Man beaten after questioning gang

A man was punched to the ground and kicked after questioning a group that were drinking in his close.

The 62-year-old went into the common stair in Ferry Road Drive at around 7.30am on Sunday.

He found a group of three men and a woman sat in the close drinking and asked them what they were doing there.

One of the men punched him in the face and the victim fell to the ground before another man started kicking him. The group then left the close.

The victim went to St John’s Hospital where he was treated for a broken jaw and reported the attack to the police on Tuesday.

Lothian and Borders Police are appealing for witnesses as they try and find the men responsible.

The first suspect is described as a white man aged around 20, around 5ft 10in tall and well built with short, fair hair. He was wearing a sweatshirt and grey jogging bottoms at the time of the attack.

The second man is also white and around 20 years old. He is around 5ft 8in tall with a slim build and dark brown or black hair.

A police spokesman said: “This was an unprovoked and vicious assault that resulted in a man suffering a painful and serious facial injury.

“Given the time of day, there may have been a number of people in the streets on their way to work and anyone who remembers seeing anything suspicious in the Ferry Road Drive area on Sunday morning is asked to contact police immediately.

“Similarly, if anyone can assist in identifying those responsible for this attack, they are also asked to get in touch.”

Anyone with any information can contact Lothian and Borders Police on 0131 311 3131, or the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Councillor’s words show ignorance of community

We are incensed at the comments by Councillor Elaine Morris, “Councillor brands anticuts protesters ‘rabid'” (News, September 1).
Greater Pilton is a fantastic place to work and live, and in fact top council workers, councillors, MPs and MSPs all came through and gained a wealth of knowledge from the so called “rabid anti-establishment” folk of Greater Pilton.

Over 65 years ago, brave men and women fought for independence, democracy and free speech, but apparently this does not count if you are living in Councillor Morris’s ward.

The people of Greater Pilton have been in the forefront of any campaign that fights for the rights of the common man/woman. In fact Greater Pilton is proud to have, within their boundaries, an organisation which has been running for over 50 years. From this organisation many other community organisations have emerged and been encouraged to “cut the apron strings” and go it alone. When the people of Greater Pilton make up their minds to do something, they do it, and don’t change their minds halfway through because they think the grass is greener on the other side – can you say the same, Councillor Morris?

One of the definitions of “rabid” is extremely enthusiastic and zealous, well in that case, thank you Councillor Morris, at least we have the community at heart, unlike you, we fight for the whole of Greater Pilton and not just for our own little corner.

For you to threaten (in your political speak) an arts centre with withdrawing their funding if they allow this meeting to go ahead is disgusting.

The Greater Pilton area was built on the blood, sweat and tears of local activists and it will continue to go from strength to strength. Councillor Morris should also remember it was local people who voted her in. They can also vote her out.

This letter appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News from West Pilton West Granton Community Council.

Local Counillor Elaine Morris's comments have upset many local people.

Bearded dragon dumped in local supermarket toilets

The owner of a bearded dragon dumped in a white bag in the toilets of an Edinburgh supermarket is being sought by animal welfare officers.

The adult male reptile was found in Morrisons on Pilton Drive on Sunday. He is now being cared for at the Scottish SPCA’s Edinburgh and Lothians Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre. If caught, the owner faces a maximum of six months in prison, a £5,000 fine or both.

Inspector June Chalcroft, of the Scottish SPCA, said: “The bearded dragon was discovered inside a white sack in the ladies toilets at about 17:00.”The shop would have been fairly busy at this time, so we’re hoping members of the public may have noticed someone, probably female, carrying the sack in to the store.

“There’s no excuse for throwing an animal away like it’s a piece of rubbish, but sadly animals are regularly dumped in all sorts of unusual places including public toilets.

“We see a lot of abandoned and unwanted exotic creatures coming into our care because people underestimate the hard work and knowledge required to look after these types of animals.

“Reptiles and bearded dragons in particular have very specific needs in terms of their environment, nutrition and care.”


Dream Fund offers £300,000 to projects in and around the capital

Charities and community groups across Edinburgh have been encouraged to apply for a newly announced £300,000 fund encouraging the third sector to work together.

The grant seeks to make ‘dream’ collaborative projects a reality for cash-strapped good causes across the country, and up to £100,000 per project will be distributed through the People’s Postcode Trusts’ special Dream Fund.

The scheme was devised to fill part of the funding gap left by government cuts.

Last year’s collaboration included the promotion and clean up of Edinburgh’s cycle paths, with a London Underground style cycle map (pictured) for the city created and distributed to well over 30,000 locals.

The Bike Station’s Mark Sydenham, who was part of the cycle project said: “We were convinced that this project could be an innovative way of mapping Edinburgh’s off-street cycle network and would help to make real difference to the way people view and think about cycling and travelling round the city.

“With the support of the Dream Fund we have created something which exceeded all our expectations.”

The map is already very well-established, with an interactive online version providing a real community focus for the network.

Conservation work along the paths with Edinburgh and Lothian’s Greenspace Trust is improving the paths and people’s involvement with them, and gives a real sense of ownership.”

An ‘Edible Gardening’ volunteer project at the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh was also funded.

People’s Postcode Trust manager Clara Govier today called for charities and groups across Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland to apply for one of the three awards available, each worth up to £100,000.

She said: “Last year’s Dream Fund was a huge success, and we hope this year will see even more applications than before.

“In such a challenging economic climate the funding is a fantastic opportunity for many good causes to work together with other worthwhile organisations on innovative and exciting projects.”

To be eligible to apply for the Dream Fund, two or more organisations must collaborate on a project, one of which must be a registered charity. Shortlisted proposals will be invited to pitch their ideas to the People’s Postcode Trust’s trustees.

Prospective applicants can find out more information and details of the funding criteria at  www.postcodetrust.org.uk

The closing date for the first round of funding is Friday, December 2.

Inverleith Park green flag success

Inverleith Park retained it’s prestigious Green Flag Award for 2011/2012, passing assessments on a number of national criteria, such as environment, cleanliness, safety and accessibility and a flag raising ceremony took place today.

The formal raising of the flag was conducted by ward Councillor Tim McKay and he was also delighted about the award. He said “The Flag gives the public a way of realizing their parks are something to be proud off, its an indicator of a local facility being appreciated by the wider community. All our parks are important to everyone in Edinburgh, its not just your neighborhood park its good to know there are parks all over the city.”

When asked about the potential sale of the depot site Councillor McKay said “I think the sale is without doubt kicked into the long grass if not killed off. There is a paper that is due to come to Policy and Strategy committee in the future, which will kick the issue into the long grass for just now, the agents that were involved are no longer involved they were involved in proposal for some housing but that proposal is getting dropped and I cant see anything happening for the next few years.

Ritchie Fraser from the City of Edinburgh Council said “The green flag means a great deal for Inverleith Park, the award is internationally recognised award which means that the park will generate a great deal of publicity. We had to create a management plan for the park and this included, safety of the park, cleanliness of the park and whether or not everything you achieve in the park is sustainable. We are always look at ways to improve the park and toilets are something that we are looking at but as they require to be cleaned its an additional cost. We have looked at semi automated toilets but its all budget dependent”

Councillor Tim McKay (second from left) prepares to raise the Green Flag

Members from the Friends of Inverleith park group came along on the day and were delighted that the park had achieved this award for the coming year. Tony Cook, convener of the groups said “This is excellent news for the park, there is lots of activities taking place in the park from football to rugby and many more. Our group are concerned about the potential selling off of the depot site for the purpose of creating 8 luxury houses. I would now like to see real progress made in creating a toilet facility as well as a café and something that could be a youth facility in the evening.”

Click here to listen to our interview with Councillor Tim McKay and Ritchie Fraser

A bit of oomph

“You can go a long way on a bit of oomph”. This was the advice given to the graduating students of Edinburgh’s Telford College by guest speaker Jenny Eclair. Jenny had been invited to the College’s 2011 Graduation Celebration to honour the many students who had graduated after years of hard work.

Friends and family came together last night (Monday 12 september) to see hundreds of students receive their degrees, diplomas and certificates and we were treated to a flavour of the kinds of ability the College nurtures from dancers, actors and musicians. Principal Miles Dibsdall, in his usual enthusiastic and voluble way, paid tribute to the hard work of all the students there.

Jenny Eclair, who admitted to being a bit of an “illiterate goth” at school, told us that she finally achieved her success through writing. The underlying message was that, whatever your ability, you can achieve your goals through identifying what you are good at and going for it.

Despite the well-deserved celebration of achievement, this year’s graduation followed controversial and unpopular cuts in the College’s budget, which resulted in courses being axed and staff made redundant, after the Scottish Government imposed a 10% cut in funding. Shortly we will, coincidentally, also see the publication of the Scottish Government’s pre-legislative paper on the future of further education, which may well result in the merger of colleges throughout Scotland. Telford College attracts 40% at least of its students from the north Edinburgh area. If it is forced to merge with another college, what will be the impact on courses offered and therefore on the number of local students. How local will local colleges be then?

Spartans u19’s see off Dumbarton in tough Scottish Cup tie.

Local football side Spartans u19’s played host to Dumbarton on Sunday at Ainslie Park.

Despite the strong wind and heavy rain showers both teams played some attractive football, but unfortunately this game wont be remembered for the football it will be remembered for the ten players that were yellow carded and six players were sent off, all this despite there hardly being a bad challenge in the game.

Spartans took the lead in the opening ten minutes after some great play for James Cuthbertson, he went on a run down the wing and when he broke into the box his powerful shot was pushed away by the Dumbarton keeper Ryan Malley, Cuthbertsons’s persistence was rewarded and he had the simple task of heading the ball into the empty net.

Cuthbertson got his second of the afternoon when he was played in and as he broke away from the defence his perfectly placed shot nestled low in the corner of the net. On the half hour mark Cuthbertson got his hat-trick when he again broke away from the Dumbarton defence and the cool headed striker slotted the ball home.

Just as it was looking as if it was going to be Spartans day they were reduced to ten men when Daniel Shields was sent off for a deliberately tripping the Dumbarton striker Ryan Metcalf as he was bearing down on the Spartans goal. From the resulting free kick Dumbarton pulled on back when the ball was whipped in and fell to the feet of Gary McKell who smashed the ball past Ian McTurk in the Spartans goal.

Despite this setback Spartans still managed to sneak another goal before the halftime interval thanks to Callum Donnelly, he got on the end of a long ball forward and slotted the ball past the advancing keeper. Dumbarton felt they should have had a penalty just before the interval when the ball appeared to hit the hand of Lawrence Kidd but referee Ralph Gordon judged it to have been accidental.

On the hour mark Dumbarton were also reduced to ten men when Metcalf appeared to take a dive in the Spartans box and the young striker gave the referee no option having already been cautioned earlier in the match. Dumbarton started to get on top for a spell and Reece Pearson picked the ball up in midfield and his powerful shot beat McTurk but crashed of the woodwork before the danger was cleared.

Pearson did get one back when he got on the end of a cross and his shot beat McTurk and landed up in the net. A melee then ensued in the Spartans goals and Dumbarton’s Gary McKell lashed out at McTurk leaving the Spartans goalkeeper lying on the ground and the referee had the simple task of producing the third red card of the afternoon.

Pearson got his second of the afternoon when he broke into the Spartans box and as the danger looked to be cleared by the defender the ball came off Pearson’s leg and over the McTurk and into the net.

Chris Keddie was then played but the assistant referee had judged the ball was out off play, Keddie made his feelings about the decision clear and after a verbal tirade at assistant referee Peter Peace promptly became the fourth player to be dismissed.

With only a few minutes remaining Alan Longmuir almost levelled it when he got the end of a cross and his powerful header from close range went just wide of the target.Into injury time and just as it appeared all the action was over Dumbarton’s Glen Campbell put in a wild tackle on Paul Henderson leaving the player requiring treatment and Campbell became the fifth player to be set packing. After his challenge there was a coming together of a few players and on receiving advice from his assistant referee, Ralph Gordon produced a sixth red card to Spartans Isaac Imrie.[slideshow]

Spartans will now face St Johnstone in the next round of the Scottish Cup.

Embarrassed patients 'putting lives at risk'

MEN and women in the Lothians are putting their lives at risk because of embarrassment, a bowel cancer charity has warned.
Research by Bowel Cancer UK found that 40 per cent of residents would rather not talk to their GP about a concern, despite the risks of staying quiet. It is an issue that is proving a huge obstacle to health chiefs, who say the cancer is highly treatable if caught early.

Chief executive of the organisation, Deborah Alsina, said: “I can’t stress enough how important early diagnosis is. It saves lives.” Last week the Evening News reported how a project to send self-testing kits to everyone in the Lothians aged between 50 and 74 has potentially saved more than 150 lives – the number of people who began treatment having not known they had the disease.

NHS launches online help for addiction

HELP on drug and drink addiction is now available online thanks to investment from NHS Lothian.
The health board has revamped its Edinburgh Alcohol and Drug Partnership (EADP) website, which it runs with the city council. The resource provides in-depth information about addiction and recovery, as well as links to support in the area.

Nick Smith, EADP’s joint programme manager, said: “We have made the most of the partnership and drawn all the available knowledge together on to one site.

“People concerned about their drinking, or that of a family member or friend, will find advice on the issues caused by alcohol and drugs and, importantly, information on the wide range of local agencies which offer help to aid recovery.”

Kids aged ten set fire to flats in city’s ‘Wild West’

CHILDREN as young as ten are said to have set fire to a derelict building in Muirhouse – as besieged locals tell how the area is fast becoming the “Wild West” of the Capital.A gang of 15 youths was seen scaling the disused building in Muirhouse Avenue on Friday afternoon before breaking through metal security shutters on the first floor and running amok inside.

Residents reported hearing the yobs ransacking empty homes on their way to the top floor, where it is thought they started a fire. Fire crews said it was the second suspected fire-raising incident in the building in as many days, while locals told how the external wall of a neighbouring building, which is also abandoned, had been torn down by vandals.

In May, yobs set fire to a block of flats in nearby Muirhouse Parkway while continuing to search for scrap metal as the building burned.
One Muirhouse resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said the area was blighted with relentless antisocial behaviour and called for the two derelict buildings to be demolished.”This kind of this has been going on for months,” he said. “And it seems there’s nothing to stop them, they aren’t afraid of anything. “When these yobs managed to get access to the building, they did so in full view of everyone but they just didn’t care.

“They took the side of a house down the other week and the hole was so big you could have driven a van through it. It’s like something from the Wild West or maybe even Monty Python, because it’s so crazy.”

The unnamed resident, who has lived in Muirhouse for 40 years, said he watched youths climbing to the first floor balcony at around 4pm before breaking in and sparking a blaze. “There were about 15 of them aged between ten and 16 breaking in,” he said. “The next thing a neighbour came up and asked me to call 999 because they had set fire to it.

“There had been a lot of smashing and banging coming from the rear of the building but then there was thick black smoke pouring out from the top floor. My house is only about 30 metres from the flats and I could smell the smoke inside my own house. “As soon as they heard the fire brigade sirens they scarpered.”

A spokeswoman for Lothian and Border Fire and Rescue Service said: “We had already attended a small fire at the property on Muirhouse Avenue the previous evening.

“We are yet to establish whether it was started deliberately but derelict properties often attract a rogue element.”

Ward councillor Steve Cardownie called on residents to help police identify the culprits but said the vast majority of the community were “law-abiding and hard-working” people.

“There is obviously a distinct lack of parental control if parents are letting ten-year-olds get up to such wilful acts of fireraising and vandalism,” he said.

“It beggars belief that kids as young as ten are putting themselves and others in great danger by getting involved in this kind of activity and we need to nip this in the bud before something tragic happens.”

Source: Edinburgh Evening news