Category: Almond

North Edinburgh Save our Services: Action Meeting tonight

ACTION MEETING

Tonight at The Prentice Centre, 6 – 8pm

All Welcome Continue reading North Edinburgh Save our Services: Action Meeting tonight

Edinburgh’s budget: still time to have your say

There’s still time to share your views on the City Council’s draft council change strategy and proposals for the 2019/20 budget.  Continue reading Edinburgh’s budget: still time to have your say

“You might as well build an abbattoir at the top of Pennywell Road: we’re being put to the sword”

Funding Cuts: When all else fails, order a report … or two

Campaigners representing local community organisations affected by impending cuts to Health and Social Care grants put their case for continued funding to the North West Localities Committee last week.

The projects were told that the Locality Committee is in no position to restore lost funding, however, and councillors committed only to call for reports into the EIJB’s grant funding process.

In particular, officers were tasked to look at activity (or lack of it) to support projects affected by discontinued funding since the decision was made in December. The reports will also analyse the funding spend to determine whether or not North West has been impacted more severely than other localities.

While it’s important that lessons are learned for the future, this action won’t help those projects who need support NOW, though: the Localities committee doesn’t meet again until 28th March – by which time projects will have had to issue redundancy notices to staff and, in some cases, look at closing projects down. Continue reading “You might as well build an abbattoir at the top of Pennywell Road: we’re being put to the sword”

Capital Carers AGM

Wednesday 13th February from 12 – 2pm at The Prentice Centre

North Edinburgh Save our Services: sign the petition!

A new 38degrees petition, “NorthEdinburgh#saveourservices” is now available online.  Continue reading North Edinburgh Save our Services: sign the petition!

Community Council cancelled: activists speaking at tonight’s Localities meeting

Tonight’s Drylaw Telford Community Council meeting has been cancelled as all Inverleith councillors will be attending another meeting – North West Locality Committee is meeting tonight at 6.30pm in the Dean of Guilds Room at the City Chambers.

Two local activists representing Save Our Services North Edinburgh will be  speaking about the impact of the Health and Social Care cuts in a deputation to the Localities Committee.

The meeting is open to the public: go along and support local services if you can!

NW Localities committee meets on Wednesday

The next meeting of North West Locality Committee will take place this Wednesday (30th January) from 6.30 – 8.30pm in the Dean of Guilds Room at the City Chambers. Continue reading NW Localities committee meets on Wednesday

Anxious times for Almond Mains Initiative

It isn’t only groups and organisations from North Edinburgh – the old Greater Pilton area – who are facing bleak futures following funding cuts.

Some citywide organisations like Volunteer Edinburgh’s LOOPS support programme for older people received no funding and organisations in Craigmillar, the city centre and Northfield Willowbrae were all unsuccessful in their funding bids.

Projects supporting services for older people came out of the funding process particularly badly – including one in nearby Cramond (an area, incidentally, that is now part of North West Locality alongside communities like West Pilton and Muirhouse).

There are precious few community facilities in Cramond – and now it seems likely that there could be one fewer.

You may not have heard of it, but The Almond Mains Initiative has been running for twenty years. It formed in Davidson’s Mains and moved to Parkgrove before settling in it’s current home at Cramond Kirk’s Millennium Hall.

The Almond Mains initiative runs lunch clubs and day services catering for older people over 65 who are frail, have difficulty with mobility or a disability or health condition which limits their access to social opportunities.

The club is unable to meet the needs of people with dementia or those who require specific personal care, but is a real lifeline for those older people who would otherwise be isolated.

The club meets on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Cramond Kirk’s Millennium Hall, supporting twelve people per day.

Almond Mains had applied to Edinburgh Integration Joint Board’s Health & Social Care fund for a grant of £43,000 to support two part-time staff and project activities over the next three years, but heard last month that they had been unsuccessful – and will receive nothing.

Gena Wylie is chairperson of the Almond Mains Initiative. Formerly of Pilton Youth & Children’s Project and an active member of Forth Voluntary Sector Forum before her retirement, Gena is no stranger to funding challenges and it must seem like deja vu for the Almond chair.

Gena explained: “The application process was particularly unforgiving and we were hugely disappointed to hear that our funding bid had been rejected – and this in a short email that gave no detail of why we were rejected.

“That explanation may come later but it will be no consolation to either the staff or the people who use the service. Our worry is that there is absolutely nothing else to offer the people who currently attend the Almond Mains Initiative.

“Where will they go?  We know other organisations are already operating waiting lists and no-one has spare capacity, so the fear is that our older people won’t have any  opportunities to meet and socialise. It’s a real concern and at this time no-one seems to have an answer.”