Tag: NEN

Thanks to YOU, NEN’s set for June print run

The NEN will appear in newspaper form again later this month thanks to the generosity of local organisations and individuals who have shown their support by advertising in the forthcoming edition.

NEN would like to thank the following for their commitment to North Edinburgh’s community newspaper:

MALCOLM CHISHOLM MSP

CRAIGROYSTON COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL

FORTH & INVERLEITH LABOUR COUNCILLORS

GRANTON INFORMATION CENTRE

LIFECARE

NORTH EDINBURGH ALCOHOL INITIATIVE COLLABORATIVE

NORTH EDINBURGH ARTS

NORTH EDINBURGH CHILDCARE

NORTH EDINBURGH CREDIT UNION

NORTH EDINBURGH REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

THE PRENTICE CENTRE

ROYSTON WARDIEBURN COMMUNITY CENTRE

THE SPARTANS COMMUNITY FOOTBALL ACADEMY

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB

STEPPING STONES NORTH EDINBURGH

TOTAL CRAIGROYSTON

WEST PILTON NEIGHBOURHOOD CENTRE

We’d also like to thank the organisations who got back in touch to say that, while they are not in a position to advertise at this time, they will consider doing so in future editions.

So thank you all for your support. 

Without it, NEN just couldn’t continue.

PS:

If your name’s not down, you’re not gettin’ in! Is your name missing from the above list? Should it be there? Do you want it to be there? If so, get in touch at northedinnews@gmail.com  but you’ll have to be quick!

Summer NEN

NEN_Logo

When will the next print issue of North Edinburgh News hit the streets? NEN’s voluntary board of directors met on Monday evening and agreed to aim for a summer edition – if advertising revenue can be assured the NEN will be out again at the end of June.

Our last print version was last distributed across North Edinburgh in February, and while NEN continues to have an online presence there are many local residents who do not have computer access, so receiving a copy of the print issue remains just as important as it always has.

To enable us to produce another newspaper, however, we must raise funds. The NEN receives no core funding, so to produce our newspaper we need to raise enough advertising revenue or sponsorship to cover our production costs.

Earlier this year NEN received community grant funding from both Forth and Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnerships to support  efforts to improve income opportunities. This piece of work is now well underway – databases have been developed and over the coming weeks we will be contacting all local organisations, charities and businesses large and small to let them know how they can support North Edinburgh’s community newspaper. We’ll be casting the net further afield too – after all, the folk of North Edinburgh don’t only shop or access services in North Edinburgh! The aim of the exercise is not only to raise funding for another edition but to secure regular commitment from potential advertisers and sponsors to ensure the NEN’s longer term future.

This is not going to be a quick or easy task, so in the meantime, if you would like to advertise in NEN’s June issue or you would like any further information about advertising or sponsorship, please get in touch – through this blog, by email at northedinnews@gmail.com or telephone 07925 405 972.

We look forward to hearing from you!

NENfrontpage

The NEN year in pictures – Part Two (May – August)

West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre's new food co-op opened in May
West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre’s new food co-op opened in May
Gavin Hastings hosted a final Open Day at Royal Victoria Hospital
Gavin Hastings hosted a final Open Day at Royal Victoria Hospital
There was some Cup Final or other ...
There was some Cup Final or other …
Labour and SNP formed a coalition to run Edinburgh following the May elections
Labour and SNP formed a coalition to run Edinburgh following the May elections
Weather was fine for Blackhall Sports Day in June
Weather was fine for Blackhall Sports Day in June
Jubilee celebrations at Stockbridge Colonies
Jubilee celebrations at Stockbridge Colonies
Granton Primary School wrote, produced and staged their own musical - and it was great!
Granton Primary School wrote, produced and staged their own musical – and it was great!
The weather's taking a turn for the worse ... a decidely dreich D Mains Gala parade
The weather’s taking a turn for the worse … a decidely dreich D Mains Gala parade
Talking about the Total Craigroyston initiative at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre
Talking about the Total Craigroyston initiative at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre
Muirhouse Library birthday celebrations in June
Muirhouse Library birthday celebrations in June
July - and the wettest summer on record ...
July – and the wettest summer on record …

jul3

Packed public meeting in Lifecare House to discuss Edinburgh Accies plans to redevelop their ground
Packed public meeting in Lifecare House to discuss Edinburgh Accies plans to redevelop their ground
Muirhouse Women's Group win top award during Adult Learners Week
Muirhouse Women’s Group win top award during Adult Learners Week

 

The welcome return of the West Pilton Gala in August
The welcome return of the West Pilton Gala in August
Members vote to close CORE, (formerly BCDP) one of North Edinburgh's long-established community projects
Members vote to close CORE, (formerly BCDP) one of North Edinburgh’s long-established community projects
Malcolm Chisholm MSP received the Laidlaw Rose Bowl at Pilton Central Association's AGM
Malcolm Chisholm MSP received the Laidlaw Rose Bowl at Pilton Central Association’s AGM

NEN – record breaking November stats

stats

November was a record month for North Edinburgh News – there were 10, 496 visits to the NEN blog last month, our best figures yet. The daily average – 350 – is also our highest ever.

The most popular articles in November were the rise of Blackhall Athletic, the BBC DIY SOS refurbishment of The Yard and the Welcome to Muirhouse photo exhibition – three very different stories from different geographical corners of our readership area but with one thing in common: they’re all positive, good news stories!

Makes you think …?

 

Bank interest in North Edinburgh News

rbs2

The NEN has received a cheque for £500 from The Royal Bank of Scotland. The banks’s charity committee agreed to support an application by  NEN board member Eddie Thorn.

Kevin Havelock, Regional Director for Corporate and Institutional Banking at Royal Bank of Scotland, explained: “Following the difficulties that RBS experienced in recent years we are looking to reconnect with the communities that we all live and work in.”

He went on: “We are very fortunate at RBS to have many staff who have been with us for twenty, twenty-five even thirty years and many of them are active in their communities. We established a system of grants to support local charities and community initiatives nominated by our staff.

“The Edinburgh Community Partnership Board has representation from every division of the bank – there are eleven people in all on the committee, each with an equal vote. We were delighted both with the volume and the great variety of nominations that came in, and we agreed our first round of grants in October. We are supporting a very broad spectrum of good causes, from supplying sports equipment to groups to helping local health charities.”

Royal Bank of Scotland will donate £100,000 in a rolling programme in the East of Scotland, and one of the first forty grateful recipients is North Edinburgh News.

North Edinburgh News treasurer Eddie Thorn said: “The Royal Bank of Scotland is to be commended for their wide contribution to local communities. It is particularly pleasing that they recognised all that the NEN strives to achieve, and we are very grateful for the bank’s generous support – it’s much appreciated.”

Kevin added: “We will be offering practical and sometimes even physical support, too – we want the charity to get more from the bank than just a cheque. Working with and providing support to the charity is a natural progression.”

NEN’s Eddie Thorn and RBS’ Kevin Havelock are pictured outside the NEN’s base at Edinburgh College Granton Campus.

 

Final NENgage session this Thursday

The Joy of Stats!
In the final of our series of NENgage sessions we’ll be delving into the world of online data -looking at free tools and resources that community groups and local citizens can use to gather and present data in interesting ways. We’ll be showing you;
  1. How to create a simple online poll in WordPress or using Easy Poll.
  2. How to do a more detailed survey of opinions and feedback using Survey Monkey
  3. How to make an FOI request using the What Do They Know website
  4. How to present data online using free tools like Infogram or Many Eyes.
We’ll also have some great speakers, including journalistMichael MacLeod (former Guardian journalist, STV online reporter) and James Baster, a digital programmer with an interest in innovative community projects. James will be telling us about an exciting new open data project involving the city’s greenspaces.
We’ll also have a brainstorming sessionwhere you’ll have the chance to tell us about the kind of work you do, and we’ll come up with ideas for ways that you could use these tools to good effect for your projects.
As always, tickets are free, but you’ll need to reserve a place on our Eventbrite page. The session will start at 5:45 and runs until 7:30, with drinks in the Antiquary Bar afterwards.
Hope to see you there!

NEN AGM Minutes

NORTH EDINBURGH NEWS Ltd

NORTH EDINBURGH NEWS MEDIA & COMMUNICATION TRUST

Annual General Meeting

27th September 2012 07:00pm in Drylaw Parish Church.

MINUTES

Present: 

As per Attendance Sheet.

In Attendance:

Dave Pickering (Editor)

The meeting was chaired by Martin Hinds who opened the meeting and welcomed everyone.

Apologies: 

Councillor  Cammy  Day,  Stuart McIvor.

Previous Minutes:  

Approved by Eddie Thorn & seconded by Willie Black.

Chairperson’s  Report: 

Martin Hinds opened by saying that since the last AGM, 18 months ago, in which there was fear it might have been the last and along with the sale of the office at Crewe Road North, the future looked very bleak.  Following on from a successful Community Conference in Telford College, however, which generated a lot of support, it was agreed that a community paper with a successful history of 30 years should just not be allowed to die. The board with that support and with the residue of funds left over,  decided that the paper should not be allowed to disappear and plans were put in place to keep the NEN going, mainly in the early days via the Blog, and slowly build up to the re-launch in February.  This was mainly down to the hard work of Dave Pickering (Editor) and Alan Lennon (Lennon Design) who redesigned the paper, and the board of directors both old and new, Martin expressed his thanks to all for their hard work to get where we are today. Martin also thanked Scotmid & PCA for their sponsorship each of an edition. He added that the Board had been in getting a community grant from the Inverleith Partnership, which would allow the NEN to start a series of Social Media Workshops (NENgage) and hopefully the end product will produce a community reporter(s) for the paper.

Martin closed on a note of caution with regards to the finance side in which he explained that unless there is a significant uptake in advertising income the paper had only enough funds left to produce 2 more editions (October & December).  With this in mind he, along with 3 fellow members of the board, met with local councillors from both Forth & Inverleith wards to look at ways of increasing funds. The outcome is an application for a grant, which will be made to both Forth & Inverleith Partnerships for sponsorship, which would enable the paper to continue into next year.  By this time it was hoped that some form of partnership working could be agreed with the Council.

There followed a fairly long debate on the future plus various suggestions were made. Board noted them and they will be fully discussed at future board meetings.

Editor’s Report:

Dave Pickering opened by remarking that a lot had happened since the last AGM and a lot has changed.  In fact he had not envisaged another NEN AGM, but because of the hard work of the board members, who refused to let the paper die, we are here tonight!. It is all down to them, volunteers who have given up their own time and because of that the community owes them a debt of gratitude that the NEN is still here, clinging on but surviving.

Follow the success of re-launching the paper the other major success story is that of the blog with 90 blog followers, 410 twitters & 52 facebook ‘friends’ . On average the blog is visited 300 times per day and because of that we are looking at ways to try and get paid advertising on to the blog.

Dave ended with his thanks to the board and to the community for sticking with us so far and looked forward to continued support in the future.

Appointment of Auditor:

The meeting agreed to the re-appointment of Alison Glass as Auditor.

Finance Report:

Eddie Thorn  Company Secretary/Treasurer produced and explained the Accounts for Year ending 31st March 2012  for  both the NEN Ltd & NEN Media & Communication Trust.

There were no questions with regard to the accounts.

Councillor Hinds gave thanks to Eddie for a clear and precise set of accounts.

Nominations/Election of the Board:

Martin Hinds reported that Thomas Brown had resigned from the board.

Martin Hinds moved- That the existing board with exception of Thomas be re–elected.  This was unanimously agreed.  There were no other nominations.

AOCB:

One Question on NENgage : If was still possible to attend the Workshops. Dave explained that it was still possible. The next one is on Thursday October 4 th  in Stockbridge Library.

Date of Next Meeting:

In 12 months’ time in a place and time to be confirmed.

 

Alex Dale,

1st October 2012