Yummy food festival comes to North Edinburgh

On Friday 16th March 2012 North Edinburgh will be hosting ‘The Yummy Food Festival’. The Yummy Food Festival is currently being developed and organised by a group of local women from West Pilton and Muirhouse who developed the ‘Its Yummy Mummy Cook Book’. They are now developing this unique food festival to celebrate healthy eating, cooking, local talented cooks and culinary delights found in North Edinburgh.

Pilton Community Health project

The festival will be held at North Edinburgh Art Centre and will be full of cooking demonstrations, food workshops, healthy eating information, a craft market, gardening tent, food story telling and art making, healthy eating workshops and so much more yummy and tasty delights.

There are various ways you can get involved.

  • Be come part of the planning group
  • Have a food stall or cake stall to raise funds for your community group or organisation
  • Are you a crafts group who wish to sell the jewellery, cards or other crafts that you make
  • Are you part of a cooking group? Would you like to do a cooking demonstration?
  • Do you run a gardening group? Would you like to show people how to grow their own pot of soup!

For more information or to get involved contact Lisa at Pilton Community Health Project on 551 1671

Stab man insides were 'hanging out'

A knife attacker left a delivery driver with his insides “hanging out” during an attempted murder outside a Stockbridge shop.

Aaron Gray, 23, left Mark Miller, 26, bleeding heavily from wounds following the assault near Pizza Hut in Raeburn Place, Stockbridge, on 3 April.

Surgeons carried out an emergency operation on Mr Miller to repair his injured bowel and blood vessels.

Blood on the ground in Stockbridge following the attack. (Pic: Thomas Brown)

The judge deferred sentence on Gray until January for background reports.

Gray admitted attempting to murder Mr Miller.

He had changed his plea during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Mr Miller, a hospital worker who also worked as a delivery driver for the restaurant chain, said he was heading back to the outlet when he became aware of a male shouting, whom he did not know.

He said he had ignored him and the man left the scene in a car, but returned minutes later and emerged from a passenger door.

Mr Miller said: “He came running towards me. It happened that quick,” he said before the pair got involved in “a scuffle”.

He said: “I managed to get up on to my feet. I was still holding on to him. Then I just let go of him. Then I put my hand down on to my stomach and I realised I had been stabbed. My insides were hanging out.”

Police speak to locals following stabbing in Stockbridge. (Pic: Thomas Brown)

Advocate depute Graeme Jessop said Gray claimed he knew Mr Miller which the victim denied.

Mr Jessop said the surgeon was of the opinion that the injuries were actually life-threatening if it was not for the immediate medical intervention.

Police made attempts to trace Gray at several addresses following the attack, before he later handed himself in at a police station.

The victim suffered anxiety and depression following the assault. He said he now finds it very difficult to go out on his own and remains off work following the attack on him, the court heard.

Stab man insides were ‘hanging out’

A knife attacker left a delivery driver with his insides “hanging out” during an attempted murder outside a Stockbridge shop.

Aaron Gray, 23, left Mark Miller, 26, bleeding heavily from wounds following the assault near Pizza Hut in Raeburn Place, Stockbridge, on 3 April.

Surgeons carried out an emergency operation on Mr Miller to repair his injured bowel and blood vessels.

Blood on the ground in Stockbridge following the attack. (Pic: Thomas Brown)

The judge deferred sentence on Gray until January for background reports.

Gray admitted attempting to murder Mr Miller.

He had changed his plea during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Mr Miller, a hospital worker who also worked as a delivery driver for the restaurant chain, said he was heading back to the outlet when he became aware of a male shouting, whom he did not know.

He said he had ignored him and the man left the scene in a car, but returned minutes later and emerged from a passenger door.

Mr Miller said: “He came running towards me. It happened that quick,” he said before the pair got involved in “a scuffle”.

He said: “I managed to get up on to my feet. I was still holding on to him. Then I just let go of him. Then I put my hand down on to my stomach and I realised I had been stabbed. My insides were hanging out.”

Police speak to locals following stabbing in Stockbridge. (Pic: Thomas Brown)

Advocate depute Graeme Jessop said Gray claimed he knew Mr Miller which the victim denied.

Mr Jessop said the surgeon was of the opinion that the injuries were actually life-threatening if it was not for the immediate medical intervention.

Police made attempts to trace Gray at several addresses following the attack, before he later handed himself in at a police station.

The victim suffered anxiety and depression following the assault. He said he now finds it very difficult to go out on his own and remains off work following the attack on him, the court heard.

Funding secured to complete West Pilton Development

Funding has been awarded by The City of Edinburgh Council to enable Places for People, on behalf of Castle Rock Edinvar, to complete their development at West Pilton, just off the Granton Access Road. With the start on site being planned for Spring 2012 the build period is likely to be around 18 months, and the first homes should be available in Spring 2013.

Places for People

Alister Steele, Managing Director at Castle Rock Edinvar, said “We are delighted that with the funding now in place we can complete this site. It has been a long process as a result of issues with access coupled with changes to economic conditions, leading to the need to revise our plans. The City of Edinburgh Council has worked closely with us to help us to find solutions”.

The proposals comprise 93 units, a mixture of houses and flats. There will be a mix of tenures, social rented homes, mid-market rented homes and low cost home ownership. The design of the new buildings will be similar to that of Castle Rock Edinvar’s adjacent development to ensure the two developments complement each other with a few changes such as the replacement of the timber cladding with a different finish which looks similar and a buff coloured brick finish instead of white render.

The new development will have secure back court areas, with drying greens, children’s play areas and seating, as well as careful lighting to enhance security. There will be trees between the development and Granton Access Road. Private gardens will be provided to the front and back of most ground floor properties, with the majority of front gardens to be provided with low maintenance durable planting and clearly laid out public and private spaces.

For further information, please contact Diana Harries, Development Manager, Places for People Developments (diana.harries@placesforpeople.co.uk, Tel 559 2200) with any queries regarding the development.

North Edinburgh shows racism the red card

Last month saw the Show Racism the Red Card fortnight of action come to Spartans Academy and local people were able to take part in a multicultural football event organised by Spartans.

Kenny Cameron is joined by Jordan at Spartans for the Show Racism the Red Card event.

After the event Kenny said “We have sixty young people from the local area come along and take part, after the games the young people will be treated to some food from around the world, so its not just about the football. Today was an opportunity for young people from North Edinburgh to meet up and take part in the beautiful game. Spartans sees itself as a fabric of the North Edinburgh area and these events strengthen our relationships with young people and other service providers. Events like tonight can only be a good thing and will help make a positive contribution to the local community.”

To find out more about what goes on at Spartans give them a call on 552 7854.

Cancer Research fashion night

Cancer Research fashion night. (Picture: Carrie Lennon)

The cancer Research shop in Stockbridge hosted a fashion night last month at the Edinburgh Academy. This is the third year that shop manager Carrie Lennon has organised the event and after excellent evening was over Carrie said

“We raised £2600 on the night showcasing charity chic at our Charity Catwalk. The models were friends, family, volunteers and regular customers and they showed off top brands including Versace and Dolce and Gabanna. All of the clothes were items that had been donated to the Stockbridge branch by the public, and were all for sale after the show. We wanted to show off the amazing things that we get regularly donated to our store and show just how fashion forward you can be while supporting a worthy cause.”

A large number of people turned out for the Cancer Research fashion night. (Picture: Carrie Lennon)

“This is the third time that myself and key volunteers at the Stockbridge branch have hosted this fashion night, and this year our grand total was £500 more than last years”!

Residents have their say on council spending

‘Bearing in mind the financial situation, what actions can we take to maintain, develop and improve services in Edinburgh?’

That was the question posed to Forth and Inverleith residents at a meeting held in Heriots Rugby Club last week and more than 40 participants took the opportunity to express their views on what the council’s spending priorities should be at the local event.  The meeting was the last in a series of six consultation events organised by the city council across Edinburgh over recent weeks.

Opening the meeting Chief Financial Officer Karen Kelly gave a summary of where the City Council currently spends it’s money and went on to look at spending projections.  It was a gloomy prognosis – there’s no doubt Edinburgh, like all local authorities, faces tough financial challenges over the coming years, with significant savings needing to be made.  Longer term, it looks even tougher: demographic indicators suggest the city’s older population will grow considerably – the forecast is that there will be a 72% increase in the number of citizens over the age of 75 by the year 2035, putting added pressure on already stretched spending on health and social care budgets.

So how does the city address the challenges ahead?  It was over to Children and Families’ Gillian Hunt to conduct the main part of the exercise; facilitating small workshop groups to encourage ideas and discussion.  Individuals were asked to come up with ideas which were then fed into the bigger group and noted on flipcharts.  There was no shortage of ideas and suggestions – from the ‘do-able’ to the downright loopy – and the exercise ended with individuals being asked to prioritise their three ‘favourites’ and allocate points from some pretty long lists.  A bit like the Eurovision Song Contest …

Unfortunately – as inevitably happens at events like this – time was at a premium and some enthusiastic discussions were cut short as time ran out.  There was no time, either, for feedback from the various groups or an opportunity to elaborate on points raised in workshops.  Services for Communities chief Mark Turley, however, thought that the exercise proved very worthwhile.  Thanking participants, he said:  “I hope you have found this useful – I thought it was a very good event and we could have used a lot more time.  The findings of tonight’s workshops will be posted on the Neighbourhood Partnership websites and each of the political groups will receive a copy of the report.”

A summary of the workshop findings will appear on the Neighbourhood Partnership website soon:  go to:

www.edinburgh.gov.uk/neighbourhood-partnership

What do you think the Council’s spending priorities should be?  Let us know!

 

PEP winter plan swings into action

With the first snows of winter falling over the weekend, Pilton Equalities Project has drafted a severe weather contingency plan and circulated it to other local organisations for comment and suggestion.  PEP staff and volunteers came to the aid of many vulnerable local people last winter and manager Helen Tait is making sure that processes are in place to ensure that frail and elderly residents are protected as winter bites.

“Last winter’s weather was awful and we are making sure we are prepared just in case we see a repeat”, said Helen.   “We have contacted other local groups across the area to ensure that we are organised.  By working together and supporting each other there is no duplication – it’s important that the help available goes to where it’s most needed”.

Base on three priorities – Food, Heat and Health – PEP’s severe weather plan aims to get assistance to the most isolated members of the community – be that shopping, clearing paths, emergency heating or even setting up soup kitchens if it proves necessary.

Local organisations have been asked to contact PEP with suggestions by telephone on 315 4466 or by email pepequalities@btconnect.com

Crunch time for ECRN

Community activists from across the city have been urged to attend a ‘vital’ meeting of the Edinburgh Community Representatives Network (ECRN) tonight.  The meeting will decide the future direction of the organisation which was set up to give communities a voice in decisions that affect them.

ECRN provides a forum for city activists to come together to discuss issues of common concern, but in March this year the organisation lost it’s funding for a part-time support worker.  This seriously curtailed ECRN activities and the organisation’s office bearers stood down at ECRN’s annual general meeting in July.  Since then, however, office bearers have had a change of mind and tonight’s meeting has been organised to thrash out a way ahead for ECRN.

In ‘Something Needs To Be Done’, a discussion document tabled for tonight’s meeting, ECRN chairman George Pitcher argues that the need for the organisation to continue is as great as ever, although he believes ECRN should not become a campaigning group.

Mr. Pitcher said:  “Anything which will help people, as groups or as individuals to become involved in community representation is what ECRN should be about.  Building up people’s knowledge and confidence to do things for themselves is the name of the game.  It is certainly not to give clout to ECRN, but to help give clout to the citizens of Edinburgh, whether it be Muirhouse or Marchmont, Cramond or Craigmillar, enabling them to play a vital part in defining and servicing the needs of those very communities in which they live out their lives.  My answer to the question, ‘Does ECRN need to change?’ is a big NO!”

Mr. Pitcher urges ECRN members old and new to attend tonight’s meeting, which will be held in Southside Community Centre on Nicholson Street at 7pm.  “To influence policy decisions, etc., you need to be there so come along and play a part in what could be the most vital meeting ever organised under the Edinburgh Community Representatives’ Network banner”, he said.

For further information on the ECRN or more details of tonight’s meeting call George on 0754 980 9206 or email geo.pitcher@o2.co.uk