Grave Talk at North Edinburgh Arts

Time to talk about the great taboo?

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Death and dying. It’s a subject many of us prefer not to even think about, let alone discuss – but Ruth Green, Minister of St David’s Espisopal Church in Royston Mains, says it’s good to talk about death and has organised an event to do just that. And it might even be fun!

Ruth explained: “It’s called Grave Talk, and it’s a cafe space designed to talk about death, dying and funerals. I was inspired to start this because in my experience as a nurse, and now as a minister, most people don’t know how to talk about death. This event gives a safe environment, and is a way of trying to normalise such conversation. It is free (with donations accepted for the cake) and is non-religious, so it’s suitable for people of all faiths and doubts. At previous events, strangely enough, it is fun, and there’s lots of laughter, as people are freed up to explore their ideas and feelings.”

GRAVE TALK takes place at North Edinburgh Arts on

Wednesday 2 September from 6.30 – 7.45 

there will be tea and cake

there will be talk, there will be questions

the truth is we are all going to die, but nobody wants to say anything

Grave Talk is a chance to talk about death

think about your funeral

ask questions, air your thoughts

for people of all faiths and doubts

Intrigued? Interested? Like to find out more? Like to go along? Call Ruth on 629 2018 or 07941 552 768 or email liverdiet@hotmail.com

Grave Talk poster

Man dies and two more missing following fishing boat capsize

Search resumes for missing fishermen in Firth of Forth

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One man has died and two others are missing after a small fishing boat overturned in the Firth of Forth off East Wemyss yesterday.

A full-scale search involving police, coastguard, RNLI and an RAF search and rescue helicopter was launched by UK Coastguard was initiated  after the men were reported missing in worsening weather conditions

Police said a man was recovered from the water around a nautical mile out to sea at about 5pm but he later died in hospital. The search for two other missing men resumed this morning.

 

You need Friends …

Community Council to set up Friends of Easter Drylaw Park group

Easter Drylaw Park

Does Easter Drylaw Park need Friends? Drylaw Telford Community Council certainly thinks so, and is looking for local residents to get involved in setting up a new group to support the area’s green space.

Community councillor Mhairi Curran confirmed: “We are looking to hopefully set up a Friends of Easter Drylaw Park and we are currently seeking people who might be interested in finding out more or becoming part of the group.

“We have invited a guest speaker from The Friends of Parks Group to give a short presentation at our next community council meeting, where we will discuss the benefits of setting up a Friends group here to support our local park. It will be the ideal opportunity to find out more about how Friends groups operate and what’s involved. It would be great to see more local residents coming along – we would like to hear their views on the park.”

The meeting will be held on Wednesday 26 August at 7pm in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre. All welcome.

Take a walk down Memory Lane … in Leith

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A mural art map of Leith has been produced for residents and visitors to take a tour of mural art in the area as part of the LeithLate Festival15.

The map, funded by the City of Edinburgh Council, will feature the following murals and artists:

· Leith History Mural by Tim Chalk & Paul Grime, by Leith Library

· Swanfield Mill Mural by David Wilkinson, Bonnington Road

· Eduardo Paolozzi Mural by Russell Ian Dempster, Henderson Street

· Untitled Mural by Tim Chalk, opposite Links View House, Tollbooth Wynd

· Leith Dockers Club Mural by Tom Ewing, Academy Street

· The Leith Aquatic Mural by Blameless Collective, Halmyre Street

Cllr Frank Ross, Convener of the Economy Committee, said: “This is a great opportunity for residents and visitors to learn about Leith’s mural history, past and present.

“We are supporting this project as part of our work on our ‘Building Stronger Town Centres’ programme and we are committed to the economic growth of Leith which includes nurturing it as a creative hub. I would encourage anyone interested to pick up a map and go on a tour as Leith is steeped in history, has many other hidden gems and is packed full of interesting shops, cafes and restaurants.”

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Morvern Cunningham of LeithLate, said: “I’m thrilled to present these tours as part of the LeithLate15 festival, which aims to bring more contemporary art onto the streets of Leith. The tour includes two modern murals facilitated by LeithLate, as well as one not by us, alongside a number of historic murals that were produced in Leith in the 1980s. We’ve researched the background to all the murals involved and hope that participants find the information contained in the guides interesting and useful.”

*Please note that the organised tours with the artists are now sold out.

Supermum Lisa’s special delivery

Lisa raises funds for Edinburgh’s Sick Kids 

Lisa Quarell - Accu vein finder

Lisa Quarrell, a mum-of-two, visited the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (RHSC) in Edinburgh this week to hand over a state-of-the-art piece of equipment to help reduce children’s fear of needles.

Lisa, who’s from East Kilbride, is a familiar face at the hospital after her brave son Cole was admitted to the Paediatric Neurology ward at just two years old to receive treatment for epilepsy. Now three, Cole was just three months old when he first started taking seizures.

Cole was admitted to the RHSC in Edinburgh to undergo a lesionectomy on his left temporal lobe. During this time, little Cole had bloods taken twice a day, every day. On top of epilepsy treatment and examinations, these examinations proved to be extremely stressful for baby Cole, mum Lisa and dad David.

Lisa said: “It was very difficult to find Cole’s veins as they would collapse a lot of the time. The trauma of this made Cole extremely needle phobic. Twice a day, we would have to hold him in place for up to 20 minutes, until we could find a vein and get the blood sample that the nurses required.

“It was heart-breaking for me to watch Cole experience this level of fear over the needles and I was desperate to do something to help the nurses and other patients have an easier time when it came to this essential treatment. When the Ward 7 nurses told me about the AccuVein device it seemed like the perfect solution and I knew I wanted to fundraise for this great piece of kit.”

The state-of-the-art AccuVein device, worth more than £3,500, shines a special light over a child’s body to reveal the veins located underneath the skin. This technique allows nurses to carry out any needle-based procedures more quickly and accurately than ever before, vastly improving what is a traumatic experience for so many children.

The Sick Kids Friends Foundation (SKFF), which exists to transform the experiences of children visiting hospital, has also invested almost £5,000 to fund this vein illumination device and other innovative equipment to help reduce children’s anxiety around needles across the hospital.

Lisa continued: “It’s amazing the difference one small instrument can make to a child’s experience in hospital and I’m so happy to see the first AccuVein device I fundraised for go to good use in Ward 7. I’m hoping to fund a further four devices in the next few months so that more children than ever before can benefit.”

Roslyn Neely, Chief Executive of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, said: “At the SKFF we believe that nothing should get in the way of being a child, this includes small procedures like injections, blood samples and cannulation which can be extremely stressful for young children.

“We’re extremely grateful to Lisa and her entire family for their help in bringing this equipment to the ward floors – we’re already seeing the positive impact it is having for patients, families and the nursing staff across the hospital.”

Fringe benefits: Mental health charity to benefit from festival productions

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Scottish charity Health in Mind is to benefit from two Fringe productions which are based on true-life experiences.

The productions highlight the impact of mental illness on the individual and the people around them in the play, Disorder, and of domestic violence in the dance and spoken word performance, Herstory.

Disorder is the first production of the amateur creative collective, Kincaid Productions and is based on the childhood experiences of one of the two authors.

A spokesperson for the collective explained: “Focussing on mental health and in particular Bipolar Disorder, the play is set in both the present, where a son is visiting his mother in a psychiatric hospital and the past, where the mother and son attempt to address the differences between their perspectives.

“The play looks at the effects and impact of mental illness on the individual and the people around them and highlights the shifts of mental state caused by Bipolar Disorder.”

The spokesperson added: “Herstory is a combination of dance and spoken word and is performed by its writer Zosia Jo. It was created after women were invited to share their stories about their relationships.

“Ten of the women’s experiences, some being told to Zosia for the very first time, were woven to create a single story, which is the performance. The show deals delicately but powerfully with the issue of domestic violence and it is a love story with a painful twist that has nothing whatsoever to do with love. Herstory has been described as ‘A powerful testimony to survival and renewal’ (ThePlace.org.uk).”

Katherine Sellar, Health in Mind’s community fundraiser is delighted that both productions have pledged to raise funds for the charity. She said: “The productions reflect in different ways, the experiences of some of the people engaged with the specialist services Health in Mind delivers.

“Services include a range of support and counselling for people affected by trauma; befriending services for those feeling isolated due to experiencing difficulties with mental health and support to enable people experiencing long term and enduring mental health difficulties to stay in their homes.

“We believe that people should not be defined by their illness or trauma and we work with them to help them live the life they want to live and to survive and thrive.”

Disorder is on daily until 31 August at C NOVA Studio 6d, India Buildings, Victoria Street from 14.30 to 15.15 and Herstory is on daily from 7 to 22 August at The Aviary, The Zoo, 140 The Pleasance from 14.25 to 15.10.

Dancing with wolves

Local youngsters shine in dance performance

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Liminal Dance Company brought their Red and the Wolf to North Edinburgh Arts on the latest leg of a Scottish tour – and, together with local young people, took an appreciative audience on a magical journey.

Choreographer Gemma Williams and professional dancers worked with a locally-based community cast of young people aged 8-16 in a series of workshops which culminated in a live performance of the work on Wednesday evening.

Inspired by the Little Red Riding Hood fairtytale, Red and the Wolf  tells the much-loved story through music, movement and dance and took the audience – who were not merely passive observers, but became part of the performance – on an ever-changing, fantastic journey.

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It was a fascinating experience, a real adventure, and all credit to the young participants Gemma Williams, Justine Lim, Christina Duncan, Abigail Courtney, Katherine Rennie, Jiaya Aui, Gabrielle Glean, Staney Mckay, Ferdie Mckay, Sorcha Minto, Julie Dorozynska, Freya McNicoli, Inez MacIntosh and Rhona Payne who really put their hearts and souls into the performance. Bravo!

Next stop for Red and the Wolf is Musselburgh’s Brunton Theatre (11 – 15 August)

Coorie Doon at North Edinburgh Arts

‘You could be my masterpiece’ – lyric from ‘Sam’s Song’

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North Edinburgh Arts played host to a very special gathering earlier this week. Local women from Circle Scotland’s Haven Project – all of whom are pregnant or have recently become mums – have been working with professional musicians over the last eight weeks to produce songs for their children.

There can be few things in life more intimate than singing songs to and with your wee one, and if you wrote that song yourself: well … how wonderful is that! Tuesday was the first opportunity to hear the finished creations and what an inspiring occasion it was.

From June to August Enterprise Music Scotland’s Coorie Doon project engaged the young women to help establish a positive connection between mother and child. A composer, lyricist and musicians worked with participants – all of whom attend either The Haven’s Pregnancy Cafe or Bump to Buggy Group – to compose a song for their child which they themselves could sing to them.

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Lead artist for the Coorie Doon project was composer, musician and music educator Rachel Drury, a talented freelance musician and researcher working predominantly in the field of music education and psychology.

Rachel was an inspired choice to lead the project -she is the creator and composer of Baby O and Sensory O, two internationally acclaimed operas for infants aged between 6 and 36 months. Rachel is also a lecturer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and has given a variety of research lectures across the UK.

Over the course of the project Rachel worked with the participants in both group and individual settings to produce a bespoke piece of music, each one of which is based on the womens’ own experiences.

When the women were happy with their songs they spent a day in North Edinburgh Arts studios to record their tracks, and yesterday’s final session was an opportunity to join with friends and family to celebrate the achievements of the participants and to hear their uniquely personal songs in a live concert setting. And those songs were very special.

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One participant was Caroline, who’s ‘Calvin’s Song’ made reference to AC/DC sleeping suits! Her baby is due next month – Caroline knows he’s a boy – and when young Calvin comes into the world he’s going to have his very own little hard rock soundtrack!

Caroline, who’s from West Pilton, said: “It really was a brilliant to be involved in this. None of us had ever done anything like this before, it was completely new experience for everyone. I hope Calvin will like his song – I think he will!”

Coorie Doon was delivered in collaboration with North Edinburgh Arts and Circle Scotland’s Haven Project . 

Scotland’s Real Heroes shortlist announced

The Social Bite, Edinburgh Uni’s Best Buddies and veteran fundraising champion Tom Gilzean among those up for awards

heroes

Today, a shortlist of Scottish heroes has been unveiled ahead of the third series of RBS: Finding Scotland’s Real Heroes on STV to recognise people who have dedicated their time to local communities across Scotland. 

A judging panel including John Boyle, chairman of Hamilton Portfolio Ltd and Motherwell FC, Managing Director of Branch and Private Banking in Scotland at Royal Bank of Scotland, Chris Wilson and Michael Shanks, member of the 77th Disabled Scout group which took home the RBS Young Real Hero of the Year award last year, gathered to narrow down the nominations received for this year’s show.

Elizabeth Partyka, fellow judge and deputy director of channels at STV said: “The series is a great opportunity to shine a light on people working tirelessly in communities to help improve the lives of others. We have seen an overwhelming response to this year’s call for nominations across Scotland and there are some truly inspiring stories to be told.

“The shortlist of nominees will be visited by our celebrity reporters throughout the show and it will be over to STV viewers to vote for the nominees they believe most deserving of an award.”

The series, presented by Carol Smillie and sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland returns to STV later this year. This year’s shortlist includes deserving Scots from all across the country.

Categories including Community Project of the Year and Hero Animal of the Year will return again this year as well as two new additional award categories including Hero Mum or Dad and Fundraiser of the Year. The overall winners will be voted for by the public and will be announced at a glittering, star studded televised awards ceremony later in the year.

Chris Wilson, Managing Director of Branch and Private Banking in Scotland at Royal Bank of Scotlandsaid: “It is a real honour to be part of the judging panel again this year. It’s important to celebrate the people that make a real difference in our local communities – especially those who would otherwise go unrecognised – and I think that every person on the shortlist is a deserving winner. Everyone at The Royal Bank of Scotland is getting behind the series again this year and we are all looking forward to finding out more about the finalists when the series airs later this year.”

And the nominations are …. 

RBS: FINDING SCOTLAND’S REAL HEROES SHORTLIST

Community Champion

Ashley McIIvenny (Include Me 2); Barrhead, Glasgow
John O’Byrne (The John O’Byrne Foundation); Bellahouston, Glasgow
Jessie Douglas (Richmond’s Hope); Niddrie, Edinburgh

Sporting Volunteer of the Year                

Carol Jones (Kelvingrove Community Tennis Club); Kelvingrove, Glasgow
Gregor Gardner (Azami Falkirk Judo Club); Hallglen, Falkirk
Janice Millar (Kilmarnock Harriers); Darvel, Ayrshire

Hero Neighbour of the Year

John O’Hara; East Glasgow
Donna Fitzpatrick; Fullerton, Irvine
Margaret ‘Mum’ Miller; Springboig, Glasgow

Fundraiser of the Year

Liz Smillie; Prestwick
Tom Gilzean; Edinburgh
Linzi O’Neil; Fife

Community Project of the Year

Paragon Music; Glasgow
The Social Bite; Edinburgh
The Coming Home Centre; Glasgow

Hero Mum or Dad

Pappinder Singh, Leith
Susan Hunter, Penicuik
Vicky Walker, Nairn

Scotland’s Real Heroes Courage Award

Allison Barr, West Calder
Paul Surgeon, Kirkintilloch
Suzanne Davies, Stonehaven

Carer of the Year       

Karen Anderson (Carers United); Evanton
David Forbes (Future Choices); Aberdeen
East Kilbride Dementia Carer’s Group; East Kilbride

Young Real Hero of the Year

Leah-Grace Kean; Baillieston, Glasgow
Lee Falconer; Maryhill, Glasgow
Best Buddies Edinburgh

Hero Animal of the Year

Damson the Dog (Canine Partners): Slateford, Edinburgh
Jewel the Pony (Ravelrig RDA): Ravelrig, Edinburgh
Spike the Dog (Hearing Dogs for Deaf People): Cupar, Fife

For more information, visit www.stv.tv/realheroes or get involved on Twitter #scotlandsrealheroes or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/scotrealheroes.