The search is on for community-minded individuals who want to make a difference in their local area.
Nominations are now being sought for people to take up places on all of the Capital’s 42 Community Councils, which offer an opportunity for the City of Edinburgh Council and local communities to work together.
The first Community Councils were established in Edinburgh in 1980 in Merchiston and Longstone, and more than 500 people are now members.
They each receive a grant to cover running costs and training is available. They are represented on each of the city’s 12 Neighbourhood Partnerships and work alongside elected members, representatives from NHS Lothian, Police Scotland, the voluntary sector and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to improve local areas and to allocate local grants.
Anyone aged 16 years or older and registered to vote can join. Nomination forms are available here and the nomination period ends on September 23.
Muirhouse community shop on Pennywell Road will be raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support on Friday the 27th September. Between 9am and 5pm our volunteers will selling a large selection of cakes, sweets, teas and coffee.
So why not pop this date in your diary and pop in for a cuppa and a piece of cake in aid of charity.
In 2012 over 115,000 people signed up to this annual fundraising event and raised an impressive £15 million.
If you live in Edinburgh and provide unpaid care to family, friends and neighbours, you can have your say on how public and voluntary organisations can provide you with better support.
The City of Edinburgh Council has launched a consultation on its draft Joint Carers’ Strategy, developed in partnership with NHS Lothian, the voluntary sector and carers themselves.
The Joint Carers’ Strategy, and consultation, covers six priorities:
identifying carers – helping people who care for others realise they can get support
information and advice – carer training, advice, help with finances and benefits
health and wellbeing – emotional, social and practical support to improve health
short breaks and respite – giving carers a break from caring
young adult carers – supporting the transition to adulthood for carers
personalising support for carers – support that meets the individual needs of carers
The Council offers a range of support to carers, including a pilot scheme to provide a one-off Carer Support Payment of £250, which was recently highlighted as an example of best practice by the Scottish Government. The payment was made available to unpaid carers, adult and young carers who met the criteria, allowing them to spend some time on themselves to improve their health and wellbeing.
Another successful scheme has been the Carer’s Emergency Card, which was launched in November 2012. These cards are designed to inform emergency services that the holder is a carer and that someone depends on them. It also provides the names of people who can be contacted in case of an emergency. To date 258 carer’s cards have been registered and these will continue to be promoted.
Both schemes received positive feedback in a newly published carers’ survey, designed to evaluate these and other initiatives. The Carer Support Payment proved to be particularly popular, with 738 payments made to adult and young carers. 84% of people in receipt of the fund said that it provided them with the support as they intended and 30% chose to spend the money on respite or a short break.
A pilot has been launched to encourage Edinburgh’sgrowing small to medium sized businesssector to connect to superfast broadband.
The scheme is part of the UK Government’s £150 million super connected cities programme and is being delivered locally through Business Gateway.
Vouchers will be awarded to businesses to help cover the installation costs of connecting to superfast broadband services up to the value of £3,000. Businesses will pay the VAT costs and the ongoing subscription. The pilot is open until the end of September with the application process taking a couple of weeks to complete, therefore businesses need to move quickly to take advantage of the opportunity.
To qualify for a voucher, applicants should be small to medium sized or bea third sector organisationlocated in the City of Edinburgh Council area, have fewer than 250 employees and a turnover of less than £40m. Further information and the application form can be found at www.connectionvouchers.co.uk/edinburgh.
Sainsbury’s Blackhall have got their big bike ride under way. Last week a
spin bike arrived in store until Sunday. Colleagues will be taking turns
to cycle the distance from Nairn to Carlise in store whilst other
colleagues take to the road and cycle the route stopping in at
Sainsbury’s stores along the way to fundraise for Maggie’s.
Gail and Aidan cycling today in-store said ‘customers have been very generous and a lot of them have personal experience with Maggie’s’s.
It seems hard to believe, but Granton Youth Centre will be holding their TENTH annual general meeting next month!
The Centre’s young people are still finalising the details of GYC’s AGM, which takes place on Friday 20 September but among the highlights are:
an opportunity to see the refurbished main hall and youth work space
a presentation on this year’s summer programme
the pesentation of Saltire Awards
the launch of the ‘Alcohol, The Street and Young People’ toolkit.
That’s a lot to pack into ninety minutes – the event starts at 1.30pm with the formal AGM at 2pm. Go along and celebrate GYC’s success with Granton’s young team!
A unique exhibition of art and photography by groups whose members are blind or partially sighted opens in Stockbridge this Saturday [August 31]. The ‘Hidden Art’ exhibition can be seen at the Patriothall Gallery off Hamilton Place until 8 September.
“We aim to show people that art is possible for all to enjoy even if they are visually impaired,” said Mark Andrew Powell of the city’s Patriothall Gallery. “We are delighted to give these two groups the chance to display their creative talents to a wider audience.
“The theme of the exhibition, ‘Hidden Art’, has been interpreted by the participants in different ways. The photographic group has documented unseen or overlooked artworks around Edinburgh, things that are tucked away where nobody sees them or overlooked because they are so familiar. Beside each photograph we will have a tactile image of it on raised paper so that everybody, whether they have sight or not, can enjoy the photos.
“The art group’s members have a different take on the theme. Each has made a tile containing both tactile and visual elements which have been compiled into a single larger composition. In addition, their individual paintings and sculptures, seen from their own unique perception of a hidden world, will be displayed around the walls of the main gallery.”
Both groups regularly meet at the Edinburgh headquarters of sight loss charity RNIB Scotland to create and discuss their work, with some members participating in both.
Local artist Fiona Powell from Stockbridge, who has the sight loss condition retinitis pigmentosa, said: “As we all have sight loss of varying degrees, we rely on our weekly meetings to pursue our love of art with help from dedicated volunteers. We work with paint, clay, ‘sticky strings’, felt, silk, swell paper and photography. Though both groups are supported by RNIB Scotland, we are self-funded and it is up to us to raise money for any exhibitions that we put on.
“We want to promote awareness and confidence among visually impaired people that they have the ability to produce art. This exhibition gives an opportunity for the wider community to realise how much visually impaired people are capable of achieving.”
Alan McIntyre from Gorgie, who also has retinitis pigmentosa, said: “The photographic group has given me many hours of fun within a supportive and creative environment. It has enabled me to really learn more about how to take photographs. For me, being visually impaired means that I don’t need to follow the convention of having perfectly focused images.
I can have the freedom to experiment because what I see is far from perfect.”
The ‘Hidden Art’ exhibition is being sponsored by Capital Credit Union, which is also based in Stockbridge. A spokesperson said: “This is such a worthy cause showcasing the work of these very talented groups. We are hoping to attract visitors from all over to witness the creative gift and artistic flair projected in their art.”
To complement the ‘Hidden Art’ exhibition, Dr David Feeney, manager of Visual Impairment Scotland at Edinburgh University, and Seattle-based filmmaker Daniel Thornton have produced a short video following the photographic group around the city as they took photos, and the twelve-minute film will run throughout the exhibition.
As well as this, Dr Feeney has used computer software called Sight-Sim which filters the photos by mimicking different sight loss conditions to show how they appear to the blind and partially sighted photographers who took them.
The exhibition is being held in Patriothall Gallery in Hamilton Place, Stockbridge, Edinburgh from 12 noon to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, and then at the same times from next Thursday until Sunday [September 8].
A female impersonator who worked in clubs and made a YouTube video of his act when claiming disability benefits and failing to pay tax was jailed for six months yesterday.
Mark Hawthorn of Tamworth, Staffordshire – stage name Aunt Tilly – claimed more than £88,000 in disability benefits and failed to pay almost £4,000 in Income Tax and National Insurance.
A joint investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) found Hawthorn performed under the stage name of “Tilly” in various drag acts in clubs across the West Midlands, Blackpool and Bournemouth whilst claiming disability and housing benefits.
Adrian Farley, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigation, HMRC, said:
“Hawthorn exploited the benefits and tax systems in two ways – by fabricating the effects of a medical condition to get disability benefits, saying he was unfit for work, and then blatantly working in live stage shows and failing to declare his earnings. He even went on to produce a YouTube video of his many female impersonations and featured in a three-page spread in Midlands Zone magazine.
This prosecution will send a strong message that along with our partners in DWP we will bring those stealing from the UK economy and the British taxpayer to justice.”
Senior DWP Fraud Manager Sian Fellowes said:
“Benefit thieves are costing the taxpayer almost £1 billion per year. Disability Living Allowance is intended to help people who have severe difficulties with their care and mobility, and it is clear that in this case no such difficulties existed. We will continue to investigate allegations of benefit fraud very rigorously and bring people who abuse the benefit system to justice.”
Hawthorn claimed disability benefits from the DWP for the past 10 years to which he was not entitled and failed to declare his earnings to HMRC.
