granton:hub at The Madelvic
Saturday 24 October, 11am – 2.30pm
Category: Granton
Pleased as punch: plumbing apprentices pick up industry awards
Plumbing apprentices from Edinburgh College proved they have bright careers in the pipeline by winning prizes at the trade’s professional body annual awards.
Four apprentices received awards from the Scottish & Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation (SNIPEF) for excellent performance in college and the workplace. The students are each completing four-year modern apprenticeships with the college’s Construction department.
SNIPEF’s Edinburgh and District Branch gave awards to the best student in each of the first three years of the modern apprenticeship, and to the best improved apprentice. The event celebrated the achievements of apprentices from Edinburgh, Borders and Forth Valley colleges.
The awards for Edinburgh College apprentices were:
- Best 1st Year apprentice Kyle Rodger, T Clarke
- Best 2nd Year apprentice James Redpath, JSB
- Best 3rd Year apprentice Rory Watt, H&C Mechanical Services Ltd
- Best Improved apprentice Graeme McKenzie, CHC Group Ltd
Rory Watt was also runner up for the David More Trophy, which is awarded to the best over-all apprentice in the region and went to Martyn Smith from Forth Valley College.
Andrew Golightly, decorating, plastering and plumbing lecturer at Edinburgh College, said: “These apprentices represent the best we have at the college. They have proven to be excellent in their training, shown their commitment and become great plumbers and we are delighted that they are being recognised for that by SNIPEF Edinburgh and District Branch.
“Two of the award winners originally came to the college to complete a pre-apprenticeship course, and their awards tonight prove their commitment to learning and hard work.”
The 19 week pre-apprenticeship course provides a grounding in basic installation and servicing principles, an insight into the working environment, and a head start on the competition when applying for fulltime modern apprenticeship schemes. Plumbing students at Edinburgh College are able to use state of the art training facilities at the college’s Granton and Midlothian campuses to learn the essential skills they need to progress in the workplace.
The awards ceremony took place at Edinburgh College’s Granton Campus training restaurant, The Apprentice, with catering provided by professional cookery students.
PICTURE: Standing: Lecturer Andrew Golightly, Head of Construction John Laing, apprentices Kyle Rodger and Rory Watt, and curriculum manager Juliet Harkin. Front row: apprentices James Redpath and Graeme McKenzie.
Credit Union merger: Special General Meeting on Thursday
North Edinburgh Credit Union announces merger plan
North Edinburgh Credit Union is to merge with Castle Credit Union and Water of Leith CU, doubling the existing membership and giving the new organisation a stronger financial base.
In a letter to members, North Edinburgh Credit Union Chair Ron Carthy explained: “The Board of North Edinburgh Credit Union is committed to maintaining a strong CU presence in North Edinbyrgh and to offer the range of services our members expect. Therefore, the Board has agreed to merge with Castle Cedit Union and the Water of Leith CU study group as a major step in this process. This wiill not only double the size of our existing member base but also gives us a stronger financial base upon which to expand and sustain a viable credit union.
He continues: “The new Head Office for the merged credit union will be in our exisiting office in Wardieburn Drive. As part of our palans for the new merged credit union we will extending (sic) our opening times and be introducing access 24/7 via a new website for members to check balances, apply for loans and see how their savings are growing. We will also be offering a wider range of savings and loan products.”
NECU is holding a meeting at the Wardieburn office this Thurday at 6.30pm (business starts 7pm) to share information about the ‘exciting new plans’. All members welcome.
For further information call 0131 466 5006
or email committee@necu.co.uk
Granton on Sea seeks community support for Lottery bid
A Way Forward for Community Regeneration?
A local project which hopes to oversee the regeneration of Granton’s waterfront is asking the local community to support a bid for Lottery funding.
Granton Improvement Society says, if successful, a lottery grant would be used to stage art work for a garden festival, employ a member of staff and take regeneration plans on to the next stage.
Granton Improvement Society administrator Ross McEwan explained: “GIS was invited to make an application to the BIG Lottery Peoples Project for an award of £50,000. The process involves joining the community blog that they had set up – we had to write a 500 word submission on the blog page together with three images.
“The shortlisting process will take into consideration comments made on the blog, so we are asking members to please make comments in as positive a way as possible, especially about what huge benefits would come to the community from the income generated and from the major new facilities in the area.”
In ‘Granton on Sea – A Way Forward for Community Regeneration’, their submission to the webpage, GIS say:
‘We held several public events with guest speakers, this has increased the membership from local people considerably and means the GIS is now the largest membership organisation in the area.
‘A new exhibition of the current project proposals and promotional material have proved to be a great success especially when attending events and for getting the project more visible in the local community and with City Councillors.
All of these new initiatives have helped in being commissioned by Scottish Government Regeneration Unit and DTAS/COSS to undertake an Asset Mapping exercise over the whole area we have chosen to work within.
The project will allow us to find out what the physical and social assets are of the area. As part of this we will identify the wider community need and aspirations, this information will lead to a community plan and strengthen the communities
Since the Granton Improvement Society was established in January 2013 the membership from local residents has gradually risen to just under 200, The management committee of 11 trustees is comprised of seven local residents and four who are just on the boundary of the EH4 & EH5 area that we have chosen to operate within.
If we were successful the new money would take the project to a stage where we would do small art interventions related to the garden festival in underused derelict green space, the focus of which is creative design, all will be for the community to undertake. We will show the health and wellbeing benefits of the outdoors and creative process.
As part of the new exhibition we have taken the design proposals to another more detailed stage in preparation for a future planning application in doing so it has brought the landowner to the table to negotiate the sale of the land.
New money would allow us to commission architects and energy consultants to explore the sustainability and environmental impact of the project. A model of the project will be commissioned something which is more accessible than architectural drawings. A more detailed financial impact study should prove the community benefit of the project locally and nationally.
A Social Hub: reaching out to a wider community base.
Sea containers will be bought and converted using local people gaining construction skills, this would be the studio space for the GIS, the local community could come and interact with the project and talk about needs and aspirations. This will inform the project.
It will allow us for the first time to employ a dedicated project worker and not rely upon volunteers all of the time, local people will gain skills, training and education.
More community events would be organised, creating greater community involvement and a more cohesive and resilient community.
All of these bigger initiatives will create a sense of community ownership, pride and care for the future when the project is realised. It will be owned by the community through large community consultation and participation.’
To make a comment on the Granton submission, go to
Ross added: “Go to top right of page ‘Not a member yet?’ and join. Just follow the instructions. After registering you are directed to a Welcome page. Go to the heading The Peoples’s Projects. On this page go to Search Blogs by ITV region – we are in STV East.
“Our blog is the fifth one in the list. Open the blog and and join the group at top right of the page then you should be able to begin commenting at the end of the blog in the comments box. We want as many of you as possible to do this!”
Six of the best for College students!
Graphics students learn from the best in new Edinburgh College design partnership
Some of the city’s top design agencies have teamed up with Edinburgh College to show students the inner workings of the industry and help them become the next professional stars.
Six design agencies have signed up to a new partnership scheme with the college to give graphic design students industry experience and insight while they are still studying. Mentors from the agencies will coach students over the next year, giving them work placements, setting them briefs and advising on projects including work for real clients.
The agencies – Whitespace; Blonde; Teviot; Union Direct; Equator; and LEWIS – will in turn get access to the best graduates, working with them to ensure their skills and knowledge meet the needs of the industry and support its growth.
The new partnership builds on the success of the HND Visual Communication: Graphic Design course’s existing mentorship programme, which has been pairing students with mentors for the last seven years and now works with 13 agencies. The six agencies now signed up as official partners will provide further opportunities over and above mentoring so students can experience all sides of the industry, as well as sponsoring the students’ end-of-year show.
The project launched with an event at the college’s Granton Campus, where students got to meet their mentors for the first time.
Graphic design lecturer Helena Good said: “Bringing the design agencies on board as partners will be great for the students as it gives them new ways of getting the knowledge about the industry that they’ll need when they enter the workplace. Having access to professionals working to incredibly high standards in the latest practices, including digital, and getting their honest feedback and guidance is invaluable to their development.
“The mentoring project we started seven years ago has really taken off, and we’re lucky to have so many great companies so keen to be involved. Formalising these partnerships is a natural step and really embeds this project and the students themselves firmly within the city’s design community.”
As well as allotted time with mentors throughout the year, some partners will provide up to a month’s worth of work experience placements. They will also each set groups of students one-day ‘guerilla’ design projects, where mentors will turn up unannounced in the morning and set a design challenge to be completed in a day. Mentors also help students work on intensive one-week design projects working on real briefs from real clients, which in previous years have included Innis & Gunn, Edinburgh Zoo and GF Smith.
One of the mentors at partner Teviot, Kirsten Murray, who studied the HND at the college and graduated in 2007, said: “Whatever stage you are at in your education or career, having a mentor to support you, challenge you and ask you hard questions is invaluable. I have watched the mentoring programme go from strength to strength over the last five years. The success of the programme is clear when you see the quality of the ideas and the design work being produced by the students.
“As a former student of Edinburgh College, it means a lot to me to be able to give something back to the very place that kick started my career in design. The future of design in Scotland will soon be in the hands of these students. That’s why it’s so important that we help them to become industry-ready graduates.”
Student Alex De Sousa, 18, from Bonnyrigg, said: “This doesn’t happen anywhere else and it’s really exciting. It’s incredible that we get to spend time one to one with people with such great experience and it’s such a good opportunity.”
Gillian Grant, an account director at LEWIS, said: “The more you work with and get to know the students the more you can see that they are hungry to learn in all areas. There’s lots they can learn from an account management and project management perspective to complement the creative side and help them understand all sides of the industry. You can offer process-driven advice and recommendations on pitching, and demonstrate how all areas of an agency work together to achieve a goal.”
Check out MY Adventure’s new blog
Hi all,
Getting the story of MY Adventure out is important, so I have put together an introductory blog! More to follow from the whole MY Adventure team so keep an eye on it!
Go to
http://www.myadventure.org.uk/welcome-to-my-adventure/
All the best,
James Howell, Director
Power to the People: autumn update
The Power to the People group has been busy …
Power to the People is a group for adults in North Edinburgh who are interested in social history, current affairs and the arts.
We have been meeting together since 2012 and enjoy getting together to learn about things we are interested in and getting involved in issues which concern us. The group is friendly, informal and free and new members can join any time.
Over the last year, we have been learning about North Edinburgh’s early history through studying archive material, visiting exhibitions, watching films and inviting guest speakers to our group.
We are currently working on a heritage leaflet and a short film for STV’s history programme documenting key aspects of North Edinburgh’s history which will allow us to share the area’s fascinating history with a wider audience.
We also enjoy getting out and about and going to different places of interest. Last week we went on a visit to Wester Hailes to learn about their social history project.
Over the last few years, the project has been involved in digitising and publicising back copies of the Wester Hailes Sentinal and have established a local blog and Facebook page.
The project have also been involved in developing social history walks in the area in conjunction with Wester Hailes Health Agency and has installed Scotland’s first digital totem pole (above) which contains QR codes which allow people to access further information about the area’s history via a smart phone.
We have recently developed a new programme of information and discussion sessions dealing with issues we are concerned about such as fracking on the Forth, the proposed abolition of the Human Rights Act and the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP).
The first of these sessions will take place tomorrow – Tuesday 6 October, from 10am – 12.30 – in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre.
The next session will take place early in November and will be held in the evening to allow people to attend who are unable to get to day time sessions. A free crèche will be provided by Royston Wardieburn Community Centre to allow people with children to participate.
We have also organised a screening of the Glasgow Girls, (see above), the true story of a group of school pupils from Drumchapel, who led a successful campaign to save their friend from deportation. The film developed into a powerful human rights movement which resulted in changes in immigration practices in Scotland.
Following the screening of the film, we will be joined by Roza Salih, one of the Glasgow Girls, for a discussion about the issues raised. The screening will take place this Thursday 8 October at 6.30 in North Edinburgh Arts. There is no charge for attending this event and transport and a crèche have been organised. Please call 552 5700 to book.
For those of you who enjoy getting out and about and enjoy the company of others, our next visit will be to the National Library of Scotland on Tuesday 27 October. We will be viewing an exhibition on the life and times of Thomas Muir, a radical political reformer known as ‘the father of Scottish Democracy’.
Anyone wishing further information about the group or any of the activities planned this term should call Lynn McCabe, on 552 5700 (Tuesday – Thursday) or email Lynn at lynn.mccabe@ea.edin.sch.uk
Made in Granton
Community group plans peoples’ exhibition
We are holding a one-day ‘History of North Edinburgh’ event, an exhibition of things, film and photos in the former office of the Madelvic electric car company in Granton Park Avenue (off West Granton Road) on Saturday 24 October from 11 am- 3pm.
The theme is the people, industry and workplaces of North Edinburgh.
Did any members of your family work in the Madelvic factory all those years ago? Or more recently in Parsons Peebles, the Wire Works, Salvesens, the Gas Works; what about trawling, whaling, fish merchants, on the trams or other industry in North Edinburgh? Both men’s and women’s work of course!
We need you! We are looking for copies of any photos, stories, memories, artefacts, interesting things to share in an exhibition. We are hopeful that this will go on to create a permanent museum of North Edinburgh.
If you have anything you could contribute to this please contact us as soon as you can …
Barbara Robertson barbara-robertson@teleosvet.co.uk 07825154114
or Willie Black w.black@blueyonder.co.uk 07515686421
or madelviccommunity@gmail.com
granton:hub
at the Madelvic
No Boundaries holds first AGM
Charity NO BOUNDARIES are holding
their first annual general meeting
at LifeCare House in Cheyne Street, Stockbridge
at 2pm on Thursday 1 October.
All welcome.
Health in Mind project comes to Royston Mains
MAPS: My Assets & Personal Strengths
Wellbeing and Self-Management Project
Health in Mind is excited to be going into the second year of its MAPS service supporting people in groups to self manage their mental health and wellbeing and have two new groups starting in the coming weeks.
The Afternoon Group will be held at The Elizabeth Maginnis Court Complex in Granton beginning late September will be held every Tuesday, and the Evening Group will be held at Health in Mind, Shandwick Place beginning early October on a Thursday. For more information please see our leaflet or get in touch with Katie or Cindy on 0131 225 8508. You can also email
katie.rowland@health-in-mind.