Ken gets his hands (gloves?) on Edinburgh Award!

Former undisputed world lightweight boxing champion Ken Buchanan has been presented with the prestigious Edinburgh Award 2016.

Edinburgh’s Lord Provost Donald Wilson proudly presented Ken Buchanan MBE with an inscribed Loving Cup in recognition of his impact on sport in the city at a ceremony in the City Chambers on Friday.

Continue reading Ken gets his hands (gloves?) on Edinburgh Award!

Disability History Scotland secures Lottery support for Fringe shows

Leith-based Disability History Scotland (DHS) has received a grant of £10,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to support Unwritten, a live show written and performed by disabled artists, to premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August.
Continue reading Disability History Scotland secures Lottery support for Fringe shows

Meet the Police at Tesco Duke Street

Edinburgh police officers are inviting local children to an arts and crafts and face painting session at the Tesco store in Duke Street on Saturday 4th March.

The officers will be at the store between 11am and 4pm giving away wristbands, pencils and pens and refreshments supplied by the store. Children will be invited to dress up as police officers and sit in the police car, and there will also be a DJ and other fun activities provided by Tesco at their 80’s themed event.

This event is a follow-on from two successful community-based ‘Meet the Police’ pilot projects at the Sheriff Court and Stenhouse Primary School aimed at building trust between communities and the police with a particular emphasis on children.

Police Constable Tracey Gunn said: “We want to encourage children and families to think about the ways the police keep them safe but also to raise awareness of the rights and responsibilities of the police towards the public and vice versa.

“We will also showcase our work with offenders and their families, in particular our booklet ‘My Daddy and the Police’ and will gather feedback as to how better to build trust within the communities we serve. I am looking forward to meeting families at Tesco’s on Saturday 4th March and hope they will find it a fun and informative day.”

Tracey is the driving force behind the creation of the Police Liaison Officer position at HMP Edinburgh. It was the first in Scotland and initiatives and ways of working she has introduced have been adopted at other prisons in the country. It’s key in developing positive working relationships between local police and the prison.

If you regularly follow Police Scotland’s Facebook page you may have seen Tracey’s flagship scheme, “Meet the Police”, which is being rolled out in prisons across Scotland and local communities through events at courts, supermarkets, libraries and schools.

Tracey continues to develop her work and is currently working on a short film made with prisoners that aims to steer young people who are involved in low level offending or those at risk of offending away from more serious crime, by showing them the harsh realities of being involved in organised crime and prison life.

CeX Leith to open in Kirkgate

Revolutionary recycling retailer CeX is due to open in Leith in early March. CeX buys, sells and exchanges phones, games, movies, tablets, computers, PCs, cameras and digital electronics. The store will create eight new jobs and will be run by franchisees Shazad Akram and Kashif Hamid. It is their fourth CeX store. Continue reading CeX Leith to open in Kirkgate

Four Edinburgh restaurants in UK’s Top 100

Four Edinburgh restaurants – two of which are based in Leith – feature prominently in The Sunday Times guide to the Top 100 places to eat in the UK. The influential restaurant guide, which will be published on Sunday, is judged by a panel which icludes top chefs Jamie Oliver, Antonio Carluccio and Nick Jones.

The four Edinburgh restaurants – half of only eight Scottish eateries to feature – to make it into the elite list are Norn, The Gardener’s Cottage, Ondine and Tom Kitchin’s multi-award winning Michelin-starred The Kitchin at Leith’s Commercial Quay.

Norn, on Leith’s Henderson Street (above), is described as a restaurant ‘in the finest tradition of Scottish cooking’, while Ondine on George IV Bridge (below)  earns praised as a ‘first-class fish restaurant with the friendliest Scottish service’.

Brock: John Lewis staff ‘deserve more for their loyalty than a P45’

Jobs blow as John Lewis Bonnington depot to close

Department store John Lewis is to close it’s Leith warehouse, with the loss of up to 78 jobs. The company plans to centralise distribution from it’s delivery hub in Glasgow, where 40 new jobs are to be created.

Commenting on the John Lewis proposals to close the Bonnington Road distribution depot, local MP Deidre Brock said: ““This is a deeply disappointing decision which has come as a bolt out the blue to staff at the Leith depot, many of whom have worked there for decades. They deserve more for their loyalty than a P45.

“The Leith depot is a busy hub and it seems daft to me to send trucks from Glasgow to deliver in Edinburgh when we’ve a perfectly good set-up here. I’ve asked John Lewis for more information on these proposals and stand ready to help where I can.”

The profits and benefits created by the company’s success are shared by all of John Lewis’ partners (i.e staff).

The John Lewis Partnership mission statement reads: ‘The John Lewis Partnership’s reputation is founded on the uniqueness of our ownership structure and our commercial success. Our purpose is ‘the happiness of all our members, through their worthwhile, satisfying employment in a successful business‘, with success measured on our ability to sustain and enhance our position both as an outstanding retailer and as a thriving example of employee ownership. With this in mind, our strategy is based on three interdependent objectives Partners, customers and profit.’

 

Victoria Primary on the move?

A statutory consultation on a proposal to relocate Victoria Primary School to a new building in the Western Harbour and undertake catchment changes in the Western Harbour and North Leith areas of the city has begun. The public consultation period will run until 5pm on Friday 17 March. Continue reading Victoria Primary on the move?