Granton Youth Centre’s the place to be this Thursday as GYC are holding a fun day at West Granton Road from noon until 3pm.
Come along and join in games, bouncy castle, storytelling, face painting and a BBQ. Entry is free – all welcome!
For more info contact Granton Youth Centre on 467 5854
Fit Camp every Monday at The Prentice Centre, 7 – 8pm
Edinburgh College has been named as a finalist in three categories in the prestigious Green Gown Awards, which celebrate sustainability initiatives in the education sector.
Now in their 11th year, the Green Gown Awards recognise the exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by universities, colleges and the learning and skills sectors across the UK.
The local college is shortlisted for the following awards:
The college is up against other colleges and universities from across the UK, and is the only college to be recognised in the Student Engagement and Facilities and Services categories.
Martin Webb, Edinburgh College sustainability officer, said: “We are thrilled to be acknowledged for the progress made to embed sustainability within the college infrastructure and curriculum. We are early on our journey towards achieving the aims of our wider sustainability strategy, but our small enthusiastic team are committed to improving co-ordination, facilitation and promotion of Edinburgh College’s sustainability efforts.”
With sustainable development moving up the global agenda, the awards are now established as the most prestigious recognition of sustainability excellence within the tertiary education sector, as well as the environmental sector.
The Awards ceremony will be held in Bristol, European Green Capital for 2015, on 27 November.
Picture (top): Sustainability officer Martin Webb and Community Garden coordinator Severine Monvoisin in the Sighthill Community Garden.
Red and the Wolf: An exciting theatre opportunity for North Edinburgh’s young people – and it’s free
Red and the Wolf by Liminal Dance is an immersive theatre performance working with a locally-based community cast of young people aged 8-16 years, in partnership with North Edinburgh Arts.
Rehearsals on:
Rehearsal times: 10-5pm (except Saturday, 10-1pm)
Performance on Wednesday 5 August, 7pm
To book places and tickets: 0131 315 2151 / admin@northedinburgharts.co.uk
North Edinburgh Arts
15a Pennywell Court
EH4 4TZ
Youth Work Provision at Spartans Community Football Academy over the summer holidays:
Street Football In A Safe Place (SFiSP):
Monday to Friday throughout the holidays from 1 – 5pm
Ages: 7-18
Cost – FREE
Location – The Spartans Community Football Academy, 94 Pilton Drive EH5 2HF, next to Ainslie Park Leisure Centre.
Details – SFiSP offers the opportunity for young people to come and play (for free) in a safe, fun and friendly environment. Our Youth Work Team are on the pitch throughout the afternoon to join in the fun and also to make all participants feel safe.
Our 3G requires that everyone on the pitch must wear football boots while playing, but not to worry if you don’t have any as we have a boot bank for those who don’t have boots but would still like to play -and everyone is welcome to borrow a pair!
FooTEA: Days
Friday Nights
Ages: 7 to 11yrs (5pm to 7:30pm), 12 to 15yrs (6pm to 8:15pm)
Cost – FREE
Location – The Spartans Community Football Academy, 94 Pilton Drive EH5 2HF, next to Ainslie Park Leisure Centre (although on occasion we do hold this elsewhere but parents/guardians will be given plenty of notice)
Details – FooTEA is one of the main youth provisions we run here at the SCFA. FooTEA runs from 5pm to 8:15pm every Friday night here at the Academy. The young people who attend spend the first hour playing football, and then afterwards we have a hot meal together, before they are allowed to take part in various activities such as Baking, Xbox, Pool, Table Tennis, Arts and Crafts, etc.
Coaching: Bend it like Beesley (BILB)
Monday to Friday 10am to 12pm throughout the school holidays
Ages: 3yrs to 12yrs (split into three groups:3 -4, 5-8 and 9 -12)
Cost – £40 for the whole week or £8 per day.
Location – The Spartans Community Football Academy, 94 Pilton Drive EH5 2HF, next to Ainslie Park Leisure Centre
Details – ‘Bend It Like Beesley’ is our fun packed holiday programme aimed at 3-12 year olds, named after Spartans First Team star and SCFA Development Officer, Jack Beesley.
The emphasis is on developing young children’s football skills, whilst providing a thoroughly enjoyable week – all under the watchful eye of our highly-qualified Academy coaches.
For more info visit http://scfacoaching.com/bend-it-like-beesley-2/
Jamie Tomkinson,
Youth and Community Worker, The Spartans Community Football Academy
Twitter: Spartans_CFA
Telephone: 0131-552-7854
‘Save our Secret Garden’ community campaign reaches climax on July 29th!
You may have heard of Granton Castle Walled Garden, but still not know where it is: that it is kept locked up and no-one can enter, or that it is still at risk from a luxury housing development (writes Kirsty Sutherland)!
At the end of this month the Friends Group campaign to safeguard and restore the walled garden will reach a crucial point.
On 29 July the council planners will make a final decision on the 2004 Waterfront Edinburgh Limited application; ‘minded to grant’ for demolition of parts of the walled garden to make way for 17 townhouses.
Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden hope they decide to refuse the 2004 application, instead allowing a chance of the listed garden’s restoration for community use.
Hundreds of local people have made their views known through petitions, representations and deputations to the city council, community councils and other organisations over the last year.
Historic Scotland visited the walled garden this spring and after reviewing the research compiled, concluded that it merits B-listing. Much older than previously thought, infact the oldest undeveloped walled garden in Edinburgh!
So what will happen if the council decide in favour of the historic garden being protected and restored at the end of this month?
Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill news is good for community groups like ours, interested in taking on the responsibility for a bit of our historic environment on the waterfront.
– Community Shares? – One idea to let local people own a bit of the walled garden and take part in planning and decisions on its future.
One share = one vote
Would you want to help save the garden if we could buy it?
Buy a share in the garden at £10 per share?
Get in touch or come along to a Friends Group Meeting if you want to hear more, ask questions or get involved.
grantoncastlegardengroup@gmail.com
Next meeting on ‘Ideas for the Garden’ in mid-August, date tbc.
Friends of Granton Castle Garden | ‘Forgotten’ Walled Garden
College events shortlisted for prestigious Scottish Event Awards
An Edinburgh College school-engagement event and two student-led projects have grabbed places on the hotly contested shortlist for prizes at the Scottish Event Awards.
The college has been nominated for the Best Educational Event for an event held to engage local schools, particularly head teachers, and increase opportunities for young people. And two teams of talented Events Management students picked up nominations for the Best Student Event Award.
The Scottish Event Awards honour the best events of various types across a range of sectors. They are run by magazine and marketing website The Drum.
The college’s Schools Event welcomed head teachers and other representatives from 34 local schools, who heard about some of the college’s key projects, its curriculum offering and how it is creating new vocational learning and progression opportunities, and spoke to key staff from each of the college’s curriculum centres. It was warmly received by attendees, and will form the basis for future partnership working between the college and local schools.
Two groups of BA (Hons) Events Management students made the shortlist for events held as part of their course.
One team, Icon Events, organised a fashion show featuring people with dementia as models to raise funds for Alzheimer Scotland. Service users, carers, staff and volunteers at the charity’s Fife Dementia Resource Centre in Kirkcaldy strutted the catwalk as models at the event, which raised more than £700 for the charity.
Another team, Festival Events, organised a sell-out mini fringe festival at the Voodoo Rooms, featuring a variety of musical acts and a magician. The team raised £2,200 for Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland.
Teams of students from Events Management courses organised 38 events this year, raising more than £20,000 for a range of charities.
This year’s nominations follow the college’s win in the Best Educational Event category last year for the Graphic Design Industry Night, a one-night event that showcased graduates’ award winning design work, and celebrated Edinburgh College’s close ties with industry.
This event allowed young designers to get face to face time with potential future employers. Due to the success of the first event last year, this has been made an annual event, and this year’s was held at the Fruitmarket Gallery as part of Let’s Glow.
The awards take place at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow on Wednesday 7 October.
Over 200 people die accidentally each year in British and Irish waters – and more than half of those who drowned didn’t even plan to get wet …
The RNLI has launched a drowning prevention campaign which aims to reduce deaths by 50%. The ‘Respect the Water’ campaign coincides with the release of figures showing that 24 people died in Scotland’s coastal waters last year.
Over the past five years, an average of 35 people have drowned in Scotland and RNLI aims to halve the number of drownings by 2024.
Most of the deaths – almost a quarter – occurred when people slipped and fell into the water while walking and running. Other causes include people at work (14%), diving (13%), swimming and/or deliberately jumping into the sea (9%) and angling (6%).
RNLI lifeboat crews in Scotland saved 51 lives in 2014, and the charity has highlighted dangers which can be more common in Scotland.
After falling in, people can experience cold water shock or the effects of strong currents under the surface. There are also problems with slippery rocks, sudden waves or unstable ground.
RNLI coastal safety manager for Scotland Michael Avril said: “We want people to enjoy the water but to make sure they respect it.
“Around 35 lives are lost around Scotland’s coast each year but many of these losses could be avoided if people acknowledge the dangers and follow some basic safety advice.”
RNLI’s ‘Respect the Water’ campaign includes two films which will be shown in cinemas throughout the UK.
https://www.rnlivideolibrary.org.uk/getvideo.aspx?vid=QhMxynB6
http://rnli.org/Pages/Video-Details.aspx?VideoItemID=xL1O5RjR
Community ownership for public toilets?
Toilets at Granton Square and Canonmills will be among the first tranche of public convenience closures, it has been confirmed. The local public conveniences are among ten that will close over the summer, saving £300,000.
Ross McEwan, administrator of Granton Improvement Society, has called for the local public toilet to be acquired as a community asset.
It’s not a cr*p idea: in other areas across the country enterprising local communities have formed Trusts to save local assets – including public toilets.
One group in Devon successfully took over the running over their village toilets when faced with council closure. Not only did they save the facility, they upgraded it – with the help of Lottery funding, the villagers of Barbrook refurbished the toilets and added a community information room next door too!
During Edinburgh’s budget process in 2011, the Council agreed to reduce the budget of the Public Conveniences service by £300,000, a saving that was delayed until the 2015/2016 financial year.
Earlier this year an initial list of toilets proposed for closure was selected based on the number of people using the facilities, the conditions of the buildings, alternative facilities available in the local area and the potential for a Community Toilet Scheme.
Prior to final closure of these facilities, consultation has been undertaken with the wider community to establish views on the proposed closures and identify any steps that could be taken to lessen the effects of losing these facilities.
The results of this survey can be found here .
Following consideration of the feedback, the decision has been made to close the following toilets:
· Ardmillan – end of July 2015
· Canaan Lane – end of July 2015
· Canonmills – end of July 2015
· Currie – end of July 2015
· Granton Square – end of July 2015
· Joppa – end of August 2015
· Juniper Green – end of July 2015
· London Road – end of August 2015
· St John’s Road – end of August 2015
· Tollcross – end of August 2015.
Two other public conveniences have been spared – at least for now. The toilets at Hawes Pier and Middle Meadow Walk will not be closed at this time, while the options for these sites are reviewed.
To lessen the impact of the closures, the Council is establishing a Community Toilet Scheme with interested businesses across the city.
This would result in participating businesses allowing members of the public to use their toilet facilities without expecting them to make a purchase, in exchange for an annual payment from the Council.
A number of businesses have already expressed an interest in participating through the public toilets survey and some businesses in identified areas have also been approached with information about the Scheme.
A council spokesperson said: “The decision to close these toilets has been a difficult one and it is appreciated that there will be some impact following these closures. To help mitigate this, there have been over 60 additional toilet facilities identified in Council buildings around the city that are available for the public to use.
“These are located in various Libraries, Community Centres, Edinburgh Leisure facilities and Neighbourhood Offices; information about these toilet facilities is available here on the Council’s website.”
Nearly 20 public toilets will remain open.
If you would like to make an enquiry about public toilet closures, please call 0131 529 3030 or email public.toilets@edinburgh.gov.uk.
If you do choose to call the telephone number, be prepared for a lengthy wait … might be worth going for a pee before you call!
Four Edinburgh College design students have won commendations in the Young Creative Network (YCN) Student Awards, which celebrate creative excellence.
The students, who are all on the first year of the HND Visual Communication: Graphic Design, competed against students from around Europe and from second-year HND and degree courses.
The YCN Student Awards shine a light on emerging creative excellence from leading universities, colleges and art and design schools in Europe and North America. Students are given live creative briefs from a range of partnering organisations.
Liam Henderson and Aiste Piechaviciute won for their entry for the brief set by drinks brand J2O. They were asked to redesign J2O to become more appealing to adults, while bringing through the brand’s personality and communicating the key message that the juice is a blend of two fruit juices.
Liam and Aiste approached the brief by producing designs inspired by J2O’s play on the chemical formula H2O, under the title ‘the element of…’. So, orange and passionfruit juice became OgPa, and apple and mango ApMg, with the tag line ‘life is an experiment, so live it’.
Annabel Gibb and Kirsten Bell also received commendations for the submission for a brief from Topdeck travel. They were tasked with presenting the travel company’s trips to a UK audience, to make 18-30s consider trips they may not usually consider.
Annabel and Kirsten were inspired by the company’s tag line #livelikealocal, and produced designs for posters that juxtaposed photos of the usual tourist haunts, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Parthenon, with the side streets and cafes that mean more to locals. They also came up with a design concept for a Topdeck app, paired with crosses to be placed on the pavements outside local people’s favourite places as a play on ‘x marks the spot’.
Helena Good, design lecturer at the college, said: “I am delighted with our students’ success in the YCN Awards. This is a real achievement, given that they were competing directly with final-year degree students. The professional quality of the work they have produced is testament to their skills and I look forward to watching them continue to develop through the second year of the course.”
The students’ work will feature in the YCN Student Annual, with 15,000 copies distributed across education and creative industries organisations internationally. They will be presented with their awards at a ceremony in London this September.
