We are hosting another community café next Friday on the 6th of December.
This is a free community space where you can pop along for a cuppa and a chat with our Youth workers.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Leading homelessness charity, Social Bite, is calling on kind-hearted Edinburgh locals of all ages to help raise 300,000 gifts, meals and essential items to donate to people experiencing homelessness this Christmas season as part of its Festival of Kindness (from Monday 25th November).
The charity’s annual campaign is returning to the city for its fifth year, as it continues its mission to help end homelessness and spread some much-needed festive joy throughout November and December. This year donations can be made to the city’s Tree of Kindness on Castle Street.
Since 2019, Edinburgh locals have contributed generously towards Social Bite’s yearly target of 300,000 gifts, essentials and Christmas meals, which went towards providing vulnerable people and people experiencing homelessness with a loving Christmas.
Homelessness has been declared as a national emergency, and food poverty is on the rise, so more people are facing a desperate winter than ever before, including families with children. This is why each year Social Bite’s Festival of Kindness aims to bring joy and comfort to those who are facing a difficult Christmas, and this year that may be needed more than ever.
As well as gifts hand delivered to the Social Bite Tree of Kindness, those looking to take part can also donate virtually. Donations of just £28 could provide someone with a hot Christmas meal, a gift, a bundle of essential items and a bed for the night.
Supporters can also choose to donate items including a pack of warm gloves for £10, or even 10 winter essential items and backpack for £250: there are so many ways to get involved and help support people who need it most at this time of year.
Founder of Social Bite, Josh Littlejohn MBE, said: “Across the UK, homelessness is increasing. Earlier this year, the Scottish government homelessness report revealed a 5% increase in homelessness applications in Edinburgh, and just recently, the city’s vulnerable took a further hit with the announcement that 1,200 affordable homes will be cut from plans due to lack of funding. That means this year, our Festival of Kindness is more important than ever.
“The people of Edinburgh have generously supported Festival of Kindness for the past four years. This year, we’re asking them to once again demonstrate that warm-heartedness they’re famous for and donate at our Tree of Kindness or online.”
Over and above the tree located on Edinburgh’s Castle Street, four other Trees of Kindness have been installed across the UK. Donors can bring physical gifts to the trees which will be distributed to homeless and vulnerable people in time for Christmas, including:
For anyone who can’t make it along to the Festival of Kindness donation points, contributions can also be made online at social-bite.co.uk/festival-of-kindness/.
The charity, in collaboration with people they support, has created a wish list of items and gifts that vulnerable people and people experiencing homelessness want most at this time of year.
These include a warm pair of gloves, a hot water bottle and a torch, good quality socks, and toys and warm clothing for children living in temporary accommodation to open on Christmas morning.
Donors can also buy a Christmas dinner, a gift, a pack of essential items and overnight emergency accommodation for £28.
Residents and guests at Strachan House care home in Edinburgh enjoyed a visit from the wonderful local Fire Service.
Residents enjoyed a talk with the local firefighters and a look round the engine. Modern fire brigades around the world were created after Edinburgh led the way 200 years ago. City authorities set up the Edinburgh Fire Engine Establishment in 1824, following a several fires – the largest of which raged for five days, killing 13 people and making hundreds homeless.
General Manager, Francis Fisher said, “Our residents had a wonderful day. We do our best to provide a wide range of activities and entertainment as part of the lifestyle enrichment programme for residents, and this was one of our favourites!”
One resident said “We all enjoyed a chat with the firemen and a look around the engine, it was very interesting.”
Strachan House care home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering personalised care across its care homes and hospitals. Strachan House Care Home provides residential care, nursing care and dementia care for residents from respite care to long term stays.
Local charity, LifeCare Edinburgh, is marking St Andrew’s Day by announcing first family friendly ceilidh.
This Burn’s Day, join LifeCare Edinburgh for dancing and delicious food at our Community Ceilidh. Enjoy music from the Gallivanters Ceilidh Band and traditional Scottish stovies.
Everyone is welcome at this fully accessible, family friendly event at the LifeCare Centre on Cheyne Street in the heart of Stockbridge.
Date: Saturday 25th January
Time: 2-4pm
Family ticket £28 (2 adults & 2 kids)
Adult ticket £10
Child ticket £5 (under 3’s go free)
Booking is open now via eventbrite or by calling 0131 343 0940
We can’t wait to welcome you!
Pupils at Leith Academy have received a major boost, with Tesco donating £1,500 to ensure young people have access to a healthy breakfast before they start their school day.
The Leith Academy Breakfast Cafe project was established 12 years ago to make sure pupils attending school can set themselves up for the day ahead, providing healthy breakfast snacks such as cereals, yogurts, juices and slices of toast.
To bolster the service, the school applied to Tesco’s Stronger Starts scheme, which awards funds to charities and community organisations that make a positive difference in the lives of children and young people.
The school’s application was successful, earning it the special £1,500 grant, and teacher Sheila Ralston said the money will go towards giving young people further support at the beginning of the day, allowing the school to provide food products and new kitchen equipment for the café sessions.
Sheila said: “When a child arrives at school, they sometimes haven’t been able to have access to a full, healthy breakfast, which makes focusing during school even more challenging for them.
“Our experience has shown that a breakfast club plays an integral role for pupils from all backgrounds, ensuring that every pupil has a positive start to their day.
“With a wide range of students from a variety of backgrounds, we strongly agree that no child should be hungry, so with our free breakfast café, we’re providing an opportunity for them to start the day right. Also, to prevent any food going to waste, any leftovers are also provided to our Community Fridge to provide support to further others in our community.
“With this Tesco funding, we can continue to purchase healthy food items such as cereals and yogurts to support more pupils looking to start the day in the right way. We’d like to thank everyone who voted for our school and helped us to receive this grant to further boost our breakfast café project.”
The Stronger Starts scheme, in partnership with the Groundwork charity, aims to support many community projects and good causes in the coming years, with thousands of pounds to give away. The scheme typically gives shoppers a chance on voting for local good causes to receive a £500, £1,000 or £1,500 grant.
Since Tesco launched its Community Grants programme in 2016, more than £100million has been given to more than 50,000 local schools and community groups.
Shoppers can support their local school and children’s groups by dropping the Tesco blue token they receive at checkout into the relevant voting box as they leave the store.
For further information please go to https://tescostrongerstarts.org.uk
From today, visitors to the Palace of Holyroodhouse will see the State Apartments decorated with magnificent Christmas displays.
A highlight this year is the wood-panelled Throne Room, which has been decorated with two 12-foot-high Christmas trees and a sparkling mantle garland.
A glistening 15-foot-high Nordmann Fir tree and two decorated mantelpieces create a festive atmosphere in the storied Great Gallery, while in the Royal Dining Room visitors will see a spectacular table display.
Despite increases in funding for Scotland from the UK Government’s October Budget, Scottish Government Finance Minister Shona Robison has little room for manoeuvre when she presents her Budget for 2025-26 next week (write FRASER OF ALLANDER INSTITUTE’S Joao Sousa and Mairi Spowage).
This is the headline message of the Scotland’s Budget Report 2024, published yesterday by the Fraser of Allander Institute at the University of Strathclyde.
Significant Barnett Formula consequentials have been generated by UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves announcements last month – £1.5bn in 2024-25 (of which £1.4bn is resource) and £3.4billion in 2025-26 (of which £2.8bn is resource).
However, the Scottish Government has said the funding provided in the 2024-25 year is already largely committed. If this is the case, the uplift for 2025-26 is under more pressure than it would appear. On the resource side, this would mean an uplift of £1.4 bn in 2024-25 being followed by an uplift of £1.4bn in 2025-26.
Public Sector Pay makes up over half of the Scottish Government’s resource budget, and therefore the decisions made on pay will have significant bearing on the overall budget position. Wage bills recur every year, thus current and future 2024-25 pay decisions will have a big impact on the overall budgetary decisions.
The fact that public sector workers are, on average, paid more in Scotland, will mean that the challenges are even more acute, given the country’s much larger public sector. The decisions on this, and on areas like social security, have put additional pressure on the Scottish Government’s budget.
Dr João Sousa, Deputy Director of the Institute, said: “As part of our report today, we have published where we think the Scottish Government are in terms of their funding position for 2024-25.
“Figuring out the funding position for 2025-26 has been much more challenging. The lack of a Medium Term Financial Strategy this year has made calculating this near impossible, but we have set out the various pressures that the budget is likely to be under.
“Health Spending, all other pay, social security and grants to local government make up £7 in every £8 the Scottish Government spends. This seriously limits their room for manoeuvre in changing the overall shape of the Budget.”
The report includes significant analysis of how Scotland spends its money to understand more about the discretionary power the Government has to prioritise its budgetary decisions.
Also included is analysis of the impact of employer National Insurance Contribution rises on the Scottish Government’s Budget, and analysis of the cost to the Scottish Government of replicating the 40% retail, hospitality and leisure relief (RHL) announced by Rachel Reeves in Scotland.
Our analysis also that although spending on reducing child poverty – stated by successive Scottish First Ministers as one of the main, if not their utmost priority – has grown significantly since 2018-19, it would not be fair to say that it has become a large part of the Scottish Budget.
It remains under 3% of all discretionary resource funding, and capital spending on child poverty reduction through the provision of affordable housing and urban regeneration has actually fallen by 13% in real terms since 2019-20.
Read the full report here.
A set of 12 ‘Season’s Greetings’ cards designed by Edinburgh school pupils will brighten up Princes Street, with winning designs displayed on JCDecaux digital screens from Thursday 28th November to Sunday 1st December.
Three of the young winning artists; Eshaal Ahmed (Drummond High School), Elsie Smith (Bruntsfield Primary School) and Lilia Walas (Braidburn School), joined the City of Edinburgh Council Leader, Cammy Day on Thursday to unveil their designs at a bus shelter on Princes Street.
In addition, winning card designs by Eshaal Ahmed (Drummond High School), Elsie Smith (Bruntsfield Primary School), Lily Stokes (Parsons Green Primary School), Suri Pirani Carrasco (Drummond High School) and Mark Downie (Pilrig Park School) have been selected to feature on the official festive greetings cards for the City of Edinburgh Council.
The Season’s Greetings competition is an annual event, with 2024 marking the eighth year that JCDecaux UK has offered lucky Edinburgh pupils the chance to have their designs shown on digital Out-of-Home screens on Princes Street.
Council leader Cammy Day said: “The standard of artwork in this year’s competition made it really difficult to narrow down the entries to just 12 to feature on digital screens on Princes Street.
“I want to thank the teaching staff at schools across the city who have encouraged their pupils to get involved in the competition, and congratulate the youngsters who have had their creative artworks recognised.”
Lord Provost Robert Aldridge added: “Every year I am blown away not only by the number of entries we receive to the Seasons Greetings’ competition but by the standard of creativity from children and young people across the city.
“It’s amazing for pupils and their families to see their artwork on display on Princes Street, and I know that the designs will delight shoppers this weekend.”
Mike MacLennan, New Business Development & Partnership Manager at JCDecaux UK, said: “We are delighted to be supporting this wonderful artwork competition once again, working with The City of Edinburgh Council to showcase the talent and creativity of young artists in Edinburgh.
“This annual display on digital bus shelter screens brings festive cheer to people out and about on Princes Street.”
The winning designs will be displayed on all JCDecaux digital screens on Princes Street from Thursday 28th November to Sunday 1st December.
The Heart of Newhaven will be one of the participating venues this weekend as part of the Leith Creative Trai! – a trail of Leith’s creative Markets and Open Studios.
It’s an opportunity to discover and celebrate all the artistic happenings in the vibrant nooks of Leith. Some new, some institutions, some small, some big but all full of curiosity and talent.
There are 19 participating venues over the course of the week! Check out the directory and map 
and explore all that is on offer!
Holidays Are Coming! The magic of the holiday season is set to sparkle even brighter this year and to celebrate, the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour, will be parking today at Fort Kinnard, from 12pm to 8pm!
Under a canopy of twinkling lights and festive music, visitors will be able to enjoy fun, festive games, participate in a lucky dip with the chance to win exclusive Coca-Cola merchandise and experience a festive food truck that will serve up delicious seasonal tastes alongside an ice-cold Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, all whilst capturing that perfect seasonal selfie in front of the iconic red truck.
Bringing friends and family together to enjoy a magical moment of festive fun, the loved tour will this year support FareShare, the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste.
Promising to be bigger and better than ever before and set in a magical winter wonderland setting, for every person that attends the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour, the equivalent of a meal will be donated on their behalf. Coca-Cola aims to donate the equivalent of up to a total of 1 million meals* via FareShare this festive season.
FareShare works with the food industry to redistribute surplus food, which might otherwise go to waste, to a network of 8,000 charities and community groups across the UK. These groups include community centres, faith groups, homelessness shelters, refuges, and schools, all working hard to support people in need. Food is used to bring people together, strengthening communities and helping people access vital support services.
Kirsty Ford, Head of Fundraising at FareShare said: “We are so grateful to Coca-Cola for their continued support for FareShare.
“These invaluable donations help us get good-to-eat food to the people who need it rather than going to waste. Every day, the food we redistribute to a network of over 8,000 charities in every region helps to strengthen communities.
“Coca-Cola’s generous support for FareShare is instrumental in helping people affected by the cost-of-living crisis. This support means charities can unite more people through food to form connections and access essential support services. Thank you for helping FareShare make the food go further.”
This year, the Coca-Cola Truck Tour focuses on the ambition to make kindness travel. Echoing the wider Coca-Cola Christmas campaign message, “The World Needs More Santas”, the tour will encourage visitors from Gateshead to embrace their inner Santa and share an act of kindness with others during the festive season.
Florence Wheatley, Marketing Manager for Coca-Cola Great Britain Coca-Cola, said: “Coca-Cola has and remains synonymous with Christmas, with many people eagerly awaiting the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour and Holidays Are Coming advert to create a little festive magic.
“This year, we’re delighted to continue our relationship with FareShare to support its mission to reduce hunger and surplus food waste. We hope that every person that attends the Truck Tour not only experiences the magic of Coca-Cola Christmas, but also supports FareShare, knowing that the equivalent of a meal has been donated on their behalf, acting as a little moment of kindness to ensure that thousands of people across the country enjoy a more meaningful Christmas.”
For those unable to visit the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck in person, from November, a promotion with Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Coca-Cola Original Taste will invite fans to scan on-pack QR codes for the chance to win Christmas shopping vouchers!
With a packed schedule of exciting Truck Tour stops taking place throughout Great Britain in the lead-up to Christmas, eager Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour fans can follow announcements about the schedule which will be made over the coming weeks at @CocaColaGBI (Instagram) and @CocaCola_GB (Twitter).
