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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).

North Edinburgh Trust (NET) are holding a celebratory event to toast the success of their ‘NET Your Carbons’ environmental project.  The project, supported by the Climate Challenge Fund, enabled NET to work with local people to help reduce their carbon footprint, reduce household energy bills and to support local food growing initiatives.

The NET Your Carbons event will take place on Saturday 26 March from 9.30am at Craigroyston Community High School on Pennywell Road, giving local people an opportunity to look at progress so far and play a part in what may happen in the future.

To register for the event or for further information on NET Your Carbons, contact Lynda at North Edinburgh Trust on 0131 625 0045 or email LyndaMcEwan@netrust.co.uk

Dave Pickering

North Edinburgh Credit Union (NECU) has been providing financial services like affordable loans and savings opportunities to local residents for many years, and the community-run organisation is appealing to members old and new to show their support at their forthcoming annual general meeting.  NECU’s AGM will be held in their Wardieburn Drive office on Thursday 24 March at 6.30pm.

A NECU spokesperson said:  “The meeting requires a quorum of at leat 15 people before it can proceed to business so please attend to give your support to your Credit Union.  We are also always looking for volunteers so if you think you could spare a couple of hours per week please come to the AGM and put your name forward.  Training can be given, and lots of people who have previously volunteered have gone on to get paid work with the experience they gained from the Credit Union”.

For further information on how the Credit Union can help you – and how you can support your local Credit Union – telephone 0131 466 5006 or email committee@necu.co.uk 

 Dave Pickering

North Edinburgh Credit Union (NECU) has been providing financial services like affordable loans and savings opportunities to local residents for many years, and the community-run organisation is appealing to members old and new to show their support at their forthcoming annual general meeting.  NECU’s AGM will be held in their Wardieburn Drive office on Thursday 24 March at 6.30pm.

A NECU spokesperson said:  “The meeting requires a quorum of at leat 15 people before it can proceed to business so please attend to give your support to your Credit Union.  We are also always looking for volunteers so if you think you could spare a couple of hours per week please come to the AGM and put your name forward.  Training can be given, and lots of people who have previously volunteered have gone on to get paid work with the experience they gained from the Credit Union”.

For further information on how the Credit Union can help you – and how you can support your local Credit Union – telephone 0131 466 5006 or email committee@necu.co.uk 

 Dave Pickering

Activists from across the city will meet to thrash out the future of the Edinburgh Community Representatives Network on Saturday (19 March).  ECRN has received financial support from Capital City Partnership since it’s formation, but with Capital City Partnership’s own future in doubt ECRN members must now decide the way forward for the group.

ECRN’s ‘Big Event’ will take place at the SYHA Edinburgh Central Youth Hostel on Haddington Place from 9.30 to 4pm.

ECRN Development Worker Alison Miller said:  “Existing funding comes to an end on 31 March, and while new sources of funding are being investigated it may take some time for this to come to reality.  Reduced resources will undoubtedly be a challenge for the ongoing work of the Network, but with every challenge comes opportunity and members feel that now might also be a good time to reassess what ECRN is or should be about, and whether it’s activities continue to reflect the changing context in which it now operates”.

For further information on the Edinburgh Community Representatives Network (ECRN) or to book your free place at the ‘Big Event’, call Alison at North Edinburgh Trust on 0131 625 0045.

Dave Pickering

As I write, NEN’s March issue should be dropping through letter boxes all across North Edinburgh – our dogged distributors are battling through rain, hail and snow to deliver your community newspaper!

As you will be aware, this edition is a very special one for us and sincere  thanks to everyone who took the time to contact us and who contributed to the paper this month.  It’s greatly appreciated, and we hope you like the finished product.

If you don’t receive your copy over the next few days, please let us know – email or call us on 467 3972.  There were a few distribution problems last month and we want to put that right.

Finally, two important dates for your dairy.  The Save The NEN campaign is holding a public meeting at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre on March 17 at 7pm, and on 30 March West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre is the venue for NEN’s AGM/EGM.  That meeting starts at 2.30pm.

All local people are welcome to attend both events – hope to see you there!  

Dave Pickering

Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership is to write to council leaders expressing disappointment at decisions taken on Fairer Scotland Funding at last month’s council budget meeting.  The local neighbourhood partnership will also write to Board of North Edinburgh News to express its ‘strong support’ for the continuation of the community newspaper following a meeting of Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership on Tuesday (8 March). Continue reading Support for NEN at Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership