Join our next block of Waterfront Walks each Monday in May to discover Edinburgh’s new memorial art installations, located between McKelvie Parade and Granton Harbour.
Each week, our Community Artist Isla Macleod and Emma Ritchie from Caledonia Funeral Aid and Caledonia Cremation will lead the group to see a new element of this historic installation.
Isla and Emma will facilitate conversations and creative activities around bereavement, change & loss, and how we can make sense of these feelings through the arts.
This group is open to people who have been bereaved in the past year, and who are seeking a creative minded space to be amongst peers with similar shared experiences.
Thanks to our friends from R2, we will have enough rubbish picking equipment for everyone. if you have any questions-email: anna@grantongoesgreener.org.uk
Our Open Music Space sessions resume for the new year next Friday – 10th January!
People are welcome to attend one session, a few, or all. The sessions are relaxed and informal, and no previous experience of making music is required.
People can book a place on a session by going to the Wellbeing section of the Hospice website, by phoning the Hospice, or by talking to a member of staff!
Sessions take place between 11 & 12 in the music studio, and this block will run until 14th March 2025.
In 2025 the highest number of Scotland’s bathing waters on record will meet the best environmental standards, with 87% achieving classifications of Excellent or Good. A further 10% will meet the Sufficient standard.
This reflects an ongoing positive trend for Scottish bathing water quality over the past decade since classifications were first reported against new Regulations in 2015. In 2015 there were 84 designated bathing waters, of which 17 were Excellent.
For the year ahead, Scotland will have 89 designated bathing waters, of which 50 are Excellent.
As Scotland’s principal environmental regulator, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) routinely analyse water quality at all of Scotland’s 89 designated bathing water sites during the summer months to protect human health.
In tandem with environmental monitoring, SEPA work with operators and stakeholders across the country to direct action, including millions of pounds of investment, to improve bathing water quality.
For the 2025 bathing season Scotland’s bathing water classifications will be:
Classifications are calculated at the end of the bathing water season using data from the previous four years. They apply to bathing waters for the duration of the following season.
Ruth Stidson, Principal Scientist for Bathing Waters at SEPA, said: “The highest number of Scotland’s bathing waters rated Excellent or Good for 2025 represents tangible improvements following more than a decade of targeted investment and ongoing work with Scottish Water, land managers and stakeholders to improve our water environment.
“Scotland’s bathing waters monitoring programme has significantly expanded since it began in 1988 and has helped identify pollution issues so crucial improvement measures can be implemented and pollution reduced at the source.
“Protecting and improving our bathing waters is crucial for water users, local economies, and communities. While we celebrate the improvements made so far, we are not complacent. We will continue our work to ensure these improvements are sustained and where necessary further improvements are made, so people can enjoy our bathing waters now and in the future.”
Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy Gillian Martin said: “I am pleased to see an increase in the number of our bathing waters achieving the highest classification for bathing water quality, with 87% achieving Good or Excellent water quality status.
“We continue to see the benefits of our continued investment in protecting and improving bathing waters across the country, and targeted work in priority catchments.
“However, there is still work to do to ensure that all designated bathing waters meet the required standards. We want to make sure that as many people as possible can enjoy our bathing waters, which is why we continue to work closely with SEPA and Scottish Water to monitor and improve water quality.”
Reducing rural diffuse pollution – a success story for Scotland
SEPA’s ongoing work with Scotland’s farming community to reduce the risk of water pollution from rural diffuse pollution has contributed to improvements in bathing water classifications over the past decade.
This has been particularly apparent in regions such as Ayrshire, where improvements required by SEPA have included increased slurry storage, fencing, alternative sources of livestock watering, and the planting of riparian “buffer zones” to move farming activities back from watercourses. Many of these measures have been supported by Scottish Government funding.
Some of these improvements take time to translate into water quality improvement, however quantifiable improvements to the water environment are now being evidenced through water sampling data in recent years.
Stephen Field, National Rural Unit Manager at SEPA, said: “Since 2012, SEPA have worked with land managers across 14 priority catchments where rural diffuse pollution was impacting bathing water, providing regulatory advice and requiring improvements in livestock and slurry management.
“Many rural land managers have since implemented measures over and above minimum regulatory requirements to address pollution issues arising from their farming activities. As a result, we’re seeing increasing evidence of bathing water quality improvements in these catchments.
“We’ll continue to engage with land managers and other relevant parties within the priority catchments to promote the importance of maintaining regulatory compliance to ensure bathing waters are maintained at a high standard.”
Tackling further impacts on Scotland’s bathing waters
Over the past decade, SEPA have ensured Scottish Water investment has been targeted to drive major improvements in water quality at locations that were not meeting the Sufficient standard.
Ayr (South Beach), which has now achieved four successive Good classifications after many years of Poor classification, has benefitted from significant sewerage system upgrades delivered by Scottish Water alongside investment by Scottish Government and the farming community to reduce rural diffuse pollution.
Microbial DNA source tracking analysis tools developed by SEPA has confirmed that bacteria from dog fouling and from gulls can also pollute our bathing waters.
Visitors can reduce this by picking up after their dog and not feeding gulls – human food is unhealthy for them and encourages unnatural behaviours.
Finally, our Scottish climate impacts water quality. Heavy rain can wash contaminants off both rural and urban land, together with overflows from sewage systems in affected areas. As such, bathing is not advised during, or 1-2 days after, heavy rainfall due to the risk to bathers’ health from short term water pollution.
At 30 bathing waters, SEPA make daily water quality predictions and display these online and on electronic signs at beach locations.
Three bathing waters will have a Poor classification in 2025; Kinghorn (Harbour Beach), Lower Largo and Fisherrow Sands. SEPA are creating and implementing improvement plans at all these sites.
At Lower Largo, Scottish Water has had an on-going programme of work since the bathing water was designated for 2022 to understand the impact of their wastewater systems and identify improvements required.
At Kinghorn (Harbour Beach), SEPA are working with operators and businesses to reduce pollution in the Kinghorn Burn which discharges into the bathing water, while at Fisherrow, SEPA are considering appropriate next steps after a single high result this summer skewed the classification to Poor this season.
It’s not long to go now until our Christmas Pop-Up shops! This weekend, No.17 will be transformed into a veritable Santa’s Grotto, stocked with all your Christmas must haves!
Open on Friday, Saturday & Sunday from 10 until 4.30pm, this is a great way to help your local Hospice and make this festive season that little bit more special!
100 years ago this weekend, a group of young men took to the muddy Wardie Playing Fields for their inaugural outing as Former Pupils of @BroHighOfficial against United Colleges.
FORWARD a century & today celebrates a historic moment with Broughton Men playing Forrester RFC at 3pm.
Former Scotland rugby star Scott Hastings has confirmed his wife Jenny has been missing since disappearing while wild swimming at Wardie Bay on Tuesday afternoon.
HM Coastguard was alerted to Jenny Hastings’ disappearance shortly before 3pm but despite a swift and thorough response by emergency services she could not be found. The search was stood down on Tuesday evening.
Jenny Hastings has struggled with her mental health for a number of years and police are treating the incident as a ‘high risk missing person case’.
Astatement issued on behalf of the family says:
The Hastings family are absolutely heart broken.
Jenny and Scott have a huge following of friends from all walks of life including those that work in the media and we ask that at this moment in time we are allowed to grieve privately with family members.
For the time being we request that you hold off from messaging us directly and/or posting on any social media until further news.
We know that you all care for us deeply and as soon as we hear any update from the police we will advise you accordingly.
We miss our Jenny. She leaves a gaping hole in all our hearts and hope that she is returned to us safely so that we can celebrate her remarkable life.
Water quality information at your fingertips as Scotland’s bathing waters season begins
98% of Scotland’s designated bathing waters meet water quality standards.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) are encouraging visitors to “check the weather, check the water” via SEPA’s bathing waters website before heading to one of the country’s designated bathing waters this season.
Scotland has 89 designated bathing waters around the country, from Dunnet in Caithness to Brighouse Bay in Kirkcudbright, and 98% will meet or exceed the Sufficient classification for 2024, with 84% achieving the higher standards of Excellent or Good.
Last year Scotland started the season with the highest number of bathing waters ever, after the designation of Wardie Bay in Edinburgh and the re-designation of Fisherrow Sands in East Lothian. In 2024 the country starts with the best water quality on record as both begin the season rated as ‘Good’.
The season begins on the 1st of June and runs until the 15th of September. During this time, SEPA’s specialist teams will be checking the water by collecting and analysing around 1,500 water samples from all designated bathing waters. These provide regular water quality information which is published on online.
The results also form part of the four-year rolling data set that determines the classification for each bathing water every season.
SEPA’s website and electronic messaging signs, which operate at 30 bathing waters, are updated at 10am every day with real-time water quality predictions. Although generally of a high quality, the bathing waters can be affected by heavy rain and results can be accessed at sepa.org.uk/checkthewater so people can check before they travel.
SEPA can also make people aware of any abnormal pollution events that may impact water quality via this page, as well as using the network of electronic signs and physical signs posted by local authorities and other partners at all other beaches.
Check the weather
While sunny weather always draws more people to bathing waters, it’s important to not just check the weather on the day you go. It is recommended that users do not bathe for one to two days after heavy rain – and beaches with SEPA electronic signs will warn against bathing when poor water is predicted.
Our climate impacts on water quality, and heavy rain can wash contaminants off both rural and urban land and can cause overflows from sewage systems. These overflows prevent systems being overwhelmed with rainwater and backing up into homes and businesses.
Altogether the combination of water quality predictions and information about abnormal pollution events shared by SEPA, plus awareness of recent rainfall events and the potential impact allows people to check the water at any bathing water they plan to visit to make an informed decision whether to bathe or enjoy on-land activities.
Ruth Stidson, SEPA’s Principal Scientist for bathing waters, said: “Scotland has the highest ever number of designated bathing waters, with the best water quality since 2015, when tighter standards first came into force.
“We know there’s many physical and mental health benefits of being outdoors and beaches can offer great spaces for that. They are regularly used by coastal communities, as well as by groups for water-based activities. Scotland has a mixture of urban and rural bathing waters, and many are accessible by walking or public transport, often making them a budget-friendly option. Visitors often plan a whole day around being at the water, which can also benefit local economies.
“We encourage everyone planning to visit our beautiful bathing waters this summer to check the weather, check the water before they leave for their day out and ensure they have the best information possible to enjoy their time in our stunning Scottish environment.”
Mairi McAllan, Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy said: “We now have the highest number of designated Bathing Water sites ever, with 98% of Scotland’s bathing waters currently achieving the bathing water quality standards and 84% being rated “good” or “excellent”.
“However, we are not complacent and we continue to work closely with SEPA and Scottish Water to monitor and improve water quality on our designated beaches and in our designated lochs.
“We want to ensure that as many people as possible are able to continue to safely enjoy them throughout this summer and beyond and I would encourage everyone to make use of SEPA’s resources and information to help make an informed decision about where and when to bathe.”
Protecting and improving water quality
SEPA’s monitoring data provides crucial evidence to drive investment and improvement in both rural and urban areas. We regulate and work with businesses, farmers and land managers across the country protect and improve water quality. This approach will continue to deliver real progress in the coming years for the future of our water environment.
Communities and visitors can help to protect our water environment, including beaches and bathing waters.
Visitors are encouraged to bag and bin dog poo, bin litter or take it away, and avoid feeding gulls as that can attract them to areas in higher numbers.
Every year Scottish Water teams deal with around 36,000 blockages, costing customers about £7 million annually, and around 80% of those are caused by people flushing the wrong items down the toilet – particularly wet wipes – or pouring fats, oil and grease down the sink. These meld to cause blockages in the sewer system and can contribute to spills of pollution into the environment.
Professor Simon Parsons, Director of Environment, Planning and Assurance at Scottish Water said: “We would echo SEPA’s call for people to check the weather and the water before swimming at a designated bathing water.
“Scottish Water is committed to continuing to support the protection and improvement of Scotland’s rivers and coastal waters and we are very pleased that almost all bathing waters meet or exceed the “sufficient” classification and that 84% are “excellent” or “good”.
“We check almost 500 of our assets before and during the bathing season to ensure they are delivering the level of service we expect.
“We look forward to playing our part in ensuring bathing waters become destinations for people to enjoy Scotland’s fantastic coastal waters.
“Scottish Water has invested £2.7 billion in improving and maintaining the country’s public drainage system and infrastructure over more than the past decade to help improve our waters.
“Our Improving Urban Waters Routemap, which supports the national River Basin Management Plan objectives (92% good water quality by 2027), commits us to additional investment of up to £500m to further improve water quality.”
