money or personal details from members of our communities.
Members of the public should never disclose bank details or other sensitive information to any companies or individuals unless entirely certain of their authenticity. Anyone who has received a call similar to this should report the matter to police or Action Fraud immediately on 0300 123 2040.”
The April NEN will arrive from the printers today and will be distributed across North Edinburgh over the coming days – we hope you enjoy reading your new NEN; we think it looks great but we’re biased! Let us know what you think.
This latest edition is slightly later than planned but, starting next month, we plan to publish monthly once again. The deadline for the May paper will be 15 May ( all future deadlines will be the 15th for that month’s paper ) , so if you have events to publicise, stories to share or wish to advertise your business or organisation please get in touch.
You can contact NEN:
By email: northedinnews@gmail.com
By telephone: 07925 405 972
By Post:
North Edinburgh News
c/o Edinburgh’s Telford College
350 West Granton Road
Edinburgh EH5 1QE
We look forward to hearing from you!
With a growing acceptance that green technology is the way forward – and every indication that the job market in renewable energy sector will grow over the coming years – Edinburgh’s Telford College produced another first with the launch of the country’s first dedicated renewable energy training centre last week.
Edinburgh’s Renewable Energy Innovation Centre (EREIC) will offer extensive training and skills development for workers employed in the renewable and construction industries. The centre will provide training in micro-renewable energy sources and complements the more traditional courses offered to students such as heritage, roofing and brickwork.
Telford’s head of employer services Myra Dickson explained: “The new centre will help to ensure that Scotland has workers skilled for modern and environmentally friendly projects, thereby meeting the needs of employers and industry, both now and in the future. It also allows Edinburgh’s Telford College to demonstrate its determination to evolve to ensure it is delivering courses that provide opportunities for our new and current generations of employees.”
College Principal Miles Dibsdall OBE added: “The renewable energy centre ideally illustrates the focus we have made to provide the best possible employment and training opportunities.”
Hustings at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre on Thursday 26th April from 6-8-30pm. Chance to ask your prospective candidate for the Forth Ward what they will do for the area should they be elected on to the council All Welcome.
Anna Hutchison
Cardinal Keith O’Brien will call for Christians to identify with the cross and make it more prominent in their lives when he preaches his Easter Sunday Homily in St Mary’s Cathedral today.
The Cardinal, the leader of Scotland’s Catholics, will say that the cross should be an important part of people’s lives and that every Christian should “wear proudly a symbol of the cross of Christ on their garments each and every day of their lives”.
Speaking earlier, Cardinal O’Brien said: “Easter provides the ideal time to remind ourselves of the centrality of the cross in our Christian faith.”
Craigroyston Primary School teacher Barbara Wilson retired last week after a teaching career in North Edinburgh that spanned 39 years! Barbara taught at Silverknowes for 29 years before moving on to the new Craigroyston when it opened in 2003.
Craigroyston Primary School held a special assembly to thank and say goodbye to the popular teacher before breaking up for the Easter holidays.
Barbara was joined on her special day by friend and former colleague Moira Moyes, who retired from Craigroyston just eight weeks ago. Barbara and Moira became friends when they studied to become teachers, graduating in 1973. Barbara went on to teach at Silverknowes while Moira taught at nearby Muirhouse, but the friends were reunited when the schools merged to form the new Craigroyston in 2003.
Over all those years Barbara and Moira taught and nurtured hundreds of local schoolchildren, although Barbara did point out that Moira did take off a couple of years to have a family so she’s still basically a novice!
Barbara (left) and Moira are pictured with Craigroyston pupils who helped to make the assembly extra special.
