Tag: community spirit

North Edinburgh Community Festival wins Creative Edinburgh Award

The North Edinburgh Community Festival is thrilled to announce that it has won the Creative Edinburgh Festival Award. This is a new category for 2024, which celebrates a festival’s outstanding contribution to Edinburgh’s vibrant cultural scene and its innovative approach to community engagement.

Festival Chair, Willie Black, and Festival Director, Adele Conn were joined on stage to accept the award by Jed Milroy from the Tinderbox Collective and Ryan McGlone from Granton Youth along with 6 young people who have volunteered at the festival since it started in 2022.

Jed and Ryan, play an integral part in the festival by encouraging participation through music, running both music stages and encouraging over 600 young people to participate in the festival.

Lennon Hutchison, youth volunteer, said “As someone who has volunteered at the festival for the last 3 years, I feel incredibly proud to be part of something so special.

“It was amazing to win this award and myself and my friends can’t wait for next years festival.”

“We are absolutely delighted to receive this award,” said Festival Director Adele Conn. “It’s a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team, and we are grateful to the community for their unwavering support.

“This recognition motivates us to continue creating a meaningful and inclusive festival that bring people together and acts as a year round catalyst for collaboration and change in North Edinburgh.”

The North Edinburgh Community Festival, held annually in May in West Pilton Park and the West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre, aims to benefit North Edinburgh communities by promoting pathways into employment, training, and recreation opportunities, addressing endemic challenges in the areas such as worklessness, low education attainment, and social isolation by providing a fun, free, family day out for new and existing residents to enjoy – promoting opportunities, creativity, enhancing community cohesion, reducing social isolation and celebrating the diversity of the area.

This year the festival had over 10,000 local people attend, 150 charities, organisations and groups; over 600 young people participating in music activities, and we provided over 3000 free hot meals on the day.

The award was presented at the Creative Edinburgh Awards ceremony last week, which honours the best in Edinburgh’s creative community, highlighting the projects, people and places that flourish across Edinburgh and continually ensuring its place on the cultural map, nationally and internationally.

Winning this award highlights the festival’s role in its commitment to North Edinburgh and helping this community to thrive. The festival has imbedded itself within the community and has a vital role to play.

The strength of the Festival lies in its collaborative working model – with involvement from residents, artists, the local third sector and public sector bodies. 

The diverse population of North Edinburgh includes families, individuals, young people, and children, all of whom stand to benefit from the festival’s offerings. By hosting a range of recreational, cultural, educational, leisure, and social activities, the festival aims to create opportunities for community engagement and personal development. 

The festival also proudly celebrates cultural diversity and serves as a vibrant tapestry of the many ethnic minorities residing in North Edinburgh. Recognising the unique challenges faced by these communities, it is even more important to provide resources and support services tailored to the needs of these communities. 

Willie Black, says: “As the Chair of the North Edinburgh Community Festival, I am thrilled and honoured that we have won the award for Best Festival in Edinburgh.

“This recognition is a testament to the vibrant spirit and hard work of our community. It highlights the incredible talent and dedication within North Edinburgh and showcases our ability to bring people together through cultural celebration.

“Winning this award means a great deal to our city and particularly to the community of North Edinburgh. It underscores the importance of cultural festivals in fostering community pride, cultural exchange, and economic development.

“However, it also reminds us of the crucial need for financial support to sustain these valuable events. Continued funding is essential to ensure that festivals like ours can thrive, grow, and continue to enrich the lives of everyone involved.”

Regarding the Festival’s future, our vision for the next five years is both ambitious and transformative. We aim to expand the reach and impact of the North Edinburgh Community Festival, making it an annual highlight that continues to bring joy, education, and support to our community.

We plan to increase our engagement with local schools and youth groups, offering more workshops and programmes tailored to the needs and interests of young people.

In addition, we aspire to create more year-round initiatives that address socio-economic challenges, such as community art projects, and job training sessions. We’re committed to fostering inclusivity and cultural exchange, ensuring that all residents, feel valued and supported.

We also aim to strengthen our partnerships with local organisations, businesses, and volunteers, to drive home positive change. Our goal is to make North Edinburgh a thriving, vibrant community where everyone has the opportunity to grow, learn, and succeed.

As a community festival, we rely heavily on funding. However, we remain optimistic that this award will help to raise awareness of the festival’s importance and the community’s desire for it.

We are hopeful that it will attract the financial support needed to sustain and grow the event.

Next year’s festival will be held on Saturday 17th May from 12 noon – 530pm.

Half of Scots see those who disagree on Covid as threat to country’s future

·         Community spirit dwindles as Scotland battles through final stretch of full lockdown – Covid disagreements lead to suspicion of neighbours  

·         Rifts over rules fuel mental health problems, from anxiety to trouble sleeping 

·         But 31% of people in Scotland still say it’s made them realise the importance of community 

·         Engage Britain launches national drive to bring communities together and put people in charge of tackling the country’s problems, including community conversations in Glasgow.  

New analysis has revealed a fractious and fearful nation battling through the final stretch of lockdown, as 60% of people in Scotland say those who disagree on the Covid rules are a threat to the country’s future.  

As new charity Engage Britain launches a national drive to help bring communities back together and put people in charge of tackling Britain’s biggest problems, it polled people in Scotland on how different views on Covid, such as taking the vaccine or lockdown restrictions, are impacting them.  

As the prolonged pandemic piles on the pressure, the community spirit people in Scotland summoned at the outset shows signs of fading. According to the poll, nearly as many Scottish residents said they’ve become more suspicious of people in their community with a different approach to the rules (23%), as those who think their community is pulling together (26%).  

And disagreements are directly fuelling mental and emotional problems for most Scottish residents (61%), who agreed their mental health had been affected due to other people’s compliance with the rules and restrictions. Some of these problems included increased anxiety (38%) and trouble sleeping (20%). 

But despite fractures and strains, 31% believe the pandemic has made them realise the importance of community. And ordinary people coming together in Covid’s wake will be crucial to our future success, according to Engage Britain.  

As communities in Scotland and across the country look to rebuild, the charity is launching a national drive to bring together people from all walks of life, drawing on different views and experiences to find answers to Britain’s biggest problems. The first issue ordinary people will tackle is their biggest worry – health and care.  

Following Engage Britain’s comprehensive analysis with the British public this consistently came out as people’s number one concern. Their biggest issues are getting the right access to health and care services and funding them properly.  

It will kick off with 100 online community conversations about health and care up and down the country, including discussions in Scotland planned for Glasgow. Then a panel of ordinary people will make decisions about priorities and engage with professionals like doctors, carers and nurses, to make plans for change. The end goal will be to get the public’s plans put into practice so everyone can get the health and care they need. 

Engage Britain Director, Julian McCrae, said: “The pandemic is piling a mountain of pressure onto people in Scotland, following huge changes which have already split families and communities across the whole of Britain.

“It’s desperately sad to see this causing anxiety, suspicion and sleepless nights for so many of us.  

“This could be a dangerous moment, if we don’t find a way to pull together. With so much at stake and things feeling out of our control, it’s hard to see past the stress of disagreements – but they can actually make us stronger.

“As we recover from this crisis, the public needs to have more of a say in the things that matter to them, using their different views, ideas and experiences to rebuild Britain.  

“For too long we’ve relied on our political system to make decisions which affect the lives of millions, but which are all too often taken without talking to them about it. No-one knows more than ordinary people what it’s like to live in Britain today.

“That’s why we’re asking people from all walks of life to come together and have their say on how to make life better for everyone after some of the toughest times our country’s ever faced.” 

Anyone can make their voice heard on how to build better health and care in Britain by taking part in an open conversation at engagebritain.org 

Social History Group’s site on show at local libraries

North Edinburgh Social History Group will be giving demonstrations of their ‘Never Give Up’ on-line archive at Granton and Muirhouse libraries next month.

The social history group spent three years researching North Edinburgh’s proud history of community activism, amassing a huge volume of material in the process. The group’s ‘Never Give Up’ book received great reviews when it launched last year, and all the background information – and a lot of great material that didn’t make the book due to size constraints – was digitised and launched on-line by charity SCRAN in April for all to share and enjoy.

Members of North Edinburgh Social History Group will be visiting the local libraries to publicise and demonstrate this amazing resource at two local libraries next month – at Muirhouse on Thursday 6 September from 10am and then at Granton on Wednesday 12 September from 1pm.

It’s well worth a visit – a treasure trove of community memories which can be accessed for free by using your library card!

For further information on Scran visit www.scran.ac.uk

Social History Group's site on show at local libraries

North Edinburgh Social History Group will be giving demonstrations of their ‘Never Give Up’ on-line archive at Granton and Muirhouse libraries next month.

The social history group spent three years researching North Edinburgh’s proud history of community activism, amassing a huge volume of material in the process. The group’s ‘Never Give Up’ book received great reviews when it launched last year, and all the background information – and a lot of great material that didn’t make the book due to size constraints – was digitised and launched on-line by charity SCRAN in April for all to share and enjoy.

Members of North Edinburgh Social History Group will be visiting the local libraries to publicise and demonstrate this amazing resource at two local libraries next month – at Muirhouse on Thursday 6 September from 10am and then at Granton on Wednesday 12 September from 1pm.

It’s well worth a visit – a treasure trove of community memories which can be accessed for free by using your library card!

For further information on Scran visit www.scran.ac.uk