What’s your Edinburgh? To celebrate Edinburgh 900, join Dr. Katie Ailes for a free poetry workshop inspired by your impressions of the city.
We’ll write short poems about places and experiences in Edinburgh that are meaningful to you. No previous experience writing poetry required; all are welcome-
Come along and join in Tuesday 21st of January at 6pm!
Workshop participants will be invited to submit their poems to the Edinburgh 900 bookmark competition, where winners will have their poems printed on 300 bookmarks and distributed at libraries across the city.
To take part in the workshops and bookmark competition, you must be resident in the Edinburgh (EH) postcode area.
Please note that you do not need to participate in a workshop in order to submit to the bookmark competition, and participation in a workshop will not be a factor that judges will consider.
POLICE are appealing to trace 33-year-old Marius Thuemmler who is missing from Leith.
Marius was visiting relatives in Edinburgh and was due to travel from Leith to Wester Hailes yesterday. He did not arrive, however, and as a result police were contacted.
Marius is quite distinctive in that he is 6ft 4 in height, has long dark blond hair, a beard and moustache, and numerous tattoos of various designs on his arms.
He is believed to be wearing black jeans, a black hooded top with a t-shirt underneath, and white and green trainers.
Inspector Kenny Robertson, Police Scotland, said: “Marius lives in England and was up visiting relatives over Christmas and New Year. Although he is familiar with Edinburgh, as he doesn’t stay here, he doesn’t have places that he tends to visit regularly.
“We have been checking CCTV and liaising with local bus and taxi companies, as well with as colleagues in British Transport Police, but so far there has been no sightings of him.
“We’d ask anyone who may have seen him, or who knows where he may be to get in touch. We’d also say to Marius to give us a call or return to family. We all want to make sure he is safe and well.”
Information can be passed to police via 101. Please quote incident number 1603 of Saturday, 4 January 2025 when calling
Citadel’s tour of McScrooge by Alan Mountford directed by Mark Kydd came to an end with a performance at Blossom Tree Nursery.
We took the mini-panto into a community centre, a school, two dementia clubs, Leith Dockers Club, two care homes, and the Dementia Arts Festival!
Thanks to People’s Post Code Lottery and Garfield Weston Foundation, Ashley Barlow, Jim Bryce, Mark Kydd and Roddy Simpson brought lots of festive joy to audiences aged from two to 102!
Commercial real estate investor, developer and asset manager, Firethorn Trust, has secured a £29.95million debt package from Leumi UK to deliver its first purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) scheme.
The financing will support the delivery of a 230-bed PBSA project in Leith, which Firethorn acquired in February 2024.
Forming part of the Leith Walk redevelopment scheme, the site has planning permission to deliver a six-storey building featuring high quality accommodation and generous amenities, including a fully-equipped gym, modern study spaces and student common rooms.
Edinburgh’s PBSA market is materially undersupplied, with a student-to-bed ratio of 3.13:1 and a limited development pipeline. The Leith Walk development will help to address demand by creating much-needed bed spaces, while a modern and sustainable design specification will contribute towards BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and EPC ‘A’ ratings.
Richard Whitby, Chief Financial Officer at Firethorn Trust, commented: “The Leith Walk project required a partner that could provide a tailored financing solution to meet our bespoke needs, which is precisely what Leumi delivered.
“We are delighted to be working with Leumi on this development and are excited about the potential for collaboration on future projects as we grow our Firethorn Living platform.
“With our established track record in developing high-quality assets and generating strong returns, we are confident that this development will play a key role in addressing the critical need for modern student housing in Edinburgh’s vibrant university district.”
Dan Whiteman, Relationship Director at Leumi UK, added: “In many ways, this transaction epitomises what sets Leumi UK apart, as we were able to complete this transaction with great focus on ensuring the lending solution met the specific needs of the sponsor.
“Firethorn Trust has a strong track record of creating attractive and sustainable spaces, and we look forward to expanding our relationship as it grows its Living platform.”
The Leith Walk development is expected to complete in time for the 2026/27 academic year.
Firethorn Trust was advised by Brotherton, BCLP and CMS. Leumi UK was advised by Osborne Clarke and MFMac.
Staff at Utilita’s Energy Hub, located at Leith’s Newkirkgate Shopping Centre, would like to thank all customers who entered into this year’s Christmas Raffle.
The team raises funds throughout the year and were able to kindly gift back to the local Leith Community, having bought items worth £250.00 to create a Christmas food hamper raffle.
In the spirit of festive giving, raffle tickets were gifted to the Hub’s regular customers in a free to enter draw and Natasha Baillie, Leith Energy Hub Supervisor, was delighted to present a beautiful hamper to the raffle winner, Mr. Potter, a regular customer who tops up and pays his bills at the Hub.
Natasha said: “Mr. Potter was so delighted with the news that he called us his angels! He popped down and was so happy and emotional at the win. Mr. Potter did tell us to choose what we wanted but we managed to convince him otherwise, so he’s going to share the hamper with his neighbours!
“It’s something we have very luckily been able to do each year – and our previous winners still visit our Leith Hub, which is lovely to see.”
Utilita’s high street hubs make it super simple to manage your energy – no phone lines or online dashboards, just a friendly face to speak to.
Whether you’re looking for account support, help to manage your spend or energy-saving advice, Utilita’s Energy Experts are on hand to help.
The countdown to the New Year has begun as Edinburgh’s Hogmanay prepares for four days of events to ring in 2025, running from 29 December to 1 January.
With only two weeks to go until New Year’s Day itself, this year’s First Footin’ programme boasts a packed line-up of free and ticketed gigs to kick off the New Year in iconic venues across the city.
Funded by the Scottish Government’s Festivals EXPO Fund, January 1st 2025 sees the First Footin’ programme go even further than before, with artists playing live sets in Portobello Town Hall and Leith Arches as well as historic landmarks St. Giles’ Cathedral and Greyfriars Kirk, and contemporary venues Greyfriars Hall and Eve at Virgin Hotel, Fruitmarket Warehouse and bars throughout the city centre, including Cold Town House.
This year’s programme includes an incredible line-up of Scottish artists including Valtos, DJ Hayley Zalassi, Zoe Graham, Dara Dubh, who gathered today at First Footin’ venue Cold Town House to mark two weeks to go until the gigs. First Footin’ also features Karine Polwart, NATI, Spyres, Mama Terra, Bee Asha, Broken Chanter, Eyve, Lewis McLaughlin, Grayling, Afterlands, and more.
On being part of First Footin’, Glasgow anti-punk band Dead Pony said; “We’re super excited to play this year’s First Footin’. We can think of no better way to start the New Year than to crank our amps up and blast some tunes at – possibly – weary revellers.
“Everyone’s hangover is about to get blown to smithereens by the Dead Pony Doof Wagon. Strap in!”
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay co-Director Al Thomson said: ‘We are so pleased to present another spectacular First Footin’ event on New Year’s Day.
“This year’s programme is bigger than ever and packed full of incredible artists from across Scotland and beyond. Audiences can explore the expanded event footprint, discovering their favourite new artists in spectacular venues, and start 2025 in the company of friends old and new. With so much to see, make sure you plan your day well to catch your favourite acts’
Acclaimed folk singer-songwriter Karine Polwart will host a stunning performance to mark the turning-of-the-year with ‘Come Away In’, a commissioned project welcoming special guest musicians Lori Watson and Corrina Hewat, along with 200 community choir singers, celebrating crossing the threshold of the New Year in the embrace of massed voices and song. Alongside Choir Director Stephen Deazley, Karine Polwart and the community singers will fill the stunning St Giles Cathedral with music on the 1st January.
The tranquil surroundings of Greyfriars Kirk will once again transform into a vibrant hub of Scottish music, featuring Skye natives Valtos, who have taken the Trad and Electronic music worlds by storm, artist and composer Kate Young, Edinburgh born indie artists Lewis McLaughlin and internet sensation NATI (solo).
A showcase of the very best in contemporary Scottish music at Virgin Hotel, presents artists nominated for the SAY Award 2024, featuring Dead Pony, Spyres, Broken Chanter and Edinburgh rap and spoken word artist Bee Asha.
Pictured: Dara Dubh
Scottish musical duo Norman&Corrie will welcome audiences to the St. Andrew Square Speigeltent, challenging traditional notions of folk and jazz with new pieces translated from ancestral melodies. Shetland pianist Amy Laurenson, winner of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2023, and Glasgow artist Harry Gorski-Brown performing fiddle, pipes and vocals, are special guests.
For classical music-lovers, Fruitmarket Gallery presents a diverse programme of music for viola and cello performed by acclaimed Canadian cellist Christian Elliott and Fiona Winning, Principal Violist of the Royal Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras.
New venue Leith Arches presents some of Scotland hottest new acts including Mama Terra; Glaswegian Pianist, Composer & Producer Marco Cafolla & Saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski, Mama Terra are hotly tipped by JazzFM, Loch Lomond folk-pop singer-songwriter Liv Dawn, Edinburgh rock band Low Tide, and grunge-fuelled rock from Dutch Wine.
Portobello Town Hall is home to a free afternoon of ceilidh dancing with Bella McNab’s Dance Band, with Brazilian and Cuban big-band flair from community street band Shunpike Social Club.
Pictured: Zoe Graham
In the evening, BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway and Andy Wake (The Phantom Band) bring their spectacular club night Vitamin C out to Portobello Town Hall on New Year’s Day featuring alt-rock legends The Vaselines, infectious indie-dance from Sacred Paws and Django Django’s Dave Maclean for an epic DJ set.
Meanwhile, Leith Arches hosts a celebration of House and Old Skool, with an all-female line-up led by DJ Hayley Zalassi, and special guests SWATT TEAM and Disco T*TS, Leith Arches is guaranteed to keep you dancing into 2025.
In the evening, the music continues with the First Footin Sessions with Cold Town Beer, live events throughout the Grassmarket and New Town bars, featuring a feast of music from foot-stomping trad from Eamonn Coyne & Friends, to a special set from SAY Award nominees Afterlands’ in Cold Town House.
First Footin’ is just one of the offerings available from the four-day Edinburgh’s Hogmanay programme. Local residents and visitors from across the globe will come together to bid farewell to the final few days of 2024 and welcome in the New Year with an unmissable programme of live music and exceptional entertainment, including the world-class Midnight Moment fireworks and a celebration like no other at Edinburgh’s Street Party.
The celebrations kick off on the 29th December with the spectacular Torchlight Procession and the 30th sees a host of events including Idlewild headlining the Night Afore Concert at Assembly Rooms, and Hot Dub Time Machine warming up New Year’s partygoers with the Night Afore Disco Party in West Princes Street Gardens.
On Hogmanay night itself New Year Revels and its all-night ceilidh makes a welcome return to Assembly Rooms, while Princes Street and Princes Street Gardens will host 55,000 party goers at the world-famous Street Party featuring Hot Dub Time Machine, BBC Radio 1 DJ Arielle Free, Peatbog Faeries, Valtos and much more.
The iconic Concert in the Gardens Hogmanay show this year will welcome Texas for a 35th anniversary greatest hits show joined by special guest Edinburgh’s own Callum Beattie and Carla Easton. There’s plenty for the whole family across the four-day festivities with the Bairns Revels, Sprogmanay Family Ceilidh at Assembly Roxy, Sprogmanay at Portobello Town Hall and more.
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 2024/25 is supported by Principal Funding Partners City of Edinburgh Council and Major Partners the Scottish Government’s Festivals EXPO Fund and Essential Edinburgh, all working together to create spectacular Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations for Scotland.
Further information and tickets for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 4-day celebrations are available now from www.edinburghshogmanay.com.
Forth Ports, the UK’s third largest port operator, announces has announced (12 December 2024) a £50 million private investment in infrastructure at the Port of Leith having secured its largest ever offshore wind contract, the delivery of the 1.1 gigawatt (GW) Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm.
This latest investment in infrastructure at the Port of Leith will enhance the port’s marine access, infrastructure and vessel assets and includes plant and equipment that will be used to deliver Inch Cape. It will also create up to 50 new and upskilled green energy jobs to support the project.
Forth Ports’ agreement with Inch Cape, to be sited off the Angus coast, will utilise the port operator’s bespoke facilities and expertise at newly created renewable energy hubs at both the Port of Leith and Port of Dundee.
Visiting the Port of Leith on Thursday, Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes said: “Investment in key sectors such as Scotland’s ports can reap rewards. This is why the Scottish Budget commits £150 million to the offshore wind infrastructure and supply – to attract private investment such as this announcement from Forth Ports.
“Supported by Forth Green Freeport incentives, the Leith Renewables Hub will bring well-paid green jobs and ensure Scotland is best placed to develop a world leading renewables sector while progressing to net zero.
“The Scottish Government’s Green Industrial Strategy identifies how we can work better, smarter and quicker to create an investor-friendly environment and seize the many opportunities for green growth which lie ahead. This is a great example of how this has been achieved.”
Thursday’s Leith announcement follows a decade of private investment, during which time Forth Ports has created the land, quayside and skills capacity, which has not previously existed in Scotland, to deliver very large offshore wind contracts.
Stuart Wallace, Chief Executive Officer, Forth Ports said: “Inch Cape represents a very significant milestone for Forth Ports as it is the largest offshore wind contract ever to be awarded to our business.
“When it goes live, Inch Cape will have a significant impact on Scotland’s energy transition as the country drives to achieve net zero carbon emissions.
“Our strategy is to create and build the renewables hubs ahead of market demand and we have achieved this in Dundee and Leith. Coupled with other specialist facilities delivered by Forth Projects, this creates an unrivalled prime position for Forth Ports to deliver large offshore wind projects.
“We have a clear vision and today we commit to investing a further £50million in Leith, from our own resources, to support Inch Cape and future renewables projects.”
David Webster, Commercial Director at Forth Ports, said: “Today’s announcement is a gamechanger for Forth Ports and the Scottish offshore wind market.
“We have created world class renewables hubs in Dundee and Leith and solved the challenge of local content by locating at ports near the construction sites, creating high quality local green jobs and local supply chains while securing work for future generations.”
Forth Projects – Forth Ports’ in-house logistics division – will handle Inch Cape’s monopile and jacket foundations at the Port of Leith. The specialist pre-assembly and marshalling of the wind farm’s 72 turbines – comprising 72 nacelles, 216 blades and 72 towers – will be undertaken by Vestas in the Port of Dundee (Dundee was previously announced as a hub for Inch Cape in 2022).
John Hill, Inch Cape Project Director,said: “Through our substantial contract with Forth Ports, Inch Cape is pleased to be the catalyst for a major infrastructure investment that will not only benefit our own project but also those Scottish projects that are to follow.
“The utilisation of these two east coast ports – Leith and Dundee – for our offshore construction, will also facilitate significant opportunities with our Tier 1 contractors for the wider Scottish supply chain.”
Leith and Dundee were chosen after a competitive selection process due to their proximity to the project site off the Angus coast, coupled with the first-class storage and assembly capacity and purpose-built offshore renewables quayside facilities.
The £50 million investment is the second phase of delivery of the vision behind the 175-acre Leith Renewables Hub which also forms part of one of the strategically located tax sites within the Forth Green Freeport.
Once completed in 2027, Inch Cape – one of Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms – will generate enough green energy to power half of Scotland’s homes.
It will feature state-of-the-art Vestas 15 megawatt (MW) turbines, the tallest ever deployed in Scottish waters at a height of 274m (20m taller than Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh) and a new onshore substation now under construction on the brownfield site of the former Cockenzie Power Station, East Lothian.
The Leith Collective launches new store at Livingston Designer Outlet
Christmas is coming and the shops are getting busy. But did you know us Brits throw away approximately £42million of unwanted presents each year? And of all the Christmas purchases made, just 1% will still be used six months after the big day?*
One Community Interest Company is hoping to help put an end to that waste and change consumer attitudes with the launch of its new sustainable store.
Opened today on Monday 9th December, The Leith Collective at Livingston Designer Outlet stocks a wide range of mindfully made items, each one handcrafted by local artists and designed to be treasured for a lifetime.
The Leith Collective makers are committed to ditching single-use plastics and opting for eco-friendly alternatives throughout their entire creative process.
From clothing and jewellery, homeware and furniture, to toiletries and gifts – the majority of goods have been created by reusing, recycling, reclaiming and repurposing items that may otherwise have been destined for landfill.
The result is a shop full of truly unique items, one that challenges the ‘throwaway’ mentality of Christmas gift giving and encourages everyone to think before they buy.
The Leith Collective at Livingston Designer Outlet is the latest addition to the award-winning CIC’s group of stores which consists of sites at Edinburgh Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh Fort Kinnaird and Dundee Overgate, as well as a temporary pop-up store at Edinburgh Waverley Market.
The stores are not just retail spaces but hubs of creativity, hosting a range of inspiring workshops, exhibitions and initiatives designed to engage, support and inspire the local community, with the ultimate aim of creating not just a more sustainable retail industry, but a more sustainable future for all.
Speaking ahead of the launch, The Leith Collective founder, Sara Thomson, said; “Opening a store within Scotland’s largest designer outlet is a major milestone. Our makers now have a place alongside some of the world’s most iconic brands, which just goes to show how much consumer attitudes are changing.
“There is now a significant appetite amongst shoppers to support local artists, makers and designers, and a real demand for items that have been thoughtfully crafted with the future of our planet in mind.
“It’s time to go green and switch to shopping sustainably, and not just at Christmas.”
