Category: Newhaven

Funding to help local communities thrive

Boost for North Edinburgh community organisations

More than 80 grassroots initiatives across Scotland will share in over £3 million funding to help deliver more ambitious community projects and activities and enable them to generate their own income.

North Edinburgh’s Heart of Newhaven and R2 are among the projects to be awarded Strengthening Communities Programme funding.

To date the Strengthening Communities Programme has helped hundreds of organisations to develop and improve their work with local communities and boost local economies.

This latest tranche of funding for 2026-27 will back community organisations to deliver local projects including spaces for business, improving access to employability and skills services, family and young people’s activities, and health and wellbeing support.

The First Minister announced the funding on a visit to the Usual Place in Dumfries – a charity that supports young people with learning disabilities to develop skills, gain qualifications and access employment.

First Minister John Swinney said: “Local organisations are best placed to understand what their communities need and how to deliver it. This programme helps to support and empower community initiatives to deliver what their area needs most – whether that is spaces for small businesses, culture and sport activities, or employability support.

“By providing this funding, we are helping organisations to become more financially resilient and develop the means to generate income for themselves. This will not only help boost local economies, but in turn help these projects generate more funds to serve wider community needs.

“The Usual Place is a fantastic example of this type of initiative. Their work to support young people with additional support needs to build community connections and friendships, and develop the skills needed to access employment, helps to improve peoples’ lives and future opportunities. I was pleased to visit the charity and see first-hand the difference it is making for people in Dumfries.”

Craig McEwen, Chief Executive at The Usual Place said: “Following a very difficult year for The Usual Place, we are now in a much better financial position.

“With the interim funding found to give us breathing space and now the success in securing funds through the Strengthening Communities Programme, we have the space to create capacity to implement some strategic changes, decided by the Board of Trustees, to enable us to diversify our income streams to ensure a more stable future for The Usual Place.  Over the past ten years we have put back into the economy of Dumfries and Galloway £9.8m, so our value speaks for itself.

“We thank the First Minister personally, and the Scottish Government for believing in the work we do in reducing the disability employment gap here in Dumfries & Galloway and beyond.”

STRENGTHENING COMMUNITIES PROGRAMME

FUNDING BY ORGANISATION 2026/27

Organisation Name / Funding 2026/27

Active Communities £39,461

Annan Harbour Action Group £47,000

Antonine Sports Centre £44,980

Ardrossan Community Development Trust £40,679

Arisaig Community Trust £46,604

Assynt Development Trust £17,000

Belhelvie Community Trust £26,325

Bluevale Community Club £51,952

Bute Community Land Company £17,760

Campsie Memorial Trust £21,750

Castlemilk Community Football Trust £53,000

Community Development Company of Nesting £25,300

Comrie Development Trust £53,000

Cromarty Community Development Trust £33,100

Culbokie Community Trust £30,277

Dalbeattie Community Initiative £53,060

David Livingston Trust, Blantyre £31,500

Development Coll £41,597

Dufftown and District Community Association £18,825

Dunvegan Community Trust £26,661

Eday Partnership £18,000

Glen Urquhart Rural Community Association (GURCA) £8,500

Glengarry Community Woodlands £20,000

Go Golspie £40,000

Gorebridge Community Development Trust £48,169

Grow 73 £18,688

Healthy n Happy Community Development Trust £40,647

Heart of Newhaven £47,356

Helmsdale & District Development Trust £30,000

IG – Great Bernera Community Trust £39,048

Inspired Community Enterprise Trust (ICET) (The Usual Place) £25,402

Isle of Canna Community Development Trust £12,537

Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust £25,355

Isle of Luing Community Trust £27,000

Kilmadock Development Trust £10,049

Kinloch Historical Society £35,000

Kinlochleven Community Trust £24,110

Kinning Park Complex £42,500

Kirkcolm Community Trust £9,500

Kirkcudbright Development Trust £32,500

Kirknewton Community Development Trust £35,000

Lesmahagow Development Trust £60,504

Linlithgow Community Development Trust £34,885

Lochwinnoch Community Development Trust £25,773

Lockerbie Old School £53,500

Maslow’s Community SCIO £44,847

Midsteeple Quarter, Dumfries £56,420

Minginish Community Association £24,000

New Cumnock Development Trust £44,563

Nith Valley Trust £32,444

North Edinburgh R2 Co-ordinator £56,205

North Glasgow Community Food Initiative £29,388

North Ronaldsay Trust £23,000

One Dalkeith £36,057

Pollok United Nethercraigs CIC £46,498

Portgordon Community Trust Limited £28,723

Possilpark People’s Trust £32,700

Rannoch Community Trust £43,722

Roseneath Pennisula West CDT £44,500

Ruchazie Growing 21 £40,000

Sandness Community Development Group £22,028

Scalloway Community Development Company £38,468

Scourie Community Development Company £12,000

Shapinsay Development Trust £20,000

SHAX £50,500

Sleat Community Trust £38,601

South Islay Development Trust £20,000

South Ronaldsay and Burray Development Trust £33,990

Spean Bridge, Roy Bridge and Achnacarry SCIO £10,000

Stow Community Trust £36,382

Stranraer Development Trust £47,000

Stranraer Water Sports Association £35,690

South West Arts & Music Project (SWAMP) £20,000

Take a Bow Development Trust £48,320

Tayport Community Trust £48,638

The Furniture Project, Stranraer £40,500

The Pavilion, Glasgow £37,987

Three Kings Cullen Association £40,800

Tiree Community Development Trust £22,650

Torridon and District Community Association £46,090

Unst Partnership £37,288

Whitburn Community Development Trust £37,195

Wick Development Trust £26,030

Please note that all funding amounts are subject to due diligence.

FluteFling at Heart of Newhaven

FRIDAY 27th MARCH 8 – 10pm

The Edinburgh FluteFling concert returns with another lineup of some of the finest traditional flute and whistle players around.

This year’s performers are Claire Mann (Dumfries and Galloway), Tom Oakes (Edinburgh), Tina Jordan Rees (Glasgow) and Hammy Hamilton (County Cork, Ireland).

Expect music from Scotland and Ireland mixed with more recent tunes too. Inventive, dynamic and creative performances all in a friendly setting.

Heart of Newhaven Centre 27 March 2026. Doors open 1930
Performances 2000-2200
BYOB

Tickets here:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/flutefling

#flute #whistle #lowwhistle #edinburgh

See www.Flutefling.scot for more details.

Edinburgh College students serve up a Royal feast

A group of Edinburgh College students had the right Royal honour of helping cater and host a ship-naming ceremony attended by The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, in the Port of Leith this week.

Princess Anne took part in the ceremony at Forth Ports Cruise Terminal, breaking a bottle of whisky against the ship’s hull and formally naming the vessel POLE STAR.

The students worked alongside professional caterers in a variety of roles, with some cooking up a storm in the kitchens, others taking on front of house duties to make sure all the VIP guests were as comfortable as possible, and some preparing delicious baked goods and cakes to be enjoyed by all.

The event was put on by East Coast Catering Ltd, which is ran by Edinburgh College graduate Kieran Wight, with our students providing vital support. Their hard work was recognised by The Princess Royal herself, who stopped for a chat and learned from the group all about the skills they are being taught on their course.

Adam Robertson, a Level 1 Hospitality student, set out from his home in the Borders at 5am to make sure he was in Edinburgh in time to do his part in the kitchen. He said it was all worth the effort: “When we found out there was an opportunity to cook for such a prestigious guest, I was desperate to do it.

“I think if you want to go out and work in a professional kitchen, it’s so important to have this sort of experience behind you. The College has given us so many amazing opportunities in the short time I’ve been here, and it’s really helped build up my confidence.”

Jodie Dixon is studying HNC Events and she said it was an honour to take part: “I don’t think you can turn down an opportunity like this, to get involved in a literal royal event.

“There’s so much you can learn just by being here, and it’s really nice knowing you’re part of a group that’s all supporting each other too. The lecturers have been great, and have provided us with a lot of support, but they’re also great at letting us go and do our jobs, it makes you feel like you’re trusted.”

Stephanie Tanner, the Head of School for Cookery, Hospitality, Events, Travel and Tourism, said the experience will prove invaluable for the students: “It’s a proud day for everyone at the College, seeing them putting all of their training to use in the real world, and doing so incredibly well.

“Getting the chance to take part in events like this gives them such an advantage when it comes to finding work after graduation. Employers will be able to look at their CVs, and say ‘Wow, they’ve catered an event for a member of the Royal Family!”

Aisha Elshani, a Professional Cookery lecturer, said the students represented the College well: “They’ve all worked so hard, leading up to the event and on the day itself, and it’s really nice to see how well they are all doing.

“They’re all getting on with their jobs, and just conducting themselves really professionally. I think they all have bright futures ahead in the industry”.

Happy 15th Anniversary, NEN blog!

NEN PUBLISHED OUR FIRST BLOG POST ON THIS DAY IN 2011

The very first NEN blog post was published on this day in 2011. The post read:

Hello, and welcome to the brand new NEN blog.

For those of you not already familiar with the newspaper, we are a local community paper serving the North Edinburgh community. We’ve been here for over thirty years.

This blog, along with our new Facebook page and Twitter stream, represents our first foray into the world of social media.  We really want to encourage more participation, more questions and ideas from the North Edinburgh community – both online and offline – and hope that these new tools will help us to do that.

We already have a good website, where you can always find the latest edition of the printed newspaper. The blog won’t be replacing that, but will instead be there to show people the latest news about the area, and also to help us cover the current funding crisis we are facing as an organisation.

Above all, we want to include your input on the blog – be it ideas for stories, comments, pictures and events. So get in touch!

The NEN’s website was sadly deleted when funding ceased but our social media presence continues on both Twitter and Facebook and the blog is still going strong with 10 – 12 posts daily.

2025 was the NEN blog’s busiest ever year with 36,000 visitors. As I write this we’ve published more than 38,000 posts – all of these remain accessible online – and we’re currently on a run of publishing on 2749 consecutive days.

When the NEN office in Crewe Road North closed much of the NEN archive material was lost, but thankfully some of our picture library was salvaged and can now be found at granton:hub (Madelvic House), where the volunteer archive team has also collated all remaining hard copies of the North Edinburgh News newspaper.

Hopefully, between the physical archive and the NEN blog, you can find all you need to know about our community’s rich history – and we’re adding to that history every day!

Heart of Newhaven to livestream Christmas Lectures

For the first time, Heart of Newhaven is delighted to be an official livestream venue for this year’s CHRISTMAS LECTURES® from the Royal Institution.

Join us on the evenings of Thursday 11th, Saturday 13th, and Tuesday 16th December as we stream the lectures live from London.

Bring your curiosity and excitement — families from across the local area are warmly invited to watch the lectures come to life in real time and be among the first to uncover the mysteries of the Universe with Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock!

🎟 Free Events — Please Pre-Register

Although the events are free to attend, please help us manage numbers by pre-registering on our Eventbrite page

Each lecture is suitable for all ages, and you’re welcome to attend one, two, or all three evenings.

We hope to see you there! 🌟

Register

Wave of Words: New community group to launch at Heart of Newhaven

No Homework Discussion Group! 

Waves of Words is an idea for a community group where you don’t need to do any real “homework” but instead come along to share words, phrases, and ideas together, not to analyse them but to explore what they mean to us and what they awaken in us.

Interested? Then read on ….

We’re suggesting a weekly meeting that will be a space for gentle conversation, discovery and fun!

You can bring along something you’ve read – an article, a line in a book, a favourite poem, a social media post and share it if you’d like to – there are no right or wrong answers, only different voices and opinions

We’ll also share tea and treats, simple things to make every conversation a little sweeter!

If you’d like to find out more about this proposed group – or to contribute ideas of your own for a discussion group – please come along to the Heart on Saturday November 15th at 12.30 and share your thoughts. 

For more information or to ask any questions please contact Alessandra:

alessandra.gentili@heartofnewhaven.co.uk

Hopefully, the group can meet regularly from January onwards. Together, we can share meanings, stories, and feelings that language brings to life.

Dig, Create, Celebrate with Earth in Common this weekend

SATURDAY 11th OCTOBER from 10am – 1pm at VICTORIA PARK

Join us at our new crofts for a day of creativity, connection, and community spirit!

Meet the team behind the redevelopment of our urban space, get hands-on with soil investigations, hula-hoop making or simply come by for a chat with us and your neighbours.

Let’s shape the future of our space—together. 💚

🗓️ Victoria Park — Saturday, 11 Oct, 10am – 1pm

St Margaret’s Park — Saturday, 11 Oct, 10am – 1pm