Category: North Edinburgh News

Pandemic policing: public feels safe with Police Scotland

Survey finds strong levels of public confidence in Police Scotland

Strong levels of public confidence in Police Scotland have been reported during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the majority of people supporting our approach to keeping people safe.

When asked for their opinion of policing in their local area and concerns regarding their safety and wellbeing, 84% of respondents who took part in the ‘Your Police’ 2020/21 survey also said they felt safe. 

The survey – which launched on 9 April last year – received more than 36,500 responses from people across Scotland. This will help us to build on our understanding of the views and priorities of Scotland’s diverse communities.

During the survey period, the average public confidence level was 57% – an increase of nine percentage points from pre COVID-19. We learned that the factors which affected public confidence most were local changes to transmission rates and lockdowns, in particular the announcement of the national lockdown which began in January. The restrictions and increasing infection rates were factors for both Police Scotland and other public organisations, in general.

The survey feedback has helped shape and enhance Police Scotland’s response to our communities over the past year, as our officers, staff and Special Constables have continued to play a key role in the national effort to combat the spread of COVID-19.

This response has included:

  • Increased police presence at identified key locations. This was particularly important to those living in rural areas with lower COVID-19 rates, who had concerns about domestic tourists from Scottish regions with higher infection rates visiting their area.
  • The use of enhanced technology. This included the introduction of online reporting for members of the public for perceived breaches of the COVID-19 regulations as well as the use of video appointments for the public and for community meetings, allowing for safe and accessible face-to-face contact.
  • Increased engagement with more than 250 organisations representing the interests of diverse communities and businesses. This helped improve awareness of the needs and challenges faced by those living with physical, sensory and learning difficulties, when practicing social distancing and using face masks. An event exploring public confidence within ‘seldom heard’ communities will also take place on May 19, co-hosted by Police Scotland, to help further enhance our support to these groups – further information below.
  • Tracking responses received from those living and working in communities with tighter restrictions and outbreaks. Monthly public confidence trackers have been created for each Local Policing Division to support local planning, accountability and scrutiny.

Deputy Chief Constable Will Kerr, Local Policing, said: “Despite the continued challenges to policing during such an extraordinary time, Police Scotland has continued to maintain high levels of public confidence, and I am particularly pleased that such a significant proportion of the population continue to feel safe in the area they live.

“The strong relationships we have with our communities have been absolutely crucial, and providing reassurance to the people we serve during this challenging time has been a key priority.

“The ‘Your Police’ survey is the largest of its kind in the UK to involve the public in a conversation about policing and COVID-19, and I would like to thank the tens of thousands of people who took the time to get involved.

“The results were reviewed on a weekly basis, helping us to respond to emerging issues, and shape our approaches to policing at a national and local level. The survey has been relaunched to allow the public to continue letting us know their views and opinions over the coming months, and I would encourage you to take part.”

In addition, there was an extremely high level of satisfaction recorded among those who were in contact with police during this challenging time. More than 70% of people, who either reported or witnessed a crime, said they were satisfied with their experience when dealing with Police Scotland.

Furthermore, over 80% of respondents were satisfied with how they were treated by call operators and attending officers, and 87% felt that their needs were properly understood.

DCC Kerr added: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank our fellow citizens for the overwhelming support and co-operation policing has experienced during this very challenging year.

“Our officers will continue to respond with good sense, exercising discretion and when necessary, taking enforcement action where required.”

To take part in the Your Police 2021-22 survey, please visit – https://consult.scotland.police.uk/surveys/your-police-2021-2022/

Gladstone’s Land reopens for a taste of the past

One of the Royal Mile’s oldest buildings, the National Trust for Scotand’s Gladstone’s Land, starts a new chapter of its 500 year-old history as it re-opens to the public today after a £1.5m restoration, including a brand new coffee shop and ice cream parlour, continuing the spirit of the building’s long commercial use.   

At the top of the Royal Mile on the Lawnmarket in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town, the six storey tenement represents a new approach from the conservation charity, with visitors actively encouraged to connect with the property by interacting with the exhibits to find out about its fascinating history. 

Items can be picked up, chairs sat on and drawers and cabinets can be opened to reveal secrets about the property’s past. Interactive food tours are also planned for later in the month where visitors can even taste what our predecessors would have eaten. 

Rescued from demolition by the Trust in 1934, over the last 40 years the focus had mainly been on the life and times of merchant Thomas ‘Gledstanes’. He bought the building in the early 17th century, extended it and commissioned its famous Renaissance-style painted ceilings. 

Now though, thanks to years of meticulous historical research led by visitor services managers Dr Kate Stephenson and Anna Brereton (pictured ), the lives of other residents of the property over the centuries are being told too, with three floors of rooms laid out to reflect how they would have lived and worked.

The real-life stories of individual residents and the trading history of the address shows the rise and decline of the address and also reflects the fortunes of the Old Town as a whole, bringing Gladstone’s Land to life in a wholly new way.

Based on the will of wealthy 17th-century merchant John Riddoch, one room shows the recreation of his stockroom with the likes of ginger, sugar, pepper and cinnamon abounding. Another space shows a drapers based on the surviving trade accounts of a late 1700s business trading in silks, laces and printed cottons, including costumes for visitors to try on. 

A whole new floor of Gladstone’s Land is opening for the first time, presenting an early 20th-century boarding house inspired by Mary Wilson, a widow who in 1911 placed a newspaper advertisement offering a room in her apartment as suitable lodgings for ‘two or three respectable men’. 

On the street level, a new coffee shop has been created which is peppered with references to the property’s past. Gladstone’s Land can lay claim to be the oldest continually trading place of commerce in Edinburgh and the coffee shop (an important part of Edinburgh’s culture for centuries) continues that tradition. 

As well as the decoration of the space and ingredients in dishes inspired by the property’s past, the ice cream parlour on the same floor includes a specially created ice cream flavour. Researchers developed elderflower & lemon curd as the property’s first bespoke flavour, using documents related to the first sales of ice cream in Edinburgh in the 1900s and tastes associated with the property’s history.

Self-catering apartments on the upper floor have also been redesigned to create beautiful flats for holiday lets, profits from which will support the Trust’s wider conservation activities. 

General Manager for Edinburgh & East Stuart Maxwell said: “When we closed in February 2020 we expected that we’d be opening the doors to the new Gladstone’s Land in August last year but world events took over. We’re really pleased to reveal what’s been going on behind the hoardings and give people the chance to reconnect with this incredibly special place. 

“Work really started many, many years ago when the team came up with the idea of shifting the focus away from the prosperous merchant who owned the property to the people who actually lived and did business there and who may resonate more so with people today. By poring over documents such as wills, ships’ logs, trade accounts and newspapers we’ve been able to put together an incredibly detailed portrait of the individuals who inhabited the property over the last 500 years. 

“And we’re then presenting it in a way that is quite new for the Trust. Visitors are allowed to touch almost everything in the property and there are surprises at every turn for the curious. As well as the sense of touch, the immersive experience will involve sight, smell and taste too. There’s something there for everyone, from the specialised historian to the first-time museum goer. 

“We know how much people love Gladstone’s Land and we can’t wait for them to reconnect with its impressive history, and explore the new experiences that have been added to bring those centuries to life.”

www.nts.org.uk

www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/gladstones-land

www.twitter.com/GladstonesLand

www.facebook.com/GladstonesLand

“Indescribable sadness”

BBC lambasted for Panorama Diana interview gained by deception and subsequent cover-up

Statement from the Duke of Cambridge:

“I would like to thank Lord Dyson and his team for the report.

“It is welcome that the BBC accepts Lord Dyson’s findings in full – which are extremely concerning – that BBC employees:

  • Lied and used fake documents to obtain the interview with my mother.
  • Made lurid and false claims about the royal family which played on her fears and fuelled paranoia.
  • Displayed woeful incompetence when investigating complaints and concerns about the programme.
  • Were evasive in their reporting to the media and covered up what they knew from their internal investigation.

“It is my view that the deceitful way the interview was obtained substantially influenced what my mother said. The interview was a major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse and has since hurt countless others.

“It brings indescribable sadness to know that the BBC’s failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation that I remember from those final years with her.

“But what saddens me most, is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995, my mother would have known that she had been deceived. She was failed not just by a rogue reporter, but by leaders at the BBC who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions.

“It is my firm view that this Panorama programme holds no legitimacy and should never be aired again. It effectively established a false narrative which, for over a quarter of a century, has been commercialised by the BBC and others.

“This settled narrative now needs to be addressed by the BBC and anyone else who has written or intends to write about these events.

“In an era of fake news, public service broadcasting and a free press have never been more important. These failings, identified by investigative journalists, not only let my mother down, and my family down; they let the public down too.“

Prince Harry added a statement last night:

Our mother was an incredible woman who dedicated her life to service. She was resilient, brave, and unquestionably honest.

The ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life.

To those who have taken some form of accountability, thank you for owning it. That is the first step towards justice and truth. Yet what deeply concerns me is that practices like these – and even worse – are still widespread today. Then, and now, it’s bigger than one outlet, one network, or one publication.

Our mother lost her life because of this, and nothing has changed. By protecting her legacy, we protect everyone, and uphold the dignity with which she lived her life. Let’s remember who she was and what she stood for.

The BBC published Lord Dyson’s independent investigation into the circumstances around the 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales yesterday. The inquiry report severely criticises the national public broadcaster.

The BBC also isued the following statement:

‘The BBC Board appointed Lord Dyson to lead the investigation on 18 November 2020. Lord Dyson examined documents and records from the time and interviewed a wide range of people involved in the making of the programme.

‘Lord Dyson says: “The report demonstrates, I believe, that this has been the thorough and fair investigation I set out to do. All key individuals gave comprehensive testimony and I am grateful for their cooperation.

‘It enabled my investigation to establish facts based on evidence and for me to draw the detailed conclusions that have been set out today.”

‘BBC Director-General, Tim Davie says: “I would like to thank Lord Dyson. His report into the circumstances around the 1995 interview is both thorough and comprehensive. The BBC accepts Lord Dyson’s findings in full.

“Although the report states that Diana, Princess of Wales, was keen on the idea of an interview with the BBC, it is clear that the process for securing the interview fell far short of what audiences have a right to expect. We are very sorry for this. Lord Dyson has identified clear failings.

“While today’s BBC has significantly better processes and procedures, those that existed at the time should have prevented the interview being secured in this way. The BBC should have made greater effort to get to the bottom of what happened at the time and been more transparent about what it knew.

“While the BBC cannot turn back the clock after a quarter of a century, we can make a full and unconditional apology. The BBC offers that today.”

‘BBC Chairman, Richard Sharp says: “The BBC Board welcomes the publication of Lord Dyson’s report which it unreservedly accepts. There were unacceptable failures.

‘We take no comfort from the fact that these are historic. The BBC must uphold the highest possible standards. I want to thank Lord Dyson for the thoroughness and diligence of his work.”

‘The BBC is today writing to a number of individuals involved or linked to these events to apologise directly. We recognise that it has taken far too long to get to the truth.

‘The 1995 Panorama interview received a number of awards at the time. We do not believe it is acceptable to retain these awards because of how the interview was obtained.’

The report and associated annexes are published here.

Enterprise boosts electric rental fleet with thirty new vehicles

·       30 new Renault ZOE available in Enterprise Rent-A-Car branches in Edinburgh, Dundee, Glasgow, Aberdeen

·       Supporting local communities’ and businesses’ transition to shared low- and zero-emission motoring

·       Part of a wider investment including electric vans and hydrogen vehicles

Enterprise Rent-A-Car has unveiled 30 new electric Renault ZOE as part of its rental fleet in Scotland. They will offer more zero-emission transport options for businesses and local residents needing to drive as Scotland emerges from lockdown.

The vehicles will be located at Enterprise Rent-A-Car branches in Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. They are part of the company’s wider investment in offering sustainable motoring options in Scotland and across the UK.

Enterprise already offers a range of low emission vehicles and is rolling out a number of fully electric vans and working with Toyota to trial hydrogen cars with selected corporate customers.

Police Scotland is one of a number of organisations that is renting the new Enterprise Renault ZOE fleet. The Renault ZOE is a fully electric vehicle, with a 52-kWh capacity with up to 245 miles of range.

Enterprise is seeing growing support for its electric vehicle fleet, both rental and car club, across the UK. An analysis of user data shows that while the majority of renters drive fewer than 50 miles when they use an electric vehicle, many are regular users and happy to drive an electric car for 100 miles or more per day.

“We see rental as a way of facilitating change because it enables people to try out zero-emission electric vehicles for a short period of time,” said Diane Mulholland, General Manager for Enterprise Scotland.

“We will be using our new ZOE fleet to ensure our employees are familiar with EV technology and act as experts to help customers understand the benefits of these vehicles and overcome any concerns they may have.

“We are planning to encourage all our customers to try EVs. That means replacement customers who get a car from their insurance company when their vehicle is being repaired will have an EV option, as well as our business and leisure customers as lockdown eases.”

Enterprise is committed to the continued expansion of its fleet of fully electric vehicles in Scotland and in all other markets in which it operates. These vehicles will play a role in supporting Scotland’s move towards more sustainable transport, use of ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) and introduction of Low Emission Zones in four cities, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow next year. 

In order to ensure employee and customer safety, Enterprise introduced its Complete Clean Pledge in 2020, which is an industry leading initiative that demonstrates the company’s commitment to excellent customer service and maintaining the highest standards of cleanliness.

The CCP further enhanced how all Enterprise vehicles are thoroughly cleaned between each rental. This includes washing, vacuuming, general wipe down, and sanitising with a disinfectant that meets leading health authority requirements, with particular attention to more than 20 high-touch points.

Jock McFadyen: Lost Boat Party

SCOTLAND’S Dovecot Studios, in partnership with The Scottish Gallery, will mark the artist, Jock McFadyen’s 70th birthday year with an exhibition of recent paintings which describe the romance and grandeur of the Scottish landscape, alongside the urban dystopia for which the artist is known.

The exhibition runs from 11 June – 25 September 2021.

Christina Jansen, director of The Scottish Gallery, said: “McFadyen paints the exterior world with a cool detachment that carries an emotional punch, and Lost Boat Party perfectly describes his approach – floating through the landscape to find and show the strange enigmatic portion only seen when looking for something else.

“The painting, Lost Boat Party, is a monumental work, depicting a seaside funfair which appears to have detached itself from the land and is slowly drifting out to sea. The metaphor for the human condition is unavoidable, and many of the paintings in the exhibition describe the sea with all its implications of threat and indifference, as well as painterly possibility.”

Over 20 large paintings will feature in Lost Boat Party, highlighting McFadyen’s understanding of the sublime landscape tradition.

It is no accident that the artist was taught by a generation of abstract painters whose presence is felt in these paintings, describing the contemporary world; paintings such as Mallaig and Estuary Music are almost minimalist, and all the paintings – save for one which has a tiny figure, difficult to find at only half an inch tall – are void of human presence, instead inviting the viewer to inhabit the haunting and occasionally hostile panoramas of land and sea before them.

Over the last seven months, Dovecot has collaborated with McFadyen to make a new artwork inspired by his paintings.

The Mallaig Commission will be unveiled at the exhibition, along with documentation of the collaboration. In working with Dovecot, McFadyen joins a roster of Royal Academicians, including David Hockney, Graham Sutherland, Barbara Rae and Chris Ofili.

Naomi Robertson, Master Weaver at Dovecot Studios, explained: “Our initial aim was to explore the beauty in the paintings. We have experimented with how to amplify the complex undertones in Jock’s use of paint through the blending of yarn as well as the innate sensuality of the textile surface.

“The way in which the final work absorbs light emphasises a depth of colour that is just not possible with paint.”

The exhibition forms part of the Edinburgh Art Festival 2021 programme and is the second in four UK exhibitions celebrating the artist’s impressive 45-year career.

Lost Boat Party follows Jock McFadyen goes to the Pictures at City Art Centre, Edinburgh and will be followed by exhibitions at the Royal Academy in London in early 2022 and a full retrospective at The Lowry in Manchester.

McFadyen’s career has included solo shows at the Imperial War Museum, Camden Art Centre, The National Gallery, Talbot Rice, and the Pier Arts Centre. In 1991, the artist designed sets and costumes for Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s last ballet The Judas Tree at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

McFadyen’s work is included in over 40 public collections, including the V&A, SNGMA, Government Art Collection and Tate, as well as corporate and private collections in the UK and abroad.

A monograph on the artist was published by Lund Humphries in 2001 and in 2019 a second monograph, written by Rowan Moore, was published by the Royal Academy. McFadyen was elected to the Royal Academy in 2012.

Dovecot Studios: The Lost Boat Party exhibition 11 June 2021 to 25 September 2021

Applications are open for Nationwide’s Community Grants Programme

  • Nationwide’s Community Grants Programme now accepting applications from charities and projects helping solve housing issues across UK
  • Successful applicants are awarded grants ranging from £10,000 to £50,000, decided on by Nationwide’s Community Boards comprised of Nationwide members and employees
  • Nationwide pledges to make £22m grant funding available to housing charities and organisations by 2023

Nationwide, the world’s largest building society, has announced that applications for its 2021 Community Grants Programme are now open.

After a challenging year for everyone, but especially for those who are most vulnerable in our society, having a place fit to call home is more important than ever before. The programme forms part of Nationwide’s commitment to supporting communities by giving at least one per cent of its pre-tax profits to good causes.

The Community Grants Programme tackles local housing issues by giving charities, community land trusts and housing co-operatives access to grants between £10,000 and £50,000. Applications are open to any organisations that provide solutions to help:

  1. Prevent people from losing their home
  2. Help people into a home
  3. Support people to thrive within the home environment

Nationwide’s Community Boards, made up of community-minded colleagues working at the building society and it’s members, come together to decide which projects should be awarded a grant, and in doing so are supporting their own communities to find solutions to the housing crisis.

Beneficiaries of  Community Grants  include organisations that have helped to support vulnerable families with young children in crisis in Northern Ireland, supported women who have been sexually exploited to navigate the housing system in Luton and those who are homeless and facing poverty in Kingston.

There are currently 11 local Community Boards across the UK. Since 2018 Nationwide has funded 350 projects and awarded £14 million in total through the programme and in 2020/21, just under £4 million in grants were awarded to 99 projects. By 2023, £22 million will have been awarded in total.

This year Nationwide is capping the amount of Community Grant applications it will accept, meaning approximately one in four applicants will be successful. If the cap isn’t reached, applications will close at 11pm on Monday 21 June.

For more information about the scheme and to apply, visit: www.nationwidecommunitygrants.co.uk.

https://youtu.be/Fk9zq-Cd678

Rachel Smith, Senior Social Investment Manager at Nationwide Building Society, said: “The last year has been exceptionally challenging for many of us, but if there’s one thing it’s taught us, it’s the value and importance of community. Since 2018, our Community Grants Programme has supported charitable organisations seeking to make a difference to vulnerable people facing housing challenges across the UK. 

“Everyone should have a place fit to call home which is why our Community Grants Programme is so important to us. As a member owned organisation, we have always seen it as our place to help facilitate positive changes in local communities, and we are encouraging charities to apply to our Community Grants programme.”

It’s great to be ‘bark’!

 Dogs Trust Dog School Edinburgh re-opens for face to face classes  

Dogs Trust Dog School Edinburgh is celebrating welcoming dogs and their owners to face to face training classes once again.   

Hundreds of families across the region have welcomed dogs into their lives over the last year and with the country experiencing national lockdowns, Dogs Trust Dog School in Edinburgh switched to teaching classes online to make sure dogs didn’t miss out on the chance to learn new life skills.  

But now lockdown has eased, the training team are excited to be meeting up with four-legged friends and their owners once more to train dogs of all ages, from puppies and adolescents to adult dogs.  

Julie Morrison, Head Coach of Dog School Edinburgh said: “We were so pleased to have been able to continue training dogs in such a difficult year and thousands of dogs have received their training classes online in recent months, but nothing beats hearing the pitter patter of paws in the training room!   

“Life is going to change in the coming weeks and months for ourselves and our dogs, which means owners may need to start putting some adjustments in place. Our classes can help owners teach their dogs the skills they need to continue living happily alongside them and to cope with the different experiences that life out of lockdown will bring.   

 “This year, Dog School is being supported by funding raised by generous players of People’s Postcode Lottery. We want to say thank you to them as their support has meant we have been able to continue providing training to owners and their canine friends, despite the extraordinary times we have all experienced.”  

Classes will be held at North Merchiston Club at Watson Cresent, Edinburgh Tabernacle at Inverleith Gardens and 71st Scout Hall at Corstorphine Road. 

Classes will follow government guidance and there will be a maximum of six people allowed in a training class, ensuring social distancing measures can be followed. To make sure demand can be met, online training classes will also continue.   

To find out more, visit  www.dogstrust.org.uk/dogschool   

Edinburgh Napier’s Bleeding Free documentary premiere tonight

Period poverty, period dignity and menstrual education comes under spotlight in new film created by Edinburgh Napier students

A documentary that captures a three-year long campaign by students and staff at Edinburgh Napier to raise awareness of period poverty will be premiered tonight.

‘Bleeding Free’ will premiere online tonight (Thursday 20 May) at 7pm.

The documentary captures the work and campaigning of Bleedin’ Saor – a collective consisting of Product Design, Film and TV students as well as staff members from the University’s School of Arts and Creative Industries.

Bleedin’ Saor (saor translates to the English word ‘free’) was formed in early 2019 to combat menstrual myths and break the ‘silence of menstruation’ in order to create a long-lasting impact for young people and their communities. 

The documentary – which was filmed, edited and produced by students and staff from Edinburgh Napier – looks at topics such as period poverty, period dignity and menstrual education both in Scotland and overseas in Uganda.

The collective visited Uganda in 2019 as it took its campaign to East Africa to join the global efforts in the menstrual movement.

The 10-day trip saw the group meet with and interview members of a number of organisations within the country who are fighting for better period product provision, gender equality and women’s’ rights.

The team met staff at the Girl Up Initiative which aims to empower women and girls through menstrual education, including taking their message out onto the streets of Kampala. The collective also viewed menstrual health workshops in primary schools and saw first hand how social enterprises producing re-usable sanitary pads can help sustain local communities as well as enable girls to stay in school longer.

The trip also saw the Bleedin’ Saor team meet up with Irise International which aims to create menstruation friendly schools in Uganda. With the charity, the team met with elders who support women and girls in their communities and presented their own ideas to a primary school in Buwenge, a town in the Eastern region of Uganda.

Closer to home, the documentary also captures the work of the collective and its three designers – Sam Calder, Hannah Stevens and Brogan Henderson – as they worked with the University and the Hey Girls social enterprise to design two new period product dispensers.

The final design has been used by Edinburgh Napier to make period products free to all who need them within the University’s campuses and will soon be installed in schools, colleges and universities across the country. The free products at Edinburgh Napier have been made available thanks to Scottish Government funding.

The Bloody Big Brunch event hosted by Bleedin’ Saor at all three of Edinburgh Napier’s campuses in early 2019 – which saw guests pay for entry to the brunch through donating period products rather than money – is also revisited in the film.

The premiere of the documentary had been delayed previously as a result of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, but the team is delighted to now be able to revisit its campaign with a wider audience.

Dr Kirsten Macleod, programme leader of the BA (Hons) Television programme at Edinburgh Napier and Executive Producer of the film, said: “We are so pleased to be able to share this film and showcase how Scotland is leading the world in providing free access to period products alongside the amazing work being done here and in Uganda on menstrual education and support. This is a global issue that will change the lives of millions of women and girls.”

The entire Bleedin’ Saor project has been co-ordinated by Product Design lecturer, Ruth Cochrane, Dr. Kirsten Macleod and School of Arts and Creative Industries’ placements officer, Lindsay Morgan. It has received funding from Santander Mobility Grants and other funding initiatives.

More information on the Bleeding Free documentary and information on how to reserve your ticket to the premiere can be found at 

https://bleedingfree.wordpress.com/

More information on the wider Bleedin’ Saor collective can be found at 

https://www.bleedinsaor.com

Glam squad help care residents prep for post-lockdown debut

DEDICATED care staff turned glam squad during the pandemic celebrate the reopening of inhouse beauty salon as residents get ready for their post-lockdown outings.

The salon at Cramond Residence in Edinburgh has been closed for the duration of lockdown with care staff stepping in to give residents their regular cut and blow dry.

Now reinstated, residents have begun enjoying complimentary treatments including a full complement of hairdressing and manicures.

Built in 2018, the salon was part of the home’s original design and features alongside a host of unique aspects such as a wellness and physiotherapy suite, games room and cinema room.

Lisa Sohn, Head Lifestyle Co-Ordinator at Cramond Residence, said: “The salon has been out of operation since the start of the pandemic, so you can imagine the excitement of residents when we were able to reopen.

“Care staff at the home pulled together throughout lockdown to give residents manicures and trims.

“It’s great to see residents back in the salon getting the VIP treatment and are very much enjoying the post-lockdown glow up.”

Alongside the hair and beauty treatments on offer, residents also benefit from regular holistic therapy sessions including Reiki, Reflexology and hand massages. 

As well as a monthly programme of activities which are resident-led and aim to make life as fun and fulfilling as possible.

For the duration of lockdown, residents were confined to the nine individual houses within the home, with Activities Coordinators using technology to keep residents connected. With restrictions lifted, the home is now fully connected again, with residents enjoying a variety of activities together.

Cramond Residence provides a combination of luxury accommodation and the highest quality of care for up to 74 residents, all enjoying an exceptional range of amenities and activities, delicious food and bespoke care from our highly-trained team.

As well as the beautiful gardens, it also offers a library, a hair salon, a private, fine-dining space, a physiotherapy room and a cinema, which doubles as a large, multi-purpose space for a host of social events.

Places in the care home start from £1850 a week. To find out more, call 0131 341 4037 or visit https://cramondresidence.co.uk/