Category: North Edinburgh News

This Weeks Community Councils Meetings

This weeks Community Council meetings in north Edinburgh are:

Granton & District Community Council meets on Wednesday 25th may 2011 7.00pm at The Spartans Football Academy and on the same night its the AGM of the Drylaw & Telford Community Council at 7.00pm in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre.

Eddie Thorn from the North Edinburgh News is a guest speaker at the Drylaw & Telford Community Council AGM. Come along and hear all about the exciting news from the NEN.

Are you going along to either of these meetings? if so would you be willing to report on the what has happened? If yes then please get in touch with us.

What else is going on in North Edinburgh this week? Please leave a comment below and we will try and get along to cover it.

Mark Rylance Challenge Cycle Aims To Raise £25,000

A cycle challenge  in memory of The Forthquarter project manager aims to raise  25,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

The Challenge Team. Picture: Ann Confrey

A team of intrepid cyclists have undertaken an epic journey from John
O’Groats to Lands End in memory of Mark Rylance of National Grid who
passed away in September 2010.

Mark was project manager at The Forthquarter project in Granton for a
number of years before being diagnosed with cancer
A key member of the Waterfront Partnership Board Mark ensured National
Grid were active partners in joint initiatives including the
Waterfront Accord  – a project  to help local people benefit from the
jobs and opportunities being created and provided land and  office
accommodation for the Waterfront Recruitment Centre.

Mark was also keen to ensure that the local community should benefit from the regeneration and actively encouraged groups and organisations to make
use of the Forthquarter Park. The ride, taking the least popular route from North to South, will cover 976 miles in 14 stages and be completed over 14 days.

The journey aims to take the most scenic route via quieter roads through
many of the UK’s most picturesque areas such as Altnaharra,  Glencoe,
the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales., Wye Valley and SW Coastal areas.
Members of the team undertaking the Scottish leg of the challenge
include Fiona McKenzie of National Grid,  Neil Fyfe of WYG
Environmental based in George Street and Ann Confrey of Proscot PR
based  in Leith.

All three have been involved in The Forthquarter project since the initial clean up of this former gasworks as well as being involved in a variety of other Scottish site remediation projects.

National Grid remediation manager Fiona McKenzie said: “Those who
worked with Mark remember his warm smile and sense of mischief. He
would certainly be smiling if he could have seen his colleagues
setting off in the rain wearing multi-coloured lycra!”

The team aim to complete the ride in 14 days and have been keeping a
blog during the challenge with lots of photographs showing the many
highlights of the journey.

See how they are doing at http://markrylancechallenge.wordpress.com
Help the team reach their goal by donating at
http://www.justgiving.com/TheMarkRylanceChallenge

Million Pound Pot For Retiring Council Man

A senior director of the city council has left his role – triggering a huge pension pay-out. Jim Inch has stepped down as director of corporate services after agreeing to take early retirement.

Council officials say that there are no direct costs to the council of his retirement from his £120,513-a-year post. But he will start benefiting from a pension pot now worth over £1.3 million, and his retirement will automatically trigger a £160,390 lump sum payment.

Mr Inch sent a message to all council staff, thanking them for their work and support.

His retirement follows that of former chief executive Tom Aitchison, who stood down at the end of last year and received a £209,845 lump sum from his pension. Director of finance Donald McGougan will also leave his post in June, which will earn him a payment of at least £170,802.

The pension deals have been labelled “obscene” by taxpayer groups. A review is underway into the posts held by Mr Inch and Mr McGougan. Temporary appointments are to be made for six months as chief executive Sue Bruce decides whether to revamp the corporate services and finance departments.

Source: Edinburgh Evening News

HELPFUL HENRY KEEPS IT IN THE FAMILY!

Drylaw man Henry MacDonald received Drylaw Telford Community Council’s annual award for good citizenship last night (Wednesday 27 April). Sixty-eight year old Henry was following in his father’s footsteps – dad Harry was the first recipient of the award which was established in 2000!

Drylaw Telford Community Council introduced the annual award for good citizenship following the death of local campaigner, activist and enthusiastic community councillor Tam Tierney in 1999. Since the launch of the award there have been dozens of nominations and eleven recipients, but father and son Harry and Henry are the first members of the same family to receive the award.

Drylaw Telford Community Council hosted a reception at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre last night and Henry was joined by friends and family (including identical twin brother George and dad Harry), church members and community councillors at the celebration. Guests included Tam Tierney’s widow Cath and their son Thomas, and all four Inverleith councillors – Lesley Hinds, Stuart McIvor, Tim McKay and Iain Whyte – also attended.

Councillor Tim McKay, convener of Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership, presented Henry with a plaque and said: “Henry was cited by six nominees for his work as a volunteer with Drylaw Church. His helpfulness clearly shines through, and Henry is obviously following in a family tradition! I am delighted to present this well-deserved award on behalf of the community council”.

Drylaw Parish Church minister Pat Watson added: “Since I arrived at Drylaw over five years ago Henry has just been so helpful. As well as welcoming guests to the church and preparing lunches Henry is always helping out – you can be sure that if anything is left lying around for too long our Henry will dispose of it! People dropping in will also be offered a cup of tea and a bacon roll, too, so as well as being warmly welcomed they will be well-fed too! Henry really makes a valuable contribution to church life just as Harry did. Harry kept the church grounds looking beautiful until just a couple of years ago and Henry is keeping up the good work – if Henry is able to do even half the work his dad did over the years Drylaw church will be well served for years to come. Many congratulations”.

It’s been quite a year for the local McDonald clan – as well as Henry’s award, mum and dad Harry and Nan celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary last month.

While he was delighted to receive the award, Henry won’t be resting on his laurels – on Sunday he’ll be putting his best foot forward when he takes part in an annual sponsored walk over the Forth Road Bridge for the Christian Aid charity. It’s an event Henry’s supported for many years and he took the opportunity to add quite a few names to his sponsor sheet at the Drylaw event!

Dave Pickering

Board meeting – 13 April 2011

The new Board met for the first time following the recent AGM. The following officers were elected:

Chair – Martin Hinds
Vice-chair – Joan Turner
Treasurer – Eddie Thorn
Minutes Secretary – Tina Woolnough

There was quite a wide-ranging discussion regarding NEN’s current position and the immediate way forward and a number of things were agreed:

Sale of the office – this is likely to be concluded on 21 April. Surplus furniture would be offered to any local group, who needed it. Computers and files were to be stored for the time being.
Financial position – there were a number of bills to pay and a number of people who owed the NEN money. This is to be addressed.
Way forward – the Board agreed to apply for Community Grants to both the Inverleith and Forth Neighbourhood Partnerships. If successful, the money would help in developing an income strategy and a network of Community Ambassadors, who could assist in writing for the paper, blogging and so on. It was also agreed to hold a community event to gather views on exactly what the community and stakeholders want from the NEN. A provisional date of early June was agreed.

Finally, a new, interim email address has been set up – northedinnews@gmail.com

Views and comments are always welcome, either to this blog or via email.

Martin Hinds, Chair