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He said:  “To say the least, this has been a very difficult year!  At its Budget meeting on Thursday 10 February this year, the Council took a final decision to “disinvest” in a number of community organisations, one of which was The NEN. This decision had been anticipated for some time, but was hard to bear all the same. It means that we shall get no further funding from that quarter and effectively has forced the closure of the paper in its current form.

The Board has been very diligent over the past year in trying to persuade the Council to continue investing in the NEN. Delegations of Board members have met with local Councillors to press our case. We have also been trying to find alternative ways of funding the project and have had some success with advertising and sponsorship. For the past year we have been able to continue with support from the Fairer Scotland Fund and through the good will of the staff, who agreed a cut in hours and pay. The community reps on the two local Neighbourhood Partnerships have also been very supportive, recommending continued funding for the paper. Unfortunately, elected members, apart from two, have shown either no, or very little, support.

However, all this effort has been in vain, as you know, and we were forced to issue staff with redundancy notices and, finally, to sell off the office in order to provide the redundancy money. This is now in-hand. The result is that after over 30 years your community newspaper, the voice of your community, will no longer be dropping through your letterbox each month for the foreseeable future.

During the past year we have also been looking at possible partnerships with other organisations, such as Telford College, in order to keep the NEN going. This looked at one time like a good fit, as we already work with the journalism students to give them work experience. The College would have provided us with valuable support in terms of work space, IT and administrative support, access to design etc. However, these discussions are at a very early stage and may come to nothing. So, we are now looking at alternative homes, and to see if we can start up again in the future on a different, perhaps more modest, basis.

We have applied to the two Neighbourhood Partnerships for community grants, one for assistance with fundraising and the other for capacity building within the local community. The aim will be to harness the immense amount of support within the community and to develop the capacity of anyone interested in becoming “stringers” – people who can provide their own reports and articles. If we are successful, the grants, together with the surplus from the sale of the office, should go a long way to help us become sustainable in time. In a sense this is a return to the NEN’s beginnings, by becoming once again a community project, run by volunteers.

To end on a more positive note – the Board are committed to ensuring that this isn’t the end of the NEN. We will work with the community to try to identify practical ways of raising income to put the paper on a sustainable footing. We will have some money from the sale of the office and we will be looking to find a new ‘home’ and will be exploring ways of reducing costs even more, while trying to maintain a quality product. This will take some time, but we are hopeful of getting there.

We are extremely grateful for the invaluable support we have received from the local community and we will continue to follow up opportunities to re-launch your newspaper.

We have developed an online presence for The NEN with a new blog, Facebook and twitter profiles, so we can at least keep the name of NEN going. The success of any new venture, however, will depend on the willingness of local people to get involved, so keep in touch.

Finally, I would like to thank all my fellow Board members, both those who have resigned during the year, and those who are willing to continue, for all their support. I would also like to thank the three members of staff, without whose hard work we would not have been able to produce a newspaper at all and I am sure we all wish them well in whatever they do from now on.”

 NEN’s annual report will be presented at the project’s EGM/AGM this Wednesday (30 March) and board member Ann Confrey has appealed for public support.  She said:  “NEN needs Board members. Show your support at our AGM/EGM at 2.30pm on Wednesday 30th March at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre”.

Dave Pickering

Lothian and Borders Police are appealing for witnesses after a young boy was assaulted in the Muirhouse area of Edinburgh on Monday afternoon (21 March).

The 11-year-old and his sister were playing in the grounds of St Paul’s Church on Muirhouse Avenue, near Pennywell Road, about 4.15pm when a man approached them. He grabbed the boy by the neck, pinned him against the fence, then threw him to the ground before running off and getting on a bus (possibly a 37) on Pennywell Road.

The suspect is described as being white, in his early 20s, 5ft 8ins tall, of slim build with a full moustache. He was wearing black tracksuit bottoms, a red hooded Nike jumper, with the hood pulled up over a Nike baseball cap.

A police spokesperson said: “Although he wasn’t injured, this has been a terrifying experience for the young boy.  We are appealing for anyone who may have been in the area at the time, and who may have seen what happened, to get in touch.”

Anyone with information should contact Lothian and Borders Police on 0131 311 3131, or the charity Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111.

Dave Pickering

Scotland’s Census takes place every ten years, and Census 2011 questionnaire forms should be completed by householders on or around Sunday 27 March.

The Census gathers information that is needed to help plan and provide future public services – for example knowing how many young people there are or how many residents are approaching retirement helps to plan future health service provision.

Householders have a legal duty to fill in and return the questionnaire, which asks for details about everyone who usually lives at that address.  There is also a section requesting basic information about anyone else living in the property on the night of 27 March.  Failure to return the questionnaire could lead to a fine of £1000, but personal information contained in the document is protected by law – your personal details are kept confidential for 100 years by the General Register Office for Scotland.

The Census questionnaire is quite straightforward to complete but help and support is available.  For more information go to www.scotlandcensus.gov.uk or call the helpline on 0300 123 1702 – lines are now open from 8am – 8pm. 

Dave Pickering

Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service is urging householders to regularly check their smoke alarms following a spate of house fires over the last week.

There were house fires in Craigmillar and Broxburn last weekend and on Tuesday evening emergency services were called to a house in Easter Drylaw Place after neighbours reported hearing an activated smoke alarm.   Three appliances attended the Drylaw incident, and firefighters broke into the property which was unoccupied at the time to tackle the fire.  Fire chiefs said that the incidents all highlight the importance of having working fire alarms.

A spokesperson for Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service said:  “Whether cooking chips or through an electrical fault a house fire can start in seconds and deadly smoke can overcome in minutes. Having a working smoke alarm in your property gives vital early warning to you and often neighbours that a fire has started.  This gives people time to call the emergency services and get out of the property.  If you don’t have an alarm and live in Lothian and Borders we can fit one free as part of a home safety visit. To book call 0800 169 0320. Check your smoke alarm every week. It could save your life one day!”.

Dave Pickering

It was a long, hard winter but Spring has arrived and this weekend sees the start of British Summer Time – remember the clocks go FORWARD on Sunday morning!

Dave Pickering

Scottish Gas employees supported Comic Relief by volunteering to take pledge calls last Friday evening (18th March).  No less than 155 willing volunteers answered phones from  7pm to midnight to raise as much money as possible for the charity, and the Granton team’s efforts were richly rewarded – staff took 2545 pledge calls, raising £10,000!

To boost morale throughout the evening entertainment was provided by Edinburgh based choir Sing in the City and children’s entertainer Gladys Chucklebutty.

The Waterfront site also raised laughs and funds throughout the week by sponging and waxing colleagues; learning and performing dance routines; bake sales; pyjama parties; and climbing the equivalent to Mount Everest on the office stairs – all with a Red Nose theme!

Speaking before the Friday evening marathon Kevin Roxburgh, Managing Director of Scottish Gas, said:  “We support Comic Relief every year and always do our best to raise even more money than the year before. I’ve been really impressed with all the fundraising efforts so far and its great to see our people getting so involved. I look forward to the buzz continuing into this evening to help us do our bit for such a great charity.”

The Scottish Gas team’s efforts helped to build the total raised so far for Comic Relief 2011 to over £75.5 million – and they’re still counting!

Dave Pickering

Drylaw Parish Church is holding a Trash and ‘Treasure Sale on Saturday (26 March) from 11am – 1pm.  All proceeds go to St Columba’s Hospice so get there early to bag those bargains!

Granton Information Centre received the prestigious Scottish National Standards certificate for the quality of their information and advice provision at a reception at the City Chambers on Thursday (17 March).  GIC is the first Edinburgh organisation – and one of only a few advice agencies in Scotland – to achieve the award at this level, and their certificate was presented by Sheriff Principal Edward T Bowen QC.

The certificate presentation was the centrepiece of an event organised to celebrate the success of EHAP (Edinburgh Housing Advice Partnership), a consortium set up to provide housing advice services across the city in a contract with the city council.  The consortium partners – Granton Information Centre, Community Health and Information (CHAI), Move On and FourSquare – offer a comprehensive range of housing advice services to the people of Edinburgh.  EHAP provides a prison outreach project, a schools peer education service for S4 and S5 school leavers, housing advice in local neighbourhood settings and also provides representation at court – both for pre-prepared cases and also through an ‘emergency first aid’ service for people who turn up at court without representation.  Midway through the three year agreement, the EHAP event offered an opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved so far and to look ahead to future challenges. Continue reading GIC Homes In On National Advice Award

The fight to save North Edinburgh’s community newspaper has been stepped up following a constructive public meeting held in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre on Thursday evening.  The meeting was organised by grassroots community campaigners and resulted in five new volunteers coming forward to offer help to the NEN’s management board to keep the newspaper alive.

 Thirty-five people packed into Royston Wardieburn Community Centre’s GP4 room for the meeting which was chaired by community education lecturer Mae Shaw – herself an active participant in the formation of NEN’s predecessor, The Commune.   Those present represented a broad cross-section of the North Edinburgh community – from politicians and community councillors from both Forth and Inverleith to church representatives, local project workers, community activists and concerned local residents alongside NEN board and staff members.

 NEN chairman Martin Hinds outlined the background to the NEN’s current situation.  He explained:  “For the past two years I’ve been on the board we have been trying to deal with a tough financial situation.  In 2007 the new council administration cut funding to the Edinburgh Community Newspaper Trust, which presented us with a real problem.  Since then, we’ve managed to keep going through funding from the Fairer Scotland Fund, which was administered by local Neighbourhood Partnerships with local people involved in deciding where these funds were allocated.  This funding was cut last year and we had to make some very dramatic decisions – fortunately for the paper, staff agreed to take a cut in pay and hours, which enabled us to continue to keep the paper going to the end of this financial year.  However this year the process was changed and the council decided to ‘disinvest’ in community newspapers – and we now have no council income.”

 He went on:  “We do have income from advertising, but this is not enough to keep going in the way we do at present – it will not cover printing and distribution costs.  We have an obligation to make redundancy payments to staff and the only way we are able to do this is by closing down and selling our office.  The sale is now being agreed but although this will enable us to pay redundancies it will not be enough to keep the newspaper going in its current format.  We are looking at alternative ways of producing some form of newspaper but not on the scale we are now used to – it will not be the full colour tabloid we have today unless funding is found from somewhere else.  However we are in talks with various agencies and we hope to resurrect it at some point – but in all probability not in the way it is at the moment”.

NEN board member Eddie Thorn added:  “As a board we recognised that we had to make changes to the way we operate and we have been making those changes to allow us to meet our financial situation.  However we have not been given sufficient time to see these changes through and I think that’s really unfortunate”. 

The meeting was then opened for general discussion, giving participants the opportunity not only to explain what the NEN means to them but also to offer ideas and practical suggestions on how the newspaper can continue in some form.

The spirited discussion was punctuated by some emotional contributions and also generated a number of potential ideas for development.  There was a call for NEN to get back to its campaigning roots and a suggestion that the new Royston Wardieburn Community Centre would be an ideal location for a scaled-down ‘back to basics’ NEN operation.  One speaker suggested that community councils should be encouraged to contribute financially to support the NEN, while another said a commitment should be sought from local groups and projects.  It was agreed that local businesses should be approached again for their support and that community grants may be available to develop the project.

There was also scathing criticism of the council’s own ‘Outlook’ newspaper – it was revealed at the meeting that the annual cost of this publication is in excess of £400,000.

What was clear at the end of the discussion is that there is a genuine commitment across the area to see the community newspaper continue.  However the challenge remains:  how do you harness that public goodwill and affection and turn it into tangible financial support that can sustain an independent community newspaper?

Five people offered to work with the NEN board to take forward some of the ideas raised at the meeting in the hope that, while things currently look fairly bleak, there is still a future for North Edinburgh News.  The group plans to meet with the NEN board before the organisation’s AGM on 30 March. 

Anna Hutchison organised the Royston Wardieburn meeting and is one of the five people who subsequently volunteered to work with the NEN board.  Speaking after the meeting she said:  “I think the meeting went well and thanks to everyone who attended – a big thanks to Dionne, the only young person there – she did well in introducing herself. The outcome is that five people volunteered to meet with the NEN Board to think of ways to get funding and we also intend to bombard councilors from the Forth Ward to demand that we receive support for the NEN.  Although the last edition has been printed and the staff have received their redundancy notices we will still fight – we may have lost the fight but not the war!  I personally will be badgering Forth Councilors through constant emails and visiting their surgeries to demand this.  Once again thanks to all who attended – we had people from Granton, Royston, Pilton, Drylaw and Muirhouse and Muirhouse, and I applaud you all.  They say cutback – we say fight back!”

Ann Confrey was one of four NEN board members to attend and she also felt that it was a positive meeting.  She said:  “Lots of good ideas and potential opportunities were raised and the board members look forward to discussing some of these in more detail with those who volunteered to help us. Thanks to all who attended – as a relative newcomer to the area it was fascinating to learn more about the roots of NEN and to see the passionate debate that the removal of the people’s voice evoked.”

 Dave Pickering

The Scottish Parliamentary elections take place in May, and Inverleith Community Learning and Development team is quick off the mark – they’ve organised a hustings event to give members of the public an opportunity to grill their prospective candidates.

The hustings takes place at Broughton High School in East Fettes Avenue at 1.30pm today (Friday).