Organisers of the annual Davidsons Mains Children’s Gala will be keeping an anxious eye on weather forecasts this morning.
However the forecasts are certainly looking good for today so fingers crossed for a day of sun and fun!
The Parade leaves the Green at 1130am, progressing along Main Street, past Tesco and on to Lauriston Castle. The crowning of the Gala King and Queen will take place at around midday on the stage and this will be followed by a full programme of activities until 5pm.
The Botanics will open late this Saturday to celebrate midsummer with a series of free attractions and activities – and you can take part in a world record attempt too!
RBGE says:
Enjoy the Garden in the evening and help us celebrate trees at midsummer. Join an attempt to break the world record for tree hugging at 20:00 and help us calculate the environmental benefit of our tree collection by doing some tree measuring. We’ll also have live music and performances throughout the evening, plus The Scottish Poetry Library will be joining us offering opportunities to write, share and perform poems.
6.00pm Corroboree stilt performance (30mins)
6.45pm Aerial performance with Vision Mechanics (5 mins)
7.00pm Harp performance (30 mins)
7.45pm Aerial performance with Vision Mechanics (5 mins)
8.00pm Tree Hug World Record Attempt (1 min)
8.15pm Midsummer Poetry with the Scottish Poetry Library (45 mins)
9.15pm Corroboree stilt performance (30 mins)
PLUS:
– Free entry to Glasshouses from 6pm – 9.30pm (last entry 9pm)
– Corin Sworn exhibition at Inverleith House (open until 9.30pm)
– Food & refreshments available at the Terrace Cafe and East Gate Lodge
Don’t miss it!
The playtalkread bus is in North Edinburgh next week, providing free fun activities for parents and carers and their children.
The bus will be hosting free storytelling and rhythm sessions and a range of play and activity sessions for children and their parents, to promote and raise awareness of the benefits of positive parental engagement with simple free activities and resources – which parents can then take home to further build upon the ideas and activities sessions with their children.
The activities are open to parents and children on a drop-in and information basis.
You can hop aboard the bus:
Tuesday 24 June – Morrisons, Ferry Road/Pilton Drive North
Wednesday 25 June – Muirhouse Shopping Centre
Thursday 26 June – Royston Wardieburn Community Centre
If you have any questions and or would like to arrange session times for groups of children and parents, call Hannah Mitchell on 0131 664 5390 or email hannah@workingonwheels.org
Royston Wardieburn Community Centre’s the place to be for children and young people this Saturday (21 June). It’s Summer Blast Saturday!
Billed as ‘ a celebration of children and young people in North Edinburgh’ you’re guaranteed a day (and evening) of fun fun fun – and it’s all free!
Summer Blast kicks off at 11am …
For further information contact Callum McLeod on 332 6316 email Callum.Mcleod@ea.edin.sch.uk
Thousands of Scotland’s most disadvantaged children, young people and families are set to benefit from £15 million new funding over the next year, Minister for Children and Young People Aileen Campbell has announced.
The Scottish Government will invest £10 million to continue the Third Sector Early Intervention Fund for 2015-16 to support voluntary groups working to give children the best start in life, for example through projects to tackle poverty, promote parenting skills and encourage family support for learning.
An additional £5 million will be made available to allow strategic funding partnerships (SFPs) that were established in 2013 to help the government and public sector partners improve outcomes for young people and their families to be extended through to spring 2016.
Ms Campbell, Minister for Children and Young People said: “We are working to give every child in Scotland the best start in life. That’s why we’re extending funded early learning and childcare, making free school meals available for every child in P1 to P3 and strengthening how public services work together to support children and families and ensure our most disadvantaged young people are not left behind.
“We’re also committed to supporting a capable, sustainable and enterprising third sector. This new funding will help deliver a wide range of projects to support families and empower communities, improving the life chances of children across the country and moving us closer to our shared vision of making Scotland the best place to grow up.”
A £20 million Third Sector Early Intervention Fund was established in early 2013, with 96 awards made for a range of organisations and projects. A further 45 organisations received support through SFPs to enhance or develop work focussed on supporting the needs of young people and their families. Both funding streams run over two years, up to March 2015.
One of those groups currently funded, One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS), has received a total of £709,284 from the Third Sector Early Intervention Fund.
OPFS Director Satwat Rehman said: “We received core funding which has been invaluable in ensuring we can have the information, advice and systems in place across the organisation to work with single parents and their children and respond to the issues they tell us they need support with such as debt and money advice, family and parenting support and childcare, ultimately improving outcomes for children at greatest risk of not achieving their potential due to the effects of poverty.
“We also received project funding to work with single fathers and contact fathers to work with them and help them support their children through positive activities and interactions as well as support the fathers to be more involved in local activities and groups thereby reducing the isolation they and their children experience”.
Among other projects currently being supported are Mellow Parenting, which has been able to establish eight new Dad’s groups across Scotland to improve parental attachment between fathers and their children; Mind Mosaic, which has provided play therapy to 25 children and young people and family support to 32 parents/carers and 9 kinship carers; and Dyslexia Scotland, which is providing high-quality advice, support and information to young people, and those who support them.
The funding has also been able to support organisations to work in partnership to add value to their activities. So far well over 3,500 families facing significant challenges have been supported.
The Third Sector Early Intervention Fund (TSEIF) was established in early 2013 and is administered by The Big Fund in Scotland. Today’s funding announcement means that the TSEIF and current SFPs will continue for a further year until March 2016.
Further information on the new funding will be published by the Scottish Government next month.
The latest PlayTalkRead campaign, including a television advert to be shown during World Cup games, has been launched today – Father’s Day.
The PlayTalkRead campaign’s summer activity is part of the Scottish Government’s focus on the early years of children’s lives – encouraging and supporting parents and carers to play, talk and read more regularly with their little ones.
The national drive includes a new television advert themed around a message to ‘say thanks’ to parents and carers who have played, talked and read with their kids during their earliest, formative years. The ‘dad’ version of the advert will be first screened on Monday 16 June during the Germany-Portugal game.
Famous Scots, including author Ian Rankin, radio DJ Ally McCrae, chef Nick Nairn, TV presenter Michelle McManus and rugby player John Beattie are backing PlayTalkRead’s latest campaign by revealing what they would #saythanks for on Father’s Day.
Minister for Children and Young People, Aileen Campbell (pictured above) said: “Play is about having fun but it’s also fundamental to our children’s positive development. The PlayTalkRead summer campaign aims to help parents stimulate their children from birth through low-cost, fun activities. Families making special time to celebrate Father’s Day could take inspiration from the World Cup and PlayTalkRead’s new football-themed ‘30 things to do before you’re 3’ list – such as kicking a ball at the park, playing keepy-uppy in the garden or rolling a ball along the floor with your baby.
“The new advert is also a way of saying thanks to parents and carers across Scotland for investing time with their wee ones, and encouraging them to keep it up. On Father’s Day, I’d like to say thanks to my dad for encouraging me to be an active youngster and also for getting me into football – including supporting St Johnstone, who we both watched win the Scottish Cup this year! I would encourage mums and dads to get involved and share what they’d like to thank their parents for on PlayTalkRead’s Twitter or Facebook.”
This summer will see the next stage of the campaign rolled out with PlayTalkRead buses ‘Benji’ and ‘Bessie’ appearing in locations across the country, including a visit to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games. Activity on the bus includes demonstrating easy ways for parents to bond with their children during their early years, with lots of simple and low-cost ideas that can all be done at home and easily incorporated within daily routines.
The popular PlayTalkRead website has also been revamped with more ideas, advice and information for parents, including a downloadable ‘30 Things to do Before You’re 3′ list.
People can also get involved in the #SayThanks conversation with PlayTalkRead on Twitter @PlayTalkRead or by visiting the PlayTalkRead Facebook page.
The new PlayTalkRead #saythanks ad is now available to view on the PlayTalkRead website, ahead of its first TV screening tomorrow.
www.playtalkread.org
The long school holidays are almost upon us, but Inverleith’s packed summer programme offers more than enough recreational, sports and outdoor events for children, young people and families to keep everyone happy (see below for details)!
Registration for all events requiring booking takes place next Monday (16 June) from 6pm at Broughton High School.
For further information email anne.brown@ea.edin.sch.uk or call 332 6316.
Free Father’s Day Family Takeover of the Museum
This Father’s Day (Sunday 15 June) Dads Rock and friends are taking over the National Museum from 11am for tons of free fun for all the family!
See below for the full programme of events:
Muirhouse Community (Millennium) Centre
We are pleased to announce that four new children’s clubs opened in May.
These four clubs are funded for one year by the Social Justice Fund, Total Craigroyston and CLD.Each group will have space for 16 young people and be supported by at least two professional youth workers – they will run in 3 eight week blocks with a different focus for each block i.e. getting physically active, new hobbies, joining in wider community activity and a half day outdoor adventure.
There’s more info on muirhousecommunity centre.co.uk
or call 0131 467 3578.
Peter Airlie.
Royston Wardieburn Community Centre is holding a Fun Day on Saturday 14 June to raise funds for their Summer Programme (see publicity poster, above).
Have fun and support your local Centre too – it’s a win win!
