Leith – Page 13 – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Up the Junction – Sir Harry opens new premises

Junction moves just along the road – to a new world!

Sir Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, has officially opened The Junction’s new premises.

Based at 160 Great Junction Street for eight years, the community organisation has now moved to 82-86 Great Junction Street and is leasing the brand new premises from Port of Leith Housing Association.

Set up in 2005 by the organisation’s Director Sam Anderson as a partnership response to an action research project, The Junction provides confidential health related services, education and support for young people aged 12-21 in Leith and North East Edinburgh. It has helped thousands of young people in the city and has author Irvine Welsh as its patron.

The Junction’s Sam Anderson said: “We are delighted to have Sir Harry Burns officially open our new premises. It’s important to listen to young people and find out what they think and want, which is why they have been consulted throughout the evolution of the Junction.”

Sam added: “We continue to be able to successfully respond to the expressed health and wellbeing needs of local young people because of the partnership nature of our work. Port of Leith Housing Association is a key partner, committed to delivering a quality, purpose built building for our award winning work in supporting young people, and has done so to brilliant results.

“We owe them an immense debt as while just a few hundred yards along the road from our old premises our new space feels a world away.”

Sir Harry Burns said: “Young people are the lifeblood of the community and it’s imperative they are supported to grow their health and wellbeing. This is why organisations, such as The Junction should be applauded for the tremendous work it does.”

Patron Irvine Welsh said: “Omnipresent, The Junction is there at the heart of the community offering education, support and its own distinctive brand of loyalty and determination to do the best it can for local young people. It’s an honour for me to be able to support this organisation and indeed this community, both of whom I admire.”

Three hospitalised following chip pan fire

A man, a woman and a young child were taken to hospital this morning (1 March) following an early morning chip pan fire in Elbe Street.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Watch Manager Stuart Sinclair, the incident commander, said: “A fire in an unattended chip pan had caused a large amount of smoke to fill the kitchen and other parts of the flat.

“Firefighters in breathing apparatus quickly put out the flames using a fire blanket and fire-fighting hose reel and our crews provided oxygen therapy to the woman and the child who had suffered smoke inhalation and to the man who had suffered smoke inhalation and burns.

“Thankfully this home was protected by a working smoke alarm and the residents of the flat were able to get out. A neighbour, on hearing the alarm, called 999.”

After receiving treatment by firefighters at the scene, the man, woman and child were assessed by ambulance personnel before being taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for further treatment.

SFRS ADVICE:

Traditional chip pans are known to be a fire risk and SFRS has urged anyone who still uses one to consider switching to a modern electric fryer, which will have a safety switch to prevent it overheating.

If you’re tired, have been drinking, or taking drugs, don’t cook. You will be less alert to the signs of fire, and more likely to fall asleep.

Firefighters are also clear that working smoke alarms save lives and buy time for crews to tackle fires before heat, smoke and flames can spread throughout a home.

People have also been asked to consider fitting a heat alarm within the kitchen – the room where most house fires start.

Free home fire safety visits only take around half an hour. A key part of the Join Scotland’s Fight Against Fire campaign, they have proven immensely popular with more than 56,000 completed across the country last year.

Anyone who thinks they or someone they know – like an elderly relative, friend or neighbour – could benefit from the expert advice of firefighters from their own community should call 0800 0731 999 or text ‘check’ to 61611.

People can also fill out a form at www.firescotland.gov.uk or contact their local community fire station.

Park life: Windrush Drive goes green

A site previously earmarked for a new primary school on Edinburgh’s waterfront has been transformed into temporary community parkland thanks to a £50,000 investment.

The Central Scotland Green Network Development Fund and Edinburgh City Council have supplied funding, enabling the derelict two-hectare site on Windrush Drive, Western Harbour in Leith to be turned into temporary green space. This will be available for community use until such time as plans to build the primary school are confirmed at some point in the future.

What was an unsightly area last year has now been transformed – new top soil, trees, grassland and a wildflower meadow have been created to improve the local landscape for both local residents and the new community to enjoy.

Councillor Adam McVey, who helped spearhead the project, said: “Greening such a large site in Western Harbour has already improved the amenity for local residents and made it more likely new residential developments will be brought forward on neighbouring gap sites. The cooperation between the groups involved and consultation with local residents has made this one of the most effective projects of this kind and it can, and should, be replicated throughout Edinburgh.”

The greening initiative has been made possible by Port of Leith Housing Association temporary leasing the site from Forth Ports and taking on future maintenance, with Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust carrying out initial landscaping and sourcing funding.

Port of Leith Housing Association Chief Executive Keith Anderson said: “For many residents, seeing the derelict land day in and day out was becoming an eyesore. By transforming it into an area they can use and enjoy can make a real difference to their lives.”

Charlie Cumming, Project Manager at Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust, said: “Windrush Drive is the third temporary greening site undertaken by ELGT with CSGN funding in recent years. Other sites were located in Craigmillar and Granton and each of them has brought stalled development areas into positive management and accessible greenspaces for local people.”

St Nick’s celebrates 25 tea-rrific years

Edinburgh’s Lord Provost was among the guests as Port of Leith Housing Association’s St Nicholas Court sheltered housing complex celebrated its 25^th anniversary on Thursday (5 December).

In conjunction with the Pilmeny Project and children from the Pilmeny Youth Development Project, two original St Nicholas Court residents – Mary McNicol (90) and Maisie McKenzie (85) – were joined by another 12 residents in designing and painting a memorial 25 piece tea set compromising key dates, milestones and local landmarks. The tea set now has pride of place in a display cabinet in the complex’s reception area.

The residents also made a “Quilt of Friendship” featuring their memories, such as holiday locations, activities carried out by the complex, memorable events including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, as well as the PoLHA logo, which was hung in the sheltered housing’s lounge and unveiled by the Lord Provost.

Maureen Tait, Senior Sheltered Housing Coordinator for PoLHA who manages St Nicholas Court, said: “I’m delighted the residents have got on board with the preparations for the 25^th anniversary. It’s such a special occasion for the development and given that we have two original tenants is wonderful. Many of the residents have enjoyed being creative have enjoyed showing off the fruits of their labour to guests.”

Mary McNicol, who came to St Nicholas Court in December 1988, said: “I’ve spent 25 wonderful years living at the complex and I’m glad we have done something different to commemorate this.”

To celebrate the 25 years both Mary McNicol and Maisie McKenzie have lived at St Nicholas Court, a time capsule featuring the names of current residents, Mary McNicol’s and Maisie McKenzie’s life stories and photos of Mary and Maisie was also buried in the complex’s garden by Port of Leith Chief Executive Keith Anderson and the Lord Provost.

Keith Anderson said: “St Nicholas Court does a fantastic job in looking after its residents and we are delighted to have reached this significant anniversary. We hope in many years’ time, someone will come across the time capsule and be interested in the contents.”

Many happy returns, St Nick’s!

Port of Leith Christmas Fayres raise over £1700

Port of Leith Housing Association’s (PoLHA) sheltered housing complexes raised over £1,700 at their Christmas fayres. St Nicholas Court on Ferry Road raised £1,000 and Jameson Place £730.

All funds raised will go towards supporting activities for residents including day trips, theatre trips, exercise classes and lunch clubs.

The complexes had an array of stalls including a raffle, tombola, home bakes, bric-a-brac, books and toys.

Maureen Tait Senior Sheltered Housing Co-ordinator with PoLHA manages the St Nicholas Court complex. She said: “The annual Christmas fayres are always great fun for the staff and residents and a great chance for us to interact and have a good time with the local community.

“We’re delighted to have raised over £1,700 and are grateful to the all those people who came along to support us. Many of our residents are young at heart and really enjoy getting out and about on trips and these fundraising events helps make it happen for them.”

Leith residents to allocate community cash

People in Leith will soon be asked by Leith Neighbourhood Partnership to decide how a pot of more than £20,000 in funding should be spent on projects that benefit their local community.

Now in its fourth year, £eith Decides, allows community groups to apply for grants of up to £1,000 each. Once the applications are in, local people are invited to vote on which projects they would most like to see receive the money. A special public event will take place in February, at which members of the public will get the chance to learn about applicants and their projects.

Previous successful applicants include Prospect Bank School Parents’ Association for an outdoor climbing frame, the Goosander Resident’s Association for a living garden, the Citadel Youth Centre for a young mums’ parenting course, and the North Edinburgh Dementia Care group, which ran podiatry sessions for older clients.

This year’s application period is now open and runs until November 8, when a Steering Group made up of local people will consider all applications to make sure that they meet the criteria – Advice is available on how to meet the criteria.

Councillor Maureen Child, Convener of the Communities and Neighbourhoods Committee at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “£eith Decides has proven to be extremely popular, and many new applicants came forward last year. It was fantastic that so many worthwhile projects, all of which have made a difference to people, were given help in this way.
“The public event held as part of the process gave community groups the opportunity to raise awareness about their work too. Neighbourhood Partnership events like this are valued by people who welcome the opportunity to make decisions about the area in which they live.”

For up-to-date information about £eith Decides please visit its Facebook page – www.facebook.com/voteforleithdecides

and the £eith decides page at www.edinburghnp.org.uk/leith.

LEIPing for joy! Community funding for Leith youth project

LEITH COMMUNITY PROJECT AWARDED FUNDING

A Leith community project has been awarded nearly £72,000. Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) secured funds for Leith Early Intervention Project (LEIP) from the Scottish Government’s People and Communities Fund.

The partnership project – between Pilmeny Development Project, YMCA Edinburgh, Lothian and Borders Police, PoLHA and local schools – will receive £71,258 over the next two years.

The funds will provide early intervention and capacity building to give support to at least 190 young people excluded from generic youth work provision, and who are at risk of offending or are already offending.

Anne Munro, Project Manager for Pilmeny Development Project, said: “We are delighted to have received this funding as it will go towards providing effective intervention for young people via a tailored programme of street work, weekly drop in youth work, a mentoring service and opportunities to use and develop skills and experience through volunteering.”

Keith Anderson, Chief Executive at PoLHA, said: “LEIP is a fantastic initiative and I am delighted we have been able to support them through access to the Scottish Government’s People and Communities Fund.”

Leap into Leith’s Health and Fitness Festival!

Leith’s first health & fitness festival takes place at Victoria Park tomorrow, hosted by local carity Looking After Our Elderly. It aims to bring back community spirit and unite all generations of the community with the aim of getting healthy, active and having fun.

Demonstrations & entertainment highlights:

Tai Chi, 10.00, Thistle Foundation, Lambs House Circle

The Thistle Foundation are a Scottish Charity that supports people with disabilities and health conditions to lead full lives. Thistle Gym is a bit different. With a friendly and relaxed environment, Thistle Gym helps members to improve their health and fitness levels, regardless of their disability or health condition.

5k fun run, 11.00, demonstration drive

Fitness Soul, Booiaka, 11.00, Lambs House Circle

Booiaka is an intense cardio dance workout that feels like a fun night spent dancing with friends at a party or a favorite club, to music you love. It incorporates elements of many different dance styles, such as Latin, Brazilian, Jamaican, hip-hop and Reggaeton – but the emphasis is on having fun, releasing your spirit and feeling the beat.

Canongate Cadjers (ceilidh band), 13.00, Lambs House Circle

Space hopper race for adults, 14.00 – 15.00

Organised by Tracy Griffen, of Griffen fitness, competitors will race in heats and go on to a final hop off! Hop at your own risk!

Hula Honeys demos, 10.00 –16.00, demonstration drive

Kim Sibbald, personal trainer and hula hoop teacher based in Edinburgh, is on a mission to spread the love and share the joys of hooping. Hula Honeys hooping classes are fun, friendly and addictive. Don’t worry if you have never been able to hoop before, the hoops provided make the skill much easier to pick up. The great thing about hooping is you are training your mind as well as your body. It is progressive and you can always learn new skills. But remember the focus is on having fun!

Kuk Sool Won workshop, 12.00– 15.00, demonstration drive

A comprehensive, modern, traditional Korean Martial Art. Kuk Sool Won™ is a systematic study of all of the traditional fighting arts, which together comprise the martial arts history of Korea. As a martial arts system, Kuk Sool Won™ is exteremely well-organized; and seeks to integrate and explore the entire spectrum of established Asian fighting arts and body conditioning techniques, as well as mental development and traditional weapons training. The following list includes some, but by no means all, of the elements of Kuk Sool Won™. For a history of Kuk Sool Won™ click HERE

Links Fitness Bootcamp 12.30– 14.00, demonstration drive

Women’s only bootcamp classes held at Leith Links on Saturday mornings and Tuesday evenings. Bootcamp is suitable for all levels of fitness with classes including sandbags, medicine balls, bodyweight circuits, cardio drills, fun games, battling ropes, boxing. Varying activities keeps the classes interesting and challenging.

SwishandHips, bellydancing demos by Elspeth, 12.30, entertainment area & 13.00 demonstration drive

Belly dancing is the name given to many different styles of dance which originated in the Middle East, but which dancers all over the world have taken to their hearts and made their own.

Belly dance is known in arabic as Raks Sharki, and comes in many different forms – oriental style, cabaret style, American Tribal style, tribal fusion, and many other sub-strata. Elspeth studies and dances in the Egyptian Oriental Style, as performed by dancers in Cairo today.

Strictly Fitsteps demos, 12.30 – 16.00, demonstration drive & 15.30 main stage

FitSteps^® came to life in 2013 as the result of a collaboration between two of the UK’s most famous ballroom dancers and Britain’s most successful swimmer! During the long, arduous dance training sessions that are an integral part of Britain’s most decided to mix the graceful steps of Ballroom and the up tempo steps of the Latin dances together to create a really fun, energetic and effective way to stay fit and keep trim that would appeal to everyone, even if they couldn’t dance. The programme is based around twelve of the most popular Latin and Ballroom dances and the first class that we’ve launched has elements of six of these dances – Jive, Cha Cha, Samba, Tango, Waltz and Quickstep.

Edinburgh Lau Gar Self Defence demos, 14.30 – 17.00, demonstration drive

Lau Gar is the most popular form of Kung Fu in the UK and was brought here by Master Jeremy Yau in 1961. Lau Gar Kung Fu is derived from the form of boxing that was practised in Kuei Ling Temple, situated on Bac Pye Saan (the Bac Pye mountain), in Hong Kong in Western China. It was first learned by a monk fleeing from Kuei Ling Temple by the Master, “Three Eyed Lau”, a tiger hunter, who is honoured as the founder of Lau Gar Kung Fu.

Metamadness, 13.00, main stage

The MetaMadness class is an all over body work out based on the sport of boxing.

Fire Safety demos, 11.15, 12.30, 13.45, 15.00, Lambs House Circle

Chip Pan Fire and Fire extinguisher demos

It promises to be quite a day – don’t miss it!

Police appeal after Leith assault

A thirty year old man was treated in hospital after being followed from a Leith bar and attacked by a group of men last week. The man was subjected to a ‘serious assault’ in Arthur Street on Thursday at around 9pm and police are urging witnesses to come forward.

The victim had been drinking with friends in the Harp and Castle on Leith Walk but before leaving the bar he was involved in a “minor altercation” with three men, who are believed to be Polish.

It is thought that the assailants followed him from the bar into Arthur street where, follwoing a confrontation, two of the men attacked the local man before the third intervened. The three men then returned to Leith Walk.

The victim was able to make his way home and was later treated for his injuries at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

All three men are described as white and around 5ft 7in to 5ft 8in tall.

The first man is thought to be in his early to mid 30s, with dark brown hair and was wearing a baseball cap, light blue jeans, white trainers and a yellow and black stripy shirt.

The second is believed to be in his early 20s with short blond hair and was wearing a grey Nike tracksuit, white trainers and a black Adidas baseball cap.

The third man is thought to be in his late 30s with short, dark hair and was wearing a dark suit and smart shoes.

Anyone with any information relating to this incident should get in contact with Police Scotland on 101, or Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.