Category: North Edinburgh News

PCHP up for the challenge – and Barri’s back!

Pilton Community Health Project (PCHP) has come through a tough year, and it would have been no surprise to have found staff and board feeling a bit down at their recent annual general meeting. That wasn’t the case, however, and a steady succession of staff and volunteers took turns to highlight some of the exciting initiatives they have planned for the year ahead. 

PCHP is one of North Edinburgh’s oldest community organisations. Set up originally as The Health Hut, the project celebrated it’s 25th anniversary in 2010. Like all community projects PCHP has had it’s share of ups and downs over the years but there’s no doubt that last year was one of the toughest of them all.

Chairperson Irene Garden told the annual general meeting on 26 June: “As in previous years we were faced with severe cuts, so we have had to say goodbye to the Barri Grubb shop, with four redundancies. That was a very sad time for us all, and other, much-valued staff have also had to leave because their funding was not renewed. Our former manager Dave Hewitt left at Christmas, so we have lost a lot of good colleagues; familiar faces that were popular and well-known in the community”.

However Irene went on to highlight some of the project’s successes. “There is still a lot to be positive about – among other things we have recruited a new worker to do some research for Barri Grubb, the Muirhouse Million Steps project (pictured below) was both original and very successful and our school counselling sessions have been very well received. Women Supporting Women continues to offer excellent one to one support and we are delighted that waiting lists are now coming down and that people in our community are getting counselling when they need it. Thanks to our brilliant volunteers our Befriending Service is also going from strength to strength – and volunteers are the backbone of the very successful Walking Project too”.

Manager Jen Richards (pictured below) told the meeting: “I have already spent two and a half years here in different roles and I am very passionate about keeping our services going – Pilton Community Health Project has been part of this community for 27 years and I’d love to think we can be here for another twenty-seven”.

Jen said her priorities over the coming months will be to raise the project’s profile, maximising funding by looking at new income generation streams and developing and building new and existing partnerships.

“There have been a lot of changes and I’m very grateful to very talented and totally dedicated we have here – I really value their support in a very challenging environment. Yes, it is challenging but I’m sure we’ll come out smiling at the other end!”

Local councillor Cammy Day then conducted election business before the staff team gave updates on both what’s been happening and what’s going to be happening this year. And there’s an awful lot to look forward to at PCHP …

Community Healthy Lifestyles Project’s Motivate to Move and Muirhouse Million Steps 2012, Use Your Loaf – a bread baking class that will be taking place at North Edinburgh Arts Centre, a major consultation into men’s health to find the gaps in current service provision. Then there are plans to develop the popular walking programme, the possible development of a Zumba class in Stockbridge as a social enterprise, continuing to meet the needs for counselling services. The recently launched SOURCE information room will be developed and good news about Barri Grubb, too – Barri’s no’ deid at a’! While the shop is no more, the service has been restructured and Barri Grubb will be relaunched – maybe with a name change – in the near future. In the meantime summer events are planned; a community food map, more partnership working and the Food for Thought forum will be expanded …

Yummy Food Festival was a big success too …

That’s quite a catalogue – check out Pilton Community Health Project’s website at www.pchp.org.uk for more information.

 

 

 

Here’s food for thought – free summer events!

 

The FOOD for THOUGHT FORUM, in association with Pilton Community Health Project and Barri Grubb, has highlighted a feast of free food events across the Forth area over the summer holidays. How’s this top ten for tempting treats?:

Saturday 7 July 11 – 2pm

West Pilton Community Garden & Planting Day

West Pilton Place, next to Pilton Youth & Children’s Project Greenhouse – all welcome, just turn up!

 

Tuesday 10 July 10am – 12 noon

Craigroyston Cookery

Craigroyston High School, Pennywell Road – phone to book on 538 7285 or 477 7801.

 

Thursday 12 July 1 – 3.30pm

PEP Summer Fayre

West Pilton Park – all welcome, just turn up!

 

Tuesday 17 July 10am – 12 noon

Craigroyston Cookery

Craigroyston High Schoo, Pennywell Road – phone 538 7285 or 477 7801 to book.

 

Thursday 19 July 11am – 1pm

Spanish Cooking at Barri Grubb

Pilton Community Health Project, Boswall Parkway – To book your place call 551 1671.

 

Tuesday 24 July, 11am – 1pm

Fabby Food Store Picnic and Barbecue

West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre – just turn up!

 

Tuesday 24 July 11am – 1pm

Simple Snacks at Millennium Centre Summer Youth Club

Muirhouse Millennium Centre, Muirhouse Medway – call 467 3578 to book.

 

Wednesday 1 August 12.30 – 4pm

Trip to the Botanics’ Edible Garden

Bus leaves The Haven Project, Craigroyston Primary School. To book, call 551 1671.

 

Saturday 4 August 1 – 4pm

Granton Community Gardens Barbecue

Corner of Boswall Parkway and Wardieburn Road – just turn up!

 

Wednesday 8 August 11.30 – 3.30pm

Trip to Craigies Farm

Bus leaves PCHP, Boswall Parkway. Phone to book on 551 1671.

 

 

 

Barrie encourages private tenants to check landlord register

Inverleith councillor Gavin Barrie has urged private tenants to ensure that their landlord is properly registered following the removal of a landlord from the register last month – the first time this power has been used in Edinburgh.  

Evidence was heard at the City of Edinburgh Council’s Regulatory Committee on 22 June where Yousef Mohammed’s application to operate a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) at a flat in the south of the city was refused. In addition his name was removed from the landlord register when Councillors decided he did not meet the fit and proper person criteria. The result is that Mr Mohammed can no longer operate as a residential landlord in Edinburgh.

Councillors heard evidence that Mr Mohammed had failed to adequately tell them about his criminal convictions and defied previous decisions of the Council where he continued to rent out HMO properties whilst not holding a licence.

Inverleith Councillor Gavin Barrie, Convenor of the Regulatory Committee, said: “Edinburgh is open for all landlords who manage their properties and ensure that they are in good condition and that tenants can be safe and secure. However, for those who don’t, the Council will take firm action. I would encourage everyone seeking to rent privately to check the landlord register to ensure that their prospective landlord is registered.”

Helping hand for The Yard

A local adventure play project designed for children with additional support needs is to benefit from an innovative partnership with Edinburgh home emergency firm, First Call Home Assist.

The Yard, based at Eyre Place Lane in Stockbridge, aims to improve the lives of children and young people with learning difficulties while also providing support to their siblings, parents and others responsible for their care.

The partnership is the latest effort by First Call Home Assist to cement its strong commitment to helping the local community and with every sale of a home emergency policy made through a dedicated link on The Yard’s website, 15% of the monthly fee will go to this fantastic cause.

Celine Sinclair, Chief Executive of The Yard, said: “We are delighted to be part of First Call’s community partnership scheme.  All the money we raise through this new initiative will go towards improving the quality of service we can provide for the 1,500 young people who use our centre regularly.”

Just over ten per cent of the funding received by The Yard comes from the City of Edinburgh Council and all its other income is raised through approaches to Trusts, Foundations and private companies, which means that 90 per cent of funding needs need to be sourced by the service itself.

First Call chose to help The Yard after their managing director, Paul Greaves (pictured below), witnessed first hand the fantastic care they provide for his niece Cissie who regularly attends the centre.

Paul said: “My niece Cissie was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome at the age of six and she can be unpredictable, inflexible and anti-social. At the yard these difficulties are met with understanding, support and often a much needed sense of humour! The Yard is an amazing service which our family, and many others, rely upon heavily. It is the only place where we can truly relax, free of anxieties and of judgement from others; somewhere we don’t have to explain or defend our child. The Yard also acknowledges the tough position that siblings of children with additional support needs are in, and it is as much a service for them as it is for others.”

Services offered by The Yard include open play family sessions, holiday play sessions, free play and curriculum linked sessions for special schools. The venue is also used for a variety of youth clubs and training courses designed to teach others about the principles of inclusive play.

For more information about The Yard, telephone 476 4506 or email susans@theyardscotland.org.uk. You can also visit their website at www.theyardscotland.org.uk

Local theatre company to perform Shakespeare – in Stratford

Edinburgh Theatre Arts is to perform a Scots version of MacBeth at the heart of William Shakespeare country. The amateur group, which is based at St Ninian’s Hall in Comely Bank, have been invited by the world famous Royal Shakespeare Company to perform their version of ‘the Scottish play’ at Stratford’s Courtyard Theatre next week.

Edinburgh Theatre Arts are one of only 10 from across the UK – and the only Scottish company – to be selected to take to the stage alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). They will take to the stage with their version of Macbeth, which is performed entirely in Scots, on 14 July.

Edinburgh Theatre Art’s director Mike Duffy said it was a great honour.

“They don’t normally have amateur companies using their theatres, so it’s a unique opportunity for an amateur company to get onto one of their main stages”, he said. “It’s like Scotland are playing England at Wembley! For an amateur company to go to a main Shakespeare theatre, with all the kudos of the RSC, everybody has to raise their game.”

IT worker Danny Faramond is playing the title role, and he told the BBC  he is delighted to have the chance to perform in the heart of Shakespeare country. He said: “It’s a very challenging role, there’s an enormous range of emotion required, it’s a very long involved role. You’re on stage for a lot of the time, physically quite demanding, quite an arc is required from the initial quite muted character to the, sort of, insanity at the end, so a big range is required. The more you realise what great actors have done it, the more you realise it’s quite a challenge.”

Edith Piers, who is playing the role of Gruoch, the Scottish equivalent of Lady MacBeth, added: “I’m so excited about it, I don’t at the present moment feel nervous, just really, really looking forward to it. It’s a huge opportunity and I think it will raise the profile, hopefully, of amateur theatre and lose the “am dram” tag that tends to accompany amateur theatre.”

Legionnaire’s outbreak – a third man dies

The latest reports on the Edinburgh Legionnaires’outbreak show that a man suspected of having the disease has died. The individual, a man in his 60s from south west Edinburgh, had been unwell for a period of time, and is considered to be part of the original outbreak.

The total number of confirmed cases remains at 50 and the number of suspected cases is now 49. The total number of overall cases is 99.

At noon yesterday, of those cases being treated in hospital, there are three patients in intensive care and six on general wards. A total of 20 cases are being treated in the community, 57 have been discharged from hospital and now three people in total have sadly died.

Ten cases are being treated outwith the NHS Lothian area. The ages of the confirmed cases ranges between 32 and 85, with more males than females affected.

Investigations into the source and cause of the outbreak continue.  Lothian and Borders Police and the Health and Safety Executive are jointly investigating the circumstances of the deaths under the direction of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) Health and Safety Division.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: “My sincere condolences go to the family and friends of the patient who has passed away and my thoughts are with them at this very difficult time. Despite this sad and tragic news, is important to stress that strong evidence still suggests that all cases are associated with the suspected period of exposure and that the outbreak has peaked. I repeat the message that anyone in the affected areas suffering from symptoms since the outbreak began should contact their GP or the NHS 24. NHS Lothian are maintaining high quality care for patients who remain unwell and work to identify and deal with the source of the outbreak continues.”

Dr Christine Evans, Consultant in Public Health Medicine said: “I would like to express my sincere condolences to the family of the patient who has died. We continue to see a small number of cases or suspected cases coming forward. I would like to reassure the public that this is in line with expectations. All of these patients have been ill for some time and have links to the south west of Edinburgh.”

For anyone who is concerned about the outbreak, there is information on NHS Lothian’s website or you can contact NHS 24 dedicated legionnaires’ helpline on 0800 0858 531.

Total Craigroyston – planning the route map

The first phase of the Total Craigroyston initiative was completed when the last of three consultation sessions was held in West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre on 18 June. The team behind the initiative to improve life chances for local families will now evaluate the findings of the three workshops before deciding  what can be taken forward.

Manager Christine McKay explained the thinking behind the approach. “Total Craigroyston has been established to improve outcomes for children and families in the neighbourhood around Craigroyston Community High School. The initial focus will be on looked after children to ensure that all necessary support has been identified to ensure that they have the best opportunity to succeed in their lives. We will also be working to reduce the need for children to become looked after, and that means finding ways to offer support at an earlier stage and in a variety of ways.

The idea is to take a holistic approach – ensuring that all of the local resources in both the statutory and the voluntary sectors are on the same page, facing the same direction and contributing to the agreed outcomes. Crucially, people who are using services and those who live in the area will be involved in deciding what is required and contributing ideas about where and how it should be delivered. Local staff who know the community, its strengths and challenges, will be also central to the development.

It is important to think of Total Craigroyston as an approach rather than a project! We know there is lots of excellent work going on in the area and we will build on that. However we must be brave enough to acknowledge that there is duplication within the system. When necessary, removing this duplication will allow us to re-invest those resources in services that can be offered earlier to prevent the need for children to become looked after in the first place. To us this means building on community strengths, engaging earlier and more effectively with service users, doing more preventive work, creating better linkages between partners, improving communication and developing parity of esteem between organisations – among other things!”

Total Craigroyston recruited the services of a Glasgow-based social innovation agency SNOOK to help engage with local people and local staff. SNOOK, which ‘specialises in service design for social good’, was tasked with taking a fresh look at how services are delivered, staff and community perceptions of their delivery  and to identify where improvements can be made at an earlier stage.

Three well-attended sessions were held over the course of the month, giving opportunities for as many groups, individuals and agencies to participate in the exercise.

The ‘Total Craigroyston Festival’ on Saturday 2 June was an informal open public event held in Muirhouse shopping centre event that gave local people an opportunity to comment on Craigroyston, express their own vision for the future and describe what they can bring to the area.

The ‘Co-creation Workshop’ on Friday 8 June brought together people from Craigroyston, both organisations and members of the public to develop ideas generated during the Design day, putting ‘meat on the bones’ of the ideas.

The last exercise was a ‘Prototyping Labs/Showcase’ on 18 June in West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre. Before the event, organisers SNOOK explained: ‘We are looking for a cross diagonal slice of leaders/organisations/frontline staff/families/young people/experts.  During this workshop we want to bring the ideas to life that have been generated by the community and check in on the routemap for the future of Craigroyston.’

That route map is now being developed by Snook and City of Edinburgh Council, directly informed by the involvement of local people and workers.  The organisers point out: ‘This is not a consultation but a collaborative exercise in understanding what the future of Craigroyston will look like in terms of services, approach, community and the generation of people growing up.’

Christine McKay said: “We have tried to involve as many people as possible in our open events – the whole point of Total Craigroyston is about being open and welcome to opinion and the route map we are generating will ensure that this approach is maintained. It was good to see so many people taking part in the sessions – both local people and local staff – as it is very important that we get the opinions of local people about how we can best tailor and deliver the services that will suit their needs. This really is only the start of the process, however, and there will be many more opportunities to be involved in the future.”

Principles For Craigroyston:

Working with people, not at them.

Prevention, not intervention.

Always show progression.

Whatever it takes.

You can’t really argue with that, can you? You can keep up to date with what’s happening by visiting the Total Craigroyston blog at www.totalcraigroyston.wordpress.com

Pictures taken at the West Pilton workshops on 18 June

Telford is first Scottish College to gain International Charter

Edinburgh’s Telford College has been recognised for its student-centred approach to international recruitment with a highly prestigious Further Education award. Telford is the first college in Scotland to be awarded the International Charter from the Association of Colleges (AoC), after passing an in-depth assessment of its international activity with flying colours.

The AoC awards the International Charter to colleges which are meeting their commitment to high standards in four key areas covering international strategy, planning, support for learners and an ethical and inclusive approach.

Miles Dibsdall, OBE, Principal of Edinburgh Telford College, said: “We are proud to have been the first college in Scotland to be recognised with this widely – acclaimed honour by the Association of Colleges. Achieving the International Charter is real testament to the staff at the college as well as to the students who continue to excel in their studies. Our philosophy is carried by all at the College and I believe this has what has really set us apart.”

He continued: “We have always had international achievement as part of our business development strategy, and aim to help every student achieve the most out of their international experiences based on their individual abilities, personal learning goals and career plans. Edinburgh’s Telford College has repeatedly assured a high quality of experience, and ensures the global agenda benefits both staff and students as well as the local communities served by the college.”

Fifteen members of staff and thirty learners were interviewed by the AoC during their visit in which they found that the college had demonstrated ways of celebrating and valuing equality and diversity.

The AoC International Charter recognises colleges which have made a commitment to taking an ethical approach to all areas of their international activity.

In their evaluation, AoC stated:  “Edinburgh’s Telford College has demonstrated ways of celebrating and valuing equality and diversity brought to the College through its student-centred approach to international recruitment which is focussed on students’ abilities, personal learning goals and career plans. This is an ethos throughout the College and is supported by the students through the students’ union.”

Edinburgh’sTelford College currently has around 17,000 students and 600 members of staff.

Spartans Summer Programme

Spartans Community Football Academy’s summer programme is packed with fun things to do, whatever the weather! There’s lots of football of course, but there are trips, residentials, mountain biking, go karting and loads of other events planned too.

The programme starts next Monday (9 July) and runs throughout the summer holidays.

For further information contact Spartans Community Programme Manager Kenny Cameron on 552 7854, email kennycameron@spartanscfa.com or visit the website at www.spartanscfa.com

 

North Edinburgh Community Festival

We are delighted to announce the  launch of our

North Edinburgh Community  Festival 2012

 which will take place on

Saturday  29 September from 12 – 4pm.

The location, as with our previous  festivals, is Forthquarter  Park , situated behind  Edinburgh ’s Telford College. Over 5,000 people have  attended in past years, drawn from the different communities of North Edinburgh . Our aim is to provide a fun, free, family  day out for everyone to enjoy.

The Gala has enabled a wide range of  our local and community groups to raise awareness of their work as  well as gain publicity, attract volunteers, distribute information and highlight  any particular issues that they are involved in. Our event is a fantastic  opportunity to bring your work to the attention of the local community.

From the success of our previous  Festivals we have found that the best way to showcase your work is to have an  activity people can participate in. This could be directly related to what you  do or could be a bit of fun… something to make, to see or taste!

There  is no fee for organisations wanting to be part of our day, and any money raised  by you on the day will be yours to keep.

We are also holding a Festival Car Boot Sale in the car park of Edinburgh ’s Telford College from 10am until noon on the day of  the Festival. Cars have to be registered before the event and are subject to an  entrance fee of £5 per vehicle.

If you would like to have a stall at the  festival or take part in the car boot sale please complete and return the  attached proforma by 31 July. For further information please contact:

Jim Pattison
Partnership Development  Officer, Forth Neighbourhood  Partnership
North Edinburgh Local Office, 8 West Pilton Gardens, EH4  4DP.