Summer’s here! We’re running an exciting programme of fun activities and creative events for local children, young people, and their families throughout July and August. Come and join the fun!
Highlights include:
Film Festival Workshop with Folk Film Gathering (Ages 8+): Learn about film festival programming on Thursday 11 July, 5:30pm-7pm at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre.
NEA x Edinburgh Science Mini Summer Festival (All ages): Enjoy fun science activities on Tuesday 18 July, 11am-3pm at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre.
The Show for Young Men (Ages 8+): A special preview performance on Wednesday 31 July, 11am at PASS Theatre, Edinburgh College Granton Campus.
Fringe at… North Edinburgh Arts! (All ages): Family-friendly performances and workshops on Saturday 10 August, 10:30am-12:30pm at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre.
Travelling Gallery – Where We Stand (All ages): An exhibition on community ownership on Thursday 15 August, 10am-4pm at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre.
Play Rangers (Ages 5+): Creative outdoor play every Friday afternoon in local parks.
Family Badminton (Ages 7+): Weekly sessions on Mondays, 4:30pm-7:30pm at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre.
Cycling Group (Ages 8+): Family-friendly cycling every Wednesday, 10am-11:30am, meeting at 67 Pennywell Road.
Join us for a summer full of creativity, outdoor fun, and community spirit!
I was delighted to join my friends from Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Citizen Writers group at North Edinburgh Community Festival at West Pilton Park on Saturday, and the sun split the skies once again – that’s the third year on the trot!
Congratulations to the organisers and the entertainers who made it such a special day, and also a big thanks to the young festivalgoers who took part in our Citizen Big Board Game!
Looking forward to next year already!
There are lots more pictures on the North Edinburgh News Facebook page
LOCAL PARENTS LAUNCH DAMNING REPORT ON HOUSING CRISIS
North Edinburgh Parents Action Group has launched an exhibition and publication highlighting the horrific housing conditions local people are being forced to live in.
The group also screened a new film about the lived experience of a local woman’s heart-breaking attempts to secure a decent home for her children.
North Edinburgh Parents Group hope that the event held at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre yesterday will draw attention to the significant impact that poor housing is having on local families’ physical and mental health and will send a clear message to politicians at all levels of government that urgent action is required to tackle North Edinburgh’s housing crisis.
Guests were welcomed by Royston Wardieburn Community Centre chairperson Billy Fitzpatrick and the event was launched by Forth SNP councillor Stuart Dobbin, who has been taking a particular interest and holding surgeries on the issue:
“Living in a home safe from Damp and Mould should be a basic right that all Council and Private tenants should enjoy.
“This important event was made all the more powerful and moving by hearing the testimony of women who, with their families, have to live with Damp and Mould and the exhibition showing pictures from inside their homes.
“Dampness creates a risk to our physical health and our mental health. It impacts on the future life chances of our children. And if not addressed, it places additional burdens on our doctors and the wider NHS services.
“This is the issue that I am most passionate about addressing as a Councillor. By my estimate about one quarter of all Council dampness cases in Edinburgh are in North Edinburgh.
“I have been raising cases and campaigning within the Council for faster action to be taken to eradicate damp from tenants homes, and as a result, the Council has now set up a dedicated, skilled team to do just that. Early days and a lot to do.
“I want to hear from residents who have damp and mould, or are having difficulty getting the problems addressed.
“I will be at Pilton Community Health Project tomorrow morning (Friday) from 09.15-11.00 if anyone needs to discuss this or any other matter that I can help with. Or you can email me – cllr.stuart.dobbin@edinburgh.gov.uk”
Few who attended the event could fail to have been moved by the heart-rending stories of local woman struggling to be heard. The women, for many of whom English is not their first language, bravely shared their dreadful experiences to a packed room.
As one said after the event: “Speaking to a big crowd made me very nervous and I wasn’t sure that I would be able to do it.
“But we all did do it – we had to do it. We want people to hear how we are living.”
A spokesperson for the group said: “We understand that there are no simple solutions or easy fixes to Edinburgh’s current housing emergency.
“However, Edinburgh is one of the richest cities in the country and it is time that all levels of government – Edinburgh Council, the Scottish Government and the UK government – come together and prioritise spending on improving housing conditions in this city.
“We are serious about our demands and we are prepared to do whatever it takes to secure a decent place to live. We hope that we do not have to resort to a class action which is the route that over 50 tenants from various local authorities have taken in order to secure a warm, safe home.
“However, nothing is off the table. Enough is enough!”
Sara, who spoke at the event, said: “We welcomed the opportunity to tell our stories and have our voices heard.
“We’re fed up of nobody listening to us and being blamed for causing the problem. It’s not our fault. It’s well documented that people have been having problems with dampness and mould down here for decades and its time that something was done about it for once and for all”.
Susan, another member of the group, added: “We are really disappointed that the ‘high heid yins’ didn’t come to our event to hear our stories and see for themselves the conditions that people are having to put up with.
“We will be making sure that they all get a copy of our report and we will be expecting to hear from them soon about how they are going to respond to our demands. They need to understand that we’re not going away.”
Dr Olivia Swann, Clinical Lecturer in Paediatric Infectious Disease at Edinburgh University, also spoke at the event.
Thanking the women for their moving testimonies, Olivia’s presentation explained how homes are much more than just physical structures and made clear that “strong scientific evidence has shown that poor housing can affect someone’s physical and mental health throughout their life”.
Sara says this is an extremely worrying fact for those of us with young children who have been living in mouldy homes for most of their young lives.
Dawn Anderson, Director of Pilton Community Health Project (PCHP), who attended the event along with members of her Board, including former Leith MP/MSP and Holyrood Health Secretary Malcolm Chisholm, said: “We are very concerned about the problems the parents group has raised.
“PCHP has been supporting people to get help for some time. One parent has been working with Media Education on a new film featuring the nine year battle of Anita, a local women, desperately trying to escape her damp house”.
Dawn explained how it was fitting that the parents action group had called their exhibition ‘Home Sweet Home’: “It’s 40 years since PCHP was established in North Edinburgh and dampness and ill-health was one of the first issues the campaigners worked on. Meetings with local parents led to a womens’ group forming.
“They produced a slide show called “Home Sweet Home” and presented it to health professionals in the area. This resulted in The Scottish Executive backing a research project conducted by the University of Edinburgh who established a direct link between dampness and ill-health all those years ago.
“There have been countless studies on this issue over the years which have drawn the same conclusions. Sadly, we can see from Anita’s film and from the parents stories and photographs, little has changed and family’s in the area are still faced with health threatening living conditions.”
The Group is already planning a follow-up event to build on the momentum created by yesterday’s launch.
HOME
A poem by members of North Edinburgh Parents Action Group
The third North Edinburgh Community Festival will take place on Saturday 1th May 2024 in West Pilton Park. The park sits in the heart of North Edinburgh and draws its audience from Pilton, Muirhouse, Granton, Drylaw, Davidson Mains, Silverknowes and Wardie.
The event which has grown year on year is a fun, free to attend, family day out for new and existing residents to enjoy – promoting opportunities, creativity, enhancing community cohesion, reducing social isolation and celebrating the diversity of the area.
The Festival is going from strength to strength with over 100 local groups, organisations and charities taking part and providing workshops, information and activities – from glitter tattoos to video games, from dodgeball and football to obstacle courses and interactive theatre.
In the open area at the far end of the park we will have the Army, Marines and the Airforce in attendance showing as well as the Scottish Fire Services.
This year and moving forward, one of the key aims of the festival will be to work with young people in North Edinburgh and encouraging young people to take the reigns for future events and festivals.
One of the ways to engage with the young people is through music and over 600 young people from across North Edinburgh have taken part in the Tinderbox Garage Band Challenge, creating their own new music for the event. The winners will perform their original tracks on the main stage at the festival.
The music for the festival has been curated by local organisations Tinderbox Collective and Granton Youth’s Mixtape Music Club.
There will be more than 30 acts playing over the afternoon including over 160 performers, almost all of them from the local neighbourhood. On the outdoor stage, highlights include the incredible Fischy Music, Ama-zing Harmonies Choir, Heritage Of India Through Dance and Edinburgh Ukrainian choir.
On the indoor stage we have an exciting lineup of youth bands who are part of ‘North By North West’ a collaboration project between 5 youth music organisations across North Edinburgh the aim is to get the very best emerging talent out onto the Edinburgh music scene.
From the slick electronic pop of Muirhouse local (and BBC Introducing alumni) Laurent, Granton rapper Leon Highway, or the pop-rock stylings of Drenched in Dreams – we’ve got something to suit all tastes. Look out for amazing youth artists A420, Kieran Crosbie, Mezari, and Trisha Muco finishing out the festival in collaboration with players from Tinderbox Orchestra.
Head into the Sports Hall of West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre to find Tinderbox Games Showcase, an exhibition of playable games made by young game designers of all ages from North Edinburgh.
These will be featured alongside an exciting new escape room made in collaboration with young people from Granton Youth, which draws inspiration from trips to the Granton Hub archives and the area’s rich history, as well as a selection of games made by previous winners of the East Lothian Game Jam.
You’ll discover a mix of digital, physical and table-top games made by the next up-and-coming generation of game designers and creators from the neighbourhood.
Look out for Granton Youth’s stall advertising its youth work provision, which includes work with local schools, detached youth work, counselling for parents and young people, open access youth clubs, family support, and Mixtape – our music club.
This year we are extremely excited to have so many of the Edinburgh Festivals joining us on the day.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival Society will have street performers on the day and will be handing out free tickets to shows at this years Fringe Festival under their new Fringe Days Out Scheme which offers free Fringe vouchers and Lothian bus tickets to people who wouldn’t normally get to experience the Fringe.
The Edinburgh Science Festival are back with bigger and better street performance style science shows as well as their cargo tricycle for their science demonstrations.
And there will be storytelling activities for families from the Edinburgh International Book Festival Citizen Adults Writing Group plus loads of free books for children.
North Edinburgh Arts have a host of activities planned across their two large marquees this year. There will be drop-in arts activities for children and families, carpet bowls, and information on their newly refurbished and extended building opening later this year.
There will be family-friendly performances by commissioned artists, selected by local children from Forthview Primary School and Pilton Youth, as part of the Creative Encounters project, delivered in partnership with Imaginate, the Childrens Festival and North Edinburgh Arts.
And there will be storytelling activities for families from the Edinburgh International Book Festival Citizen Adults Writing Group plus loads of free books for children.
Of course, there cant be a festival without a parade and this year North Edinburgh Childcare have stepped up and organised the parade which will leave from their premises at 1130am and make its way along Ferry Road Drive around West Pilton Park and entering the park for the official start of the festival at 12noon.
The theme is Superheroes and any families looking to join in are most welcome. Pulse of Place will lead the parade and if you are around North Edinburgh on Saturday 11th May, you’ll most certainly hear the parade before you see it!
Other activities on the day include:
Important information from around 80 third sector organisations
Badge making with Pilton Community Health Project
National Galleries of Scotland’s Art in the Open electric cargo-bike for a sustainable art making workshop
Storytelling with Muirhouse and Granton Libraries
Human tower building with Colla Castellera d’Edinburgh
Horses from Edinburgh Equilearn
Each year the festival provides free food – the amazing RRT (Rapid Relief Team) hand out a few thousand burgers and will return again this year.
There will also be free food from Bangla Kitchen and Multi-Cultural Family Base.
This year we have yet again a larger food presence with some new vendors but as always there is cap on the cost of food at £5.
Lyndon Cane from RRT says “RRT is pleased to support North Edinburgh again by providing the signature burger meal at the North Edinburgh Community Festival.
“Care and Compassion is at the heart of what we do, and this event is important for us to attend so we can widen our support to communities during times of need.”
North Edinburgh Community Festival really does have the community at its very heart and we can’t wait to see everyone on the day.
We’re ready to go after a week of planning and prep! Buzzing to see all our young people this week
Reminder: All young people need a consent form to attend our project, this MUST be completed by the legal guardian of the child – if you have completed one since September last year, you do NOT need to do another one.
80 stalls from local organisations, charities and groups hosting interactive activities such as glitter tattoos, hair braiding, craft workshops, facepainting, games, help, advice, storytime.
Edinburgh festivals – Edinburgh Science festival with their cargo tricycles and science demonstrations.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society – street performers.
Edinburgh Book Festival – free books and talks.
Colla Castellera – building human towers.
Edinburgh Equi Centre returns with their horses.
Obstacle course from North Edinburgh Childcare, and activities from Royal Air Force, Army and Scottish Fire Services.
Art and craft workshops with North Edinburgh Arts, National Galleries of Scotland, video games and scavenger hunt with Tinderbox Collective.
We have Granton Giants Dodgeball, Super strikers and Blast Boxing.
And things to buy include, tie dye clothing, pocket money toys, wax melts, cupcakes, dog accessories etc.
As for food we have RRT handing out free burgers again but we also have cupcakes and cookies, Indian food, hotdogs plus several other stalls to purchase food from.
We have 2 Music Stages this year – the park stage filled with community music and performances and the North by North West stage inside the WPNC for up and coming young musicians.
The parade will kick start the festival, starting at North Edinburgh Childcare and heading along Ferry Road Drive, round the park and into the park. Everyone welcome to join in the parade – theme is Superheroes!
There is so much going on at the festival, with something for everyone. I hope that you will all come along and enjoy the day.
The festival is free to attend. Many of the activities/food/items will be free but there will also be some that require payment.
Please feel free to share this and spread the word.
FRESH START’s painting and decorating service has gone through some recent changes and we would like to launch our new Fresh Rooms service!
Fresh Rooms replaces the formerly named Hit Squad painting and decorating service and we are also delighted to welcome our new Volunteer Coordinator, Caitlin to the team. Caitlin has hit the ground running, has a great connection with service users and is pictured here, taking part in her first practical Fresh Rooms session!
Fresh Rooms offers painting and decorating support to people moving on from homelessness when they move into their new tenancy. Tenants are given the choice of what colour they would like their new home painted and a volunteer lead team come along and work their magic.
If you are working with someone that can benefit from this service, or would like to volunteer, either as an individual or as a corporate volunteering day please get in touch
Film Festival Workshop with Folk Film Gathering (Ages 8+): Learn about film festival programming on Thursday 11 July, 5:30pm-7pm at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre.
TEEN BOUTIQUE 
PY Spring Programme 
