Just a quick reminder that tomorrow’s meeting of Drylaw Telford Community Council will start at the earlier time of 6.30pm in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre.
Easter Drylaw’s Mhairi Curran will be presented with the Thomas Tierney Award for Good Citizenship at an informal reception following the conclusion of the normal monthly business meeting.
All welcome.
Mhairi Curran is Drylaw’s Citizen of the Year. Drylaw Telford Community Council agreed that Mhairi should receive the annual Thomas Tierney Award for Good Citizenship at last week’s regular monthly meeting.
Community worker Mhairi has lived in Easter Drylaw all her life and has been actively involved in her own community for many years – firstly through the Drylaw Telford Action Group, North Edinburgh Social Reserach Group’s fuel poverty campaign and more recently as both an office bearer with Easter Drylaw Residents Association and a member of Drylaw Telford Community Council.
Community Council chairman Alex Dale nominated Mhairi. He explained: “I nominated Mhairi because she has been involved in many of the positive things that have been happening in the area over recent years. It’s recognition of her commitment to her community – her work with the community council on the open space sub group, her early contribution on the skatepark and her work with EDRA, especially last year’s campaign against dog fouling. I’m pleased that the community council supported Mhairi’s nomination.”
It’s likely that Mhairi will receive her award at a reception in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre on 26 March. Congratulations, Mhairi!
Public meeting planned to discuss parking proposals
PRIORITY PARKING SCHEME in TELFORD
For or Against?
Following concerns made to Inverleith’s CEC Councillors by residents in Telford in regards to increased commuter parking and the CEC consultation on introducing a Priority Parking Scheme. Drylaw Telford Community Council have organised a meeting to be held in:
THE TELFORD ARMS on 31 MARCH @ 7:15pm
The purpose of this is for you as residents of Telford to receive a full explanation on how the Priority Parking Scheme could operate and the benefits it will bring to you, the cost of a yearly permit and the hours of operation. There will be also discussions on other options which could help parking situation in Telford.
So come and along and listen and find out all about the scheme and the success of it in other areas of the city which like Telford has or had large commuter parking problems.
In attendance :- Gavin Brown (Parking Operation Manager) & John Richmond (Senior Professional Officer) from the City of Edinburgh Council, Parking Operations Department. Inverleith Councillors Lesley Hinds, Iain Whyte, Gavin Barrie & Nigel Bagshaw.
DRYLAW TELFORD COMMUNITY COUNCIL
www.drylawtelfordcc.co.uk
@DrylawTelfordCC
secretary@drylawtelfordcc.co.uk
DTCC Telford Priority Parking Flier. (1)
Do you know someone who gave up their time to help the Drylaw Telford community last year? A local volunteer who went that extra mile to support a neighbour, or a community group that’s worked to improve the local environment or enhance the quality of life in the neighbourhood? If so, Drylaw Telford Community Council wants to hear from you!
The local community council is now seeking nominations for the Thomas Tierney Award for Good Citizenship.
Tam Tierney was a committed community activist from Wester Drylaw who was involved in many of the positive things that happening in the Greater Pilton area during the Eighties and Nineties.
He was a stalwart of Pilton Sporting Club, chaired Craigroyston Community Centre for many years, was an active and enthusiastic member of Drylaw Telford Community Council. Tam was also part of the steering group – and subsequently a member of the first management committee – of Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre which opened in 1995.
When Tam passed away in 1999, Drylaw Telford Community Council decided to mark Tam’s contribution to community life – not only to celebrate his achievements but also to try to encourage others to become more active within their community.
Every year since 2000, the community council has chosen a new recipient of the Award. They are all very different, and each was nominated for a wide variety of reasons. The one thing they have in common, however – indeed the one thing they must have in common – is that they freely contribute their time to do something that makes the Drylaw Telford neighbourhood a better place to live.
Former recipients have done that in many ways – helping out as a volunteer with local projects, doing their neighbours’ shopping, supporting local groups by serving on management committees … and some have done all of these things and more!
Drylaw Telford Community Council chairman Alex Dale – who was recipient of the 2012 award – said: “The Thomas Tierney Award is an important date on our community council calendar and is usually the best attended meeting of the year.We have slightly changed the criteria for the Award this year and we hope this will encourage more people to make nominations”.
If you think you know someone who may fit the bill, visit the community council’s website at www.drylawtelfordcc.co.uk
email Secretary@drylawtelfordcc.co.uk
or contact Jackie Brown at Rainbow Daycare Centre in Drylaw Church for a nomination form.
Agenda DTCC Mtg. 30th October 2013
Just a reminder that Drylaw Telford Community Council meets tonight at 7pm in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre off Groathill Road North.
Among items on tonight’s agenda (see above) are the election of office-bearers for the forthcoming year, as well as updates on a variety of local community initiatives.
As ever, the meeting is open to the public – all welcome!
Drylaw Telford community councillors will be busy on Wednesday 28 August.
As well as the regular monthly meeting in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre at 7pm, community councillors are conducting a walkabout and discussion about 20mph zones that same morning – meet at Ferryhill School entrance on Groathill Road at 10am.
All welcome at both activities!
![images[7]](https://i0.wp.com/nen.press/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/images7.jpg?ssl=1)
Aged lampposts in Edinburgh will be replaced with more energy-efficient equipment after an additional £1 million was sourced this year, the city council has announced.
The extra funding will be used to replace up to 760 old concrete and steel lampposts which failed an independent risk-based structural test.
The new aluminium columns are the first choice in street lighting designs as they do not need ongoing maintenance and have a design life of more than 50 years – almost double the design life of the old concrete and steel columns. They are also built using recycled material and can be recycled again at the end of their life.
Street lighting electricity costs are predicted to double by 2020 and the new posts will be fitted with energy-efficient white light lanterns, which will support the drive to reduce electricity costs whilst helping the Council to meet environmental targets.
Councillor Lesley Hinds, Environment Convener, said: “Replacing old lampposts with modern aluminium columns makes both environmental and financial sense. They last up to twice as long as the traditional designs, and can even be recycled once finished with.
This would be an ideal opportunity to save energy and our carbon footprint, as well as to reduce the amount paid to light the city. It would also help to improve safety of residents and visitors.”
The new street lights have not met with universal approval, however. Drylaw Telford Community Council raised concerns over the positioning and power of new lights when they were installed late in 2011.
Community council treasurer Jackie Brown said then: “The new lights are lower and less powerful so don’t shed nearly as much light. Older members of the community are feeling vulnerable. Some of them are carrying torches so that they can see where to put the key in the door lock when they get home, while some others are avoiding going out altogether when it gets dark. It’s not only older people who are affected by the new lights, though – lots of people are not happy with the new lights.”
The community council has since been working with council officers to improve lighting in problem areas, and recently conducted a consultation in Wester Drylaw Place.
Community council chairman Alex Dale said: “We publicised the consultation with flyers and leaflets and highlighted the issue on our website, but the volume of response to the survey was slightly disappointing – in all there were 19 postcard responses, and two further replies via Survey Monkey.
Drylaw’s lonesome stone bench is moo-ving on to pastures new. The striking stone bench – which features the heads of a sheep and a bull (or maybe a ram and a cow!) to signify the area’s past use as farmland – will make the short journey east from Drylaw Field to a new home at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre after repeated attacks by vandals.
The stone bench was the centrepiece of an upgrade to Drylaw Field six years ago – the bench was unveiled by then Lord Provost George Grubb in September 2007 (pictured below).
Almost since it’s introduction, however, the sculpture has been the targeted by vandals. It’s been spray-painted, graffiti has been scrawled on it, attempts have been made to set it on fire and it’s been physically attacked with rocks and boulders – it now looks like it has gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson and it’s a sorry sight (below).
Given the punishment the animal seat has taken over the years, Drylaw Telford Community Council has reluctantly decided to find a safer new home for the beast.
“It’s sad that we’re having to do this, but the bench was being slowly but surely destroyed and the community council agreed that this was the only course of action we could take”, said Alex Dale, chair of Drylaw Telford Community Council. “I spoke to Roy Douglas, manager at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre and they are happy to take the bench there. The bench won’t be as visible as it was in Drylaw Park, but local residents will still be able to see it when they visit the Centre and at least it will be safer there – the Neighbourhood Centre has CCTV and other security measures so we hope there may be a good few years left yet in the Drylaw bench.”
Staff at the city council’s North Local Office will supervise the move later this month. It’s not known at this stage whether officers from the Scottish SPCA will also be in attendance.
Drylaw Telford Community Council chairman Alex Dale was presented with the Thomas Tierney Award for Good Citizenship at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre last week. Alex was joined by friends and family, members of the Tierney family and community councillors at a short reception to celebrate the event.
Tam Tierney was a celebrated community activist from Wester Drylaw who was heavily involved in many of the positive things that were happening in the Greater Pilton area in the eighties and nineties. Goodness, we are talking about the last century here …
To mention just a few of Tam’s many community activities, he was a mainstay of Pilton Sporting Club, chaired Craigroyston Community Centre, was an active member of Drylaw Telford Community Council and was also part of the steering group – and then a member of the management committee – of Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre which opened in 1995.
Tam’s death came as a real blow; of course to his family, but also to Drylaw and the wider community. After all, Tam was involved in so much: he had huge experience and a legion of useful contacts he’d built up over the years. No-one’s irreplaceable, but Tam’s passing left a considerable void.
Drylaw Telford Community Council wanted to mark Tam’s contribution to community life in Greater Pilton, not only celebrating his achievements but also to try to encourage others to become active within their community. We came up with the idea of the annual Thomas (note the ‘posh’ use of the Sunday name!) Tierney Award for Good Citizenship.
Every year since 2000, the community council has chosen a new recipient of the Award. They are all very different, and each was nominated for a wide variety of reasons. The one thing they have in common, however – indeed the one thing they must have in common – is that they do something that makes the Drylaw Telford neighbourhood a better place to live. Individuals do that in so many ways – helping out as a volunteer with local projects, doing their neighbours’ shopping, supporting local groups by serving on management committees … there are lots of ways to do things for your community.
Last week, Alex Dale became the latest recipient of the award. Alex’s nomination was well-deserved. He first got involved in community activities shortly after his retirement from the Forestry Commission – and I don’t think he’s put his feet up since!
Alex got involved when he opposed a proposal to build houses on designated green spaces in Drylaw, and it was a natural progression that he went on to get involved in the community council’s fledgling Open Space sub-group in 2006.
In the Open Space sub group the community council worked in partnership with other organisations including the Pilton Partnership and Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust to map all of Drylaw Telford’s green spaces, then consulted with local residents to find out what we should try to do with these spaces. It was no small task – indeed, it was the biggest initiative the community council had ever undertaken, by far – but it proved worthwhile, with open spaces in both Easter and Wester Drylaw upgraded with the ongoing support of the city council.
Volunteers like Alex helped to make that Open Space initiative a success, and all that legwork clearly didn’t put him off – he joined the community council at the last elections and became Chair last May. He’s also an active and enthusiastic member of North Edinburgh News’ board of directors.
I’ve never known anyone to have a greater appetite for meetings than Alex. I think he lives by the philosophy: ‘a day without meetings is like a day without sunshine!’ But the key to successful participation at meetings is to understand what is being discussed, make a contribution and then report back in a way that your colleagues can understand – and Alex is excellent at this. Whether it’s Neighbourhood Partnerships, NEP group or Transport Forum, Alex will attend, comprehend and then explain what transpired there. Our community council is now possibly the best informed in Edinburgh!
Diligent, reliable and conscientious may not be exciting adjectives, but activists who possess these qualities are worth their weight in gold; every community needs one and Drylaw Telford is very lucky to have one in Alex.
Dedicated activists are thin on the ground – North Edinburgh has lost two leading lights this year in Billy Anderson and, more recently, Brian Robertson – and it makes you appreciate all the more those unsung heroes who quietly go about their business to make their neighbourhood a better place to live – not for personal gain or reward, but because they care for and about their communities. Commitment like that is needed just as much now as it ever was.
All types of people do still give up their time, joining together to campaign for improvements – often uniting over threats or unwelcome intrusions into their communities, but sometimes coming together to campaign for positive things too: like the upgrading of green spaces or a new Neighbourhood Centre in Drylaw – or the reopening of a community asset like Leith Waterworld. In Drylaw, we can identify with and feel the pain of the Splashback campaigners – we’ve tasted that bitter taste of defeat on occasion too. Community activism can sometimes feel like one step forward, two steps back – but it does mean that, when you do win a small victory, it tastes even sweeter. You remember the ones you win because they don’t come around too often.
So many thanks and congratulations to Alex, indeed to volunteers everywhere – and with community council elections looming let’s hope a few like him can be encouraged to step forward: your community needs you!
