Continue reading Pyracantha: October Garden Plant of the Month
The visitor experience at the Scottish Parliament has been awarded one of the highest quality assurance accolades from the national tourism organisation VisitScotland.The five-star tourism award was achieved by the Parliament in recognition of exceptional customer service and the high-quality facilities on offer.
The building, located in the heart of Edinburgh’s World Heritage site, runs popular and highly praised behind the scenes tours of the complex. Free tours reveal the fascinating history of the building, its stunning and iconic architecture and explain how the Parliament works. Visitors can also watch the Parliament in action during sitting days.
Throughout the year The Scottish Parliament offers much for visitors to see and do including travelling exhibitions such as World Press Photo as well as unprecedented access to the building for four days during the Festival of Politics in October.
Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, Ken Macintosh MSP, said: “This award is a terrific achievement and a real recognition of the effort our staff put in to making the Scottish Parliament such a warm and welcoming place to visit.
“We are proud to welcome thousands of visitors each week from right across Scotland and beyond and I hope this award will encourage even more people to visit the Parliament and experience it for themselves.
“The Scottish Parliament is a unique destination. Not only will you be at the heart of Scottish politics, you can enjoy a free exhibition or just relax with a coffee in an architecturally inspiring building in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat. Our doors are open and a warm 5-star welcome awaits you.”
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland said: “Congratulations to the Scottish Parliament on this fantastic achievement. The Scottish Parliament is a truly spectacular building that offers a fantastic insight into the history and politics of our country.
“It is great to see the hard work and commitment of all staff involved in welcoming visitors to this historic building being recognised with this prestigious award.
“Our Quality Assurance scheme helps businesses to reach their full potential and truly shine. The scheme is about more than just the ‘stars’ on the door – it’s about the entire visitor experience, about investing in your business, driving-up quality and creating jobs.
“Delivering a quality experience that meets, and exceeds, visitor expectations is crucial in making Scotland a must-visit, must-return destination.”
VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance schemes can open the door to new customers. It is a powerful marketing tool and works well with online review sites in using an independent perspective to measure visitor experience against tried and tested criteria, so visitors know exactly what to expect.
The Scottish Parliament also has a café, shop and creche for visitors; runs specialist photography, art and architecture tours; and has a permanent exhibition ‘Parliament for the People’ open all year round.
Find out more information about the Scottish Parliament and how to visit.
Find more information on VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance scheme.
Thousands of individuals and families across Scotland are being forced into poverty as a result of UK welfare cuts. Continue reading Welfare cuts pushing more families into poverty
Victoria Primary School is to be replaced by a new school on Western
Harbour in 2020. The existing building will then be for sale. This means
there is an exciting opportunity for the community to acquire the
building, but this can ONLY happen IF we can show that there is:
(i) strong support from the community
(ii) a robust plan to meet the criteria for community asset transfer and
that of the potential funders (e.g.Community Land Fund)
So come along and tell us:
If you believe it can usefully serve the community then here’s the
chance to help make that happen. Because, quite simply, it will not
happen UNLESS there is demonstrable community support.
So please come along to Victoria Primary School at 7pm on Thursday 4th October to discuss:
‘SHOULD a NEW COMMUNITY GROUP BE SET UP to ACQUIRE and DEVELOP VICTORIA PRIMARY SCHOOL for the COMMUNITY?’
Bill Rodger, Trinity Community Council
Unlimited monthly winter-golf for just £21 per month
For diehard golf fans, who want to keep in the swing of it, even during the winter months, buying Edinburgh Leisure’s ‘winter golf membership’ just got easier and can now be bought online for the first time. With minimal use of winter greens and no mats, it’s the ideal opportunity to keep your golf on par until the summer returns. Continue reading Love golf? Keep in the swing this winter
Punters searching for the perfect pub have revealed one of the main factors that helps them find the ultimate watering hole. Continue reading Nicholson’s launch Autumn Beer Showcase In Edinburgh pubs
The gardens at Caring in Craigmillar’s community centre have been given a new lease of life thanks to a team of volunteers from Fort Kinnaird.
Caring in Craigmillar offers support services to elderly, disabled and vulnerable members of the local community. Service users are collected from their homes and brought to the care centre where they enjoy tea, lunch and a programme of activities, which often take place in the garden.
Fort Kinnaird Deputy Centre Manager Lindy Watson recently attended a meeting at Caring in Craigmillar and saw the opportunity to transform the garden into a space that was welcoming and inspiring for the centre’s community.
She then invited property and construction consultants from Gleeds and Thomas & Adamson, who work on site at Fort Kinnaird, to join a team of staff from the retail centre to makeover the garden.
Lindy Watson said: “We are extremely proud to have worked together to transform the garden at Caring in Craigmillar.
“The centre does an incredible job of looking after the most vulnerable people in our local community, so donning some gardening gloves and picking up some tools was the least we could do.
“We hope the Caring in Craigmillar community enjoy the new space, and feel inspired and very much at home in the garden.”
The project involved the creation of new landscaped spaces, including the installation of a healing path with rock borders, as well as a general clean-up and planting.
Kellie Mercer, Manager at Caring in Craigmillar said: “Everyone at Caring in Craigmillar would like to thank the volunteers who gave their time effort and put in so much hard work to help us achieve a lovely space for our members.
“It has made a huge difference for our members who now enjoy spending time in the garden.
“Some of our members are no longer able to get outside in their own gardens at home, so with your help we have achieved a fabulous bright and safe space for everyone to enjoy.”
Pipers from the RAF Central Scotland Pipes and Drums are performing at the RAF in Concert tour next week – the last official event celebrating the Royal Air Force’s centenary. Continue reading RAF pipers drum up anticipation for centenary concert
Having already won a string of awards, including the coveted Saltire Medal at the Saltire Housing Design Awards, Leith Fort was named Affordable Housing Development of the Year at the Herald Property Awards for Scotland on 27 September. Continue reading Another award for Leith Fort housing
-Boogie, Arlene, Marty and Arlene’s son Robbie have joined forces to become BAMR – recruiting East Lothian singer Caitlyn Vanbeck to provide vocals-
Forth 1’s Boogie might wake listeners up by playing the biggest hits, but the Boogie In The Morning presenter has now gone one step further.
Following a rash announcement in January when Boogie asked how hard can it really be to make a hit single, presenters Boogie and Arlene and producer Marty were challenged to do just that and see if they could create a chart-topper.
What followed were months of preparation and plenty of listener involvement – with listeners asked to suggest a classic hit that could be produced into a dance track. After sifting through dozens of suggestions, the breakfast team opted for 80s hit ‘Kayleigh’ by Marillion thanks to its local connection with lead singer ‘Fish’ living in East Lothian.
Once the song had been selected, the breakfast team needed to find a producer to turn the rock ballad into a dance anthem. They recruited Arlene’s son, Robbie Hutchison, a music production student at Edinburgh’s Napier University to work his magic on the track and the band BAMR (Boogie, Arlene, Marty and Robbie) was born.
Arlene said: “We worked with Robbie to come up with a sound that we liked, making sure it was something that would fit in well with the songs we play on the station. We wanted it to be upbeat and modern so a fair bit of work went into the track.
“It was brilliant working with my son and seeing him in action – some of the best music collaborations have come out of family partnerships just look at The Jackson 5 and Oasis – all family feuds aside of course!”
With the track produced, Forth 1 listeners helped to recruit a vocalist, with singers calling in to audition live over the phone on the breakfast show. Nine potentials were then brought face to face with Boogie, Arlene and Marty in true X Factor style with 2016 X Factor judges’ houses contestant Caitlyn Vanbeck from Tranent, selected to perform the vocals on the track.
Caitlyn said: “I was over the moon to be picked as the vocalist for the re-make of ‘Kayleigh’ now ‘Break Your Heart’. As soon as I heard the track I loved it and I could really see what Boogie, Arlene and Marty were trying to achieve. I’m so happy with what we’ve created and how we’ve turned an 80s song into something relevant and relatable for today’s audience. I’m looking forward to hearing listeners’ reactions as it’s been a team effort with them every step of the way.”
With fellow Scot, Calvin Harris and Sam Smith currently topping the chart with their hit single ‘Promises’, there’s tough competition for BAMR.
Boogie said: “What a journey this has been. Who knew a comment in January could lead to all this? This is what I love about our listeners – the fact that together, we can create something totally unique.
“The original song ‘Kayleigh’ never made it to number one, it peaked at number two, so we are really hoping that we can go one better and land the top spot with ‘Break Your Heart’, that really would be a dream come true. So come on people of Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife, we need your support to make history, and together we can do it!”
The single ‘Break Your Heart’ is officially released today (Friday 28 September) and is available on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, Deezer and YouTube.
Links to stream or download the track:
iTunes/Apple Music – https://apple.co/2OlrqBF
Amazon – https://amzn.to/2N52QAt
Spotify – https://spoti.fi/2NKMq5x
YouTube Music – http://bit.ly/2IlxDrX
Boogie In The Morning runs every weekday morning from 6am to 10am on Forth 1 across Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife.
Keep up with all the latest competitions, gossip, music and news on Forth 1 online, via our app, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat:
