Granton – Page 133 – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Community meeting to discuss Granton Mill vandalism

West Pilton/West Granton Community Council has organised a special community meeting to discuss vandalism in the Granton Mill area.

The meeting will take place on

TUESDAY 25 NOVEMBER from 6.30 – 8pm

in Craigroyston Community High School

Police, council officials and councillors have been invited to the event and a council Community Safety officer will report on what steps are being taken to tackle the problems.

The meeting also offers an opportunity to meet with other concerned residents and tenants who are working for the betterment of the area, and community council secretary Willie Black hopes Granton Mill’s residents will attend, get involved and make a difference.

“Why not come along to the meeting and have your say? With your help we can all make Granton Mill a place where everyone can be proud to live and work”, he said.

For further information contact Willie Black (Secretary) on 07515686421 or email w.black@blueyonder.co.uk

Community Council Public Meeting

Remembrance Service at Granton Parish Church

Every year Granton Parish Church holds an Act of Remembrance for the community to remember people from the area who fell in the First and Second World Wars, who have served with our Armed Forces or been involved in conflicts around the world – past and present.

This year – during the First World War centenary year – the Act of Remembrance will take place around the Granton War memorial in the grounds of Granton Parish Church in Boswall Parkway on Sunday 9 November 9 from 10:50-11:10, followed by a Remembrance Service inside the church for those who wish to attend.

All are warmly invited to attend this event.

Chas Macintosh, Granton Parish Church

A visit to Granton could improve your health – and maybe your wealth!

A visit to Granton Information Centre could improve your health – and may also improve your wealth! The local advice centre received top marks from clients in a satisfaction survey conducted over the summer.

Highlights of the survey include:

• Around 71% of GIC clients have a medical condition – but almost half of them feel GIC has helped to bring about an improvement in their health

• 48% of clients received additional income following GIC’s intervention – and with another 22% awaiting decisions it’s very likely that this figure will rise to over half. Additional income includes both one-off payments and ongoing benefits entitlements – ranging from a few pounds to five-figure sums.

• 97% of clients would recommend GIC’s services to others

• 96% found GIC assistance ‘very helpful’, 98% found staff ‘very approachable’ and 74% found the help and support they had received ‘more than expected’.

Two hundred clients were chosen at random from GIC’s live cases database and invited to participate in the Satisfaction Survey, which was carried out over the summer. The results are based on the final total of 108 respondees.

GIC manager Caroline Pickering said: “There has been an increased demand on GIC’s service over the past few years and our management committee thought this would be an ideal time to review the services we provide – to look at what we are doing, what works well and what can be improved.

“The best people to guide us in this are the people who use those services, so we are very pleased with the positive results of the survey. It’s great for staff to be recognised for the hard work they do. Some of the comments we received from grateful clients were really touching.”

GIC chairperson John Mulvey said: “We know the staff are working exceptionally hard in difficult circumstances so we’re delighted to see how much service users and the wider community appreciate their efforts. The organisation has been working in North Edinburgh for thirty years now but it’s clear that GIC’s services are needed as much today as they ever were.”

Communities: care for your war memorials

War Memorial Clean Ups

Scotland has an estimated 6,000 war memorials. Many of these are treasured but sadly others are neglected and vandalised or left to suffer the effects of ageing and weathering.

With a war memorial in nearly every community, its preservation and upkeep is an integral part of having respect for an area.

In preparation for Remembrance Sunday 2014, Clean Up Scotland is encouraging volunteers to organise Clean Up events in the green spaces and streets surrounding their local war memorial.

See our War Memorial Clean Ups Information Pack for guidance on how to organise a Clean Up event in your area, and how to report on the general condition of the local war memorial through War Memorials Trust. The pack also include information on funding, and case studies to inspire you.

Please email us at info@cleanupscotland.com to tell us more about your event, and send us photographs of your hard work.

Dads Rock add midweek date at Prentice Centre

Dads Rock are to introduce a new midweek playgroup for dads and their kids at The Prentice Centre. Starting next week (Wednesday 30 July), there will be Dads Rock play sessions (one hour) every Wednesday at 10am – as well as the usual Saturday (ninety minute) slot.

More Dads Rock news:

Weekly Play/Catch up: North Edinurgh Silverknowes Beach (beside the cafe) – Tuesdays 10 – 11am

Outings and Events:

Wednesday 30 July – City council Playday – Grassmarket 12-4pm

Saturday 9 August – Festival Show at the Botanics – ask at groups for tickets; they are free and it’s open to the whole family. Tickets given out on a first come basis!

Saturday 16 August – No Edinburgh sessions (our usual holidays)

For further info visit the Dads Rock Facebook page

Granton Improvement Society – the walled garden

6 years ago the GIS project began to save the Walled Garden and keep it as a community resource.

The Walled Garden was discovered derelict by AiA Art in Architecture and with the help of CLU Community Land Use devised the original Granton sur Mer proposal which included its restoration.

Granton Improvement Society is now the custodian of the project with the continued mission to save the Walled Garden and keep it as a community resource. We found it derelict and have involved the community in this desire to save the Garden throughout the 6 years.

Our vision is for green space, parkland, places for children to run, not just blocks and blocks of housing with no other amenities. We know it will be a success. Who would have thought that in the industrial zone of Falkirk, for instance, there would now be a great park, The Helix, with accompanying Kelpies with tens of thousands of locals and people from far and wide flocking to take their leisure there and to be inspired by art and landscaped open spaces?

Granton Improvement Society has been pursuing a project to develop a garden festival in the Walled Garden, artisans’ village and heated swimming pool for both sport and leisure on the adjacent land. At the original public meetings of the project one of the clear intentions was to save the Walled Garden with no possibility of housing on the site and this remains true today.

The Granton Improvement Society is moving steadily to buying the site from EDI.

This wonderful community owned project will create badly needed community income and jobs for our community.

We have asked for others to give us a clear run at creating the project. We have the plans, the funding, expertise and backing and have been working extremely hard, lobbying, arguing and generally spreading the word as community activists and supporters of the project to be in a position to buy the land and begin the project in the very near future which would take the Walled Garden into community ownership for the first time in its history.

Members of the GIS are as committed and dedicated as anyone to the idea of community gardens on every available and suitable space and have been involved from the beginning in identifying and creating these gardens in our community and winning support from politicians to back and support the expansion of community gardens with proper funding. We are asking everyone especially those who have signed the petition to take a further step and join the Granton Improvement Society.

The Project is a Community Trust with a membership and Trustees. Please join us info@grantonimprovementsociety.org and grantonimprovementsociety.wordpress,org

Barbara Robertson, secretary, on behalf of the Trustees-Granton Improvement Society