Police are appealing for information to help find a woman reported missing from the local area.
Leanne Reilly, 45, was reported missing from the Telford Road area around 2.10pm yesterday (Monday, 13 September). She was last seen in the Gorgie, Slateford area around 2.30pm on Sunday, 12 September.
Leanne is described as being around 5ft 6in height, of medium build, with long black hair and glasses. There is no current description of her clothing, however she is believed to be in possession of a pink suitcase.
Inspector Keith Scott said: “We are becoming increasingly concerned for Leanne’s welfare and are keen to find her as soon as possible.
“We would appeal to anyone with information on her whereabouts or anyone who has seen anyone matching her description to get in touch.”
Anyone with any information is asked to contact 101 quoting incident 1719 of 13 September.
Drylaw Telford Community Council meets tomorrow evening following the summer recess.
As well as the usual agenda items, topical issues include the state of Drylaw Shopping Centre, an update on Drylaw House and Easter Drylaw Park issues.
The meeting will be held on Zoom and starts at 7pm.
For details on how you can participate please email DTCC secretary Pam Higgins, pamhigginsdtcc@gmail.com
In the Frame is a free programme for people living in North Edinburgh to learn documentary filmmaking and make their own short film.
Running from 20th September 2021 to March 2022, the programme will amplify the voices of local people and capture snapshots of life in the community by providing a platform to express themselves through a series of short documentaries.
Participants will learn each stage of documentary filmmaking, from an introduction to the genre via watching films, to learning the key skills in camera, sound, directing, editing, and interview techniques. We will also cover the ethics of documentary and support learners to use these skills to devise and produce a short film.
Many films used as case studies will come from the Pilton Video/SEE archive, which reveal some of the hopes and issues that matter most to the community in North Edinburgh over the past 40 years.
No previous film experience is required and In the Frame is open to people living in North Edinburgh (Crewe, Drylaw, East Pilton, Granton, Pennywell, Muirhouse, Royston, Salvesen, Telford, Wardieburn, Waterfront and West Pilton).
The programme will take place on Tuesday evenings for adults (aged 19 and over)and Wednesday evenings for young people (aged 14 to 18)with films shot throughout November and December and editing in January & February, with the film’s receiving their premiere on the big screen in March.
The programme is funded by Inspiring Scotland’s Creative Communities Programme which is funded jointly by the Scottish Government’s Culture and Justice directorates and aims to extend opportunities for people to take part in creative endeavours throughout their lives.
To find out more and to take part, please complete our short form here and the team will be in touch.
Join us for an evening of food and entertainment, hosted by our Citizen Writers in Residence Eleanor Thom and Leyla Josephine.
With live readings, audio recordings and a film created by Citizen participants, our community meal will showcase the insightful and thoughtful work of local people from North Edinburgh and Musselburgh.
This live event is part of Citizen, our long-term creative programme working in partnership with organisations across Edinburgh, offering local people a platform to explore identity, connection, place and everything it means to live in our world right now.
Following on from the success of last year’s virtual event, Stories and Scran returns for a second helping.
This community meal, enjoyed by participants in our Citizen programme, will take place in Edinburgh College of Art, with dinner provided by The Scran Academy.
The meal will be followed by a showcase of live readings, audio stories and short films in a celebration of community spirit.
During lockdown I took the opportunity to try something new and signed up to North Edinburgh Arts’ Writing the Times creative writing group.
I so enjoyed the experience of meeting up with others – fair enough it was still Zoom, but at least it seemed more like normal life! – that I went on to take part in the Citizen creative writing project this Spring (above).
We were asked to choose and write about a local building, and, living in Drylaw, I chose The Doocot.
While I would never describe the Doocot as a place of worship, pubs, like churches, are more about the people in them than the actual buildings themselves, so I wrote a series of short stories about unforgettable characters – real, imagined and some a bit of both – who made the Doocot such a popular place in it’s heyday.
I will be reading a Doocot tale at the Stories and Scran celebration tomorrow evening. The event is fully subscribed, but Edinburgh International Book Festival will be streaming it live.
The next meeting of this group is Tuesday 17th August at 6pm on Teams (link below)
Please find attached:
Minute of previous meeting of 24th June 2021
Agenda for meeting of 17th August 2021
NEP report (Roads and Housing Revenue Account HRA)
Transport Infrastructure Investment report
We have no Community Grants applications to consider at this meeting, but Cllr Barrie is still looking for volunteers to join a Funding Panel that will consider any applications in future.
We are particularly keen to have anyone representing projects in the Drylaw Telford area.
Please get back to me if you are willing to assist in this.
An application to build new homes in Telford is facing opposition.
Port of Leith Housing Association has lodged plans to build eleven flats on the site of the shops on Telford Drive, but one resident has appealed to Drylaw Telford Community Council to challenge the application.
At one time there was a row of shops on the site at the heart of the scheme – older readers may recall a fish and chip shop, a haberdashery and a general store there – but the last remaining convenience store closed last year.
The nearest shops for Telford residents are at Ferry Road ‘shopping centre’ in Drylaw or over the busy Telford Road at Craigleith Retail Park – and at least one Telford woman thinks this is wrong.
She told Drylaw Telford Community Council: “When the shop closed in January 2020 it was to make way for flats and a convenience store included, but with covid that all fell through.
“We have waited on the same plans to re-emerge, only to find out that the council are giving planning permission according to a report in Edinburgh live yesterday , for the flats only.
“I am outraged as our nearest shop is the Today store in Drylaw and it is a long journey for most and to carry shopping is very hard.
“I have lived in this street for over 50 years and we have always had a shop here – Sohil the shop owner was reluctant to give up this land but he was promised a new shop would be built and he would have a choice to come back and run it.
“The residents of Telford Drive need a shop in our street – not everyone has a car.”
Drylaw Telford Community Council will discuss the application at their August meeting.
Drylaw Parish Church has just installed an external defibrillator at the front door of the church for community use.
As you probably know you do not need any training or prior information to be able to use this; instructions are on the unit itself, indicating that anyone wanting to use it should phone 999 and then are given the code to open the unit.
The unit is on the left hand side of the front door, and is bright yellow.
This installation is part of an Edinburgh-wide church project, initiated by the Church of Scotland and now extending to other denominations and other faith traditions.
It reflects the churches’ commitment to support health and well-being. This is in conjunction with St John’s Ambulance Defibs across the city of Edinburgh.
Here in Drylaw Parish Church we are seeking to support health in other ways as well. We are just starting to offer contributions towards mental health, in partnership with Pilton Community Health Project. See below a flyer with information about that:
Capacitar, an internationally used way to support people enabling them to support themselves. This is running on Mondays lunchtimes at 12.30pm and is open to anyone, professionals and local people, who might appreciate 45 minutes of body/mind relaxation and reflection.
In time, we hope this could become a hybrid group, allowing local people to do this in person in the church building. People can refer themselves, simply emailing for the link as indicated.
Scran Academy is celebrating after being shortlisted for a leading UK industry Award. This week, Scran was announced as a Finalist in the Apprenticeship and Skills category of the Public Sector Catering Awards and the recognition will see the youth-led organisation appear at the Ceremony in London later this year.
Scran Academy’s initial focus was to use the innovative food social enterprise to help young people from North Edinburgh to overcome their learning and life barriers and lead more meaningful lives.
Scran’s community-based school uses food to support learners disengaged from mainstream school to access qualifications and work. Despite being less than four years old, they have grown and scaled their impact to support thousands of people throughout the pandemic and city wide.
This includes the creation of the youth-led Scran Café based at the Comely Bank NHS Centre, which creates a welcoming, relaxing and safe haven for as many as 100 frontline NHS workers and clinical trainees on a daily basis.
Last year Scran also launched the Scran Van, a food truck that provides free healthy food to children and families across the city to combat hunger and increase positive youth activities.
All of these food initiatives puts employability skills, job opportunities and personal development for youth at the heart of what they do.
This award nomination comes as this ground-breaking social venture seeks to empower hundreds more young people with the skills and confidence to lead in the hospitality industry.
At the same time the programme will take a significant bite out of the poverty-related barriers, life challenges and injustices the young people face on a daily basis – being care-experienced, disengaged from mainstream school, at risk of homelessness, unemployed or suffering from poor mental health.
Nominee and Founder of Scran Academy and social entrepreneur, John Loughton BEM, said: “This nomination is a real vote of confidence in our community work and a recognition in the power of food to change lives.
“Will Bain and his team work magic at Scran to ensure food is positive for all people, not just those that can afford it. At Scran we do hand-ups, not just hand-outs and young people go on to change their own lives once they realise people believe in them.
“Scran’s story shows is that if we support local community organisations that are run with passion and authenticity, we can develop creative solutions to social inequality. It also shows that unlike the stereotypes so often in the media, young people make a real and positive contribution to society and your postcode does not have to be your destiny.”
