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Local band to release debut EP

Twin City Records are pleased to announce the forthcoming release of the debut EP from Edinburgh five piece The Indos.

The band – Michael Knowles (Guitar/Lead Vocals), Jamie Gilchrist (Guitar/Backing Vocals), Robbie Gilchrist (bass guitar), Dando Myrillas (guitar) and Greg Atkinson (drums) – all grew up together in North Edinburgh and got together through their mutual love of early 2000’s bands Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes. The local band also name The Yardbirds, The Kinks and The Who among their their influences.

Since forming, the band have been playing various venues throughout Glasgow and Edinburgh including Sneaky Pete’s, Cabaret Voltaire, Electric Circus, QMU & Ivory Blacks and they have caught the eye of several promoters.

‘Fifty Shades of Blue’ was written and composed by The Indos and recorded, mixed and mastered by Mark Morrow in his Edinburgh studio last month.

The EP will be available on CD from www.twincityrecords.com and to download from all good digital stores from 3 Novenmber. The EP will be launched at Edinburgh’s Cabaret Voltaire on Friday 31 October.

Table Sale next Saturday

The Old Kirk & Muirhouse Church (formerly Muirhouse St Andrew’s) on Pennywell Gardens is holding a table top sale on Saturday (20 September) from 10am – noon.

Tables are £5 – call Helen on 312 8113 to book your table.

An opportunity to have that clearout and sell your stuff – or come along on the day to buy, buy, buy!

Weekend Hub: the movie!

North Edinburgh Alcohol Initiative Collaborative (NEAIC) will present their film ‘The Weekend Hub‘ at Pilton Youth & Childrens Project this Saturday evening at 7pm.

North Edinburgh Alcohol Initiative Collaborative (NEAIC) is a partnership project involving the areas’s main youth groups: Granton Youth Centre, the Junction in Leith, Muirhouse Youth Development Group & Pilton Youth & Children’s Project.

NEAIC”s Streetbreak initiative offers diversionary activities for young people aged from 12 -21. The main clubs are the weekend hubs based in PYCP on Friday and Saturday evenings, sessions where North Edinburgh’s young people can enjoy a safe space and take part in fun activities.

What did they get up to? The Weekend Hub will tell you all – and also showing are ‘Ruffin’ it in Muirhouse‘ and ‘Just a Girl?’

On your marks for Festival of Sport

The annual action-packed Festival of Sport kicks off in the Capital next weekend, showcasing a huge variety of sport and physical activity opportunities between 20 September-5 October.

Beach volleyball is heading for Porty!

A host of free events will run during the two week festival across Edinburgh, including taster sessions, demonstrations and competitions to encourage people of all ages to discover the benefits of an active lifestyle.

Now in its sixth year, the 2014 programme has been designed to embrace the summer buzz of the Commonwealth Games and appeal to all age groups, activity levels and abilities.

Launching on the first day of the Beach Volleyball Continental Cup on Portobello Beach – the Festival will kick off with a selection of free activities on the beach to celebrate Portobello paving the path to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games! (But wrap up warm, people, it’s Porty not the Copacabana!)

Building on the success of previous years, the Council is working to drive interest and membership of local clubs. A Club and Coach Development Workshop Series will also be delivered as part of this year’s Festival, featuring workshops designed to support club volunteers and coaches.

Coaching highlights include a one-of-a-kind seminar with Werner Kern, world renowned coach for Germany’s Bayern Munich Football Club. Kern will address a host of football industry professionals – including representatives from Edinburgh’s Hibernian and Hearts of Midlothian Football Clubs – about nurturing young sporting talent.

This event is being held in partnership with the Scottish Football Association and forms part of Edinburgh’s 60th anniversary celebrations of being ‘Twinned’ with Munich.

The City’s Festival and Events Champion, Councillor Steve Cardownie, expects the excitement of this summer’s Commonwealth Games to create an extra buzz around the Festival. He said: “I fully expect this year’s festival to prove the excitement of the Commonwealth Games has really boosted interest and participation in sport and physical activity in Edinburgh.

“The Festival of Sport is an important part of the Council’s legacy programme, and this year’s programme looks set to be another great year with so many free local opportunities on offer for everyone to take part.

“It is especially exciting to be marking the launch by supporting a world sporting debut for Portobello Beach, as it plays host to the qualifying rounds for the upcoming Beach Volleyball event as part of the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.”

As an integral part of the Activcity year-round programme, the 2014 Festival encourages residents and visitors to have a more active and healthy lifestyle. The key partners in delivering the event include Edinburgh Leisure, ClubSportEdinburgh and sportscotland.

How to get involved:

For further information and to register, visit Festival of Sport.

To find out more about the Beach Volleyball Continental Cup taking place at Portobello Beach, visit the Scottish Volleyball Association website.

To see what coaching and club workshops are taking place, and attend an event, visit the Coaching Edinburgh website.

Enjoy your sport!

Memories of playtimes past

Do you remember playing in North Edinburgh when it was fields?

North Edinburgh Grows is holding a meeting on Tuesday (16 September) from 11am – 12 noon at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre to share memories and look at photos of North Edinburgh back before it was built on.

All welcome. Free coffee and cake!

Picture (top) supplied by George Hunter – Pilton folk at Silverknowes beach 1954

Postal voters: act NOW to have your say

City’s schoolchildren to attend historic count

A pupil from each of Edinburgh’s 23 High Schools will attend the capital’s referendum count overnight next Thursday – and postal votes are being urged to act NOW to ensure they have their say in the historic vote.

The pupils, who are all first time voters, will be the guests of Edinburgh city council’s Chief Executive and Counting Officer Sue Bruce. They will all be first time voters and will attend the count at Ingliston between 22:00 on Thursday and 07:00 on Friday 19 September.

The pupils will have access to all areas so they can watch proceedings, and Sue Bruce said: “This will be an exciting, once in a lifetime, opportunity for these first time voters and an experience they will never forget.”

More than 76% of Edinburgh’s postal voters have already had their say in the Scottish Independence Referendum – of the 81,648 people who applied to vote in the poll by post, 62,310 have already been returned to the Counting Officer.

City of Edinburgh Council postal vote staff began verifying the returned postal votes on Thursday in preparation for the count next week – but the 24% of people still to return their postal voting pack are being urged to send it as soon as possible, to ensure it arrives with the Returning Officer by 10pm on Thursday, 18th September.

Sue Bruce said: “I am pleased see such a high turnout of postal voters with less than a week to go until the Referendum, but it is essential that all those who have not yet returned their postal voting packs do so as soon as possible.

“It is important that people plan ahead and don’t leave it until the last minute – in order to have your say you must make sure your vote is posted in time to arrive with the Returning Officer by Thursday.”

Those who applied to vote by post should have received a postal voting pack, which includes a ballot paper, a postal voting statement, an ‘A’ envelope to put the completed ballot paper in and a ‘B’ envelope in which to return the ‘A’ envelope.

Postal voting statements must be completed with the correct date of birth and signature and returned with the ballot paper or the vote will not be counted.

The Scottish Independence Referendum will take place across Scotland on Thursday, 18 September. For those planning to vote in person, information on where and how to vote is available on polling cards and on the Council website.

Members of the public who are unsure of whether they have registered to vote can also find further information on the Lothian Valuation Joint Board website.

A total of 377,413 people in Edinburgh have registered to vote in the Referendum.

Book your place at Forth regeneration event

An opportunity to find out more and have your say on the area’s regeneration …

Regeneration Event Poster

If you live, visit or work in the north of the city, you may be aware of regeneration activity underway. Here in the Forth Neighbourhood, a number of projects have started or are under development. The Forth Neighbourhood Partnership and local Community Councils feel that this is a good time to bring together as many of those involved with managing or developing local regeneration to engage with the wider Forth community.

The Forth Regeneration event will take place on Saturday 27 September in Edinburgh College – Granton Campus from 10:00 – 14:00.

The event has been designed to be interactive and allow people the opportunity to fully understand and influence, where possible, current regeneration activity and future proposals. Information and discussion groups will take place around:

· New homes, improved public space and health facilities in Pennywell/Muirhouse

· Proposals for Granton Waterfront

· Wider investment across Forth, identifying challenges and opportunities.

An overview of the Second Proposed Local Development Plan will help set the scene before we head into discussion groups around the above three key areas.

A light lunch is available. Please let us know if you require any childcare arrangements.

To book a place, please use the link below. If you have already booked, there is no need to re-book.

BOOK A PLACE

Scott Donkin

Partnership & Information Manager | North Neighbourhood

Edinburgh is the UK’s safest city

Edinburgh tops YouGov safest city poll

A new survey has revealed that Edinburgh is seen as the safest city in Britain. The YouGov research asked participants how safe they feel ten British cities are – and Edinburgh came out well on top.

When asked about the capital, 68% of participants – 1724 from across the UK took part in the survey – said it is ‘totally safe’ while only 14% believe Edinburgh is ‘totally unsafe’.

The other cities surveyed were Glasgow, London, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol.

Glasgow came eighth in the poll, with 44% of people saying it is safe and 38% saying it is unsafe – although Scots who took part in the survey put both Scottish cities higher: 86% said Edinburgh is safe and Glasgow polled 68% – but Bradford was seen as the least safe city in the UK.

Bradford is perhaps best remembered to outsiders for the race riots of 2001 which lasted three days and led to hundreds of arrests (above). It is the only city mentioned in the poll where more people (42%) say it is unsafe than safe (35%). Britain’s second most dangerous city according to the public is Birmingham: people are divided 41-41% on its safety.

Edinburgh’s senior police officer Chief Superintendent Mark Williams welcomed the findings and said he is ‘delighted but not surprised’ by the poll.

Do you think Edinburgh is a safe city? Let us know!

Lazarowicz: keep rail on right track

Edinburgh North and Leith MP Mark Lazarowicz has welcomed the latest figures from publicly-owned rail operator East Coast. He stressed again the case for the line to stay in the public sector and said the issue that has been kept alive by Labour MPs in constituencies along the route – especially those in Edinburgh.

East Coast paid £225m to the government in the year to March 2014, making a total of more than £1bn since the last Labour Government took it back into the public sector. The rail operator also came top for customer satisfaction amongst long distance franchises.

The Labour MP said: “It’s a real achievement for this public sector company to pay back £225m to the taxpayer whilst also coming top amongst long distance operators for customer satisfaction – I want to see the line stay in public hands.

“The Government is determined to reprivatise East Coast and the fight for its future has been led by Labour MPs along the route – in Yorkshire, the North-East and in Scotland.

“Issues like this don’t just stop at Berwick and only Labour is committed to giving it the chance to continue running the line – separation won’t stop privatisation, only a Labour Government will ensure passengers are put first.”

“Labour Shadow Secretary of Transport Mary Creagh has made a commitment to a complete overhaul of the franchise system where operators make unrealistic bids which can only be achieved if corners are cut on services or ticket prices are hiked. East Coast’s results show there is another way.”

Wood you believe it? Community group seeks support

New Caledonian Woodlands needs your vote for Inverleith Park project

New Caledonian Woodlands has been shortlisted for the Bank of Scotland Community Fund 2014 in the Edinburgh North category – and needs your support!

By encouraging the public to vote, we have a chance to be awarded a grant of up to £3,000 from Bank of Scotland to enable us to continue doing good work in the community.

New Caledonian Woodlands are an Edinburgh-based charity that exist to enhance Scotland’s natural environment, inspire positive environmental behaviour change and improve mental and physical well-being in our community. We deliver a range of projects combining environmental sustainability with education about wider environmental issues, whilst utilising environmental activities to achieve improvements in mental and physical well-being.

Over the course of a year we work with around 100 referred participants and 1000 volunteers in a range of programmes to benefit those struggling with their mental well-being and encourage community ownership of caring for local woodlands.

We educate people about the important role they need to play in a range of environmental issues, from habitat conservation to climate change and carbon footprint reduction.

Participants on our projects work together in a friendly and relaxing atmosphere,
in a setting that benefits individuals in terms of self-esteem growth, learning transferable skills and community involvement.

Currently, our site located in Inverleith Park lacks adequate work space for our mental health participants to carry out their projects and limits the amount of individuals we can work with at any given time. We have plans to greatly enhance the space into an environmentally sustainable facility to accommodate and expand on the various mental health, employability and environmental volunteer projects we currently offer.

Being awarded this grant would help us put some tangible changes into place, the first being an outdoor Iron Age roundhouse to be used as a sheltered area for our mental health participants to hand craft products which they will then go on to sell.

Andy Ross, coordinator and founder of New Caledonian Woodlands, said: “The Bank of Scotland Community Fund could give us an amazing opportunity to build workshop space in our Edinburgh site that meets the needs of our Fruitful Woods and Good Wood mental health and employability projects. An Iron Age roundhouse will be built by our project participants and then used by them as a dry workshop space to carry out a range of activities – from making baskets to wooden spoons to small pieces of furniture. We anticipate that the roundhouse will be used by 80 participants per year from our mental health and employability projects, and will be a part of their recovery journey.”

The Bank of Scotland Community Fund was set up to help local people across Scotland have a positive impact at the hearts of their communities by giving grants to 232 local good causes in 58 Scottish communities.

Four good causes in each community have been shortlisted and Bank of Scotland is inviting everyone to vote for the causes they’d most like to support.

Members of the public can vote for their preferred community group on-line, by SMS or Twitter, or in a Bank of Scotland branch from 2 September to 10 October 2014. The local good cause that receives most votes in each community will receive an award of £3,000, with the other groups receiving £2,000, £1,000 or £500 depending on the votes received.

You can find out more about the Community Fund and New Caledonian Woodlands and cast your vote by visiting the Bank of Scotland Community Fund website at:

www.BankofScotland.com/communityfund

Voting for the 2014 Community Fund is open until Friday 10 October.