Tag: awards

Edinburgh College strikes gold

Lola and Rachel were among the winners
Lola and Rachel were among the winners

Edinburgh College students have won a string of awards at a national competition designed to recognise the exceptional talent of beauty students in further education and training. Edinburgh College hosted the national World Skills competition and awards ceremony and entered beauty students to compete for awards against hundreds of students from across the country.

The local collge students, who have consistently won awards at the World Skills competition, picked up two 1st places, three 2nd places and one 3rd place in several competitive beauty categories including aromatherapy and beauty therapy – with a clean sweep of awards in Beauty Therapy Advanced.

19-year-old Beauty student Rachel Rooney from Gilmerton won 1st place in Advanced Beauty Therapy. She said: “My lecturers, Carrie, Nicola and Claire, really encouraged and supported me to go in for the competition and I’m really glad they gave me that extra boost to go for it. I couldn’t have done it without their help.

“I was in complete shock when I heard the World Skills judges call out my name to say I had won – all I could hear were my friends and lecturers cheering me on as I went up on stage to collect the award. I’m so pleased to have won such an amazing award. World Skills is a really well known competition. It’ll look brilliant on my CV and will hopefully give me an edge when I’m looking for a job after College.”

34-year-old Beauty student Lola Lopez, who is originally from Madrid but is currently living in Edinburgh, won 1st place in Aromatherapy at the World Skills competition. She said: “It’s such a massive opportunity to have our beauty skills judged by top professionals. During the competition, the judges came around to observe our treatments and asked us questions about our skill and techniques throughout the competition to really put us to the test.”

Mandy Exley, Principal of Edinburgh College, said: “We are delighted to have been given the honour to host and compete in such a high profile event. World Skills really showcases the brilliant work of beauty students across the country, and highlights the next generation of talented and skilled beauty employees in the industry. We’re incredibly proud of all of our students who have won awards in the competition and look forward to seeing how they perform in the UK national final later in the year.”

She added: “The area of beauty within Edinburgh College is fundamental to the College’s overall curriculum, as well as to the overall contribution to GDP within the UK. The number of people training and gaining employment in beauty has grown by leaps and bounds over the last five years, and we’re very proud to be at the forefront of delivering a skilled workforce within the burgeoning beauty industry.”

Highly regarded throughout the industry, World Skills UK champions and drives excellence in workplace skills and education through competition. The beauty students will soon find out if they will be invited to attend the flagship The Skills Show final later in the year.

Edinburgh College - World Skills

Pictured Above: (L-R) Edinburgh College beauty students Shevon McKenna, Lola Lopez, Samantha Plastow, Lindsey McCardie, Kirsty Steel, and Rachel Rooney at the World Skills competition.

And the winner is …

Beauty therapy advanced

·         Rachel Rooney (1st place)

·        Lindsey McCardie (2nd place)

·        Kirsty Steel (3rd place)

Aromatherapy

·        Lola Lopez (1st place)

·        Samantha Plastow (2nd place)

Beauty Therapy Intermediate

·        Shevon McKenna (2nd place)

Port of Leith Housing chief nominated for business award

Keith Anderson newer177292 (2)

Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) Chief Executive Keith Anderson has been shortlisted for a prestigious Scottish Business Award. Mr Anderson has been nominated for the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award in recognition for his achievement in helping to address the capital’s lack of affordable homes.

Port of Leith Housing Association was formed in 1975 and is now, with over 2400 homes, the largest social landlord in Leith. PoLHA is currently building four new developments for social and mid-market rent across the north Edinburgh area.

Keith Anderson said: “Naturally I’m delighted to have been shortlisted for such an honour. Everyone has the right to a home and as a social landlord there is the responsibility to ensure this happens, which is why we are committed to building good quality, affordable properties in north Edinburgh.”

He added: “There is no denying that it is a challenging time for social housing providers. New models of funding are desperately required to meet growing demand; combatting homelessness is high on the agenda, not to mention managing the consequences of Westminster’s welfare reform agenda. If the solutions to these problems were easy we would be doing them right now, but we are determined to play a positive role identifying better solutions.”

The award ceremony takes place on 21 June at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre,  with former American President Bill Clinton as keynote speaker.

Award for Gala organisers

West Pilton and Muirhouse Community Gala’s committee have received an award for their achievements. The group, which managed to plan, organise and deliver a very succesful Gala in just a few short weeks (an even arranged some sunshine!), was highly commended at this week’s Children and Families Achievement Awards at the Assembly Rooms.

Committee chair Sean Gardiner said: “We were nominated for the award by Edinburgh Council’s local Community Learning and Development team and, out of 8000 entries, we were selected as finalists. The event was hosted by Grant Stott (pictured below at the Gala) from Forth One who was extremely happy to see an event he had been involved in had gone so far!”

 

Green award for Drylaw gardeners

Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre is being celebrated by national environmental volunteering charity, The Conservation Volunteers. As part of the charity’s regional Green Heroes Awards, Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre is being recognised for the positive environmental impact it has made in Edinburgh. 

Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre was presented with the Community Award and was chosen for their outstanding commitment to volunteering and inspiring positive environmental change in Edinburgh with The Conservation Volunteers.

Elizabeth Graham, Community Engagement Coordinator at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre (picured above, left) said: “Our volunteers put a lot of hard work and enthusiasm into the gardening project so it is great for this to be recognised by TCV. Everyone is welcome to come and help in the garden so we are a diverse group of people and everyone plays their part. Our main focus this year, thanks to funding from Scottish Natural Heritage, has been recording the species we have and building on this to increase the biodiversity of the area.”

Through their involvement in local conservation projects, Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre has created a wildflower meadow, planted a wildlife hedge, worked with two local schools to help them grow their own, and planted two community-managed orchards.

The Conservation Volunteers’ Green Heroes Awards recognise winners from six categories: Partnership, Volunteer of the Year, Project Leader, Community, Green Skills and European awards.

Chris Peach, TCV Scotland who nominated Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre said: “We’re delighted to be acknowledging Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre who has given such an enormous amount of time and energy to conservation in Edinburgh. Without Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre providing their unwavering support and commitment we would not be able to enjoy the green spaces in Edinburgh we love and use every day. We hope that by highlighting the work of Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre, it will inspire others to get involved in protecting the green spaces in Edinburgh and ensure that they remain here for future generations to enjoy.”

For more information about the Conservation Volunteers’ Green Heroes Awards visit: www.tcv.org.uk

Wood you believe it? Green award for Oaklands

Oaklands School’s Millennium Wood scooped a prize when it was named runner up in the schools section of Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards last week.  Oaklands’ wood has only been growing for three years but the judges were clearly impressed and the school now has £250 to invest in improving their environment even more.

The cheque was presented by Bonnie Maggio of Scotland’s Finest Woods charity at a special assembly at Oaklands last week. Guest of honour at the event was Susan Walsh (pictured above right with her son Oscar), who with her family has done so much to support the Oaklands Millennium Wood project. The former Principal Teacher of Art at Fettes College worked with Oaklands over five years, seeing the garden grow and develop, and Susan and her family are now moving on to a new life in Canada.

They leave with a lot of love and good wishes, and they leave behind a growing, thriving wee area of peaceful woodland in North Edinburgh.