Introducing our first workshop for New Scots in Edinburgh
Join our free Sustainable Cooking Workshop to meet new people, practise your English, and take part in something meaningful!
Together we will explore the rich tradition of Ukrainian Borsch, a flavourful sour soup made with meat stock, fresh vegetables, and aromatic seasonings, cherished across Eastern Europe and Northern Asia.
Come be a part of a powerful experience that unites community, culture, and cause.
Date: 14 June 2025 (Saturday)
Time: 12:45 – 14:45
Venue: Heart of Newhaven Community Centre
Address: 4-6 Main Street, Newhaven, Edinburgh, EH6 4HY
Language: English and Ukrainian
Open to: New Scots aged 18 or over who have a basic understanding of English
New Initiative to Breathe New Life into Underfunded GrassrootsFootball Pitches across Scotland
The Best Worst Pitch initiative will provide line painting and pitch maintenance equipment, as well as maintenance training to 50 grassroots clubs across the UK
The initiative addresses the lack of funding dedicated to pitch maintenance, which the brand has experienced during the Best Worst Team campaign
By helping make the pitch lines visible again, the initiative celebrates the volunteers who make grassroots football not only possible but playable—reinforcing Specsavers’ commitment to supporting the grassroots football community and the vital role clear vision plays both on and off the pitch.
Specsavers has partnered with Scottish international stars, Kirsty Smith and Erin Cuthbert to launch the Best Worst Pitch initiative.
Open to clubs across the UK, the initiative will provide 50 teams who are most in need with professional line painting equipment and GPS pitch mapping, pitch maintenance equipment, as well as maintenance training to help them maintain their pitches through the next season and beyond.
Clear and accurate line markings are vital not just for ensuring structure and fairness in the game, but also for helping players and officials navigate the pitch-enhancing visibility, spatial awareness, and overall safety throughout play.
Kirsty Smith added:“Grassroots football is the heart and soul of the game. It’s important that we back the communities and dedicated volunteers who keep it running.
“I remember how tough it was playing on a rough pitch, but it didn’t hold me back, it just made me realise how important these pitches are.
This is a campaign I’m really proud of – The Best Worst Pitch initiative will ensure that pitches are in the best condition possible so that everyone can enjoy using them.”
The announcement comes as UK football governing bodies have recently highlighted that maintaining grassroots pitches across the UK is one of the main issues facing the sport.
With councils stretched for funding, the responsibility for maintaining club pitches, often falls on dedicated members of the grassroots football community.
It’s a challenge Specsavers has seen up close, having renewed its’ sponsorship deal with the Scottish FA, to become the Official Eye and Ear Care Partner.
The deal will see the 24-year partnership continue for the rest of the season as Specsavers strives to support the growth of Scottish football in both the men’s and women’s game.
Erin Cuthbert added: “I called my papa “Net Man”. He’s no longer with us but he was always there, two hours early putting the nets up and sorting the pitch out.
“It’s little efforts like that that keep grassroots football alive. It’s absolutely vital that we get it right at this level so that young players can improve and have a better chance of succeeding in the sport.”
Specsavers have also documented the difficulties of grassroots teams through the Best Worst Team campaign—highlighting the real struggles faced at pitch level and further underlining the brand’s long-standing commitment to supporting the grassroots football community.
Speaking about the struggles of pitch maintenance, Chairman of current Specsavers Best Worst Team, Tunley Athletic, Craig Doughty said: “It’s a real slog sometimes – every week, rain or shine, I’m out there doing two full laps of the pitch just to get the lines marked.
“The equipment we’ve got is ancient—it clogs, it leaks, and it takes twice as long as it should. On dark evenings or when the wind’s howling, it feels like it takes forever. But I do it because I love this club—it means everything to the community.”
In addition to providing equipment, Specsavers is also offering training and education to the selected clubs—aiming to tackle some of the long-term challenges faced by grassroots teams and the volunteers who maintain their pitches.
The ultimate goal is to improve the quality and longevity of these pitches, ensuring local communities can continue to enjoy them for many matches to come.
Kim Bull, PR and Social Lead, commented: “Over the last two seasons supporting clubs that need a bit of help with their eyes and ears, as well as their game, we’ve noticed the effort that goes into keeping grassroots clubs running.
“People like Craig, who quietly put in the hard work behind the scenes to keep pitches playable, is what grassroots football is all about.
“This initiative means we can support more clubs and communities, like Tunley.
“By making faded lines more visible, we’re helping players to see the beautiful game more clearly. And hopefully make fewer mistakes!”
To have a chance of being part of the Best Worst Pitch initiative and help improve the quality of your local club’s football pitch, apply online here.
In this exhibition I share oil paintings that are part of getting to ‘know my place’, Granton, after moving here in November 2023. Its harbour, seascapes, and community mean a lot to me. Touch me deep in a place called ‘home’.
Home to gusty winds ruffling waters, to wild swimming in Wardie bay whatever the weather, to boats rowing or sailing on the Firth of Forth, to bonfires on the beach under a full moon, to romantic strolls to Cramond, to families and folks playing, smiling, taking dogs out, meeting friends, working, and much more.
I hope these depictions of Granton, seen through my eyes, heart, and brush, are ones in which you recognize parts of the place and community that touch you too. Or, if you are not local, that they convey their particular beauty and energy.
(half of proceeds to be shared between Medical Aid for Palestine and Granton Hub)
(Short term parking beside and beyond Granton Hub)
Three for the sea: dance performance and workshop
Sunday 30 March: 1.30 – 4pm
This event forms part of an ongoing movement inquiry into local coastal environments, and the emotions, histories, futures, stories, bodies, and ecosytems they create. It will be led and performed by Monica de Ioanni, Alena Ageeva and Juliet Henderson.
This Saturday (22 March), The Causey will be brought to life by Folk Tales for New Scots, a one-off exhibition, live storytelling and on-street projection event courtesy of Beetroots Collective CIC and Causey Development Trust.
The exhibition will kick off at 7pm at The Causey (outside Buccleuch and Greyfriars Free Church) and is the result of a series of arts workshops for both locals and the immigrant and asylum seeker communities in Edinburgh, carried out in collaboration with storyteller Claire McNicol and aimed at fostering community ties through Scottish folklore.
Then from 7.30pm a bold and bright animation of this work will light up the historic buildings surrounding The Causey, bringing both the space and Scotland’s myths and legends to life.
Free to attend this is just one in a series of events created by Beetroots Collective CIC, in collaboration with Causey Development Trust, that bring together Edinburgh’s Southside community with locals and visitors from across the city.
The third of its kind in two years the event will also highlight the work of CDT volunteers who have been campaigning for 17 years to transform The Causey into a fine public space that prioritises people and can host community events.
CDT has shovel ready plans to turn The Causey into a safer, greener space that puts the wellbeing of people first with reduced motorised traffic, stylish seating, planters, trees and even a rejuvenated Police Box.
Perhaps most importantly these plans, designed by the award-winning landscape architects Ironside Farrar, will facilitate a much wider range of arts, culture and community events in the future. Members of CDT will be on hand at the event to discuss these plans with visitors.
Sarah Drummond, Chair of Causey Development Trust, said: “We can’t wait to host our first on-street projection event of the year at The Causey thanks to the incredibly talented Beetroots Collective CIC.
“These events exemplify why this space is so important for the well-being of Edinburgh residents, to help foster community spirit and breathe new life into underused parts of our city.
“We are very lucky to enjoy the support of locals and supporters hailing from all kinds of backgrounds and countries, and we are excited to see their work brought to life this Saturday 22 March, at The Causey.”
North Edinburgh Arts presents the first screening for more than 40 years of Heroin, a series of three films by Peter Carr made in North Edinburgh in 1983.
Originally shown over successive nights on prime time national UK television, Heroin is an unflinching fly on the wall glimpse at an often forgotten part of Edinburgh’s social history.
As poverty, crime and drug use in Scotland’s capital was ripping forgotten communities apart, Peter Carr was introduced to Edinburgh’s hidden underbelly by co-founder of the Gateway Exchange, Jimmy Boyle.
Boyle also introduced Carr to SHADA – Support Help and Advice for Drug Addiction – the grassroots organisation set up by what Carr calls “two remarkable women” – Heather Black and Morag McLean – as a lifeline and support network for drug users.
This became the basis of Heroin, which over its three episodes reveals a powerful and moving portrait of a community surviving in the face of institutional neglect and contempt from local authorities who would rather keep it out of view.
After four decades, Peter Carr revisits North Edinburgh for the screenings of his films to take part in a unique event by, for and about North Edinburgh.
Each screening will be followed by a conversation between key figures around the making of Heroin and those around North Edinburgh then and now.
Heroin ‘Uncut’ – The Films of Peter Carr and the Edinburgh Community Stories Behind Them
North Edinburgh Arts
MacMillan Hub
12c MacMillan Square
Edinburgh EH4 4AB
Heroin 1 followed by Irvine Welsh in conversation with ZoëBlack – April 23 – 6.30-8.30pm.
Heroin 2 followed by Dr Roy Robertson in conversation with Victoria Burns – April 24 – 6.30-8.30pm.
Heroin 3 followed by Peter Carr in conversation with Sarah Drummond – April 25 – 6.30-8.30pm.
Running time of each film is 50 minutes, followed by a short break and discussion.
An exhibition of production images from Heroin by Granada TV stills photographer Stewart Darby runs at North Edinburgh Arts alongside Heroin ‘Uncut’, from April 23 to May 17 2025.
A programme for Heroin ‘Uncut’ features a new essay by Peter Carr reflecting on the making of his films alongside Stewart Darby’s images from Heroin.
Heroin ‘Uncut’ is coordinated and produced by Zoë Black, Victoria Burns, Neil Cooper, Sarah Drummond, Graham Fitzpatrick and Kate Wimpress in collaboration with North Edinburgh Arts and Screen Education Edinburgh.
With thanks to Laura Alderman, Alice Betts and Genevieve Kay-Gourlay at North Edinburgh Film Festival, Willie Black, Jimmy Boyle, Morvern Cunningham, Freda Darby and the Darby family, Malcolm Dickson at Street Level Photoworks, Laura Hoffman, Judith Jones and Stephen Kelly at granadaland.org, Jordan at ITV plc, Alan McCredie, Dr. Roy Robertson, Emma Welsh, Irvine Welsh, Bob Winton.
Special thanks to all staff, volunteers and board members of North Edinburgh Arts and Screen Education Edinburgh who made this event happen.
Extra special thanks to Peter Carr.
Heroin was originally produced by Granada Television and screened on the ITV network on November 7th, 8thand 9th1983. All films and photographs are sole copyright of ITV plc, and are shown under licence.
Heroin ‘Uncut’ is dedicated to the memory of Heather Black, Morag McLean and all those friends, neighbours and loved ones who took part in the Heroin films. Though they may no longer be with us, their stories live on.
SATURDAY 5th APRIL 11am – 1.30pm at GASHOLDER 1 PARK
Join us for the official launch of Granton’s newest public park at Granton Gasholder 1!
Enjoy a day for all the family and celebrate with the community. Activities will include:
A one-off community singalong with Pianodrome at 11am A ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11.15am Family arts and craft activities Penalty shoot-outs with Craigroyston Community Youth Football Club Free ice cream from Lucas Free facepainting Exhibition stalls
Bring your family, friends and a picnic blanket for a fun day out. All are welcome! We can’t wait to see you there!
New cast, musicians, and creatives announced for KELI, the debut play from Ivor Novello Award-winning composer Martin Green (Lau).
Based on personal stories from the critically acclaimed BBC Radio 4 series ‘Love, Spit and Valve Oil’
WORLD PREMIERE
National Theatre of Scotland and Lepus Productions present
KELI
A play by Martin Green
Written and music composed by Martin Green
Directed by BryonyShanahan
Cast: Liberty Black (Keli), Karen Fishwick (Jayne), Olivia Hemmati (Amy/Saskia), Billy Mack (Willie Knox)and Phil McKee (Brian).
Performing Musical Director – Louis Abbott and small brass ensemble –
Stacey Ghent, Flugelhorn; Hanna Mbuya, Tuba and Karen Fishwick, Euphonium
Set and Costume Designer – Alisa Kalyanova, Sound Designer – George Dennis, Lighting Designer – Robbie Butler, Casting Director –Anna Dawson
Touring Scotland from Saturday 10 May to Saturday 14 June 2025.
Previews at Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling before opening at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and touring to Dundee Rep Theatre; Perth Theatre and Tramway, Glasgow from May to June 2025.
Opening performance at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh on Thursday 15 May 2025.
Best known as the virtuoso accordionist in the visionary folk trio Lau, Martin Green has spent the past two years on an odyssey deep into the world of brass bands, culminating in this staging of KELI, marking its world premiere as a stage play. Making his professional debut as a playwright, Green was inspired by conversations he had for the BBC Radio 4 series ‘Love, Spit and Valve Oil’.
KELI will feature brass band music from Green’s acclaimed album SPLIT THE AIR. Each performance will feature a live brass band performance from a leading Scottish brass band or ensemble of leading brass band players.
National Theatre of Scotland and Lepus Productions are delighted that Whitburn band and Kingdom Brass will be part of this Scottish tour, sustaining ongoing relationships with Scottish brass bands and the communities they represent.
Whitburn Band, one of Scotland’s leading brass bands, was formed in the heart of the coal mining area of West Lothian in 1870 originally serving as an outlet for members of the mining community to perform at local parades and gala days. The Band has been Scottish Champion 22 times, competes throughout the UK and Europe, and performs regularly at major Scottish events. Recent performances include Celtic Connections and the Edinburgh International Festival.
Kingdom Brass was formed in 1999, after the amalgamation of the Cowdenbeath and the Kelty & Blairadam Bands. In the same year, the band competed for the first time at the Fife Championships and swept the boards. Since then, the band has competed locally and nationally winning numerous trophies and is established as one of Scotland’s top bands. The band performs at concerts, bandstand events, and local Gala days.
Liberty Black will play the titular role of Keli in her professional theatre debut and Karen Fishwick plays her mother Jayne. They are joined by Phil McKee as band leader Brian, Billy Mack who plays 135-year-old ex-miner and town hero Willie Knox and Olivia Hemmati playing multiple roles.
LibertyBlack is in her final year at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She performs and writes music and toured the UK with a band. Royal Conservatoire of Scotland credits include: The Cosmonauts Last Message…, Uncle Vanya and Romeo and Juliet.
Karen Fishwick previously appeared in Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, National Theatre of Scotland and Live Theatre’s smash hit musical production which toured internationally and had a run in London’s West End. Theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Royal Shakespeare Company) and 101 Dalmations (Regents Park Open Air Theatre). Karen’s screen appearances include Outlander (Sony/Starz) and Call the Midwife (BBC).
Billy Mack is an award-winning actor, previously appearing in The Cheviot, The Stag and The Black, Black Oil and The Enemy (National Theatre of Scotland). Recent theatre and TV/film credits include Men Don’t Talk (Genesis Theatre Company), Only Child (Happy Tramp/BBC) and On Falling (Sixteen Films).
Phil McKee has worked extensively across theatre, film and TV. Previous work with National Theatre on Scotland includes Mary Stuart and Dunsinane (National Theatre of Scotland/RSC/Royal Lyceum Theatre). Screen credits include Clash of the Titans (Gorgon Films), The Rig (Amazon) and Deadwater Fell (Channel 4).
Olivia Hemmati trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School where she was a finalist for the Carleton and Hobbs Award 2024. Olivia is making her professional stage debut in KELI.
The production features a brass ensemble of musicians led by Stacey Ghent on flugelhorn with Hanna Mbuya on tuba alongside Karen Fishwick on the euphonium.
Stacey Ghent is a hard of hearing actress and musician raised in South Shields. Stacey’s TV/screen and theatre credits include a role as a teacher of the deaf in Coronation Street (ITV); A Thousand Blows (Disney+); Brassed Off and Blonde Bombshells of 1943 (Octagon Bolton/Theatre by the Lake, Keswick/Stephen Joseph, Scarborough).
Tuba player Hanna Mbuya is a member of Mercury-nominated 10-piece seed, Chineke! Orchestra and Nu Civilisation. Other collaborations have included those with artists
Anna Meredith, Jon Batiste and Soweto Kinch, in addition to appearances with horn sections alongside artists including Solange, Joy Anonymous and Arlo Parks. Recent work in theatre includes Richard III (2024) & Hansel and Gretel (2024) at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Performing Musical Director for KELI,Louis Abbott, is a multi-instrumentalist and singer and the songwriter for the chamber-pop band Admiral Fallow. Recent theatre work includes his role as co-musical director on the award-winning A Giant on the Bridge (Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024). As a musician, drummer, engineer and producer Louis has collaborated with some of Scotland’s finest musicians including King Creosote, Camera Obscura and Eddi Reader.
“The skill, the craft, is in controlling the pressure.”
KELItells the story of a fiery, sharp-witted teenager in a former mining town. Coal means little to Keli, but the mines left music in the blood of this place.
As the best player her brass band has ever had, music is easy. Everything else is a fight. Feeling trapped in small-town life, pressure mounts.
When the chance to change everything arises, can Keli keep a lid on it all?
Marking 40 years since the miners’ strikes and featuring a sharp, hilarious script and live brass score by Ivor Novello winner Martin Green, KELI is a gripping show about community, creativity, and the power of music.
Touring Scotland in 2025, the show will reach audiences across the country who belong to communities that were hugely affected by the miners’ strike of 1984-85.
Green’s journey began by chance near his home in Midlothian. Following a poster advertising ‘BRASS IN THE PARK’, he discovered a self-sustaining world of music-making that – like the folk tradition – had retained its social function and was part of the warp and weft of the communities that performed it.
The fictional play has evolved from the critically acclaimed BBC Radio 4 series Love, Spit and Valve Oil which explored the phenomenon of modern brass banding and featured interviews with members of brass bands. These interviews have inspired aspects of the characters in the play. In 2022 KELI was commissioned by The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh as a three-part audio drama.
“KELI is a hard story about the limitations placed on working-class lives, capturing teenage desperation, depression and fulfilment through music…forces of dialogue, music and folklore harmonise to a riveting final episode.” The Guardian (on the audio drama, KELI)
Martin Green is a multi-award-winning musician and Ivor Novello winning composer. As a member of Lau, he has won four BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for Best Group an unprecedented four times. In 2014 he received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists in recognition of his talent as a composer. In 2019 he won the Ivor Novello award for his large-scale installation Aeons that was part of The Great Exhibition of the North.
Most recently Martin has gone on to create critically acclaimed work for BBC Radio 4 exploring different communities all over the UK and their relationship with music. These have reached millions of listeners and been highly commended by Association of International Broadcasters.
Martin shared the stage with Whitburn Band as part of Celtic Connections at Tramway in early 2024 – “a profoundly moving affair” ***** The Scotsman.
Martin is the Artistic Director of Lepus Productions, who are co-producing KELI with National Theatre of Scotland, marking the first time the companies have collaborated.
Bryony Shanahan directs, marking her NTS debut. Previously Bryony was Joint Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, and most recently directed the acclaimed, Same Team – A Street Soccer Story for the Traverse Theatre. Other notable productions include Bloody Elle (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Soho Theatre and West End) and also for the Royal Exchange Theatre, No Pay? No Way! Beginning, Let The Right One In, Nora: A Doll’s House, Wuthering Heights, Queens of the Coal Age, Weald, and Nothing.
Martin Green, writer and composer, said: “To be making KELI with National Theatre of Scotland and Bryony Shanahan forty years on from the Miners’ Strike, feels absolutely right; an incredible team of visionary people. Perfect.”
Bryony Shanahan, director, said: “My introduction to this project was that it was about a 17-year-old called Keli – foul-mouthed, hilarious and a virtuoso flugelhorn player – who finds herself in a disused coal mine with a 150-year-old Marxist miner after the strangest night of her life.
“Oh, and that it features a live brass band. I was in! I am so thrilled to be working with National Theatre of Scotland, Lepus and Martin Green to bring KELI to life.
“It’s a story about community, legacy and above all, music and I can’t wait to invite audiences into Keli’s remarkable world and heart.”
KELI was developed with National Theatre of Scotland and The National Theatre, London’s Generate programme and was originally commissioned as an audio drama by The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. BothKELI andSPLIT THE AIRwere developed with the support of Creative Scotland and The Space.Development of KELI was also supported by Freedom Festival, Hull. The music forKELI, Split the Air, was originally commissioned by PRS Foundation for the New Music Biennial at The Southbank Centre, and UK City of Culture.
Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling (preview Sat 10 May); Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh (previews Tues 13 to Wed 14 May) Thurs 15 to Sat 17 May; Dundee Rep Thurs 22 to Sat 24 May; Perth Theatre Wed 4 to Sat 7 June; Tramway, Glasgow Wed 11 to Sat 14 June 2025.
On social: #KELI
Access info: There will be audio described, captioned performances and touch tours in Edinburgh, Dundee, Perth and Glasgow. There will also be integrated BSL interpreted and chilled performances on offer. All performances will be autism-friendly.
Theatre for a Fiver tickets are also available for 14-to-26 years and those on low-income benefits at the venues above.
Unleash your passion for football and make a real difference in North Edinburgh! We are on the hunt for dynamic and inspiring sessional coaches to join our thriving Football Development Department where, you’ll do more than coach, you’ll contributing to changing lives and supporting the community of North Edinburgh.
Be part of a team delivering top-tier commercial football programmes and driving social impact in local schools. We’re looking for enthusiastic, high-energy and engaging coaches who can ignite the love of the game in grassroots players aged 3-15 years.
If you’re ready to inspire the next generation of footballers and create a lasting impact in your community, this is your chance!
I AM VERY SAD TO PASS ON THE NEWS THAT CELEBRATED NORTH EDINBURGH COMMUNITY CAMPAIGNER BETTY McVAY PASSED AWAY YESTERDAY (10.1.25)
Betty’s family broke the news in a Facebook post last night:
It’s with a heavy heart that the McVay family share that our much loved Mum, Grandma, and Great Grandma, Betty, passed away peacefully this morning after a short illness. We will all miss her very much.
‘LEGEND’ is an over-used word, but I can’t think of a better one to sum up the remarkable wee wifey from West Pilton.
I will add further comment later, but for the moment I pass on my heartfelt condolences to Betty’s family and friends.
A one-off community singalong with Pianodrome at 11am
A ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11.15am
Family arts and craft activities
Penalty shoot-outs with Craigroyston Community Youth Football Club
Free ice cream from Lucas
Free facepainting
Exhibition stalls
Bring your family, friends and a picnic blanket for a fun day out. All are welcome! We can’t wait to see you there! 
