campaign – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Get Help or Get Caught: tackling online child sexual abuse and exploitation

Reports of online child sexual abuse and exploitation in Scotland have increased by 21 per cent, according to new data from Police Scotland.

Between 1 April, 2023 and 31 March, 2024, 2,055 cyber-enabled sexual crimes against children were recorded, an increase of 364 on the previous year. Three offence types accounted for two thirds of this total:

Cause or coerce to see/hear sexual images/content
Communicating indecently with a child
Possession/distribution of indecent images of children.

The scale of online child sexual abuse and exploitation (OCSAE) was highlighted in a recent study by University of Edinburgh’s Childlight initiative. It estimated that 300 million children a year worldwide were victims of online sexual abuse and exploitation.

And the National Crime Agency estimates that 1.3% – 1.6% of adults in the UK pose varying degrees of risk to children.

The scale of the threat is a recognised national risk.

Police Scotland yesterday (1 July) launched its latest #GethelpOrGetCaught campaign to prevent OCSAE, targeting individuals who may already have offended or be at risk of offending.

It signposts them to the Lucy Faithfull Foundation Scotland’s Stop It Now service which offers advice and support to prevent offending.

Detective Chief Superintendent Sam Faulds, head of Public Protection for Police Scotland, which leads on child protection, said: “More of us live our lives online and that is particularly true for children and young people. Cyber-enabled crime is on the rise, and increasingly our investigations are focused online identifying offenders and bringing them to justice.

“During the school summer holidays, many more children will be at home and online.

“We want to reduce risk, to stop young people becoming victims of online child abuse and exploitation.

“Many of our key partners provide advice to young people and their parents about keeping safe online.

“Our role is to target offenders.

“Our prevention campaigns offer them a way to stop, a route out before they offend, before a child becomes their victim, before other lives are damaged.

“We want to prevent children becoming victims of online predators and we will use all means at our disposal to identify offenders.

“Think about it – it might not be a child you are grooming or speaking to online. It might be the police. Take your chance to Get Help or you will Get Caught.”

Stuart Allardyce, director of Lucy Faithfull Foundation Scotland, said: “We have worked with hundreds of individuals who have either been arrested for online offences against children or are concerned about their thoughts or behaviours towards children.

“Through our work, we understand how difficult it is to reach out for help. We also know that those who engage in these behaviours often need support with their mental health and compulsive behaviours, feeling trapped in a cycle of harmful actions.

“The reasons for viewing sexual images of children or online grooming are complex, and many individuals recognise that what they are doing is wrong. Seeking individualised, anonymous, and non-judgmental support is absolutely the right step to take. This can help individuals stop viewing illegal images or engaging in illegal conversations online.

“By making the right choice and getting the support you need, you can move on from offending or potential criminal behaviour and help protect and keep children safe.”

The Police Scotland campaign will run for six weeks across various social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, and Spotify.

Last month, 61-year-old Ian Heddle, was convicted of the serious sexual assault of a child and possession of indecent images of children. Heddle was arrested and charged in Scotland in connection with possessing indecent images of children.

Following enquiries, it was established he had also sexually assaulted a young girl in Thailand. He was subsequently arrested and charged for this offence. The arrest was made under legislation which protects children anywhere in the world from sexual abuse by British nationals.

Earlier this year, serial predator, Benjamin Young, 42, was sentenced to 12 years in prison and has been given an Order of Lifelong Restriction (OLR). Young created and shared images and videos of the sexual abuse of children.

He was identified and investigated by the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit working with international law enforcement partners.

The majority of perpetrators of online sexual abuse are male (90%). Most victims are female (54%).

Rani Govender, NSPCC Regulatory Policy Manager, said: “Online sexual abuse can have a devastating impact on children and young people. This abuse can be prevented, but tech firms have not done enough to build platforms which are safe by design for children.

“These figures demonstrate the increasing scale of the problem in Scotland. We need strong implementation of the Online Safety Act by Ofcom to protect children and young people. It is vital that platforms are held accountable for tackling all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

“Tech firms need to use best practice approaches to prevent, detect and disrupt abuse, including in private messaging.

“It is important that tech companies do not delay action any longer and that they make children and young people’s safety a priority.”

Award-winning architecture firm appointed by group working to save The George Cinema in Portobello

Glasgow-based, award-winning architecture firm Loader Monteith has been appointed to lead a design team undertaking detailed feasibility work on a community cinema project in Portobello,

The commission, by The Friends of George (FoTG) group, is supported by the award of a grant from The Architectural Heritage Fund.

The design team’s work will dovetail into an in-depth commercial and operational assessment being undertaken by independent cinema consultants, Mustard Studios, whose work is being funded by a grant from the Scottish Land Fund.

Loader Monteith approached Stefanie Fischer, a leading cinema architect within the UK’s independent cinema sector to join their team as a subconsultant. Her expertise as a cinema architect complements the expertise of Loader Monteith Architects as conservation architects.

The appointment of the Loader Monteith led team builds on a long running campaign by FoTG who have been working to save the art deco former cinema from demolition. With strong support from within their community, FoTG hope to acquire and restore the C-listed building, and operate it as a cinema for the community. These latest commissions will develop and refine the group’s ambitious plans and will also include input from educational and film industry partners.

Mike Griffiths, Friends of the George Chair said: “We are delighted to be able to appoint such an expert team of professionals to develop and refine our proposals as we continue to point the way towards a positive future for The George not only in the heart of the community of Portobello, but more broadly, to play a role in the cinema sector in Scotland.

“The consultants we have working on this bring extensive expertise and experience to the project and will be led by a firm of architects with a burgeoning reputation for exciting contemporary architectural design, deployed to breathe new life into historic buildings.

“We’re extremely grateful for the financial support we have received from the Architectural Heritage Fund, the Scottish Land Fund and our benefactor Victoria Schwab.”

Iain King, Specialist Conservation Architect and Director at Loader Monteith, said: “We are pleased to have been selected as the lead architects, alongside our expert team of consultants, to support the Friends of The George in developing the proposal for the George Cinema.

“Despite the building currently being on the Buildings at Risk Register, it benefits from strong community support and the dedication of the Friends of The George, a group committed to preserving this Art Deco gem and restoring it as a sustainable, independent cinema.

“We look forward to collaborating with them on this important project.”

Last year, Friends of The George Limited had the cinema building formally valued by a firm of professional surveyors and made an offer to purchase it as a “restoring purchaser”, based on that valuation. Funds for purchase were very generously offered by benefactor, writer V.E Schwab.

This offer was rejected by the current owners of the building who have tried – and failed – twice in recent years to secure consent to substantially demolish The George and develop the site with luxury flats.

Most recently, last October, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) published their decision notice on the application by the current owner to have The George ‘delisted’. HES confirmed that the building continues to meet the criteria of special architectural and historic interest and so there will be no statutory change to the current ‘C’ listing designation.

Recent silent, community protests, independent of the FoTG group, have called on the current owner of the building to clear up the mess outside of the cinema and to address the continued neglect and dereliction of the building.

Letter: Don’t leave Scotland behind on animal welfare

Dear Editor

TODAY (10th June) an important new cat welfare law will come into effect – but only for pet cats in England. This new legislation will mean all pet cats in England must be microchipped, ensuring they have the best possible chance to be reunited with their owners if they go missing or are injured.

Cats Protection is campaigning to make sure cats in Scotland are not left behind on this important feline welfare issue. Figures from our Cats and Their Stats report 2023 shows over a quarter of cats in Scotland – around 240,000 – are currently not microchipped.

This means that if they become lost they may never be returned home, and their owners may never know what has happened to them. It also puts a strain on Scottish animal charities, who may end up rehoming stray cats because they’re unable to trace their owner.

Animal welfare is a devolved issue, and we’re urging the Scottish Government to take action to introduce compulsory microchipping of pet cats. In addition to the new law for cats in England, microchipping has been compulsory for dogs in Scotland since 2016.

As a nation of animal lovers, we must ensure that animal welfare standards in Scotland keep up with the rest of the UK.

To find out how to support our campaign, please visit cats.org.uk/campaigning

Yours sincerely

Alice Palombo

Advocacy & Government Relations Officer for Scotland

Corridor care: Royal College of Nursing declares ‘national emergency’ and demands political action

Nursing staff are regularly forced to provide care to patients in chairs and corridors, compromising patient safety and dignity. RCN IS asking members to call it out and join their fight to eradicate the practice.

An RCN report reveals more than 1 in 3 (37%) nursing staff working in typical hospital settings delivered care in inappropriate settings, such as corridors, on their last shift. Our survey of almost 11,000 frontline nursing staff across the UK shows the extent to which corridor care has been normalised.

Patients are regularly treated on chairs in corridors for extended periods of time, sometimes days. We say that these instances must now be determined as ‘Never Events’ in NHS services, in the same way that having the wrong limb operated on or a foreign object being left inside a patients’ body already are.

We’re asking for mandatory national reporting of patients being cared for in corridors, to reveal the extent of hospital overcrowding, as part of a plan to eradicate the practice. We also need members to raise concerns when care in inappropriate settings takes place.

In a new RCN report, Corridor Care: Unsafe, Undignified, Unacceptable, our survey findings and member testimonies show the full grave picture of corridor care across the UK.

Of those forced to deliver care in inappropriate settings, over half (53%) say it left them without access to life-saving equipment including oxygen and suction. More than two-thirds (67%) said the care they delivered in public compromised patient privacy and dignity.

Thousands of nursing staff report how corridor care has become the norm in almost every corner of a typical hospital setting. Heavy patient flow and lack of capacity sees nursing staff left with no space to place patients. What would have been an emergency measure is now routine.

The report says corridor care is “a symptom of a system in crisis”, with patient demand in all settings, from primary to community and social care, outstripping workforce supply. The result is patients left unable to access care near their homes and instead being forced to turn to hospitals. Poor population health and a lack of investment in prevention is exacerbating the problem, the report says.

Professor Nicola Ranger, Acting RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, said: “This is a tragedy for our profession. Our once world-leading services are treating patients in car parks and store cupboards.

“The elderly are languishing on chairs for hours and patients are dying in corridors. The horror of this situation cannot be understated. It is a national emergency for patient safety and today we are raising the alarm.

“Treating patients in corridors used to be an exceptional circumstance. Now it is a regular occurrence and a symptom of a system in crisis.

“Patients shouldn’t have to end up at the doors of our emergency departments because they can’t get a GP appointment, a visit from a district nurse or a social care package. But that is the reality. Corridor care is a scourge in our hospitals, but we know the solution is to invest in our entire health and care system – and its nursing workforce.”

Don’t allow corridor care to become normalised, call it out. Find out more about how to raise a concern.

Health Charity urges Edinburgh’s youth groups to join campaign

CALL FOR END TO VAPES MARKETING TARGETING YOUNG PEOPLE

ASH Scotland is marking World No Tobacco Day by urging youth groups in Edinburgh to join the health charity’s campaign calling for the end of vapes advertising and marketing being targeted at children and young people.

‘Protecting young people from tobacco industry interference’ has been chosen by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the theme for this year’s campaign.

ASH Scotland is aiming to amplify the voices of youth groups and youngsters who want to stop the marketing of sweet flavoured, brightly coloured vapes and their promotion by organisations funded by tobacco firms targeting young people.

The charity believes concerns by the next generation of voters about marketing luring young people to start using and becoming addicted to health harming vapes should be heard loud and clear by all candidates in the General Election.

Sheila Duffy, Chief Executive of ASH Scotland, said: “In supporting WHO’s World No Tobacco Day 2024 campaign in Scotland, we are keen to hear from children’s and youth groups in Edinburgh who want to speak out about predatory tobacco industry marketing tactics promoting vapes and creating a new wave of addiction.

“For decades, tobacco industry promotions lured young people into starting to use their addictive and harmful products and, in recent years, the same is now happening with vapes.

“Vapes contain high levels of nicotine, which is very addictive, as well as toxic chemicals that have not been safety tested for breathing in and can damage lungs over time.

“We want to support young people in Edinburgh to raise their concerns about vape marketing that is targeted at them and their friends, and there is no better opportunity than during the General Election campaign!”

For information about ASH Scotland’s World No Tobacco Day campaign, visit: www.ashscotland.org.uk/WNTD.

Youth clubs interested in joining the charity’s campaign can email:

comms@ashscotland.org.uk.

Public warned of rise in identity theft

The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) reports a 97% rise in organised insurance fraud being facilitated by stolen identities in the past year.
Identity theft has a devastating financial impact on victims and fuels a wide range of insurance scams, including dangerous crash for cash activity and ghost broking.
Cifas exclusively reveal most victims of impersonation are now over 61 years old.

The public is being urged to look out for signs of their personal information being misused as the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) finds a rise in scams fuelled by identity theft.

Reports of insurance fraud resulting from stolen identities provided to the IFB by UK insurers, police and regulators have nearly doubled in the past 12 months.^[1]

Stolen identities are highly valuable to criminals as they can be used for a range of harmful scams, leaving victims in financial hardship and emotional distress.

In an urgent bid to protect more people from being targeted, the IFB has launched a campaign to encourage the public to be vigilant.

Ursula Jallow, Director at the IFB, said: “We’ve seen a worrying rise in insurance fraud made possible by identity theft. Stolen personal information can be used for every financial crime imaginable, and victims of impersonation who are often elderly or vulnerable, face devastating consequences.

“We urge everyone to be cautious when sharing personal details and to spread the word to their friends and family. If anyone thinks their information has been used in an insurance scam, they should report it to our confidential CheatLine.”

The IFB often finds that drivers who are cheaper to insure are frequently impersonated by Ghost Brokers, who take out policies in victims’ names and doctor these to sell them on at higher prices.

Misrepresented motor insurance policies are also used by fraudsters to facilitate dangerous Crash for Cash scams and to insure vehicles linked to serious crime.

In a recent IFB investigation with Hertfordshire Police, it was found that hundreds of identities had been stolen by a gang who took out fraudulent motor insurance policies to steal brand new cars from dealerships via finance deals.

In another investigation, the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) and the IFB suspected that a gang had impersonated over 200 people – from personal to commercial policyholders – to either make bogus claims in their names and divert funds to third parties, or pretend victims had caused collisions to fraudulently obtain compensation.

Cifas, a not-for-profit organisation which protects public, private and voluntary sectors from fraud, says identity fraud dominates the National Fraud Database (NFD) making up 64% of all cases. Concerningly, their records also show most victims of impersonation are now over 61 years old.^[2]

Cifas believes that the cost-of-living crisis has resulted in this age group being more susceptible to social engineering tactics and enticing offers to ‘sell’ their identity. They have also seen more younger age groups sharing sensitive information on social media and messaging apps.

Campaign video:

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/932461573/8027f625eb

Stephen Dalton, Director of Intelligence at Cifas, said: “Identity fraud continues to be a favoured tactic for many criminals when exploiting innocent people to steal their identities and use personal details to fraudulently open and abuse financial products and services.

“It’s therefore vital that individuals protect their information by never divulging financial details or credentials that could be used against them. We support IFB’s campaign to bring this important issue to the public’s attention and remain committed to working with our insurance members to keep the public safe from fraud and financial crime.”

Protecting your identity

Fraudsters can attempt to impersonate someone with just a few stolen details (such as a name, date of birth or home address) and this can be used for most frauds; including insurance, banking and credit fraud.

Victims may be pursued by third parties looking to recover costs of financial arrangements made in their name, which can impact their credit score making it difficult to get loans, credit cards or even mortgages for years to come.

Simple measures can help to protect personal information:

Create strong unique passwords for personal accounts.
Avoid publicly sharing personal details on social media.
Only make purchases through legitimate retailers’ websites and be wary of any person or organisation asking to use your bank details.
Protect personal devices by installing the latest software and app updates, and where possible opt to use two-factor authentication.
Avoid phishing attempts which encourage you to click on links and open files.

If anyone thinks their identity has been compromised for an insurance scam, this can be reported to the IFB’s confidential CheatLine online or via its phoneline (powered by CrimeStoppers) on 0800 422 0421.

Cifas’ victim of impersonation advice has guidance to help people targeted by identity theft.

Eat Out Edinburgh gets underway

Special offers revealed for 40 City Centre restaurants and bars taking part in the festival

Eat Out Edinburgh, the highly-anticipated restaurant festival taking over Edinburgh’s city centre next month, has now released a full list of venues taking part in the campaign, with incredible deals from the most exciting restaurants from Princes Street and Charlotte Square to St James Quarter throughout the entirety of March.

Amazing set menus, special offers and events are now available to browse from each of the 40 venues involved on Eat Out Edinburgh’s website with guests able to book now for dates from the 1st to 31st of March.

The past year has seen an influx of new bars and restaurants to the capital, bringing a variety of new dining experiences to explore during Eat Out Edinburgh’s run, including:

– Willow Tea Rooms: The new traditional afternoon tea spot is opening later this month in the former Starbucks unit with stunning castle views on Princes Street and will be offering a traditional afternoon tea throughout March for £17.95 per person, excluding March 10th.

– RIO Brazilian Steakhouse: The newly opened Rodizio style steakhouse within the Assembly Rooms will be offering their unique menu including unlimited salad bar access and meats served tableside at £34.95 for dinner and £19.95 for lunch.

– The Alchemist George Street: The creative cocktail bar and restaurant’s newest venue on George Street has curated a special menu offering two courses for £20 and three courses for £35.

– Fat Hippo: The new restaurant known for its extensive menu of juicy, decadent burgers has created a menu with a starter, main, and a side for £15 from Monday to Thursday throughout the month.

Offers vary from venue to venue, with each location bringing its own unique value with something to appeal to everyone, from celebrating Mother’s Day with a brunch at Duck & Waffle with £29 for 3 Courses or a lesson in mixology with a cocktail masterclass for £25 at the Hard Rock Café.

Eat Out Edinburgh brings friends, family, and colleagues together from across the Lothians for the chance to explore new cuisines and try special occasion restaurants for an accessible price while supporting the city’s vibrant hospitality sector.

Run by Essential Edinburgh, the campaign taking place throughout the capital’s dedicated Business Improvement District (BID) returns this year for double the time after a successful two-week run in 2023.

Emily Campbell Johnston, Senior Manager of Marketing & Communications, Essential Edinburgh, said: “The venues taking part in this year’s Eat Out Edinburgh have gone above and beyond to create really exciting offers for guests that will let Edinburgh locals, visitors and workers in the city centre experience some of the city’s best cuisine at an accessible price.

“The scope of this year’s campaign brings more venues than ever over a longer period of time for a massive celebration of Edinburgh’s unmatched food scene right in time for the Spring season to bring a renewed energy to the city.”

Businesses Participating in Eat Out Edinburgh 2024

Angel’s Share

Auld Hundred

BABA

Badger & Co

Bonnie & Wild

Boozy Cow

Bread Street Kitchen

Cadiz

Café Andaluz

Contini George Street

Copper Blossom

Dean Banks at The Pompadour

Duck & Waffle

Element

Fat Hippo

Fazenda

Gaucho

Grazing by Mark Greenaway at Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh – The Caledonian

Gusto

Hard Rock Cafe Edinburgh

Harvey Nichols Forth Floor

Haute Dolci

Hawksmoor

Huxley

Indian Lounge

Ka Pao

Lady Libertine

Le Monde

Maki & Ramen St James Quarter

Malmaison

Queens Arms

Rabble

Rio Brazilian Steakhouse

Tattu

TGI Fridays Edinburgh Castle Street

The Alchemist – George Street & St James Quarter

The Register Club

The Scottish Café And Restaurant

The Voodoo Rooms

Tigerlily

Twenty Princes Street

Willow Tea Rooms

For more information on each venue, and to keep book, visit:

http://www.eatoutedinburgh.co.uk/

Scottish Government slammed for making vision impaired play ‘tactile paving roulette’

Sight Scotland launches ‘Pave the Way’ campaign to have tactile paving installed in every train station in Scotland

Sight Scotland, and Sight Scotland Veterans, have slammed the Scottish Government for placing lives at risk by forcing blind and partially sighted people to play tactile paving roulette in train stations across the country.

In August of last year, the Minister for Transport confirmed that tactile paving was installed in eighteen train stations around the country and said that all the remaining one hundred and forty-eight stations owned and managed by Scotland’s Railway will have tactile paving installed by the end of 2023. Unfortunately, this promise has been reneged on.

For most people living with a visual impairment, public transport is the only means they have to make journeys around the country. Tactile paving is a system of textured ground surface indicators that are primarily designed to assist individuals with visual impairments.

These tactile indicators typically consist of raised patterns or distinctive surfaces that can be felt underfoot or with a mobility aid, such as a cane. At a railway station, without tactile paving to indicate where the platform ends, visually impaired people face a serious risk to their safety and could fall onto the train tracks.

Craig Spalding, Chief Executive of Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans, explains: “We are launching this campaign as a lack of tactile paving at railway stations poses serious safety risks for many blind and partially sighted people.

“While we welcome the completion of phase 1 to upgrade the eighteen high priority stations, the Scottish Government’s deadline has been and gone for the remaining one hundred and forty-eight train stations without tactile paving.

“This is completely unacceptable and as a result many people with vision impairment are having to play tactile paving roulette, as they do not know what to expect from one station to the next.

“This is not scaremongering, or an over exaggeration; without tactile paving to indicate where the platform ends, visually impaired people face a serious risk of falling onto train tracks. We’re calling on the Minister for Transport to urgently upgrade all train stations in Scotland with tactile paving so that blind and partially sighted people can use our railways safely.”

Samantha Gough, a visually impaired athlete from Edinburgh, who recently had an horrendous experience whilst travelling by rail, is backing the campaign and says action needs to be taken before a serious accident occurs.

“I recently travelled to England by train and needed to change at Doncaster. Unfortunately, no-one was there to help me, and the station did not have tactile paving. It was a nightmare, a horrendous situation to be in, fast trains were screaming past with the wind hitting me and despite screaming on the platform for help, no one heard. People have died falling on the tracks before and I thought it was about to happen to me.”

Please support Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans’ Pave the Way campaign by writing to the Transport Minister to demand that tactile paving is installed on all stations in Scotland: https://sightscotland.eaction.org.uk/tactile-paving-now

For more information visit: sightscotland.org.uk or sightscotlandveterans.org.uk

Couple who lost son in tragic drowning incident support RLSS UK campaign

A couple who lost their son eight years ago this month is supporting The Royal Life Saving Society UK’s (RLSS UK) annual Don’t Drink and Drown campaign. The campaign aims to encourage those who have been drinking to be responsible for their friends after a night out, be a mate, and ensure they return home safely.

Don’t Drink and Drown was launched following multiple tragic and high-profile student drownings in 2014. It aims to ensure that people remain safe around water after a night out. In a sample of UK accidental drowning cases analysed by RLSS UK, figures revealed that 81% of those aged 16-25 who drowned under the influence of alcohol or drugs, weren’t with friends at the time of drowning[1].

Support for the initiative comes from Margaret and Duncan Spiers after their son Christopher, aged 28, tragically lost his life after returning alone from a night out in Glasgow. On 29 January 2016, Christopher, who was believed to be under the influence of alcohol, was walking near to the River Clyde in stormy weather when he slipped into the water and was swept down the river. Despite several rescue attempts, Christopher couldn’t be saved and drowned.

Speaking about the RLSS UK campaign, Duncan said: “We are happy to support such an important campaign. It is vital people don’t walk home near water after a night out, as there are so many dangers.

“We are pleased to work with the Royal Life Saving Society UK to raise awareness of its lifesaving work and I know we have its support which means so much.”

After losing their son to drowning in 2016, Margaret and Duncan founded Christopher’s Saving Lives Campaign in his memory and have since dedicated their lives to promoting water safety and awareness of the dangers of outdoors.

The couple, who also sit on the Scottish Parliament Community Safety Committee as Water Safety Ambassadors, have successfully fought to have ropes attached to the lifebuoys at the Clyde since the incident and continue to do work within the local community to help prevent more tragic drowning accidents.

Duncan added: “We didn’t think of the dangers and risks associated with water until it happened to Christopher, and this is why we launched Christopher’s Saving Lives campaign.

“All Margaret and I want to do is save lives, we don’t want anyone to go through what we have – it’s been horrendous but we do this for him, in his name. We already know some of the ropes installed onto life buoys have helped to rescue a number of people, which is a privilege to know.”

Margaret added: “Christopher was a happy go lucky person with a big heart, he loved to help others and was so caring.

“We feel very lucky to have had him as a son and he lives on in our hearts.”

Lee Heard, Charity Director at RLSS UK, said: “As we mark the eighth anniversary of Christopher’s tragic death in the River Clyde, the work we carry out at RLSS UK continues to raise awareness of these devastating incidents, along with providing the public with vital water safety advice that could help save lives.

“Sadly, Christopher isn’t the only to have lost his life under these terrible circumstances. Our Don’t Drink and Drown campaign was launched following various instances where young people’s nights out have sadly not ended the way they had planned.

“We have seen cases of young people walking home after a night out, and for various reasons getting too close to the edge and ending up in the water – which is why this campaign seeks to encourage friends to Be A Mate and take responsibility for one another.

“We’d like to thank both Duncan and Margaret Spiers for their continued support for our Don’t Drink and Drown campaign, and for their help in raising awareness on this key issue in Christopher’s memory. We’d also like to praise their ongoing efforts to promote water safety education as we work to prevent any more lives from being lost to drowning.”

For more information on RLSS UK’s Don’t Drink and Drown campaign, please visit: www.rlss.org.uk/dont-drink-and-drown.

Visit our website at: rlss.org.uk

Visit our Facebook page: facebook.com/RLSSUK  Call: 0300 323 0096

[1] Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK)– Detailed analysis of 16 cases of accidental drowning amongst those aged 16-25 years. Data sourced from UK Water Incident Research Hub (WIRH) August 2022.

Health charity urges Edinburgh residents to share experiences of successful quit smoking attempts

People in Edinburgh who have successfully given up smoking in the last couple of years are being encouraged by a campaigning health charity to share their experiences about how they managed to quit.

As part of the charity’s preparations for No Smoking Day which takes place on 13 March, ASH Scotland is urging Edinburgh residents to share details of their journeys to live a tobacco-free life by highlighting the motivating factors which prompted their quit smoking attempts and if they gave up through sheer willpower and personal determination or the types of support they found to be most useful.

Sheila Duffy, Chief Executive of ASH Scotland, said: “Ahead of No Smoking Day on 13 March, we would love to hear from people in Edinburgh about their successful experiences in the last couple of years or so of giving up smoking for good.

“We look forward to discovering everyone’s inspirational stories, which could encourage others to quit smoking for the first time or try again to live a life free from tobacco and enjoy a healthier future with opportunities to spend their money in other ways.”

The charity is asking people to share stories up to a maximum of 200 words by emailing: comms@ashscotland.org.uk or via ashscotland.org.uk/your-story.

ASH Scotland is tackling tobacco head-on by campaigning to reduce the harms caused by smoking. For more information, follow the health charity’s social media channels on Instagram and Facebook.