The Community Chat Cafe invites you to share food, language and culture. Join us for our free, friendly, sociable lunches and practice your English – all welcome!
Wednesday 25 February
Wednesday 11 March
Wednesday 25 March
12.30 – 2pm at Pilton Community Health Project, Boswall Parkway
A creche is available but must be booked by calling Rachel: on 07891 525663 or Julie on 07958 540 438.
Community Chat Cafe is organised by the Living in Harmony Group and North Edinburgh Timebank
Police seek occupants of silver Vauxhall following Trinity robbery
A man fought off up to six intruders after they broke into his home in Trinity earlier this week.
The 36-year-old resident disturbed one of the robbers in his Afton Terrace home at around 9.30pm on Tuesday.
The pair struggled and were joined by more intruders – all are thought to be teenagers – who entered the house by the back door. The robbers then ran off and escaped in a silver Vauxhall which was parked at the front of the house.
It is understood a quantity of cash was taken.
The first robber is described as white, 5ft 10in, slim, around 17 years old, with short dark hair and was wearing a black woolly hat and a dark navy tracksuit with stripes and a gold logo on the arm.
The second was white, around 19 years old, 5ft 10in, slim, with short hair and was wearing a white and red scarf over his face, grey hoodie and grey trousers.
A third was white, around 19, 5ft 8in and chubby. The others are described as aged between 16 and 18 and wearing dark clothes.
Detective Constable Mark Seymour said: “This was a very frightening experience for the victim who discovered the suspects within his home and who was then assaulted.
“Anyone who was in the area of Afton Terrace and Granton Road at around 9.30pm and saw a silver Vauxhuall car or has information about who was responsible is urged to contact Police Scotland on 101.”
Edinburgh College has been shortlisted for three prestigious marketing awards, recognising achievements in marketing courses, catering for students’ needs and communicating with staff.
The College Development Network (CDN) Marketing Awards 2015 – which take place next Wednesday (25 February) – are designed to recognise and celebrate the excellent marketing and communication practice taking place in colleges across Scotland.
The college is shortlisted for the following awards:
Edinburgh College interim principal Elaine McMahon said: “Being shortlisted for these awards is a great achievement and our staff deserve huge congratulations. It’s fantastic to see the creative work put into supporting, encouraging and communicating with students and staff being recognised in this way.
“The Creative Industries Employability Day was a fine example of the focus college staff put upon preparing students for working life in a competitive market and was so successful that the event will run again in February.
“The nomination for the staff conference is a welcome credit for the work done to build a sense of community in the still newly merged Edinburgh College.
“It is also satisfying to see that the work of our marketing and communications staff to promote the range of courses on offer at the college has been recognised. Their hard work led to a highly successful open day and the college meeting student recruitment targets for the year.”
Last year, Edinburgh College achieved a silver award in the Internal Communications category and bronze in the Event category in the CDN Marketing Awards 2014.
Young people looking for their first job: Mark Lazarowicz MP calls on Government to offer support not stereotypes
Mark Lazarowicz MP is highlighting a new scheme run by the voluntary sector EY Foundation that will offer paid work experience, advice and support to young people in Edinburgh looking for their first job.
Youth unemployment (amongst 16-24 year-olds) is still running at 18.1% in Scotland and 16.9% in the UK as a whole. In Scotland it has increased by 4.5% since 2008.
The North and Leith MP is urging young people in Edinburgh to apply for the Foundation’s Smart Futures scheme, a ten-month paid work experience programme.
He said: “Schemes like Smart Futures and the City Council’s Edinburgh Guarantee are priceless opportunities for young people to get experience and the skills to succeed in finding their first job.
“Labour is committed to introducing a compulsory Jobs Guarantee that would ensure young people who are unemployed start gaining vital work experience and skills.
“Too often the Government resorts to negative stereotypes, talking of the well-worn path from school gate to Jobcentre and on to a life on benefits.
“The reality is that the vast majority of young people desperately want to work and are eager to apply for schemes like Smart Futures – the Government should learn from it and the Edinburgh Guarantee because too often it’s the Government that’s failing not young people.”
The scheme gives young people work experience and the chance to meet with people in business and get valuable tips on writing CVs, application and interview advice, as well as an EY Foundation mentor throughout Sixth Year.
The City Council’s Edinburgh Guarantee aims to ensure that every school leaver goes into employment, further education, or training by bringing them together with employers. There is more information on how it works at
https://www.edinburghguarantee.org/about-us/
Applications for the EY Foundation’s summer 2015 Smart Futures scheme are now open until 1 March 2015 and anyone keen to apply can find more information on it at http://ukcareerguide.ey.com/schools/ey-smart-futures
Teen Scream
Your local youth magazine
Graffiti & Art Workshops, Creative Writing, Digital Layout Workshop, Photography, Trips, Interviewing Skills
Every Thursday from 26 February, 3.15pm – 4.45pm at Muirhouse Library
10-18 years
FREE with snack
For more information call: 0131 529 5528
Muirhouse Library: 15a Pennywell Road, EH4 4TZ
Opportunities to get your questions answered at hustings events
Pilton Community Health Project has organised hustings in both local constituency seats in the run up to the Westminster election in May.
Candidates for Edinburgh North and Leith have been invited to answer questions from local community on Thursday 19 March from 6.30 – 8pm at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre (soup will be available from 6pm).
Candidates for Edinburgh West have been invited to answer questions from the local community on Thursday 26 March from 6.30 – 8pm at Muirhouse Millennium Community Centre (soup will be available from 6pm).
http://pchp.org.uk/news/2015/your-questions-matter
The February NEN is with our distributor now and will be delivered over the coming week.
If you just can’t wait to see a copy of your community newspaper, click on the link below for the electronic edition … hope you enjoy it!
‘It’s a broken council which is failing it’s people and this budget must be rejected’ – Linda Garcia, WIG group
Councillors have set Edinburgh’s budget after a marathon meeting at the City Chambers yesterday. A raft of deputations from across the city urged the council to reject a budget package of cuts and service reorganisation aimed at saving £22 million this year, but councillors voted to approved the budget.
Leading the deputations was Royston Wardieburn Community Centre’s Women’s International Group (WIG). Royston Wardieburn was the city’s very first purpose-built community centre – it first opened in 1965. Two years ago – after years of hard work by the management committee – a brand new centre was opened, but members fear that all that good work could be undone by proposals to change the way community centres are operated.
WIG’s Anna Hutchison told councillors: “We are very concerned about these proposals. We have achieved a great deal in our Centre in recent years, but there is still a great deal of work to be done and we cannot build on our achievements when everything keep changing.
“Cutting CLD (community learning and development) staff and removing them from centres seems very short-sighted given that the Scottish Government is now requiring all councils to produce a CLD plan stating how they intend to build stronger, more influential and inclusive communities and improve life chances through learning and active citizenship.”
She warned that voluntary management committee members would ‘walk away’ if proposals to change the role of CLD staff in the running of community centres is implemented.
WIG’s Linda Garcia added: “We do not accept the proposed budget. We do not accept the way Edinburgh’s finances are being run. We do not accept that inequality, poverty and powerlessness are inevitable in our communities.
“We have been ‘trained’ to believe that no alternative (to cuts) is possible and that achieving a decent and fair society is just too damn complicated, so best not to try! We do not accept that this is the case. We want a council which puts citizens at it’s heart”.
“We believe that this budget is unacceptable to the citizens of Edinburgh. Unfortunately, despite a string of scandals, the Council seems unable to change. It is a broken Council which is failing it’s people and this budget must be rejected”.
“We demand that you join the campaign to secure additional funding from the Scottish and Westminster governments to safeguard our public services.
“We demand that you support Unite’s campaign to restructure the £1.2 billion debt owed by the Public Works Loan Board – paying £56 million in interest charges each year is completely unacceptable.
“We demand that the Scottish Parliament orders a Public Inquiry to examine the mismanagement of this Council, the numerous scandals and cover-ups by successive administrations.
She concluded: “We demand that you return power to the people.”
The group, joined by supporters in the public gallery, then serenaded councillors with a song! Based on the original Italian partisan song Bella Ciao, WIG’s words are:
The public sector is for the people
Oh bella ciao; bella ciao; bella ciao, ciao, ciao
The public sector is for the people
Not for sale to profiteers.
Oh we are singing for education
Oh bella ciao; bella ciao; bella ciao, ciao, ciao
We are singing for education
And an equal right to learn.
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer
Oh bella ciao; bella ciao; bella ciao, ciao, ciao
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer,
Unnecessary and unfair.
They cut the funding, they cut the workers
Oh bella ciao; bella ciao; bella ciao, ciao, ciao
They cut the funding, they cut the workers
Ain’t no ‘Big Society’.
Following that musical interlude, WIG were followed by a succession of deputations from across the city, each one urging the city to think again. EVOC, Edinburgh East Save Our Services, Edinburgh Tenants Federation, Edinburgh Trade Union Council, UNITE Edinburgh Not for Profit Branch, Edinburgh Anti-Cuts Alliance, Friends of the Meadows and Bruntsfield Links, UNISON and the EIS: each one advanced powerful arguments – but ultimately each one was unsuccessful as councillors voted to press ahead with the cuts.
Protecting frontline services in Edinburgh for young, old and vulnerable residents was a priority at the budget meeting, according to senior councillors. Investment in roads and pavements, investing in school infrastructure and working towards the redevelopment of Meadowbank Sports Centre and Stadium were other key priority areas.
Councillors say public opinion expressed during the recent budget consultation helped to influence key decisions as they attempted to balance the city’s books.
Cllr Alasdair Rankin, Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, said: “Given the financial challenges all local authorities are facing over the next few years, we want to invest in the areas that are essential to Edinburgh and so it is important that the public continue to tell us what is important to them.
“This year we published the draft budget in October and 3,525 people gave us their views – five times the number of responses compared to last year. We also used a new online planner to give respondents the opportunity to express what they feel the Council’s priorities should be. The planner allowed us to show where we will incur costs in 2017/18, to demonstrate the impacts of increasing or decreasing spending in all of our services. This was extremely popular and 1,719 of those people took Edinburgh’s Budget Challenge.
Cllr Bill Cook, Vice-Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, said: “We used the feedback received during the consultation process to help us make many key decisions such as maintaining funding for homelessness services, not increasing allotment charges and putting an extra £5m towards improving roads and pavements.”
The eight successive year’s Council Tax freeze maintains Edinburgh’s band D rate as the lowest of Scotland’s four major cities.
The council tax band levels for Edinburgh in 2015/16 will be:
A: £779.33
B: £909.22
C: £1,039.11
D: £1,169.00
E: £1,428.78
F: £1,688.56
G: £1,948.33
H: £2,338.00
The total revenue budget is £949m for 2015/16. Council Tax funds 25% of this with 75% coming from Government grants and business rates. The total capital budget (including the HRA) is £245m.
Key budget provisions:
Ensuring every child in Edinburgh has the best start in life
– Allocated an additional £5m of capital to support rising school rolls
– More than £4m invested in Early Years Change Fund for services for the very youngest children
Ensuring Edinburgh, and its residents, are well cared-for
– Maintaining funding for commissioned homelessness services
Providing for Edinburgh’s economic growth and prosperity
– Maintaining £1m to continue supporting the Edinburgh Guarantee, helping improve job opportunities for young people
– Support the Strategic Investment Fund with an additional £4.5m
Strengthening and supporting our communities and keeping them safe
– Continuing to invest in community policing
– Allocating an additional £100,000 to each neighbourhood to allow local people to have an even greater say in how their area can be improved
Investing in roads, pavements and cycling infrastructure
– An additional £5m investment in roads and pavements taking the total to £20m
– Commit 8% of the transport revenue and capital budgets for creation and maintenance of cycle infrastructure
Becoming more efficient
– Delivery of procurement transformational efficiencies
– Implementing the Better Outcomes Leaner Delivery (BOLD) programme
– Reducing the head count of the organisation by developing existing staff, revising roles and responsibilities and implementing structural change in the organisation through the ’Organise to deliver’ programme
– Maximising income
– Maximising savings through the rationalisation of the Council’s property estate
– Reducing carbon footprint and generating income through strategic energy projects
While the council argues that front line services are being protected, campaigners believe city councillors have let the capital down.
One Unite member who attended the lobby said: “This is a sad day for Edinburgh. You might have thought that a Labour-led council, supported by the SNP, would stand up for workers and communities – well, today’s vote shows you can think again. You can’t cut 1200 jobs without it having a huge effect on services and the people who will suffer most are the people in the poorest communities, the people who depend most on council services. People are angry – and rightly so, because these cuts will do real damage. Edinburgh is a rich city, yet our politicians vote through cuts on this scale? It’s shocking – they should be ashamed.”
A member of the Anti-Cuts Coalition added: “Deputation after deputation urged the council to reject this budget but it’s clear the councillors had already made their minds up. They blame Westminster, they blame Holyrood but at the end of the day our councillors have got to take a long, hard look at themselves.
“They have got to make a stand – if local councillors won’t support and fight for their communities, who will?
“Communities are being treated with contempt and remember – these cuts are just the start. We are facing another two years of austerity budgets, with more services slashed and hundreds of jobs lost – and when members of the public wake up to that it will be too late.”
Visit our Facebook page to see a webcast of the Budget meeting
http://l.facebook.com/l/PAQGWhuX2/www.edinburgh.public-i.tv/core/share/open/webcast/0/0/0/0//webcast/0/0/0
You’ll find pictures of the lobby there too
Edinburgh College performance students unveil showstopping double bill
Edinburgh College HNC Acting and Performance students are putting on a double bill of plays tomorrow (12 February), performing the works of two of Britain’s best modern playwrights.
The students are performing two shows – Desperately Seeking Scotland by Roderick Stewart and A View from the Boundary by John Harvey.
Desperately Seeking Scotland is about the search for Scottish cultural identity. This ‘dark pantomime’ features original music from acting and performance student Euan Stamper.
A View from the Boundary is a bittersweet comedy about marriage, longing and lust.
Both original writers have attended rehearsals and updated their scripts in order to suit the performing casts. The text of “Desperately Seeking Scotland,” which deals with Scottish cultural history, was changed to reflect recent history such as the Scottish referendum.
Performing arts lecturer and show coordinator Scott Johnston said: “Our students have worked really hard to create new and exciting versions of these two contemporary texts. We are delighted that both casts had the opportunity to work with writers John Harvey and Roderick Stewart during the rehearsal process. We believe that our students will become the next generation of Scottish theatre-makers and are excited to present work that showcases their talents.”
Event Details:
Two performances of the double bill will take place at the PASS Theatre at the college’s Granton Campus at 2pm and 7pm:
PASS Theatre 350 West Granton Road, Edinburgh
Thursday 12 February
Tickets: £10 (£7 concession) available on the door.
He brought with him electronic tagging system and shown residents how it worked.
Nearly 800 tags in Scotland are monitored 24/7 by G4S.
This is all part of Muirhouse Community Shop raising awareness of #StrongerNorth
