Local derby opens new pitches at Hunters Hall

Sports facilities at Hunter Hall Park in Edinburgh have received a boost thanks to the opening of two new third generation (3G) artificial grass pitch (AGP).

The park, can now boast some of the best sporting facilities in the local area and both pitches will be floodlit, allowing year-round use in late evenings and during the winter.

The new pitches were officially opened by Culture and Communities Convener, Donald Wilson on Friday 10 January. He was joined by representatives from Edinburgh Leisure and Scottish Football Association at a special opening ceremony.

Players from local teams Edina and Gold & Gray cheered the opening before kicking off a friendly match.

The football pitches offer outstanding amenities for the local sports clubs and the wider community. This phase of the redevelopment of the facilities in the area has also brought improved path network and overflow car park.

Funding from Section 75 contributions from local developments has enabled the Council to refurbish the existing 2G full size pitch and convert an existing grass pitch area to form a new 7-aside floodlit 3G playing surface.

This modern facility can be much more widely used, becoming a community hub for football in the area. The work was carried out by Allsports Construction & Maintenance Ltd.

Culture and Communities Convener Cllr Donald Wilson said: “I’m delighted that with our partners we have been able to provide these pitches which will offer year-round opportunities for both adults and young people to take part in sport.

“Not only will it help to increase participation in football and outdoor sport, it will also help the development of grassroots football in the area.

“As a council, we are committed to encouraging and enabling everyone to become more physically active and enjoy the associated benefits. We want sport to be as accessible as possible for our residents and our investment in fit-for-purpose sports facilities is helping to ensure that as many people as possible can get involved in sport throughout the year.”

An Edinburgh Leisure spokesperson said: “Making a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of the people of Edinburgh is at the heart of what we do.

“The upgraded 3G floodlit pitches will mean more opportunities for the local community to get involved in grassroots football.”

David Gold from Gold & Gray Soccer Academy added: “We are very fortunate to work in partnership with Edinburgh leisure and the Jack Kane Centre.

“The standard of Astro allows us to put on quality sessions that benefit the physical health and wellbeing of the community as a whole.”

Brian Gunn, committee member of Edina Hibs added: “The new Astro turf pitch facilities at the Jack Kane Sports Centre are just what Edina Hibs Football Club and the local sports community needed.

“The new facility will enable Edina Hibs, in partnership with Edinburgh Leisure and Jack Kane Sports Centre, deliver our core aim of providing team sports to help keep children healthy and happy in the local community and beyond.

Jennifer Malone South East Regional Manager, Scottish Football Association added: “It’s fantastic to see this new facility opening which in turn will hopefully see even more of the local community taking part in the game.”

What’s on at Museums & Galleries Edinburgh this October half term

Museums & Galleries Edinburgh, the collection of 13 venues and monuments across the city, are full of exhibitions, events and experiences to keep the kids entertained this half term.

From climbing the steps of ancient monuments, to catching the final weekend of a 5* art exhibition, there’s something for all interests and ages. Continue reading What’s on at Museums & Galleries Edinburgh this October half term

Moving Out: Museum of Childhood closes for refurbishment

Curators have packed away hundreds of artefacts, including dolls, toy cars and even an Emu Puppet as the Museum of Childhood closes for refurbishment. Continue reading Moving Out: Museum of Childhood closes for refurbishment

Library receives special consignment of Scandinavian stories

Visitors to Edinburgh’s Central Library will be able to sample a special selection of Nordic noir, as well as sci-fi, history and poetry, thanks to a delivery by the Finnish Institute in London. Continue reading Library receives special consignment of Scandinavian stories

Encore, encore: record-breaking year for city venues

It’s been a record-breaking year for Edinburgh’s theatres with venues breaking footfall and income targets across the city. Annual reports from some of Edinburgh’s key cultural venues were hailed by councillors at a meeting of the Culture & Sport Committee earlier this week. Continue reading Encore, encore: record-breaking year for city venues

The show must go on!

Government commits over £2m to Edinburgh’s festivals

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs, has confirmed £2.25m in funding to support Edinburgh’s festivals.

The latest round of the Scottish Government Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund will support twelve projects and the work of strategic umbrella organisation Festivals Edinburgh in 2015/2016.

The Expo Fund provides Edinburgh Festivals with £2.25 million to promote themselves to overseas audiences and invest in the work of talented Scottish artists and performers. Running since 2008, this year’s allocation brings the total invested close to £16m.

The focus of the 2015/16 Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund is new creative works by Scottish artists, international collaboration and the promotion of Edinburgh as the best festival city in the world.

Ms Hyslop said: “The Scottish Government Expo Fund is direct investment in the future of Edinburgh’s Festivals. The fund has given the festivals scope to deliver world class pieces and performances that have caught the imagination of international audiences. Thanks to the Expo Fund festivals are working more closely together boosting tourism and Scotland’s cultural ambitions.

“The investment in Edinburgh’s Festival is about creating long term benefits for Scottish artists, the economy and our country’s’ international reputation. The Edinburgh festivals contribute more than £250m in additional tourism revenue to Scotland’s economy but just as important is their international profile.

“Edinburgh’s Festivals have been defining and promoting Scotland’s identity as a confident, creative, welcoming nation for over 65 years. We are supporting their work through the Expo Fund to fund innovation, collaboration and artist development, all vital for future success of our festivals.”

Faith Liddell, Director at Festivals Edinburgh, said: ‘The Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund provides an incredibly powerful platform for Scotland and its artists, thinkers and companies to be showcased to the world at Edinburgh’s Festivals.

“As a direct result, not only have hundreds of performances and events of the best Scottish work been presented as highlights in our prestigious Festival programmes; many have also been taken to other venues and festivals around the world and new networks and opportunities have been delivered for Scotland’s artists and thinkers.”

All twelve of Festival Edinburgh’s members benefit from the Expo Fund. The funded projects develop the creative industries at home and showcase Scottish talent abroad. The projects included in this round of funding are:

‘A Bollywood Love Story’, a collaboration between the Edinburgh Mela and The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. A forty-minute, full length show in the Bollywood tradition will be created for the Mela Festival. Key aspects of the show will also be presented as part of this year’s Edinburgh Tattoo in August.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival Short Film Challenge will profile new Scottish filmmakers from across the country and the EIFF Talent Lab and Animation Lab will work with emerging feature film writers, directors and producers during the 2015 Festival.
The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival will use the funding to create new works by Scottish musicians and opportunities for them to perform internationally.
The Edinburgh International Festival will premiere a new stage adaptation of a classic Scottish novel with a leading Scottish theatre in 2015.
Expo Funding supports Edinburgh Art Festival’s commitment to opening up new and unexpected places across the city through its annual, city-wide commissions programme, providing a platform for leading and emerging Scottish artists to make ambitious publicly-sited work.
How a multilingual society influences literature in Scotland and elsewhere and how language and identity shapes the writers that Scotland produces will be examined in a dedicated strand for Edinburgh International Book Festival.
The Mela World Dance Feste continues this year as a platform for diverse arts within Scotland and will work alongside ‘A Bollywood Love Story’
Expo Funding makes the Made in Scotland Showcase, part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, possible.
The fund has already supported Scot_Lands during the 2015 Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations earlier this year.
Expo Funding will support, live and digital works as part of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival will bring some of Scotland’s oldest cultural resource to international audiences with explorations of global issues.
In celebration of Scotland’s year of Innovation, Architecture and Design in 2016, the Edinburgh International Science Festival will launch a major new programme that will combine a cutting-edge technology showcase with an innovative series of associated events for teenagers.
Imaginate Platforms will be a celebration and showcase of Scottish-based artists who consistently create work of a world class standard for children and young people.

Festivals Edinburgh receives £250,000 to continue to promote and position Edinburgh as the world’s leading festival city.

Since 2008 the Scottish Government Expo Fund has provided a legacy of important new work. This includes writing by Don Paterson, Ali Smith and James Robertson to installations by artists Callum Innes and Martin Creed at Regent Bridge and the Scotsman Steps as well as science installations and ambitious new performing arts commissions that have gone on to tour around the world.

That funding in full:

Funding (2015/16)

Edinburgh Art Festival	£150,000
Edinburgh International Book Festival	£110,000
Edinburgh International Film Festival	£115,000
Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Made in Scotland	£590,000
Imaginate	£89,700
Edinburgh International Festival (EIF)	£200,000
Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival	£110,000
Edinburgh Mela	£80,000
Edinburgh International Science Festival	£100,000
Scottish Storytelling Festival	£95,300
Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo & Edinburgh Mela	£160,000
Hogmanay Festival	£200,000
TOTAL	£2,000,000

Money well spent? Is the government right to support arts and culture to this extent when so many public services are under severe pressure? Or do you think our festivals are a key element in Edinburgh’s quality of life and deserve to be supported?

Let us know!

Skate parks and car parking on Drylaw Telford agenda

The proposed priority parking scheme in Telford and an update on Drylaw skate park feature on next week’s Drylaw Telford Community Council meeting agenda.

The meeting will be held in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre on Wednesday 25 February at 7pm. All welcome.

Scars on the City: new exhibition at Museum of Edinburgh

The hardship and horror of a war that reached beyond the front line to our own doorsteps has been captured in a new exhibition at the City of Edinburgh Council’s Museum of Edinburgh.

On display from today until 27 June, Scars on the City: Edinburgh in World War I draws on the Capital’s extensive collection of objects and oral archives to recall what it was like to be in Edinburgh while the war was raging.

Documenting the stories of local munitions workers, nurses and children – and including an account of war recruitment drives that thronged the city’s streets – the display homes in on the tragic zeppelin raids of April 1916 which destroyed local buildings and scarred the Capital.

Councillor Richard Lewis, Culture and Sport Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said the exhibition offers a stirring glimpse at life on the home front during WW1. He said: “Scars on the City reveals the will of Edinburgh’s home front and how people coped with the hardship and dangers of the war. Most of the objects and photographs on display are from the city’s own archives, and have been based on fascinating accounts from those who lived through the unrest.

“Over the last year the Council has provided a programme of free exhibitions and events across the city which commemorate the centenary of WW1 and life on the front line. This free to visit display brings it back ‘home’ and recalls what life was like for those left behind. It’s hard to imagine Edinburgh’s skyline being attacked from the air by zeppelins, and it is stirring to see how the city was destroyed, but also how it survived and was rebuilt.”

Exhibition curator Vicky Garrington said she was spoilt for choice when it came to selecting objects for the exhibition. She commented: “We’ve got some wonderful objects that will really transport visitors back to wartime Edinburgh. There are pieces of shrapnel collected after the zeppelin raids on Edinburgh in April 1916. A Braille pocket watch used by a blinded ex-servicemen shows the sacrifices made to defend Britain, and younger visitors will enjoy seeing the toys and games children played with during the war, drawn from the Museum of Childhood collection.

“I was surprised to find out how clued up young people at the time were about the details of the War. Cigarette cards taught them about ranks, Army signals and artillery, while board games challenged them to evade mines and bombs en route to Berlin.”

Scars on the City: Edinburgh in World War I will be on display at the Museum of Edinburgh until 27 June 2015.

The Museum is owned and managed by the City of Edinburgh Council’s Museums & Galleries service and is free to visit.

Edinburgh’s budget: what future for Meadowbank?

Can city afford to meet funding shortfall of over £11.3 million?

Councillors will be asked to consider the future of Meadowbank Sports Centre and Stadium as part of the city council’s budget considerations if proposals to be presented to next week’s Corporate Policy and Strategy Committee are agreed.

As Meadowbank heads towards its fiftieth birthday, a report on potential costs and scoping for a replacement venue that would be “fit for the 21st Century” will be presented to the Committee on 20 January. Members will be asked to refer the proposals for a new venue for a decision as part of the Council’s budget considerations on 12 February.

Funding options and architectural design concepts for replacing Meadowbank, which was originally built for Edinburgh’s 1970 Commonwealth Games, have been developed with input from relevant governing bodies of sport. The plans would see the existing site transformed into a brand new sports centre that would serve the sporting needs of the local community as well as the city and east of Scotland with facilities for physical activity, health and wellbeing.

The funding proposals estimate the overall cost of building a new Meadowbank facility as £43m. It is envisaged that this will be achieved through funding from SportScotland of between £5m to £7m; revenue savings to the Council from closing the facilities during construction; prudential borrowing based on forecasts for net income and through the sale of surplus land at Meadowbank. This would leave funding required to be identified by the Council of between £11.3m and £19.8m.

Should funding be agreed by Council on 12 February, a new Meadowbank would include:

An outdoor athletics track with seating for 500
An indoor 60m six lane athletics track with jumps area
An outdoor throws area
A 3G synthetic sports pitch or grass pitch in the centre of the outdoor athletics track for football, rugby and other pitch sports
An additional outdoor 3G synthetic sports pitch
An eight badminton court sports hall with 500 permanent seats plus bleachers (the same size as the current Meadowbank Hall 1)
A four badminton court sports hall with 500 permanent seats(the same size as the current Meadowbank Hall 2)
A gymnastics hall, gym, studios, changing facilities, café, meeting rooms.

If these current plans are agreed, and funding is secured, the new Meadowbank could be ready by 2018. If the decision is taken not to proceed, however, options for a planned withdrawal of service at Meadowbank over the next five years will be identified.

Councillor Richard Lewis, Culture and Sport Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “For almost 50 years now, Meadowbank has nurtured sporting participation at all levels – from those taking part for recreational and health benefits to those training for success and medals on a Scottish and international stage. It feels right that after Scotland’s successful Commonwealth Games 2014, we kick off 2015 by considering the future of the country’s very first Games venue.

“The feasibility study requested by the Council in February 2014 has now been completed and before progressing further, a decision from Council is required as to whether it can meet the £11.3m to £19.8m funding shortfall currently projected.

“Over half a million users visit Meadowbank every year and it is a much-loved city sports facility, but we will need to consider how we can source funding for a project of this scale given the financial pressures the Council faces.

“If agreed by the Corporate Policy and Strategy Committee, the future of Meadowbank will form part of the Council’s budget considerations for the next financial year.”

June Peebles, Interim Chief Executive of Edinburgh Leisure, said: “Meadowbank is part of Edinburgh’s sporting heritage and continues to attract thousands of customers, participating in a wide range of physical activities, through its doors every week.

“Edinburgh Leisure is therefore delighted to be working with the Council on this exciting project which could create a new Meadowbank for the city, creating an inspiring and welcoming venue that supports even more people to get active, stay active and achieve more.”

Breakthrough for Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden?

It has taken over a year to finally get the amazing news, but planning permission to demolish listed structures and build 17 luxury townhouses in the Historic Garden is now officially being WITHDRAWN !!!

Our Friends Group members recently met with the development company to propose community-led restoration and productive use of the walled garden. We hope that Waterfront Edinburgh Ltd’s board members will now hear the voices of hundreds of community members and recognise the value of this fertile ‘secret’ garden to local people. The Oldest Walled Garden in Edinburgh deserves a chance to survive!

Tree Preservation Orders have been applied for, to protect the remaining Victorian apple trees
Historic Scotland and other suitably qualified conservation organisations have been contacted to advise on restoration work needed and costs
New access track idea, to allow community members to restore and work in the garden without disturbing nearby residents.

What next for Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden?

November was a very busy month for the Friends Group, productive meetings and new members adding their energy and enthusiasm to help save this walled garden.

We now have a draft constitution, rising community interest and possibilities of funding to get started. Let’s hope that our councillors and community voices will be heard and this garden treasured for future generations to enjoy!

A ‘timeline’ of our community campaign was put together to help everyone understand the story How the Friends Group started

This is posted on the Friends Group webpage along with the history of the garden, what happened to the castle, and some of our ideas for the garden’s restoration and community use.

Our next meeting:

Should Granton Castle Walled Garden become Common Good Land?

General Meeting of Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden

Thursday 8 January at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre

6-7.30 pm, seating limited to 30

Please get in touch if you want to come along or add points to the meeting agenda:

grantoncastlegardengroup@gmail.com

or catch us on FB or wordpress where an update on the meeting and notes will be posted in the new year!

Kirsty Sutherland, Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden