Tag: Festivals

Police presence to help ensure Festival’s fun for all

Just in case it’s escaped your attention, it’s Festival time. The annual Festivals are all about fun – and city police plan to help keep it that way

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Police in Edinburgh are to launch a high-profile safety operation for the duration of the festival season. Officers will offer advice on crime prevention and personal safety to the tens of thousands of visitors who come to Edinburgh during August, and advertising trailers highlighting the 101 non-emergency police number will also feature prominently on city centre streets.

This will be the first time the operation will be undertaken by the national Police Scotland force, which came into operation on 1 April this year.

Ch Supt Mark Williams, the divisional commander for the City of Edinburgh, said: “The Festival is an exciting time for the city, with so much fantastic entertainment, sights to see and events to participate in. It’s also a busy period for police, as tens of thousands of tourists arrive and local residents take advantage of all that is going on across the city. With that in mind, it is essential that Police Scotland provides a visible presence throughout Edinburgh as part of our commitment to keeping people safe.”

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30 June date for West Pilton & Muirhouse Gala

This year’s West Pilton and Muirhouse Gala, which takes place on Sunday 30 June, will feature a procession and gala court.

The procession will include local groups, schools, nurseries, a marching band plus much more. The procession will start leave Craigroyston Primary School at 11:45am and parade through the streets of Muirhouse and West Pilton to arrive at West Pilton Park at 12pm.

For more information on all things Gala email wpmcgala@gmail.com

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Local parents plan grassroots gala

It may look quiet just now, but a group of local parents want to see West Pilton Park packed with families having fun this August as they plan a community gala. 

The group first met only last month but plans to resurrect the community fun day are already well advanced.

Sean Gardiner, a parent involved in the steering group, explained: “The idea really just came out of the blue. We were talking about how other areas – Davidsons Mains for example – have very successful fun days and galas and we thought: why don’t we have one? At first we were thinking about West Pilton alone but, when people talked about the great Muirhouse Festivals and more people came on board, we thought we would extend it to Muirhouse too. We’ve come up with lots of ideas for the day and we’ve been really pleased with the number of organisations, businesses and individuals who have signed up to be part of the day itself. The response has been brilliant”.

The group plans to combine the family fun element with information stalls too.

“There are an awful lot of organisations in the area doing great work, but some residents don’t even know they’re here. We’ll set up tents and stalls on gala day to give organisations the chance to publicize what they do, and we plan to introduce a ticketing system for the bouncy castles and things like that. If we set that up in the information area that would mean that families will get a see the information stalls before they go on to the fun activities for the kids. We think that combination of information and fun will work well – it should be a great day”.

West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre Community Learning and Development worker Alan Addison is supporting the group – not that they need much support!

“This is a really enthusiastic group and I think what they have in just a few short weeks is pretty incredible. They’re not setting up in competition with anyone else, this is just a grass-roots community idea that’s come from local parents who are now taking on the responsibility for organising the event themselves. It’s a lot of work but their commitment and energy is incredible”, he said.

The community fun day will take place on Sunday 26 August in West Pilton Park. We’ll keep you up to date as plans progress.