Tag: Brian Robertson

A tree for Brian

rowan tree

Pilton Community Gardeners have planted a rowan tree in memory of one of their own – community activist Brian Robertson.

Brian (pictured below (centre) with fellow Social History Group members Brian Eddington and Anna Hutchison), who sadly passed away in May 2013, was an enthusiastic participant in a wide range of community activities over many years. Among them was Pilton’s Community Garden – Brian was one of the original community gardeners when the group launched in 2012, planting one of the first trees on the site off West Pilton Place.

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Since then, the garden – and the group of enthusiastic gardeners – has yes, grown and grown! Gardener Kirsty Sutherland said: “We have come a long way and hope Brian would be proud of the garden now and approve of the rowan tree planted in his memory today.”

More pictures on Pilton Community Gardeners FB page

 

Adult Learning Success for North Edinburgh

Use Your Loaf AwardWe’re really pleased to report the success of two local groups during adult learners’ week, an international event celebrating and promoting the benefits of adult learning (write CLD workers Sarah Low and Lynn McCabe).

The highlight of the week is the Adult Education Awards ceremony. Over thirty groups across the city were nominated in eight award categories. Forth councillors Vicki Redpath and Cammy Day were at the City Chambers last month to help present the awards. Of the eight successful groups, two were from North Edinburgh: the ‘Use Your Loaf’ (pictured above) bread making group and the North Edinburgh Social History Project.

The selection panel were ‘inspired’ by the bread making group, who won the ‘Health and Well Being’ award.  The ‘Use Your Loaf’ group is a Pilton Community Health Project (PCHP) supported group, in partnership with CLD and North Edinburgh Arts.

Every week, the group (and their children!) meet in the Arts Centre with Lisa Arnott from PCHP and Sarah Low from the local CLD team to make loaves of bread (or rolls, naans, pitas, pizzas and deli breads).  Whilst the dough was proving and baking, the group planned their own healthy community event: The Yummy Food Festival. The Festival took place in North Edinburgh Arts Centre in March this year and attracted 500 local people who enjoyed amongst many things, cooking demonstrations, workshops and a community ‘bake off’.

Learners from the group are being supported to develop a second bread making course which will run in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre in October, so watch out for more details!  Two members of the original group have gone on to volunteer in North Edinburgh Arts Centre café and others have taught bread making in the local nursery. The learners will also be sharing their skills with others during the PCHP supported Food for Thought Forum’s Summer Programme at Forthview’s summer gala and with PCHP’s Women Supporting Women project.

Like to get involved?  Call Lisa Arnott at PCHP on 551 1671 for details.

The North Edinburgh Social History Group began two years ago and was set up by community activists who wished to re-engage with the community and re-establish community participation and activism.  They meticulously researched the history of the North Edinburgh community, producing a brilliant booklet and exhibition called “Never Give Up”, a record of the community’s fight for social justice.

The social history group won the ‘Political and Social Education’ award.  Accepting the award, members of the group were keen to mention the longstanding history of protest in north Edinburgh, and dedicated their award to their friend and fellow activist Brian Robertson, a member of the group and committed community activist who sadly died just a few days before the Awards Ceremony.

Some members of the group are now part of a course called ‘Power to the People’, which meets in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre on Tuesday mornings. This ambitious course aims to cover the history of protest in Scotland over the past 300 years! In doing so, the group have been out and about on study visits to the National Gallery, the People’s Palace in Glasgow and the NationalMiningMuseum. If you’d like more information, please call local CLD worker Lynn McCabe, who runs the course, on 552 5700 (see Lynn’s piece on the group below).

Bumpstart

The Outstanding Achievement Award went to the Bumpstart Pregnancy Café in Leith (pictured above). The Pregnancy Cafe is a relaxed group in which pregnant women and their partners meet other parents to be to talk about pregnancy and parenting. One learner described the tutors as always being there for her, and the other group members ‘like second mums’.  Pregnant women in north Edinburgh are welcome to come along to their very own Pregnancy Café, on Tuesdays from 11 till 12.30 at the Haven (in CraigroystonPrimary School, Muirhouse Place West). Just turn up, or call Jo Aitkenhead on 537 4230 for more details.

Congratulations to all the learners involved on their achievements!

Sarah Low

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Award for Power to the People

Having completed their successful project called ‘Never Give Up’,  which documented the history of activism in North Edinburgh over the last 70 years, members of North Edinburgh Social History Group  came up with a proposal for a new project called   ‘Power to the People’.  The group were keen to continue their research into activism but this time widened the scope of their research to cover the history of protest in Scotland during the last 300 years!  To add to the challenge, the group decided that they wanted to use the arts to explore this hidden history.

The course began on 28 August last year and has proved very successful with fifteen people regularly attending each session in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre.  Some of the topics the group have studied so far include: the Jacobite Rebellion, The Scottish Enlightenment, the Friends of the People, the Radical War, Chartism, The Campaign for the Abolition of Slavery, the Campaign for Land Reform, the Suffragette Movement, the Scottish Hunger Marches and Red Clydeside.

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The group’s learning has not been confined to the classroom.  They have been out and about and have been on study visits to the National Gallery of Scotland, the NationalMuseum in Chamber Street, the Portrait Gallery,  the People’s Palace in Glasgow and the NationalMiningMuseum.  During their studies, they also managed to fit in making a short film for the BBC’s learning site called ‘Paintings and Protest’ which is worth a wee look.  The course is due to finish at the end of  June but there are already plans underway for a new course on issues for the Referendum  in the  Autumn, a publication on the History of Protest similar to Never Give Up and a community event celebrating the group’s achievements in North Edinburgh Arts Centre.  Watch this space!

In recognition of their role in developing this very important course, the organisers of the event gave the award for Social and Political Education to North Edinburgh Social History Group.

Members of the group and participants involved in the Power to the People course have dedicated the award to their friend and fellow activist, Brian (Elvis) Robertson who died a few days before the award ceremony.

Lynn McCabe

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Brian Robertson

I’m sad to have to report the death of North Edinburgh activist Brian Robertson, who passed away yesterday.

Former ice cream man Brian Robertson was a doting father, a big Hearts fan and an Elvis fanatic who cared deeply about the North Edinburgh community and social justice. He was a committed community activist for many years, always willing to get involved in campaigns and battles – Brian didn’t believe in too many meetings and ‘talking shops’, although over the years he must have attended more than most.

A founding member of Greater Pilton’s Community Alliance, Brian was at his best when he was doing things, not just talking about doing things: he was never afraid to speak out, whether as a school board Chair opposed to closures and PPP or about the inherent unfairness of fuel poverty or the Fairer Scotland Fund. If there was a community campaign you could be sure that Brian would be there at the front.

Most recently, despite poor health, Brian was proud to be an active and enthusiastic member of the North Edinburgh Social History Group (pictured below, centre). He absolutely believed that the area’s proud story of protest and activism had to be told to a wide audience, particularly to encourage a new generation of younger activists to take up the fight. Among other achievements the group produced the excellent ‘Never Give Up’ book – and those three words sum up wee Brian’s attitude to community activism to a tee.

Deepest condolences to Brian’s girls, wider family and friends, and we’ll give details of Brian’s funeral when we have them.

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