Drylaw cooks to launch blog

Drylaw Cooking Group’s new blog will be launched tomorrow (Wednesday 18th April) from  7-8.30pm at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre. Baking stall, recipe ideas, cooking tombola, cookery demonstrations. Be creative and you could be a winner in the Best Apron Competition – one junior prize and one adult prize to be won!

All welcome – call 0131 315 4989 for more details.

BallaBriggs at the double?

BallaBriggs is the confident selection to complete back to back Grand National wins when he tackles 39 high class opponents, 30 daunting fences and four and a half gruelling miles at Aintree this afternoon.

Consecutive National victories don’t happen too often, but BallaBriggs’ trainer Donald McCain does have some insight into how it can be achieved – the last horse to do it was the great Red Rum, trained by Donald’s father Ginger!

BallaBriggs has been laid out for the race since last year’s triumph, and the stable is delighted at the horse’s preparation for this year’s race. Ballabriggs carries ten pounds more than he shouldered to victory last year, but the ground is right, he’s proved he can handle the Aintree fences, he’s fit, he’s fresh and he’s improving – everything points to a repeat success.

Aintree’s fences have been modified for safety reasons and they are not as formidable as they once were. Perhaps for that reason this year’s Grand National has attracted handicappers of the highest quality and the field for this renewal is the strongest there has ever been. Proof of this is the participation of this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Synchronised. Admittedly this year’s Gold Cup form is questionable – both favourites ran well below form at Cheltenham – but Synchronised is a top class chaser and it’s great to see him taking his chance against handicappers.

In AP McCoy, Synchronised has perhaps the greatest ever jockey on his back but the top weight is giving lumps of weight to a field of good handicappers – he may be top class, but humping an 11st10lb burden over four and a half miles may just find him out. No horse has completed the Cheltenham/Aintree double since the legendary Golden Miller back in 1935 – history is against Synchronised.

In this year’s high quality field there are many horses you can make an argument for – perhaps twenty have realistic chances of making the frame. There is a particularly strong Irish challenge this year, and closer to home previous National winner Mon Mome is reportedly in good form at home and could run well at a big price. Jonjo O’Neill’s Sunnyhillboy is another who comes to Aintree from Cheltenham with an impressive win under his belt and could run a big race.

The Grand National always produces a fairytale, and this year will be no different. The first lady jockey winner perhaps? Maybe – both Seabass and Organisedconfusion hold decent chances.

However a bust of the late Ginger McCain looks down on the Aintree winner’s enclosure – and I get the feeling that Ginger will be smiling down on son Donald when he leads his BallaBriggs into that same winner’s enclosure this afternoon.

If you are having a wager on today’s race, take early prices as odds will shorten on fancied horses before the off. But bet sensibly – horses are not machines, jockeys can make mistakes and the winning combination needs an awful lot of good fortune just to complete the course, let alone win the race. Don’t stake more than you can comfortably afford to lose. But betting or not, do enjoy the spectacle and drama of the world’s greatest steeplechase.

NEN Selections:

1. BallaBriggs

2. Synchronised

3. Mon Mome

4. Sunnyhillboy

John Smith’s Aintree Grand National is at 4.15pm today 

 

 

The NEN is out

The paper will be making its way around 12,000 doors in North Edinburg however the coming days but for our readers who cant wait until then or do not have it delivered through their door you can read the paper on the link below.

 

Click here to read the paper.

Stage classic set for local arts centre

North Edinburgh Arts Centre is the place to be next Saturday (21 April) when it stages the only Edinburgh performances of the classic ‘Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’.

This hilarious, fast-paced adaptation of Robert Tressell’s classic book shares with its audience a year in the life of a group of painters and decorators as they renovate ‘The Cave’, a three-storey town house, for Mayor Sweater. It traces their hardships and struggles for survival in a complacent and stagnating Edwardian England. These workers are the ‘philanthropists’ who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters.

This enduring and absorbing classic story is brought to life by Neil Gore and Rodney Matthew, two hugely talented and experienced performers, using comedy routines and entertaining songs of the Music Hall, with a few surprises along the way!

Robert Tressell’s book has become a classic of working-class literature since its first publication in 1914.  The themes and style of the piece are eternally relevant and provoking as it puts life and politics into sharp focus in an entertaining and accessible way.

Stephen Lowe’s version of the story was first seen in 1978, when Joint Stock Theatre Company toured the country playing to packed houses. The play was revived at the Half Moon Theatre, London in 1983 and again for a touring production by the Birmingham Rep in 1991.

Townsend Productions’ ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ excellent cast features Rodney Matthew who joins the production straight off the back of ‘Jerusalem’ in the West End.  He has worked at many of the leading repertory theatres, including West Yorkshire Playhouse  where he worked for a year and at Dundee Rep where he spent a memorable five years performing in classical, musical and new work around Scotland. Matthew is joined on stage in the two-hander by the talented Neil Gore (Song of Singapore, Chichester Festival Theatre and the West End). The production is directed by Louise Townsend, with the creative team including designs by Fine Time Fontayne and lighting by Jo Dawson.

The play has had the Backing of the unions RMT, Unite, Unite, Scotland, TUC, SETUC, GMB, PCS, Wales TUC, NUT, Accord, UCATT NASWT and the FBU.

Tickets for The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (performances at 2pm and 7pm) are priced at £10.00 Conc. £5.00 and can be purchased at North Edinburgh Arts Box Office: 0131 315 2151.

STOP PRESS

Tickets for the evening performance are already sold out and tickets for the matinée are going fast. However you can win tickets for the play – North Edinburgh Arts has two tickets to give away for the matinée and NEN has to more for the evening performance. Check out April’s NEN to find out how to win tickets to a must-see show!

Friday date for theatre group

North Edinburgh Arts Theatre Group meets this Friday from 6 – 8pm, with the session focusing on theatre skills development.

If you’d like to be part of the company who produced last year’s acclaimed ‘Yes we Can Can’ community cabaret, go along to North Edinburgh Arts Centre on Friday evening or contact theatre project’s Stephanie Knight by email at stephaniejaneknight@gmail.com

Telford woman victim of PPI fraud

Lothian and Borders Police are warning the public to remain vigilant for an ongoing scam after a local woman was defrauded.

The 42-year-old woman was in her Telford Drive home on Wednesday 28 March when she received a call from someone claiming to be from a PPI claims company. During the call, the woman was advised that she was eligible for a PPI refund and was instructed to pay a three-figure sum of money via UKASH vouchers, which she did. However, the victim never received any form of refund and detectives are now urging others to be wary of also falling victim to this fraud.

A police spokesman said: “The issue of PPI refunds is a very current topic and criminals will look to exploit any new opportunity to obtain money or personal details from members of our communities.
Members of the public should never disclose bank details or other sensitive information to any companies or individuals unless entirely certain of their authenticity. Anyone who has received a call similar to this should report the matter to police or Action Fraud immediately on 0300 123 2040.”

NEN – Edition update

The April NEN will arrive from the printers today and will be distributed across North Edinburgh over the coming days – we hope you enjoy reading your new NEN; we think it looks great but we’re biased! Let us know what you think.

This latest edition is slightly later than planned but, starting next month, we plan to publish monthly once again. The deadline for the May paper will be 15 May ( all future deadlines will be the 15th for that month’s paper ) , so if you have events to publicise, stories to share or wish to advertise your business or organisation please get in touch.

You can contact NEN:

By email: northedinnews@gmail.com

By telephone:  07925 405 972

By Post:

North Edinburgh News

c/o Edinburgh’s Telford College

350 West Granton Road

Edinburgh EH5 1QE

We look forward to hearing from you!

 

 

 

A green first for Telford

 

With a growing acceptance that green technology is the way forward – and every indication that the job market in renewable energy sector will grow over the coming years – Edinburgh’s Telford College produced another first with the launch of the country’s first dedicated renewable energy training centre last week.

Edinburgh’s Renewable Energy Innovation Centre (EREIC) will offer extensive training and skills development for workers employed in the renewable and construction industries. The centre will provide training in micro-renewable energy sources and complements the more traditional courses offered to students such as heritage, roofing and brickwork.

Telford’s head of employer services Myra Dickson explained: “The new centre will help to ensure that Scotland has workers skilled for modern and environmentally friendly projects, thereby meeting the needs of employers and industry, both now and in the future. It also allows Edinburgh’s Telford College to demonstrate its determination to evolve to ensure it is delivering courses that provide opportunities for our new and current generations of employees.”

College Principal Miles Dibsdall OBE added: “The renewable energy centre ideally illustrates the focus we have made to provide the best possible employment and training opportunities.”