Sign ups now open for the Mindful Chef Coast Clean 2021 (17th-19th September)
2021 event has been expanded to include beaches, parks, rivers and woodlands anywhere in the UK
The Marine Conservation Society reports that 70% of inland litter picks found PPE in 2020, with face masks/gloves found on 30% of the beaches cleaned by MCS volunteers
Mindful Chef, a B Corp company, is looking to double the impact of 2020’s Coast Clean, collectively removing 75,000 litres of plastic from UK coastlines, rivers and parks
Mindful Chef, the UK’s favourite healthy recipe box service, is pleased to announce that it has partnered with UN Patron of the Wilderness Ben Fogle for its third annual Coast Clean, taking place 17th-19th September 2021.
Sign-ups are now open via the Mindful Chef website.
Mindful Chef is calling on the British public to take part in this nationwide outdoor clean up, to reach its 2021 target of 75,000litres of plastic being cleared up across the weekend, the equivalent of approximately 150,000 plastic bottles, making it one of the UK’s largest clean up operations.
Participants are encouraged to sign up as a ‘local hero’ via the Mindful Chef website – each participant will receive a volunteer pack in the post ahead of the event, with everything needed to get involved. From families or groups of friends to corporate teams, the event promises a rewarding day out and the opportunity to do something good for the environment.
Now in its third year, Mindful Chef is partnering with The Marine Conservation Society as part of the Great British Beach clean, and has ambitions to make this years’ event the biggest one yet, expanding the operation to include beaches, parks, rivers and woodlands.
Raising awareness of safe plastic disposal is more important than ever: littering of single-use plastic during Covid-19 has skyrocketed, with 70% of inland litter picks finding PPE in 2020 and face masks/gloves found on 30% of the beaches cleaned by MCS volunteers.
Large-scale clean up operations serve as an opportunity to collect invaluable data on which waste items frequently wash up on our shores. This data can support campaigns for legislation to be put in place to tackle the most harmful waste issues. Recent findings include a 55% drop in plastic bags found on UK beaches since the 5p charge was introduced.
Ben Fogle said: “Lots of people rediscovered the joy of the great outdoors during the lockdowns. This is an opportunity to give back to all of those places – beaches, woodlands, rivers, fields or even your local park.
“It’s our responsibility to look after our planet, which is why I’m supporting Mindful Chef in this mass clean up effort. I’ll be litter picking around my local area and joining the Mindful Chef team in Battersea for their own clean up today (15th September). I urge anyone who is able to, to sign up on the Mindful Chef website!”
Myles Hopper, Co-Founder and Chief Community Officer at Mindful Chef: “As a proud B Corp, we are always looking for ways to use the power of our business as a force for good, taking care of our planet for now and the future.
“The annual Mindful Chef Coast Clean is just one of the ways we’re striving to meet our environmental goals and we are thrilled to be taking it a step further this year by expanding the initiative to clean up parks, rivers and woodlands.”
Our own local Wardie Bay Beach Clean will be taking place on Sunday 26th September from 10.30am:
Share sustainability hacks at The Leith Collective’s ‘Let’s Talk Waste’ event
The climate is in crisis and every second counts. But what if all it took was just 6 minutes of your time to help turn things around? Local Edinburgh businesses, artists, and makers are being invited to give just a few minutes of their time to share their top tips at a special ‘Let’s Talk Waste’ event in the capital later this month.
Brought to you by The Leith Collective – crafters, makers, artists and business owners will come together on Thursday 23rd September to discuss ways in which they are reducing their waste and making a difference.
Taking place at Ocean Terminal, the evening will feature a diverse range of speakers; from a maker who creates unique works of art from items otherwise destined for landfill, to a sustainable refill shop, Weigh To Go, and local plant shop, Seb’s Urban Jungle.
The timing of the event is perfect, falling in the middle of Recycle Week, running 20th – 26th September, the aim of which is to galvanise the public into recycling more of the rights things, more often.
It also comes just a month ahead of the crucial COP26 summit which The Leith Collective’s founder, Sara Thomson, will be attending as one of 13 specially selected One Step Greener ambassadors. Her role there will be to share how she is doing her bit to tackle climate change and inspire others to follow suit.
Commenting ahead of ‘Let’s Talk Waste’, Sara Thomson explained: “The event is part of The Leith Collective’s ongoing sustainability campaign which aims to encourage people to reuse, recycle and relove everyday items, and we wanted to open up the platform to as many local businesses and artists as possible to help spread the message of sustainability far and wide.
“Knowledge is power, and by sharing inspirational stories and exchanging top tips in this accessible, easy-to-digest 6-minute format, everyone can learn something new, and together we can make a massive difference.”
EVENT INFORMATION
‘Let’s Talk Waste’ will take place at the ex GAP store on the Ground Floor level of Ocean Terminal on Thursday 23rd September, 6pm – 8:30pm. The event is free to attend and refreshments will be provided.
ITV, STV, Sky, and Channel 4 have joined together in a national campaign to encourage millions of children to get back to being fit and active with The Daily Mile.
Launching today, the TV advertising campaign highlights the powerful impact that The Daily Mile has on children’s physical and mental wellbeing. This campaign is part of a £10m commitment from broadcasters, and INEOS’ ongoing support to improve children’s physical and mental health.
The fast-growing initiative for primary schools has been a huge success with children, parents and teachers worldwide. It has been particularly effective in getting children moving again after the disruption caused by Covid and school closures.
The Daily Mile recently reported that the number of children running a mile a day has skyrocketed to more than 3 million (3,175,461) in over 13,000 schools and nurseries, spanning 85 countries now taking part.
The Daily Mile is inclusive and accessible to all. It encourages children to run, jog, wheel or walk at their own pace outdoors for 15 minutes every day, and has also been proven to improve concentration and attainment in class.
The Daily Mile was first developed in 2012 by Scottish headteacher Elaine Wyllie MBE. Since 2016 it has been supported by INEOS, who funded the creation of the advert.
ITV formed a partnership with The Daily Mile in 2018, helping the campaign to generate over 7,000 additional schools sign ups and nearly 2 million more children participating since the partnership began.
ITV’s Senior Manager of Social Purpose, Annabel Barratt, said: “We’re incredibly proud of the success of our partnership with the Daily Mile so far. After the last school year was so difficult, ITV wants to use our platform and reach to encourage more healthy choices, and we’re so pleased Sky and Channel 4 are on board too.
“We know The Daily Mile boosts children’s mental wellbeing, concentration and self-esteem as well as their physical health so we’re excited to be helping as many schools as possible take part”
Verica Djurdjevic, Chief Revenue Officer, Channel 4 said: “The past school year has been really tough and means this initiative is more important than ever for the growing number of children benefiting from the boost to both their physical and mental health.
“It’s a great example of the positive impact broadcaster collaboration is delivering.”
Fiona Ball, Group Director, Bigger Picture, Sky said: “We’re delighted to partner with ITV, STV and Channel 4 once again to support The Daily Mile’s work to encourage children across the country to make choices that will support their physical and mental health.
“At Sky, we believe in using our reach for good and want to provide young people of all backgrounds a voice and support a better future for themselves and society.”
Founder of The Daily Mile, Elaine Wyllie MBE, said: “Thank you to ITV, STV, Sky, Channel 4. Their help to raise awareness of the benefits of The Daily Mile is so important.It’s been brilliant to see children returning to school and back to The Daily Mile.
“They are all having fun together outdoors and staying fit in a way that comes naturally to them. We want to help schools as they do a great job of supporting children to be happier and more physically active – this has never been as important as it is now.”
Teachers and parents are encouraged to visit www.thedailymile.co.uk for further information on how they can participate in The Daily Mile safely and in accordance with the latest Government guidelines.
ITV’s investment in the importance of children’s mental and physical health extends across other initiatives including Britain Get Talking and Eat Them To Defeat Them.
The Scottish Ambulance Service is boosting its resources in the East of Scotland as part of its Demand and Capacity Programme.
An extra 88 frontline staff – a mixture of paramedics, newly qualified paramedics (NQPs) and technicians – will be located across the East region and are due be in place by April 2022.
Extra ambulances and vehicles will also be introduced over the coming months, including two in Edinburgh.
This is in addition to 139 staff in the West and 69 in the North.
The Demand and Capacity programme, which is supported by a £20m investment from the Scottish Government, aims to better align resources to meet current and projected patient demand.
Kenny Freeburn, East Regional Director, Scottish Ambulance Service said: “This funding is great news for the Service and is allowing us to continue to increase our investment in new frontline staff, new ambulances and new vehicles at pace.
“These new resources will ensure we continue to deliver the very best patient care by boosting capacity and increasing our resilience in communities across Scotland. They’ll also complement our dedicated staff who have worked tirelessly over the last 18 months in extremely demanding circumstances.”
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “Our ambulance staff have been at the heart of the response to the Coronavirus pandemic and we all owe them a huge debt of gratitude for their courage, commitment and professionalism.
“These additional resources show that this Government is determined to ensure they have the support needed to meet patient demand as the NHS continues to remobilise.
“Our recent recovery plan targeted over £1 billion of investment over the next five years across the whole health system to increase capacity and ensure the health service is ready for the challenges ahead.”
Children and young people at Edinburgh’s Children’s Hospital are to benefit from a new multisensory musical garden which has been created in loving memory of East Lothian teenager Jess Mackie.
Thought to be the only one of its kind in a UK children’s hospital setting, The Jess Mackie Music Garden is a vibrant, interactive outdoor space which ensures children don’t miss out on the joy of creative play and music-making while in hospital.
Featuring five large, free-standing musical instruments – the Congas, Tembos, Rainbow Trio Chimes, Harmony Bells and Marimba – the garden pays tribute to Jess’ love of music and encourages children and young people to have fun making melodies together in a relaxing, non-clinical setting away from the wards.
The sensory space has been fully funded by the Jess Mackie Memorial Fund (JMMF), a tribute fund of Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC).
The fund was set up by the Mackie family to support therapeutic music projects within the hospital in loving memory of their daughter Jess who passed away in 2018 aged 14.
Jess was a member of the National Youth Choir of Scotland and sang with Aberlady and Gullane Parish Churches, at care homes and for charities, and at school concerts.
Parents Michael and Jackie said: “Jess was a caring and compassionate girl who always sought to help others. At only 14, she had a sense of how powerful music could be in helping people when they were in need.
“Many children and young people in hospital feel vulnerable because they lack control over what’s happening to them. Music can have an enormous and positive impact, helping ignite a spark and give back a sense of control.
“It also gives children and young people a means of expressing themselves, making friends and building confidence. Jess knew this and would have loved to know she was a part of making this happen.
“We are absolutely thrilled with the wonderful music garden which is such a fitting tribute to our beautiful daughter. We hope lots of children, young people, families and hospital staff will enjoy it for many years to come.”
When Covid restrictions allow, the music garden will also be used as an outdoor performance space, where ECHC’s visiting musicians – also funded by JMMF – and artists will perform and do music making activities with children and young people all year round.
Rachel Baxter, Director of Fundraising at ECHC, said: “Music-making is a large part of the ECHC Arts Programme as it has such a positive impact on children and young people’s wellbeing. It’s fantastic to now have this brand new space in which we can do even more music, performance and arts activities and ensure children don’t miss out on the magic of music while in hospital.
“The Mackie family are incredible and we are enormously grateful to them and their family, friends and supporters for funding the wonderful Jess Mackie Music Garden and all music-making activities within the hospital. Thanks to their support, we can bring Jess’ passion for music and singing to so many more children and young people on the wards.”
Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity supports the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, as well as other children’s healthcare settings across the Lothians.
Environmental action charity Earth in Common (formerly Leith Community Crops in Pots) have launched an online fundraising campaign following an arson attack on the project.
Earth in Common’s premises were subject to a ‘devastating’ arson attack on Saturday evening.
They explained: “Fortunately no one was hurt, however as a small charity with the community at the heart of what we do this is devastating. The cost to our infrastructure, recycling facilties is over £2000 and the valuable time and effort put in by our staff/ volunteers is unmeasurable.”
Earth in Common have been overwhelmed by messages of support and have now set up a fundraising campaign on the Justgiving platform.
If you would like to make a monetary contribution please go to:
The Earth in Common team are also organising a Clear Up Day this Saturday (18th September) from 10am-4pm – check out their website for latest information.
Support for children and young people with mental health issues
Funding of £10.83 million has been allocated for the remainder of this year to help improve access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
The investment will also increase the numbers of trained professionals to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs.
The allocation is part the of £120 million Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund announced in February 2021, and will help to deliver a number of improvements, including: · improve access to CAMHS assessments out of hours · help to put in place specialist regional CAMHS services including those with learning disabilities and those requiring secure care · Help provide access to CAMHS Intensive Home Treatment Teams · Support mental health liaison teams within paediatric services.
The Recovery and Renewal Fund supports many mental health measures contained in the Programme for Government.
Other policies include extra support for health and care staff, completion of the commitment to recruit 800 additional mental health workers this year and a pledge that at least 10% of frontline NHS spending will go towards mental health over this parliament.
Mental Wellbeing and Social Care Minister Kevin Stewart, who announced the allocation during a visit to the Young People’s Inpatient Unit at The Royal Hospital for Children and Young People Edinburgh said: “I am pleased to announce the allocation of £10.83 million health boards to support children and young people with mental health issues, and those with neurodevelopmental support needs.
“This funding will lead to substantial improvements in the mental health care that children and young people receive in Scotland, ensuring that the right support is available in the right place at the right time.
“We know the pandemic has had a negative impact on many people’s mental health – whatever their age or circumstances. That is why we committed £120 million to the recovery and renewal of mental health services in this year’s Programme for Government. I hope that the allocation I have announced today makes a real and lasting difference to children, young people and their families.”
Joanna Barrett, Associate Head of Policy for the Devolved Nations, NSPCC Scotland, said: “Before the pandemic hit, thousands of children referred to mental health services in Scotland were having to wait unacceptable periods of time for treatment to begin.
“The profound impact of the conditions of the past 18 months on children has compounded this by increasing the need. Our Childline counsellors have heard from children struggling with loneliness and isolation, worries about education, abusive home environments and suicidal feelings.
“This funding by the Scottish Government to address young people’s mental health is therefore crucial. However, this investment must go alongside more preventative efforts, including the provision of mental health support in schools, to ensure children get the help they need before reaching crisis point.”
Boosters, testing and refreshed public health advice will help keep the virus under control in the coming months
Plan B prepared to protect NHS if necessary
PM continues to warn the pandemic is not over and public need to remain vigilant
The Prime Minister has today set out the government’s plan to manage Covid throughout autumn and winter.
Thanks to the ‘phenomenal success’ of the vaccination programme, the data continues to show the link between cases, hospitalisations and deaths has weakened significantly.
In England, the number of hospital admissions with Covid has remained relatively stable over the last month.
And although deaths increased at the beginning of the summer, they have remained far below the levels in either of the previous waves.
Over autumn and winter, the government will aim to sustain this progress through:
Building our defences through pharmaceutical interventions
Identifying and isolating positive cases to limit transmission
Supporting the NHS and social care
Advising people on how to protect themselves and others
Pursuing an international approach
Vaccines will continue to be our first line of defence. All those who were vaccinated during Phase 1 of the vaccine programme (priority groups 1 to 9) will be offered booster jabs from this month – to boost immunity amongst the most vulnerable groups during winter.
The Test, Trace and Isolate programme will continue its important work, with symptomatic PCR testing continuing throughout the autumn and winter.
Lateral flow tests will also remain free of charge but at a later stage, as our response to the virus changes, this will end and individuals and businesses will be expected to bear the cost. The government will engage widely on this before any changes are made.
The legal obligation to self-isolate for those who have tested positive and their unvaccinated contacts will continue, and the financial support payment for those self-isolating on certain benefits will continue in its current format until the end of March.
Our NHS will continue to get the support it needs, with an extra £5.4 billion recently announced for the next 6 months alone for the Covid response.
The public will be offered continued guidance on how to protect themselves and each other – including letting fresh air in, wearing a face covering in crowded and enclosed place where you come into contact with people you don’t normally meet, getting testing and self-isolating if required.
Our tough border policy will remain in place and genomic sequencing capability will be increased to help scientists update our vaccines to defeat new variants.
As the PM also set out, autumn and winter could pose renewed challenges and it is difficult to predict the path of the virus with certainty.
So as the public would expect, there will be a range of ‘Plan B’ measures kept under review to help control transmission of the virus while minimising economic and social damage.
Plan B would include:
Introducing mandatory vaccine only Covid status certification in certain, riskier settings.
Legally mandating face coverings in certain settings, such as public transport and shops.
Communicating clearly and urgently to the public if the risk level increases.
The government could also consider asking people to work from home again if necessary, but a final decision on this would be made at the time, dependent on the latest data – recognising the extra disruption this causes to individuals and businesses.
Ministers would only decide to implement these measures if necessary, and if a range of metrics and indicators mean the NHS is at risk of becoming overwhelmed.
Plan B recognises the success of our vaccination programme – meaning smaller interventions which are far less disruptive can have a much bigger impact on reducing the spread.
The Prime Minister committed to taking whatever action is necessary to protect the NHS, but stressed his belief that the combined efforts of the public and the vaccination programme mean we can avoid plan B and protect our freedoms in the coming months.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson made this statement at yesterday’s coronavirus press conference:
Good afternoon everybody.
I want to set out our plan for managing Covid this autumn and winter.
And I want you to cast your mind back exactly a year and think where we were last September, as schools went back and the colder months approached.
Because in one way our position today is actually more challenging.
We have higher levels of daily cases – thousands more.
But in many other crucial respects, the British people – all of us collectively and individually – are incomparably better placed to fight the disease.
We have more than 80 per cent of all over-16s now double jabbed, double vaccinated.
And we have Covid antibodies in around 90 per cent of the adult population.
And those vaccines are working.
We have seen the extraordinary vaccine-induced falls in deaths and serious disease.
And depending on your age, you’re up to nine times more likely to die, sadly, if you’re unvaccinated, than if you’ve had both jabs.
And the result of this vaccination campaign is that we have one of the most free societies and one of the most open economies in Europe.
And that’s why we are now sticking with our strategy.
In essence, we’re going to keep going.
We will continue to offer testing.
We will continue to urge everyone to be sensible, to be responsible.
Wash your hands.
Use ventilation.
Consider wearing a face covering in crowded places with people that you don’t know.
Stay at home if you feel unwell.
Download and use the app.
And we’re investing massively in our NHS to meet the pressures of Covid with an additional £5.4 billion in England over the next six months.
And that’s on top of almost £36 billion over the next three years to help our NHS recover and fix the long-standing problems of social care as well, as I was saying last week.
And we are helping to vaccinate the world with 100 million doses for developing countries by next June.
And I think this country should be proud, continue to be very proud, that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine remains the workhorse of global immunisation.
And we will keep further measures in reserve – a Plan B.
We do not see the need now to proceed for instance with mandatory certification.
But we will continue to work with the many businesses that are getting ready for such a scheme.
indeed over 200 events have already used Covid certification voluntarily.
And it is just not sensible to rule out completely this kind of option now when we must face the fact that it might still make the difference between keeping businesses open at full capacity or not.
We will also keep open the option of mandating face coverings as they have elsewhere, or advising people again to work from home, reflecting the fact that when you’ve got a large proportion of the country as we have now with immunity, then smaller changes can make a bigger difference and give us the confidence that we don’t need to go back to the lockdowns of the past.
And of course, we will continue to update our advice to you based on the latest data.
But in the meantime, we are confident in the vaccines that have made such a difference to our lives.
And we are now intensifying that effort, offering jabs to 12 to 15 year olds on the advice of the Chief Medical Officers, who’ve given that advice based on the health, wellbeing and educational prospects of the children themselves.
And for over 50s – and the under 50s who are at risk, or more at risk, we’re now motoring ahead with the booster programme.
A third dose six months after your second dose.
So that’s going to mean we’re going to be building even higher walls of immunisation of vaccine protection in this country.
And the UK government has procured at scale jabs for every part of the UK.
And we will be sending doses to the Devolved Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Covid is still out there.
The disease sadly still remains a risk.
But I’m confident we can keep going with our plan to turn jabs jabs jabs into jobs jobs jobs.
