Before the game the 2 teams formed a circle in tribute to young Kai. The crowd was substantial and the weather holding up as the teams lined up for photographs (writes James McGinty).
By half time we had witnessed six goals – shared equally – and 3000 rugby tackles!
The second half was a completely different story as the management team of the Mini’s team resorted to ‘St Trinian’s’ tactics, with all the ladies handed the dreaded water pistols and turned up the pressure!
Goal 8 for the girls was a bit weird: as the ball shot across the goals an unnamed spectator ran on and passed it into the net – referee a sure candidate for Spec Savers!!
More pressure from the ladies saw Paula distract the defence by dancing with the centre half as the girls bore down on goal. The final score – which is in much dispute! – was, by my count, Muirhouse Mini’s 10 Muirhouse Guys 6!
For a game that was played in the best of spirit both teams deserved the plaudits as the game came to an end, the teams formed a circle and put their own donations in the very heavy bucket. Many thanks to the large crowd who turned up and gave and gave.
Picture (above) shows the Raffle Prize in which the winners received all the food and drink on the table for only £1 a go!!
We will publish the total amount raised when all he monies from the raffle, tombola cake stand, and donations are counted.
North Edinburgh Credit Union announces merger plan
North Edinburgh Credit Union is to merge with Castle Credit Union and Water of Leith CU, doubling the existing membership and giving the new organisation a stronger financial base.
In a letter to members, North Edinburgh Credit Union Chair Ron Carthy explained: “The Board of North Edinburgh Credit Union is committed to maintaining a strong CU presence in North Edinbyrgh and to offer the range of services our members expect. Therefore, the Board has agreed to merge with Castle Cedit Union and the Water of Leith CU study group as a major step in this process. This wiill not only double the size of our existing member base but also gives us a stronger financial base upon which to expand and sustain a viable credit union.
He continues: “The new Head Office for the merged credit union will be in our exisiting office in Wardieburn Drive. As part of our palans for the new merged credit union we will extending (sic) our opening times and be introducing access 24/7 via a new website for members to check balances, apply for loans and see how their savings are growing. We will also be offering a wider range of savings and loan products.”
NECU is holding a meeting at the Wardieburn office this Thurday at 6.30pm (business starts 7pm) to share information about the ‘exciting new plans’. All members welcome.
Scottish Government plans a fairer approach to social security
Scotland’s new social security powers will make it fairer and simpler for people to access benefits, Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil has said.
Launching a paper today on government conversations with the public and stakeholders on how new social security powers should be used, Mr Neil said Scotland’s new social security system will treat people with respect and dignity.
More than 70 organisations working with children, carers, disabled people, ethnic minority representative groups and older people have taken part in discussions around the new powers.
A wide range of responses has been received on what we could do with these powers – and the consistent view is that that we need to take a fairer approach, one that does not stigmatise or punish people who receive benefits.
Mr Neil said: “The new social security powers are part of the conversation on what will make a fairer Scotland. This feedback is helping us develop our own social security system which we will ensure treats individuals with respect and removes the barriers that cause confusion and anxiety for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
“The new system will have at its heart a set of principles and values. This will include ensuring people are treated with respect and dignity when applying for, being assessed for, and receiving disability-related benefits.
“It is clear we must provide people with relevant information so they are aware of how the system will work for them and how long decisions will take.
“It is also important that the system is fair and efficient – that the investment we all make in social security is well managed and is directed at the people who need it, in the way that will support them best.
“Through the current system many people, including carers, young people, families and those who can’t work because of disabilities or mental health, have all faced cuts and discrimination as a result of the UK Government welfare reform programme.
“Just last month we announced we will abolish the UK Government ‘84-day rule’ which means families who face higher living costs due to their child’s illness or disability will not be penalised when their child goes into hospital or has necessary medical treatment.
“We also announced last week that the needs of carers will be placed at the heart of the devolved carers’ allowance. We are determined to ensure that the allowance – like our new social security system as a whole – meets people’s needs, addresses their priorities and respects their rights.
“This is an early signal of our refusal to take an approach that punishes the vulnerable and instead focuses on fairness, accessibility and stability.”
The Scottish Government will publish a further paper by the end of the year setting out its outline vision for social security in Scotland.
An estimated two thousand people took part in the Hands Over Our Forth event on the Forth Road Bridge yesterday.
Anti-fracking groups, community organisations and concerned individuals from across Scotland and beyond joined together to answer a call to demand an all-out ban on Underground Coal Gasification (UCG). They argue that UCG is a dangerous experimental technology with a track record of failure and plans for projects in Scotland must be stopped.
The protesters are urging the Scottish government to include UCG in the temporary ‘fracking’ ban prior to demanding an all-out ban in Scotland.
In what was a good-natured event, around two thousand protesters joined hands to form a human chain across the Forth Road Bridge. They came from far and wide – North Edinburgh was well-represented (above) – and there was international support from absent friends on the other side of the world too. Kindred spirits joined hands across Tasmania’s Forth Bridge and used social media to add their voice to the protest (below)!
Pictures by Eileen Penman, Elaine Graham, Lynn McCabe and Bob Brown down under!
‘Charging to park at hospitals was an unnecessary financial burden on families and those needing treatment at a difficult time’ – Health Secretary Shona Robison
free parking
Scrapping car parking charges at most of Scotland’s hospitals has saved patients, staff and visitors more than £25 million over the past seven years, the Scottish Government announced today.
Since 31 December 2008 parking has been free for patients, visitors and staff at hospitals where charges had previously applied – although charges remain in place at PFI hospitals including Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “The founding principle of our NHS is to have services that are free for everyone – services that are not out to make profit. That’s why I’m delighted that getting rid of car parking charges has saved patients and staff over £25 million.
“Charging to park at hospitals was an unnecessary financial burden on families and those needing treatment at a difficult time.
“Health boards are also continuing to work hard to put plans in place for addressing potential increases in demand, the promotion of greener transport and the possible misuse of spaces by commuters or others.
“I would like to be able to abolish charging at the three PFI car parks too but, unfortunately, these facilities are locked into long-term contracts with operators which precede this Government. We continue to keep these under review.”
A local project which hopes to oversee the regeneration of Granton’s waterfront is asking the local community to support a bid for Lottery funding.
Granton Improvement Society says, if successful, a lottery grant would be used to stage art work for a garden festival, employ a member of staff and take regeneration plans on to the next stage.
Granton Improvement Society administrator Ross McEwan explained: “GIS was invited to make an application to the BIG Lottery Peoples Project for an award of £50,000. The process involves joining the community blog that they had set up – we had to write a 500 word submission on the blog page together with three images.
“The shortlisting process will take into consideration comments made on the blog, so we are asking members to please make comments in as positive a way as possible, especially about what huge benefits would come to the community from the income generated and from the major new facilities in the area.”
In ‘Granton on Sea – A Way Forward for Community Regeneration’, their submission to the webpage, GIS say:
‘We held several public events with guest speakers, this has increased the membership from local people considerably and means the GIS is now the largest membership organisation in the area.
‘A new exhibition of the current project proposals and promotional material have proved to be a great success especially when attending events and for getting the project more visible in the local community and with City Councillors.
All of these new initiatives have helped in being commissioned by Scottish Government Regeneration Unit and DTAS/COSS to undertake an Asset Mapping exercise over the whole area we have chosen to work within.
The project will allow us to find out what the physical and social assets are of the area. As part of this we will identify the wider community need and aspirations, this information will lead to a community plan and strengthen the communities
Since the Granton Improvement Society was established in January 2013 the membership from local residents has gradually risen to just under 200, The management committee of 11 trustees is comprised of seven local residents and four who are just on the boundary of the EH4 & EH5 area that we have chosen to operate within.
If we were successful the new money would take the project to a stage where we would do small art interventions related to the garden festival in underused derelict green space, the focus of which is creative design, all will be for the community to undertake. We will show the health and wellbeing benefits of the outdoors and creative process.
As part of the new exhibition we have taken the design proposals to another more detailed stage in preparation for a future planning application in doing so it has brought the landowner to the table to negotiate the sale of the land.
New money would allow us to commission architects and energy consultants to explore the sustainability and environmental impact of the project. A model of the project will be commissioned something which is more accessible than architectural drawings. A more detailed financial impact study should prove the community benefit of the project locally and nationally.
A Social Hub: reaching out to a wider community base.
Sea containers will be bought and converted using local people gaining construction skills, this would be the studio space for the GIS, the local community could come and interact with the project and talk about needs and aspirations. This will inform the project.
It will allow us for the first time to employ a dedicated project worker and not rely upon volunteers all of the time, local people will gain skills, training and education.
More community events would be organised, creating greater community involvement and a more cohesive and resilient community.
All of these bigger initiatives will create a sense of community ownership, pride and care for the future when the project is realised. It will be owned by the community through large community consultation and participation.’
To make a comment on the Granton submission, go to
Ross added: “Go to top right of page ‘Not a member yet?’ and join. Just follow the instructions. After registering you are directed to a Welcome page. Go to the heading The Peoples’s Projects. On this page go to Search Blogs by ITV region – we are in STV East.
“Our blog is the fifth one in the list. Open the blog and and join the group at top right of the page then you should be able to begin commenting at the end of the blog in the comments box. We want as many of you as possible to do this!”
Edinburgh College Events students are commended at top industry awards
Edinburgh College students who raised thousands of pounds for charity have been honoured at the Scottish events industry’s top awards ceremony for showing they can stage events of professional standard.
Two teams each picked up commendations in the Best Student Event Award category at the Scottish Event Awards in Glasgow on Wednesday. The students received their commendations for the fundraising events they organised as part of their course work for BA (Hons) Events Management.
Along with other student groups from Edinburgh College’s Events Management courses, they helped raised a total of £20,000 for a range of charities last year.
One of the commended teams organised a fashion show featuring people with dementia as models to raise funds for Alzheimer Scotland. Service users, carers, staff and volunteers at the charity’s Fife Dementia Resource Centre in Kirkcaldy took to the catwalk as models at the event, which raised more than £700 for the charity.
The second team organised a sell-out mini fringe festival at the Voodoo Rooms, featuring musical acts and a magician. The team raised £2,200 for Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland.
The students learned of their success at the Scottish Event Awards ceremony at Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel.
Edinburgh College principal Annette Bruton said: “The students on our Events Management courses make a fantastic contribution to charities and raised more than £20,000 altogether last year. These commendations are testament to the hard work and professionalism the students put into organising their events, as well as the support they receive from their lecturers. I’m sure that this recognition is just the first step towards successful careers in the events industry.”
The Edinburgh College Events team and College Community department were also shortlisted in the Best Educational Event category for an event held to engage local schools, particularly head teachers, and increase opportunities for young people.
The college won in this category last year for its Graphic Design Industry Night, a one-night event that showcased graduates’ award winning design work, and celebrated the college’s close ties with industry.
The Scottish Event Awards honour the best events of various types across a range of sectors. They are run by magazine and marketing website The Drum.
Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival launches today – World Mental Health Day
A national Ats and Film Festival tackling the stigma of mental health opens in Edinburgh this weekend, celebrating its ninth year.
Over 60 events are scheduled to take place across Lothian as part of the 2015 Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, making it one of the largest social justice festivals in the world, (SMHAFF) with performing arts, literature, photography, comedy and dance all set to feature.
The Festival officially opens today – World Mental Health Day – and this year explores the theme of ‘passion’
Linda Irvine Strategic Programme Manager, Mental Health and Wellbeing, NHS Lothian, said: “One in four people in Scotland will experience mental health problems at some point in their life but it is still something which attracts significant stigma.
“Through the many powerful, inspiring and provocative events taking place this year, the Festival aims to open up conversations about mental health and go some way towards challenging discrimination.”
Gail Aldam, Festival Manager, Scottish Mental Health and Arts Festival, said “We are delighted with the scale and scope of the events taking place in Edinburgh and Lothian this year and are struck by the passion that the planning team have for using art to give a voice to marginalised groups, challenging social injustice and instigating change.
“There really is something for everyone in the programme, offering an inspiring range of arts activities from spoken word to visual arts to music, across the region.”
Highlights of this year’s Festival include:
Out of Sight, Out of Mind A series of powerful and compelling exhibitions taking place at venues and galleries across Edinburgh featuring work from artists with experience of mental health issues. Returning to the Festival for a third year, these events aim to get us thinking and talking about mental health and challenge preconceptions.
A Play, A Pie and A Pint: Decent, a play by Linda Duncan McLaughlin has a special five day run at the Traverse (Tues 20th-Sat 24th Oct)
To celebrate Arthur Miller’s centenary, Rapture Theatre present a new production of The Last Yankee, one of the legendary writer’s final great plays which is touring throughout Lothian.
Rally & Broad An eclectic mix of spoken word, authors and music, the line-up features LOKI, one of Scotland’s most powerful and political performers (Fri 23rd Oct, Bongo Club, Edinburgh)
In the Shadow of the Castle an evening of spoken word reflecting on the Gretna train disaster in the spectacular setting of Edinburgh Castle’s Great Hall (Thurs 22nd Oct)
The Wellbeing Mela A free, fun, family day to celebrate diversity and promote positive mental health and wellbeing amongst Edinburgh’s varied minority ethnic communities. Music, dance, complementary therapies, relaxation workshops and lots more (Sunday 11th Oct, Out of the Blue)
Push Me Pull Me Join the Writing Mums, poet Jenny Lindsay and singer-songwriter Polly Phillips, for an evening of prose and poetry (Wed 28th Oct, Dunbar Library)
There is also a wide ranging film programme curated from the more than 400 entries submitted to the Festival by filmmakers from across the globe. The winners will be recognised at a special awards ceremony hosted at the Filmhouse on 29 October.
Highlights of the film programme include the Scottish premiere of documentary Dancing With Maria, telling the story of Argentinian dancer Maria Fux who welcomes dancers from all backgrounds, including men and women with physical and mental impairments, to her Buenos Aires studio and Ida’s Diary – a powerful film that has been used by many mental health organisations for training and awareness raising purposes.
Details of all events taking place as part of this year’s Festival can be found at: www.mhfestival.com
WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO)
World Mental Health Day 2015
Thousands of people with mental health conditions around the world are deprived of their human rights. They are not only discriminated against, stigmatised and marginalised but are also subject to emotional and physical abuse in both mental health facilities and the community. Poor quality care due to a lack of qualified health professionals and dilapidated facilities leads to further violations.
The theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day, observed on 10 October, is “Dignity in mental health”. This year, WHO will be raising awareness of what can be done to ensure that people with mental health conditions can continue to live with dignity, through human rights oriented policy and law, training of health professionals, respect for informed consent to treatment, inclusion in decision-making processes, and public information campaigns.
Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health, Jamie Hepburn comments on World Mental Health Day:
“On World Mental Health day, I am proud to be the first Scottish minister with mental health in my job title. While this is a sign of how seriously we take this issue – I want us to be judged on the actions, not words.
“Demand for services is increasing significantly. The number of people seen by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services has risen by 30 per cent in the last year – more than 1,000 extra patients in the quarter ending June 2015. To respond to this we are investing heavily in the workforce. For example, we’ve seen a 70 per cent increase in the number of CAMHS psychologists working in Scotland’s health service since 2009/10.
“Yes, there are challenges, but we have also made great progress. Waiting times have decreased significantly, we have better data to drive improvement, and the number of deaths by suicide are their lowest level since 1977. This doesn’t mean we’re complacent. More progress is needed and we continue to work with health boards to attract more staff and bring waiting times down further. That’s one of the reasons why we’ve committed to invest an extra £100 million in mental health over the next five years. This funding will also be used to promote wellbeing, improve patient rights and develop better responses to mental illness in primary care.
“We’re moving towards the end of our current mental health strategy and are assessing what the strategy has achieved. Once we have a clear picture of our progress against the 36 commitments we set, we will then decide the best focus for the next strategy.
“The 2015 Mental Health Act will strengthen the framework for mental health legislation making the system more effective and efficient, and promoting patient involvement in their care, through strengthening the position of advocacy and advance statements.
“Mental health has deservedly moved up the agenda and that’s something we can all welcome. As treatment improves and the stigma of mental illness decreases, we will see more people coming forward to ask for help. I’m determined that we are able to meet that challenge.”
Rail commuters tuck into Britain’s biggest jeely piece!
The Monster Jeely Piece Challenge pulled into Waverley station yesterday as Edinburgh Social Enterprise Network (ESEN) teamed up with Breadshare and Tiphereth in a Jar to stage the creation of the biggest jeely piece (that’s a jam sandwich, visitors!) to date in the UK.
Sandwich construction started at 11am and the muckle piece was ready for munching at lunchtime, with tasting from 1pm. The challenge marked the launch of the “Eat the Good Stuff” campaign, which aims to promote the range of high quality food social enterprises in Edinburgh.
The event took place at Waverley Station’s LocalMotive Markets site alongside platform 2, where the new Borders Railway now comes in.
Speaking before the build of the mighty sandwich ESEN Coordinator Linsay Chalmers, said: “Weeks of preparation and logistical planning have gone into this world first ‘monster jeely piece’ attempt. There has been a lot to consider for the Breadshare and Tiphereth social enterprise teams who have calculated the jeely piece will be 1.8m x 1.6m in size and will need 12 kilos of strawberry jam to make it possible.”
The team worked against the clock to create the monster ‘master-piece’, which was then cut into 768 individual sandwiches for sharing with commuters, railway staff and passers-by.
Lindsay added: “We are keen to promote Edinburgh’s food social enterprises through our “Eat the Good Stuff” campaign and be the first in the UK to create a giant jeely piece – especially as it is Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink – we felt we had to mark the occasion with some great local and organic foodie, social enterprise produce.”
“And next year we hope to have a ‘monster scone bake-off’ with some of our other social enterprises.”
Juliet Donnachie, Station Manager, Waverley Station said: “Edinburgh Waverley is Scotland’s largest station so it’s only fitting it should also be home to the country’s biggest jeely piece. The market has been a popular addition to the station over the past year and events like this add a little unexpected fun to passengers’ journeys.”
Edinburgh is home to food social enterprises of all shapes and sizes including cafes, pubs and fair trade distributors. The campaign aims to place the spotlight on these food organisations and introduce the people of Edinburgh to the top quality and socially good products that they offer.
There are now over 200 social enterprises in Edinburgh with a wide range of products from culinary and craft to recycling, wellbeing, and sport – and new products are coming to the fore each week.
The “buy the good stuff” sticker campaign indicates to shoppers and visitors the wide range and diversity of businesses promoting social enterprise whilst highlighting the beautiful and unique products on offer and the stickers will help recognise those businesses with ease.
Former students helps shine some starlight on Edinburgh College recording studio
Edinburgh College’s newly star-spangled recording studio is giving up-and-coming local bands and musicians the chance to use their rehearsal space to unleash the power of music free of charge.
The studio at the college’s Milton Road Campus has been given a sparkling revamp thanks to the generosity of a generous former student and local musicians, and is ready to continue to support students, graduates and musicians from the community to create high quality music videos and recordings to rival the output of professional studios. Bands who have used the studio have gone on to get national radio airplay and perform at major music festivals.
Former HND Sound Production student Gerry Callahan presented course tutor Richie Harrison and the college’s sound department with a starlight curtain to use as a background to music videos. This adjustable stage backdrop of black cloth is peppered with LED lights ‘stars’ and is a welcome addition to the already state of the art studios. The curtain will act as an improved setting for the music videos filmed in the studio.
Gerry raised the funds for the curtain through sales of an album he recorded as part of his graded unit for his course. Gerry brought eight singer songwriters together to record his album to help raise the profile of the Listening Room, the second longest running open music night in Edinburgh. Listening Room organisers James Igoe and James Whyte also held a launch event to help raise more funds, and the album is still available to buy through the Listening Room website.
Local musicians Norman Lamont (above), Fiona Thom, John Farrell and Jason Pillay came into the studio on Friday to help launch the newly revamped studio and celebrate Gerry’s donation by recording music videos in the new space. These were filmed by another former sound production student, Darren Knox, who now helps run Edinburgh Undersound, an independent music organisation. Current students from Richie’s course were also on hand to handle the sound production.
Gerry said: “I wanted to make this donation as an expression of gratitude for everything that Richie and the sound department did for me while I studied here. I’m a bit above the usual student age bracket, but they were really good to me and made me feel extremely welcome on the course. I knew that Richie always wanted to decorate the space to make it a better location for filming music videos and I was happy to help.”
Richie Harrison said: “Gerry’s donation will allow us to continue improve upon the quality of the music videos we produce in the studio to show off the emerging talent from the college and surrounding communities. The recording studios already have cutting edge equipment, with consoles made by Solid State Logic and Toft, the same as is used in the world’s top recording studios including Abbey Road and New York’s Electric Lady Studios. Local musicians are very welcome to get involved and can contact me via my college Richard.harrison@edinburghcollege.ac.uk email address.”
The college offers the studios at its Milton Road Campus for free as a place for local bands and young musicians to develop their skills, make recordings and film music videos. The studios are home to Feast, the college record label. Set up as a sustainable business giving past and present students invaluable experience for future employment, Feast brings managers, musicians, bands, engineers and filming students together to create original music and videos.
Bands who have used the studio have gone on to national radio play on BBC radio stations, including Radio 1, Radio 6 Extra, and Radio Scotland, and some have played T in the Park’s Introducing Stage. Fatherson, Ded Rabbit, Vukovi, Tijuana Bibles and Man of Moon have all used the studio for videos and recordings. These bands are well on their way to breaking through in the music scene. The Scottish Alternative Music Awards have also shot videos with artists in the studios.
Pictured (top): Listening Room organisers James Igoe, James Whyte; musicians Jason Pillay, John Farrell, Fiona Thom, Norman Lamont; former student Gerry Callahan and Edinburgh College Sound Production lecturer Richie Harrison.
