It’s July: a year since we got the keys to the Heart, a year to celebrate!
Summer is well and truly with us, and of course summer often means there is less happening, as everyone takes advantage of the good weather and the school holidays. So things have gone a little quieter at the Heart too, but that doesn’t mean there’s no news at all.
We have splendid news on the childcare front.
Daddy Daycare Edinburgh are opening a new childcare service at the Heart in August. They are providing after-school care for Trinity and Victoria primary schools and will be providing holiday clubs for all school children starting in October.
They have an open afternoon on Tuesday 15th August so check out their website to find out more:
www.daddydaycareedinburgh.com or call 0131 5168876.
News from Restoration Forth
The Ecology Centre is running a seagrass seed survey on 8th July to investigate the reproductive state of the seagrass meadow on Burntisland Sands where participants can expect to further their seagrass knowledge and develop skills in ecological surveying. These events are limited to 12 people each, so register your space by visiting The Ecology Centre’s What’s On page.
Where: Burntisland (Beacon Leisure Centre) 11:10am – Registration: www.theecologycentre.org/whats-on
For those of you who have been involved in the project so far, there will be a creative social event at the Royal Botanic Gardens on Sunday 9th July. Come along and meet others who have been taking part and create some Restoration Forth artwork together.
Where: The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh – Registration: Eventbrite
Contribute to Heart Events
We continually receive questions about what is happening at the Heart. Well, that may be one question that you can answer. Trustee Norma Johnston leads the community projects team and would like to hear from you. Get in touch with her and join her band of local volunteers who are brainstorming ideas and helping organise events. It’s your community hub, so have a say in what happens in it. Contact Norma at norma.johnston@heartofnewhaven.co.uk
Dementia-Friendly Tea & Blether
On Wednesday, 5th July we hosted a themed conversation over a cuppa to imagine and create the new Dementia Meeting Centre, set to open in The Heart.
Meeting Centres are local resources where people living with dementia, unpaid carers, and families can access friendly, community-based support designed around their needs. They provide a social space where people with dementia and their loved ones can meet others and participate in activities they enjoy, based on their interests.
The event was attended by a group of 12, including volunteers, HONC staff, people living with dementia, and family members. The chat focused on getting to know one another and interest was expressed in gardening, themed conversations with tea and cake, games like bingo, dominos, or walking football, music, dance, and arts activities.
We had some good laughs and enjoyed eating Lesley’s delicious, home-baked muffins. The suggestions from this will inform our next programme of dementia-friendly activities at The Heart.
We will meet again on Wednesday, 26th July, from 2 to 4 pm. If you have just received a diagnosis of dementia or are waiting for one, if you are a family member or a friend of a person living with dementia and would like to join, please get in touch!
We are also accepting donations to help purchase the games and art materials that would allow us to run our future dementia-friendly social activities. For any donations, expressions of interest, or questions, contact valeria.Lembo@heartofnewhaven.co.uk
Thank You Bright Green Environmental Solutions!
The Heart of Newhaven Community is incredibly grateful to Keirin Burns from BGE Solutions for the donation of 12 brilliant new chairs. They not only cater to the different access requirements of our visitors who attend our community activities but they are beautiful. We have already received positive feedback from those who have tried them out, and they find them very comfortable.
We would also like to extend ourgratitude to Fenella Kerr, a member of the Dementia Meeting Centre Advisory Group of The Heart of Newhaven, for connecting us with BGE Solutions.
More info on BGE Solutions at: https://www.brightgreenenvironmentalsolutions.com/
Around the Heart
With all the hot, sunny weather, our volunteer gardeners have been busy watering all the plant containers scattered about the grounds.
Here’s volunteer Judy Gray tending to some of the pots and lovely planters created by members of the Men’s Shed. You can order a planter for yourselves if you contact Men’s Shed in the Creel Building.
De-Cluttering
It may be summer, but some of our partners have been spring-cleaning. Some of them, notably the Men’s Shed and the History of Education Centre, will be holding a table top “sale” in the autumn when they will be offering up the gleanings from their tidying, but they are keen to start de-cluttering now, so get in touch with either of them and take the opportunity to pick up some excess tools, planters and other objects, old school scientific glassware perhaps suitable for vases or craftwork, or even illustrated books, all at bargain donation rates.
Get Creative
If you’re looking for something creative to do over the summer, then get in touch with our bookbinder Cass, who is running several workshops here at the Heart in July and August.
Choose from several different workshops – Bitesize Bookbinding: Exposed long stitch binding, Bitesize Bookbinding: Case binding, Botanical Bookbinding mini retreat, Bitesize Bookbinding: Japanese stab Binding and Screen Print & Bookbinding, a 2-day collaborative workshop with Lorna Brown of Ink on Mesh.
They’re coming up at the Heart on 25 July and 1, 5 & 8, and 22 and 23 August. Just follow the link: https://bookbindingwithcass.com/in-person-workshops/ or email Cass at bookbindingwithcass@gmail.com
Finally, the next Leith folk club event is coming up on Tuesday 18 July, with young country singer Barbara Nesbitt swinging by as part of her UK tour.
The doors open at 7.30 for an 8pmstart. Advance booking isn’t usually necessary but it’s a good idea to drop a DM on the Leith Folk Club Facebook page to make sure they save you a seat.
Enjoy the rest of the summer and save the date: the 9th September will be our second AGM. What a year it’s been!