Tag: engagement

Immediate action needed to secure future of Edinburgh South Community Football Club, warns Ian Murray MP

Ian Murray, MP for Edinburgh South, has called on the City of Edinburgh Council in a formal open letter today to take urgent steps to secure the future of Edinburgh South Community Football Club (ESCFC), one of Scotland’s biggest and most successful community clubs.

ESCFC, has over 1,000 players across 75 teams and more than 200 volunteers, collectively contributing over 40,000 hours of unpaid time, is facing severe challenges due to a shortage of pitches and lack of long-term security over its facilities. Every week, 5–10 children are being turned away, while six full teams, around 120 young people, risk having nowhere to train from September.

Despite more than seven years of talks with the Council, the club still does not have the land security or access to facilities it needs. Edinburgh Leisure has not responded since March regarding long-term Astro pitch availability, and without action the club has missed out on major investment opportunities, such as the £8.6m Scottish FA Pitching In fund.

The club’s impact stretches far beyond football, with initiatives including:

  • Free after school club and holiday camps (averaging 600 free places weekly across the year)
  • Free mental health counselling and physiotherapy
  • Racism and disability awareness training
  • Free use of club facilities for local schools
  • Fee waivers and discounts for families in need
  • Completely free Soccer School every Saturday for up to 120 children aged 5-8

ESCFC is a Platinum-level accredited club, the highest recognition awarded by the SFA, and has been nominated for National Community Club of the Year.

Ian Murray MP said: ““Edinburgh South CFC is a shining example of everything that is good about grassroots football. The scale of the club’s impact from free school holiday places to counselling, mentoring, and a boot exchange programme is extraordinary.

“But that success is now under threat. It is simply unsustainable for children to be turned away week after week because of a lack of facilities and security, and miss out on repeated funding rounds.

“This has gone on far too long. The Council must now step up, work with the club, and deliver the long-term security and pitches it desperately needs.”

Joe Sneddon, Chair of Edinburgh South CFC, said: “Our ethos has always been simple: if you want to play, you play. Thanks to our incredible volunteers we’ve been able to make that a reality for decades, but the lack of facilities and long-term backing is now putting that at risk. We don’t want to turn children away, yet that’s exactly what is happening. 

“The Council cannot allow a club of this standing, delivering this scale of community benefit, to be held back by lack of facilities and short-term agreements. The time for warm words is over, we need action to allow us to continue delivering for our communities.”

Ian Murray has written formally to the Council setting out a series of practical steps, including a new Astroturf pitch at Inch Park, guaranteed access to the new Liberton High School Astro, and long-term leases at key facilities across South Edinburgh.

ESCFCletterDownload

Working with Migrants? Cultural Competence training opportunity

📢📢📢Elevate your professional practice with our Cultural Competence Training, designed for those working with migrants. Enhance communication, build trust, and deliver more personalised, person-centred care.

What you’ll learn:

Effective cross-cultural communication

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

Cultural awareness and safeguarding

Understanding migrant integration

Details:

21.10.2025 at ELREC, 14 Forth St., EH1 3LH

Duration: Full-Day (6 hours)

Pricing: £105 per person

Registration: email mrostami@elrec.org.uk

Don’t miss this chance to deepen your knowledge and make a real difference!

#CulturalCompetence#ProfessionalDevelopment#MigrantSupport#Training#Edinburgh.

Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust speak out on impact of EIJB cuts

Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust, working alongside our partners in the Thrive Collective, is deeply disappointed by the recent decision of the Edinburgh Integrated Joint Board (EIJB) to end the Thrive contract for Physical Activities and Greenspaces from the end of November.

Through Thrive, we and our partners have worked in close collaboration with communities, health services, and local organisations to provide inclusive opportunities that improve physical and mental wellbeing.

We are proud of the collective impact that this work has had for people across Edinburgh, particularly those experiencing health inequalities.

This follows the earlier decision to withdraw grant funding for our Healthy Lifestyles work in South Edinburgh. Together, these cuts represent a significant reduction in support for programmes that enable communities across the city to access the health and wellbeing benefits of nature, physical activity, and local greenspaces.

The decision will have a real impact on the 1250 participants who rely on these programmes to support their physical health, mental wellbeing, and sense of social connection. Many of the people we work with face health inequalities and barriers to accessing mainstream services, and these activities have provided an essential lifeline.

Charlie Cumming, ELGT Chief Executive, confirmed the loss of this funding will directly affect our capacity to deliver dedicated programmes that improve health through engagement with local greenspaces.

It will also reduce the resources that are community-based, accessible, and effective alternatives to clinical treatment—helping people recover and build resilience outside of primary care settings.

Despite this setback, ELGT remain committed to championing greenspaces and active lives as vital to Edinburgh’s health and wellbeing.

We will continue to explore new ways of sustaining this essential work and will seek to secure funding that ensures these opportunities remain accessible to the communities who need them most.

We would like to sincerely thank all participants, volunteers, and partner organisations who have engaged with us.

Your commitment and enthusiasm highlight just how much this work matters and the difference it makes across the city.

EDINBURGH & LOTHIANS GREENSPACE TRUST

Come and have your say about Drylaw Shopping Centre

DRYLAW SHOPPING CENTRE STREETSCAPE CONSULTATION

THURSDAY 4th SEPTEMBER from 4 – 7pm or respond ONLINE

We are progressing designs for improvements to the area surrounding the Drylaw Shopping Centre.

The proposals aim to address existing issues within the shopping centre, such as; sustainability, accessibility, car parking, vehicular movement, aesthetic appeal, sight lines and safety.

The Drylaw Shopping Centre forms part of the wider Drylaw and Telford Masterplan one of the 13 proposed improvement projects that aim to reimagine local streets and public spaces, making them healthier, more accessible, and nature-positive – while also tackling surface water and flooding challenges in the area.

To help refine the concept designs, we will be conducting a drop-in community and business engagement session at the Shopping Centre on the below date.

Please feel free to visit to give your views on the designs:

📍 Location: Next to Farmfoods at Drylaw Shopping Centre, 661 Ferry Road
📅 Date: Thursday 4th September 2025
🕚 Time: 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Consultation Hub Online Survey:

In addition to the in person engagement, a survey for the project is now live on The City of Edinburgh Council’s Consultation Hub and will run until 8th October 2025.

Please find a link to the survey here and to find out more: 

https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/drylaw-consultation/

Sun shines on R2 Garden Party

R2 SUMMER EVENT HELD AT GRANTON CASTLE WALLED GARDEN

R2 held our Summer Garden Party in Granton Castle’s Walled Garden last week.

Garden Parties are becoming something of an annual event for R2 – last year’s gathering at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre was a great success – and once again the event proved very popular with more than fifty local organisations represented.

Granton Castle’s Walled Garden is very much a hidden jewel, and for many participants it was a first opportunity to enjoy the wonderful green space that is tucked away between Caroline Park House and Social Bite Village.

Following a delicious buffet lunch provided by North Edinburgh’s very own Empty Kitchens Full Hearts, Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden chairperson Gillean Paterson treated visitors to a tour of the near three-acre site – and there was a delight around every corner.

From flowers beds and vegetable patches to an impressive orchard stocked with a great variety of apple, damson and plum trees, the garden is a natural wonder, teeming with life. The walled garden is ablaze with colour, and this despite the fact that there is no electricity supply and no running water on-site!

Tended by a team of enthusiastic volunteers – I was given my own wee personal tour by one volunteer who has put his handyman and building skills to good use all over the site – the garden really is an amazing local success story.

The Garden Party was an opportunity for R2 member projects to network and share information, and – maybe it was the sunshine! – there seemed to be more positive news to share than has sometimes been the case in the past.  We even had music!

Connections have been made with a number of local organisations who now use the garden space regularly, and I have no doubt many more will now be making a beeline down to Granton Castle Walled Garden again following the R2 visit!

For further information about Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden, visit their website or email  grantongarden@gmail.com.

For further information about R2, email Anita at hello@R2.org.uk

Scotland DEMANDS Better events

Change for the better happens when people stand together and demand it. Scotland Demands Better is the march and rally for all of us.

On Saturday 25 October thousands will come together in Edinburgh to demand that politicians make the changes we need for a society where every household can thrive and prosper.

We’re holding a series of public meetings across the country, and we’ve just got dates for the first three – in Glasgow on 4 Sep, Edinburgh on 9 Sep, and Dundee on 11 Sep. We’ll be sharing further details on the Scotland Demands Better website in the coming days.

On the updated Scotland Demands Better website, you can also download our new toolkit, with lots of inspiration and ideas about how you can get involved and mobilise people in your communites. You can also order a Promo Pack, with posters, leaflets, badges, and stickers.

On Thursday 14 August at 1pm and then again at 7pm we’re hosting free online events where activists can join to talk about how the campaign is going so far, and how we can best organise transport to get people to Edinburgh on the day.

And there’s a fantastic guest blog from Andrea Bradley, General Secretary of the EIS teaching union, outlining why teachers and lecturers are standing up to say Scotland Demands Better.

Photomontaging Resistance Workshop and Community Lunch at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre

THURSDAY 5th & THURSDAY 19th AUGUST at RWCC

There is also a follow-up Songs of Protest workshop  TOMORROW morning (Thursday 31st July) from 10 – 12.30 at North Edinburgh Arts.   

Penny Stone will be introducing  more protest songs before we get down to writing a few more verses for a new North Edinburgh protest song!

Clive Myrie and Prof Danny Dorling to appear at the 2025 Festival of Politics

The Scottish Parliament’s Festival of Politics returns this August with a three-day programme of over 30 events, taking place in Holyrood, the home of Scottish politics between Wednesday 20 to Friday 22 August 2025.

BBC journalist Clive Myrie will appear as part of the line-up this year, in conversation with the Deputy Presiding Officer Liam McArthur MSP where he will discuss his incredible 30-year broadcasting career.

Professor Danny Dorling, renowned social geographer, will explore the impact of politics on the UK’s housing, education, poverty and inequality levels, and will offer robust solutions on how to address these challenges of our age.

In addition, our Festival programme features leading experts from the worlds of politics, the arts, business, the media and the third sector. With events on topics tackling some of the big issues facing Scotland, the UK and the world such as the use of AI, peace in the Middle East, how we tackle misogyny and our use of technology.

The Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament the Rt Hon Alison Johnstone MSP said: “This year’s Festival promises lively debates, thought-provoking panels and inspiring voices tackling some of the most pressing social, political and environmental issues of our time.”

In addition, there is a lively free programme of entertainment, exhibitions and even a robot in the Festival Café Bar.

Tickets can be booked now on our website:

Book tickets

Most events will be available to view on our YouTube channel after the Festival has finished for those unable to attend in-person.

Queen Margaret University welcomes locals to summer Community Forum

Members of the local community are invited to Queen Margaret University’s upcoming Community Forum on Wednesday 18 June 2025, from 6:30pm to 7:45pm, where attendees can learn more about the University’s efforts to support innovation, entrepreneurship, and inclusive economic growth across East Lothian. 

Held twice a year, the Community Forum is a valuable opportunity for local residents and East Lothian representatives to engage directly with the University, share ideas, and explore areas of mutual interest. 

This summer’s forum will take place at QMU’s Start-Up Studio, a new hub dedicated to nurturing entrepreneurial ambition. The Studio, which combines business support from Business Gateway and the new Bright Red Triangle service, provides expert advice, resources, and funding for students, staff, graduates and the local community to turn ideas into impactful services and ventures. 

The evening will feature a short presentation from Carolyn Low, QMU’s Knowledge Exchange Manager, and Angela Lamont, East Lothian Council’s Community Wealth Building Officer.

They will highlight collaborative projects designed to stimulate local innovation and economic development as part of the East Lothian Community Wealth Building Charter – an initiative which aims to harness the collective economic and social influence of key institutions to benefit local communities. 

In addition to exploring recent developments at QMU, the event will also include an open discussion where attendees are encouraged to share their perspectives on the University’s role in the community and how these relationships can be strengthened.

Jane Scott, Director of Marketing and Communications at QMU, said: “The Community Forum is an important space for dialogue.

“We’re eager to hear from our neighbours and share updates on some exciting developments at the University that we believe will positively impact the region.” 

Queen Margaret University always welcomes new members of the community to join the Forum. Anyone interested in attending the summer Community Forum on 18 June should register by emailing marketing@qmu.ac.uk.  

The full schedule for the event can be found in the events section of the QMU website:

https://www.qmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/events-listing/qmu-community-forum-spring-2025