The NEN – North Edinburgh News – Page 3624 – The community media resource for north Edinburgh

The Kiltwalk’s coming … can you help?

Sunday 3 May, Easter Drylaw Park 10.30am – 7.30pm

This Sunday will see thousands of walkers march 26, 13 or six miles around Edinburgh as part of the annual Kiltwalk fundraiser. As a charity partner of the event Barnardo’s is organising a pit stop three miles from the finish line and are looking for volunteer helpers.

Volunteer with Barnardo’s to help:

Distribute snacks and drinks
Cheer on the walkers
Coordinate entertainment of music and competitions

If you are available come along and help in the park for a few hours your support would be hugely appreciated! All volunteers will be given a Barnardo’s teeshirt, pin badge and cheer sticks as well as snacks and drinks while you are helping out.

Interested? Contact Karen Gillies on 0131 446 7019 or email karen.gillies@barnardos.org.uk

Light a candle for Nepal

Marking one week since the devastating earthquake in Nepal, Edinburgh residents and visitors are being invited to show solidarity at a candlelit vigil outside the City Chambers tomorrow.

The Lord Provost Donald Wilson lodged an emergency motion at a meeting of the City of Edinburgh Council on Thursday to call on local support for the Mercy Corps Nepal Earthquake appeal.

He said: “When an event as devastating as this take place, I believe it is important for residents to feel they have an opportunity to express condolences and provide united support.

“I urge everyone in Edinburgh to do and give what they can, whether they join us for the candle lighting ceremony, make a donation to the Mercy Corps, pause for reflection or say a prayer for the lives lost.

“Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world and is suffering one of the most horrific of disasters. The survivors of this terrible earthquake and all of the aid workers in Nepal urgently need sympathy and support from all corners of the world.”

Rajendra Bam, the Chair of the Nepal Scotland Association, added: “The effect on our country has been devastating. We represent about 800 Nepali people in Edinburgh and the Lothians and no one has been left untouched by this tragedy, everyone has a story. Our community is a very close one and what affects one affects another. We are working in cooperation with charities, such as Mercy Corps, towards the urgent relief programme. Anything that you can do to help us is much appreciated.”

Edinburgh-based international charity Mercy Corps has been working in Nepal since 2006. The humanitarian organisation has reacted with an emergency response in Nepal following the massive earthquake and their dedicated team has been working tirelessly, whilst dealing with their own tragedies, to evaluate conditions and deliver emergency supplies to desperate families.

Simon O’Connell, Executive Director, Mercy Corps Europe said: “Our teams have been working hard for the last week to meet emergency needs of survivors in Nepal and assess what is needed for the recovery of the country. We are distributing urgent relief to families in Kathmandu and in villages outside of the capital and working hard to get more emergency supplies in for families who are in desperate need. Time is of the essence and donations are critical to our ongoing relief effort.”

The City of Edinburgh Council is a partner of the Edinburgh Disaster Response Committee which is asking residents to help survivors during the aftermath of the disaster.

A fund has opened with the Edinburgh based humanitarian organisation Mercy Corps for urgent donations.

Charity fundraising? It’s a snip!

Little Princess Chrissie raises £1000 for children’s charity

Little Christina Downie heard her mum talking about a small charity and took it upon herself to do something to support other children. The six year old Forthview pupil decided to get her hair cut for charity – and she’s raised over £1000!

Proud mum Dawn explained: “Back in February Chrissie heard me talking about Little Princess Trust, a charity provides real hair wigs to children who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment. She told us that she wanted to help the charity and she came up with the haircut idea herself.

“She is a very kind wee girl who always thinks and cares about other people so when we saw how determined she was we knew she would see it through.

“We thought at first we might raise a hundred pounds or so, but people have been so generous. The school, neighbours, my mother’s workmates have all supported Chrissie and she’s raised over £1000, with still more to come!”

Christina’s Aunt Ashley, who’s a hairdresser, popped in to family’s West Pilton home on Friday to cut Chrissie’s hair. She took around eleven inches off the length – and that hair will soon be turned into gold for the Little Princess Trust!

When the snipping was over Dawn said: “It’s really nice but I feel a bit weird – Chrissie’s hair hasn’t been that short since she was about a year old!”

Fortunately wee Christina likes her new look. She said: “I look different and it feels funny at first but I’m glad I’ve had it done.”

Ah, well. Hair today, gone tomorrow! Fundraising? It’s kid’s stuff!

https://youtu.be/YJciVFZd5aU

Electrifying talent on show in Let’s Glow festival

Let’s Glow festival shines a light on Edinburgh College’s creative talent

Edinburgh College’s dazzling creative students are about to light up the city with a two-month celebration of their luminous talents.

The Let’s Glow festival gives Edinburgh the chance to enjoy performances and exhibitions from college students covering everything from music, theatre and dance to photography, film, art, animation, textiles and design. The programme of events will showcase the skills and talents of the students, demonstrating the work they have undertaken at Edinburgh College over the last year.

Let’s Glow runs from 4 May to 22 June, with events taking place at venues across the city – including the college’s campuses, Summerhall, The King’s Theatre, The Traverse Theatre, The Edinburgh Filmhouse and The Queen’s Hall. Photography students are also taking their work to exhibit at Brick Lane in London.

The festival will feature students from all the college’s creative industries study programmes: Art and Design; Broadcast Media and Photography; Computing; Music and Sound Production; and Performing Arts.

The programme includes large-scale end-of-year shows by music, arts, photography, film and animation students; the PASS Cross Currents dance event choreographed by college staff and performed by students; an exhibition of make-up artistry; a graphic design exhibition; performances of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and contemporary Scottish play My Romantic History; the PASS Out showcase for final-year Acting and Performance students; a musical theatre revue; and the premier of an original musical about Scotland’s most revered and most controversial instrument – the bagpipes!

The festival launched last night with sneak peek performances at the city’s La Belle Angele.

Jon Buglass, head of the Centre for Creative Industries at Edinburgh College, said: “Following the success of the first Let’s Glow festival last year, we’re delighted to showcase the incredible talents of our current crop of students. The events at this year’s festival allow us to celebrate and share the remarkable work our students have been producing over the last year. We are constantly blown away by the quality of their work and the time, effort and dedication they put into its production.

“The diversity in the programme means there really is something for everyone on offer. So if you want to be inspired by the talents of our students, get along to one of our Let’s Glow events.”

The full programme of events – some of which are free – and details of where to buy tickets can be found at www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/letsglow.

Keep up to date with Let’s Glow events on Facebook and Twitter.

#letsglow15

Scots urged to stay safe in the sun

‘The sun that shines in Scotland is the same sun that shines in the Mediterranean”

PEOPLE in Scotland are being urged to stay safe in the sun, as part of Sun Awareness Week (May 4-10).

With the prospect of longer, warmer days ahead, people throughout the country will be spending more time outdoors. Scotland’s national telehealth and telecare service is urging people to seek advice on staying safe in the sun.

Professor George Crooks, NHS 24’s Medical Director, says that by taking a few simple steps, people can ensure they make the most of the summer season. He said: “We have already seen some warm and sunny days in Scotland so far this spring, with the prospect of more to follow. It is always a good idea to be prepared as best you can for the better weather.

“By taking just a few simple steps, we can all make the most of the good weather, without any ill effects. It is all too tempting, especially in Scotland, to overdo it in the sun and end up with painful sunburn. The sun that shines in Scotland, though, is the same sun that shines in the Mediterranean.

“I would advise people, particularly children and young infants, to take sensible precautions like limiting exposure to the direct sun, using sunscreen and drinking plenty of soft drinks.”

NHS inform contains a wide range of advice and information on summer health issues, with dedicated sections on sunburn, heatstroke, allergies and hay fever. There is also a section dedicated to hot weather in the common health questions section.

For more information, visit www.nhsinform.co.uk

Light my fire: Edinburgh ablaze to celebrate Beltane

Edinburgh welcomes summer with Beltane Fire Festival

PIC: Jon Kendrew

Edinburgh’s skyline was ablaze last night as hundreds of revellers took part in the ancient Celtic celebration of the coming of summer, the Beltane Fire Festival.

As darkness fell more than 7,000 people gathered on Calton Hill to watch as a procession of fire, drums and mystical characters set off from an epic opening sequence on the National Monument, to the lighting of a huge bonfire that could be seen for miles.

The night also saw a faerie garden of giant glowing mushrooms made from candlewax reclaimed from Edinburgh’s caves, a zip line whizzing fire performers across the hill and red acrobats making giant people-pyramids!

Sara Thomas, event coordinator said: “We’re really pleased the festival has had another successful year and that so many people could join us. Beltane is an ancient tradition with a modern twist, and we want to share it with as many people as possible.

“We’re hugely grateful for the support of everyone who comes to witness Beltane, and for the hard work of everyone involved in putting it on – from the hundreds of volunteers that perform, acts as stewards and make the event happen, to our partners in the local community – the City of Edinburgh Council, Police Scotland, the Incorporation of Candlemakers of Edinburgh and so many others. It’s only possible to put something incredible like Beltane on with a massive collective effort, and that’s what makes it so special.”

The Beltane Fire Society is a charity run by volunteers, dedicated to marking the fire festivals of the ancient Celtic calendar and keeping traditional Scottish skills of street theatre, music and pageantry alive.

Call in for coffee and chat at the Coversation Cafe

The Community Leadership College is holding the first in a series of ‘conversation cafes’ at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre this morning from 10am – 12 noon.

The greatest asset our community has is the people who live here, and the Community Leadership Cafe plans to build on the skills, knowledge and experience of our own residents to help build a better and stronger community for all.

Like to find out more? Call in for a chat at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre today from 10am – 12 noon – it’s very informal and there’s free refreshments too!

If you can’t make it along this morning, don’t worry – a number of sessions are planned. Confirmed venues so far include:

Wednesday 6 May: Muirhouse Millennium Centre, 2 – 4pm

Thursday 14 May: Muirhouse Millennium Centre, 6 – 8pm

Monday 18 May: West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre, 4 – 6pm

Thursday 21 May: North Edinburgh Arts, 2 – 4pm

Monday 25 May: North Edinburgh Arts, 11am – 1m

Monday 1 June: West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre, 4 – 6pm

… and there will be more!

For further information call Kelly (0751 975 8526) or Dave (0751 975 8555) or email comlc2015@outlook.com

Top Award for Botanic Garden’s night light show

The Night in the Garden event at The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) has been named as one of the best museum projects in the UK at the Museums & Heritage Awards for Excellence.

The project was a magical combination of light and nature – the first outdoor light experience of its kind to be organised by the Garden – was open to visitors between 30 October and 23 November. It was named as the winner in the Trading and Enterprise category at the Awards, presented by comedian and TV personality Marcus Brigstocke yesterday at the Historic State Rooms of 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London.

Accepting the award, RBGE Director of Enterprise Heather Jackson said: “It is a particular honour to be recognised by our peers. Now, our ambition is to build on the success of that inaugural event and create an evolving annual experience that will showcase the Garden and inspire visitors to support the wider research and conservation work of the organisation.”

The Awards are judged by a panel of senior sector professionals including Bernard Donoghue (Director, Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), Diane Lees (Director General, Imperial War Museums), Matthew Tanner (Chief Executive of ss Great Britain), Sam Mullins (Director of the London Transport Museum), Maggie Appleton (Chief Executive, RAF Museum), Diana Owen (Director, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) and Stephen Duncan (Director of Commercial and Tourism, Historic Scotland).

The judges commented: “This organisation successfully managed to maximise the opportunity to generate additional income during a period which was traditionally quiet, managing to attract crowds to the great outdoors during winter, paving the way for a future programme of revenue-generating events.”Now celebrating its thirteenth year, the annual Awards, created by The Museums + Heritage Show, recognise the leading lights of the heritage sector and celebrate excellence and innovation at museums, galleries and visitor attractions across the UK and Europe.

Hundreds of sector professionals joined together at the ceremony – the ‘Oscars’ of the museums and heritage industry – to celebrate the groundbreaking achievements and spectacular projects taking place in cultural attractions over the past 12 months.

Among the night’s big winners were London’s Imperial War Museum’s WW1 galleries that walked away with the top honour of the ‘Best Permanent Exhibition’ accolade. While Michael Day, Chief Executive of the Historic Royal Palaces received the award for Outstanding Contribution by an Individual to the heritage sector.

Other 2015 winners were Kent Life Wildlife Farm Park for Outstanding Customer Service; The Black Country Museum for Project on a Limited Budget and Renfrewshire District Council took the award for the best restoration project for its work to restore the Grand Fountain in Paisley.

The winner of the International Award was Tinker Imagineers from Rotterdam for the DOMunder archaeological visitor experience, while the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh received the Winstan Bond Trophy for Trading and Enterprise.

Other winners included The National Trust for Scotland in Partnership with Historic Scotland & Designers Bright White Ltd which walked away with the Innovations award; Oxford University Museum of Natural History took the top Marketing award and London’s Historic Royal Palace’ ground-breaking installation, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red was named as the best Temporary or Touring exhibition.

The winners and highly commended entries (listed below) are a reflection of the industry’s resilience. Each museum, cultural and heritage visitor attraction is recognised for its excellence – whether for an innovative and groundbreaking exhibition or for making a considerable achievement on the smallest of budgets.

2015 WINNERS & HIGHLY COMMENDED

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION BY AN INDIVIDUAL

Michael Day, Chief Executive, Historic Royal Palaces

CUSTOMER SERVICE AWARD
Sponsored by BDRC Continental

Kent Life Heritage Farm Park: More than a Guest, More than a Vision, More than a Job

Highly Commended: The Lightbox: The Lightbox Front of House Team

INTERNATIONAL AWARD
Sponsored by Martello Media

TINKER imagineers: DOMunder: archaeological visitor experience

Highly Commended: Natura Artis Magistra, Micropia

PROJECT ON A LIMITED BUDGET
Sponsored by Sweett

Black Country Museum: WW1 Greengrocers

Highly Commended: Woodhorn Museum: Stand up for Woodhorn: Making a Case for Comedy in Museums

RESTORATION OR CONSERVATION
Sponsored by FWA Group
· Renfrewshire Council: The Grand Fountain Restoration, Paisley

Highly Commended: Coventry Transport Museum: 1916 Maudslay Subsidy Chassis

WINSTAN BOND TROPHY FOR TRADING & ENTERPRISE
Supported by Association of Independent Museums

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh: Botanic Lights: Night in the Garden

INNOVATIONS AWARD
The National Trust for Scotland in Partnership with Historic Scotland & Designers Bright White Ltd: The Battle of Bannockburn Visitor Centre

High;y Commended: Mather & Co on behalf of Manchester City Council: Archives +

MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Sponsored by Volunteer Makers

Oxford University: Museum of Natural History Goes To Town

Highly Cemmended: Imperial War Museums: First World War Galleries

PERMANENT EXHIBITION
Sponsored by Martello Media

Imperial War Museums London and Casson Mann: First World War Galleries

Highly Commended: The National Trust for Scotland in Partnership with Historic Scotland & Designers Bright White Ltd: The Battle of Bannockburn Visitor Centre

EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE
Sponsored by Arts Award

Imperial War Museums: Transforming Imperial War Museums London Learning Projects – JOINT WINNER

· Shakespeare Birthplace Trust: Shakespeare Week – JOINT WINNER

TEMPORARY OR TOURING EXHIBITION

Historic Royal Palaces: Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red

Highly Commended: The Royal Air Force Museum: Pilots of the Caribbean

CULTURE PROS PICK
In partnership with The Guardian Culture Professionals Network

People’s History Museum in Manchester

Beltane to spark a celebration of summer

Organisers have released details of how Edinburgh’s world-famous Beltane Fire Festival will mark the coming of summer tonight.

The Beltane Fire Society, the charity of volunteers who run the event on 30 April each year, say the modern take on an ancient celtic festival will be an incredible spectacle. They want everyone – locals and tourists, old hands and those new to the event – to book tickets now and be part of the celebration.

Beltane Fire Festival takes place as the sun sets on the last night of April (gates open 8pm), at Calton Hill. This year hundreds of specialist volunteer performers will welcome in the summer with more than 40 drums; fire dancing, fire sculptures and flame torches; a huge performance of physical theatre on the national monument; a procession of weird and wonderful characters awakening from their winter sleep around the hill; and the lighting of a huge bonfire by the incarnation of summer, the May Queen, and her counterpart the Green Man.

The 2015 Beltane will incorporate new elements too. Performers will be using fire in dramatic ways not seen before, and there will be the international debut of interactive sound and light performance ‘Spark’.

The festival will also include a faerie garden of giant, glowing toadstools and mushrooms made from candle wax reclaimed from Edinburgh’s underground caves. Also this year, the Incorporation of Candlemakers of Edinburgh will take part in the event. The candlemakers were part of Beltane celebrations in the Capital as far back as medieval times.

Lila O’Leary, Festival Secretary of the Beltane Fire Society, said: “Beltane is a huge community project, kept alive and reinvented every year by hundreds of dedicated volunteers. The night itself is always special, the result of months of hard work, and this year will be particularly impressive. We’re going all out with dazzling fire performances, mysterious characters and stunning costumes. Beltane is something we are really proud of and we want people across Edinburgh – and Scotland – to get tickets, join us on the night and be proud too.”

The modern Beltane Fire Festival has run since 1988 and is the spring and summer counterpart to Samhuinn Fire Festival, which is held in the city centre on 31 October. The events are modern re-imaginings of ancient celtic festivals marking the turning seasons. The Beltane Fire Society is a charity run by volunteers, dedicated to marking the fire festivals of the ancient celtic calendar and keeping traditional Scottish skills of street theatre, music and pageantry alive.

Advance tickets are available via The Hub and www.beltane.org from £10 + booking fee, and at the event gate, subject to availability

Local learners on a high!

Local young people short-listed for learners award

Late last year I spent time with a bright and enthusiastic group of young adults at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre to plan a piece of work. Their mission? To choose a subject of relevance to young people, research and then write an article on that subject for North Edinburgh News.

The group has now produced their article (see below) – and all their hard work is to be recognised too!

Community Learning & Development tutor Karen Riddell, who supported the group during the project, explained: “They really were a vibrant group of young people with strong opinions and it was great to see them engage with the topic and undertake the various activities related to building their skills and putting the article together.

“The group was nominated for an Edinburgh Adult Learners Achievement Award and I’m delighted to say that they have been short-listed for an award in the Young Adults Category.”

The Tomorrow’s People team will learn their fate at an event at the City Chambers on 20 May. Fingers crossed for you, guys – and here’s your article …

LEGAL HIGHS: Is It Worth It?

Local young people speak out against ‘legal highs’

We are a group of young people from Pilton who have just spent 16 weeks on the Tomorrow’s People employability programme. Part of our course helped us brush up on our literacy and critical thinking skills through a weekly CLD Practical Journalism course held at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre.

Dave Pickering, the editor at the North Edinburgh News, very kindly gave us the opportunity to write an article for his paper, so after much debate we decided to research and write about Legal Highs.

We compiled a local survey and found out that most of the young people who responded to the survey had either used Legal Highs or knew someone who had. The main reasons cited were: they were easy to get, friends were trying them, they’re cheap – at least half the price of illegal drugs, they give you a really good high, taking them gives you something to do, boredom and peer pressure.

Even although a high percentage of young people surveyed had used them without any serious long term consequences, we did find out that at least 68 people died last year as a direct result of using them, so they are not quite as harmless as some people think.

We found that their name made them quite misleading and people thought it meant they were pretty safe to use. The truth is that drugs councilors now advise their clients to stick to their heroin as legal highs are even more dangerous, burning the skin as it is injected and causing blistering and serious infection.

Most people who completed the questionnaire had also tried illegal drugs and strongly felt that these were safer than Legal highs. As a group, we definitely agreed with that.

We also feel that the government are failing to make drug taking safer. No matter what you might feel about drugs, a lot of people from literally all walks of life use them and are going to continue to do so. David Cameron dodges the issue for fear of losing votes and insists that ‘What is in place is working’ despite the fact that over 2500 people died from drugs-related causes last year in the UK.

Is it not time to follow Portugal and make drugs a health issue rather than a criminal one so that people are offered more protection? In Portugal they found that de-criminalising it didn’t bring about any increase in the level of drug use by people and also that millions was saved on the essentially ineffectual enforcement of drug laws.

Across Europe clubs have drug-testing facilities so that people can test substances before they take them – surely that must offer people more protection than kidding on that ‘what is in place is working’!

A recent Home Office report that we looked at said that having tough drugs laws didn’t make any difference to the level of drug use but Home Secretary Teresa May had this part of the report removed and it was only found out about when Norman Baker revealed the findings after he resigned! This just goes to show that governments make useless drug laws to kid on they are in control of the problem when they’re really just doing it as a vote catcher.

Present policy bears no relation to the reality of people’s recreational drug use and it’s time for the government to introduce some new policies to protect its citizens and not put their own vote-catching first.

We need much better drug education to help us keep ourselves safe, and the obvious place for this to take place is in schools. We felt strongly that a peer to peer support programme in schools would help young people make informed choices about drug use and help keep them safer.

Our research found that young people felt there needed to be far more opportunities for young people in the work-place and much better affordable or subsidised recreational facilities to offer them the chance to experience other kinds of ‘legal highs’, their own ‘natural highs’ like ski-ing, skating, abseiling, snow-boarding, canoeing, dirt-biking, go-karting etc. Risk-taking is part of brain-development for young people and we need to offer them the opportunity to explore this in a safer environment.

Drugs become a problem when there is little else in the drug users lives. We found out that in an experiment, mice which were separated from other mice kept going back to drink the drug-laced water whereas mice that lived in groups didn’t. The experiment showed that lack of strong emotional bonds in your life can drive you to bond with legal highs or drugs instead.

They say it takes a community to bring up a child so that’s why it’s very important for us to work together to stop the reckless experimentation that can lead to addiction, to value the young people of Pilton and provide them with the support they need to keep their use of drugs and alcohol to an acceptable level and help them realise their potential.

It seems to us that one of the worst thing about legal highs is the hypocrisy of supposedly ‘respectable’ shop-keepers who are prepared to stock them in the full knowledge that people, especially young people, buy them to consume them. We feel a local campaign should be set up to stop these shops from selling them.

Good websites:

(1)Anyone’s Child; Families for Safer Drug Control – www.anyoneschild.org

(2) Release.org