Happy birthday, Tony!

It was standing room only at North Edinburgh Arts yesterday when local man – and regular NEN contributor – Tony Delahoy celebrated his ninetieth birthday.

Tony, who is originally from London, was joined by friends, family and community colleagues for an afternoon of live music, food and conversation at the Arts Centre. The star of the show remains in good health and has promised to keep those letters coming in for years to come! Speaking of which ….

Dear Editor

According to the Tory/Lib government, because I am now old I am a drain on the economy – a burden on the nation.

Their solution to ease that burden is to restrict what I can buy, by allowing drastic price rises of most items needed, particularly gas and electricity. This continuous lowering of the quality of life will lead to an earlier death for many.

It would seem whatever hardship is imposed, little is being done or can be done; this is wrong thinking – by adding my voice to yours and yours and yours we can, together, change things. Of all people, the elderly know this is a basic truth – it is only through a collective voice that any progress will be made.

This collective voice can be expressed in many ways: through pensioners organisations, forums, trade unions to councillors, MPs and MSPs, demonstrating on issues of concern – even calling for a boycott of stores that are pushing up prices too steeply. There are so many ways of protesting.

As the numbers of elderly people are growing, so is the power of their vote – and it is essential we use it. All politicians, councillors and officials must be made aware they cannot ignore or sideline our serious concerns.

Tony Delahoy, Silverknowes Gardens

Happy birthday, Tony!

It’s a Quangle Wangle Christmas at North Edinburgh Arts!

Licketyspit’s ‘The Christmas Quangle Wangle’ has opened at North Edinburgh Arts. Written by Virginia Radcliffe and based on the works of Edward Lear, ‘The Christmas Quangle Wangle’ is suitable for all ages (3 – 103!) and it’s the perfect way to really get into that Christmas spirit.

Daily performances at 10am and 1pm (Saturday 10.30am and 1.30pm) and tickets start at only £2.

The Christmas Quangle Wangle runs until 15 December. For more information contact North Edinburgh Arts on 315 2151 or see the www.licketyspit.com and www.northedinburgharts.co.uk websites.

Yummy Food group hungry for international success!

Hello!

Last year a group of local women started the first Food Festival in North Edinburgh called the Yummy Food Festival celebrating healthy eating in Muirhouse. Even although it rained, it was an amazing day – full of food storytelling , food demonstrations, giveaways, cooking demonstrations, theatre, information stalls and face painting! Over 500 people come to North Edinburgh Arts to celebrate the talented cooks and chefs within the North Edinburgh Community.

On Friday 15 March 2013 the festival will be happening again! Next year’s food festival will continue with the theme of cooking on a budget £5 for a family of five, but this year’s festival aims have a very international feel and celebrate the culinary talents that are in our community.

Would you like to get involved … YES! we hear you cry!!There are many ways you can get involved:

· Can you volunteer on the day? Can you be a steward?
· Can you give a cooking demonstration with an international feel?
· Are you a gardener and can show people how to plant seed?
· Are you an organisation with food, health related information you would like to share in a fun way
· Can you face paint?
· Are you a good story-teller?
· Do you want to share information about health, cooking books, budgets, food, money, diet, being economical and other food related issues and share it with people in a fun way?
Can you help with the washing up?
· Can you help make foodie decorations or signage?
· Are you a group who bake or make and would like to sell them at the festival for your group or charity?

Last year’s event was amazing and we are busy planning next year’s Festival. To make it a real celebration of our community do lets us know if you want to get involved.

Thanks for your support!

The Yummy Food Festival 2013 group

If you’d like to be involved or require further info contact Lisa Arnott at Pilton Community Health Project on 551 1671, email lisaarnott@pchp.org.uk

Centipede to spread Christmas cheer with photo event

Muirhouse Centipede Project have come up with a ‘cracker’ of an idea …

12.12.12 Hope-Peace-Love-Joy Photographic Event

Take a digital photograph some time during the 24 hours of 12/12/12 that captures something of the Advent themes of Love, Joy, Hope or Peace. Send your photo, together with your name and age and 100 words or less telling us about your photograph to centipedephotos@gmail.com no later than 31 December 2012.

Prizes for the best in categories pre-school age; primary school age; secondary school age, 18-65, and 65+.

An exhibition of the entries and winners will be held in the North Edinburgh Arts Centre in early spring 2013.

Theatre opportunity at North Edinburgh Arts

North Edinburgh Theatre Project

Friday 30 November 7pm

OPEN WORKSHOP & SHARING OF WORK

at North Edinburgh Arts

This Autumn North Edinburgh Theatre project has been involved with a variety of work, including developing scenes inspired by Theatre of the Absurd. This has been hilarious fun and some interesting work has been developed.

You are invited to come to watch some of the scenes and also have a go at some drama, it’s always great fun! There will be some refreshments afterwards.

For further details, please contact: Kate Wimpress, Director North Edinburgh Arts

Email director@northedinburgharts.co.uk , Telephone: 315 2152

Quangle Wangle brings Christmas magic to North Edinburgh Arts

Licketyspit and North Edinburgh Arts will be presenting Licketyspit’s acclaimed Christmas production

The Christmas Quangle Wangle

at North Edinburgh Arts

from Thursday 6 – Saturday 15 December

The Christmas Quangle Wangle is a hilarious, musical adventure for families, friends, schools and nurseries, inspired by the poems and stories of Edward Lear. It is presented at North Edinburgh Arts by its newly appointed Theatre Company in Residence, Licketyspit. The production is written by Virginia Radcliffe and developed in collaboration with Johnny Austin.

“On top of the Crumpetty Tree, the Quangle Wangle sat………”

Stella and Stan are waiting for Christmas. They find a mysterious parcel which leads them to the Quangle Wangle, sad and alone in his Crumpetty Tree. But the arrival of an array of colourful characters changes his and their lives forever.

Join Stella and Stan on their adventure and spend this Christmas at North Edinburgh Arts on the Quangle Wangle’s Hat with the Orient Calf from the Land of Tute, the Dong With the Luminous Nose and the Jumblies as they sail to sea in a sieve! Children will delight in this nonsensical world of make-believe and storytelling, limericks and madcap songs. The Christmas Quangle Wangle is the perfect festive introduction to theatre for younger audiences, from ages three upwards and their grown-ups.

Stella and Stan are played by Scott Fletcher and Ashley Smith, rising young performers in Scottish theatre. Scott is best known for his role as Charlie Smith in Gary: Tank Commander and his many theatre roles include performances in Black Watch for National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Lyceum’s production of Peter Pan.

Ashley has worked extensively in Scottish theatre since graduating from RSAMD and appearances include Sex and God, Magnetic North; Magic Spaghetti for Licketyspit; 27 for National Theatre of Scotland and Hansel and Gretel with Catherine Wheels.

These performances celebrate the development of a new partnership for North Edinburgh Arts and Licketyspit. North Edinburgh Arts is establishing Licketyspit Theatre Company as Theatre in Residence, supported by The National Lottery through Creative Scotland, to specifically engage and to further develop an Early Years and families audience. North Edinburgh Arts received £50,000 from Creative Scotland’s Public Engagement programme to establish Licketyspit Theatre Company as Theatre in Residence.

Laura Mackenzie-Stuart, Portfolio Manager for Theatre at Creative Scotland, said; ‘We are delighted to have invested in The Christmas Quangle Wangle. We hope the magical experience of going to the theatre will spark a lifelong passion for theatre in younger audiences and their grown-ups.’

North Edinburgh Arts and Licketyspit are excited to be presenting The Christmas Quangle Wangle during 2012, the bicentenary of the birth of Edward Lear.

Crumpetty Tea and Orient Calf Noodles will be available in the North Edinburgh Arts Café where children can make Quangle and Jumblie pop-ups and draw Quangle Wangle’s Hat for a North Edinburgh Arts and Licketyspit exhibition.

The Christmas Quangle Wangle is written by Virginia Radcliffe, around Edward Lear’s poems, and developed in collaboration with Johnny Austin. The production is directed by Johnny Austin; design is developed from the original Catherine Lindow design by Ali Maclaurin; music is by Tim Brinkhurst & Virginia Radcliffe.

“Quangle Wangle…captures its audience’s fiery imagination… a pyrotechnic telling of Lear’s poems” – The Stage, 2004 production

LISTINGS:

Licketyspit and North Edinburgh Arts present

The Christmas Quangle Wangle

North Edinburgh Arts, 15a Pennywell Court, Edinburgh EH4 4TZ

Thursday 6 – Saturday 15 December 2012

Monday – Friday: 10am and 1pm; Saturdays: 10.30am & 1.30pm

Tickets: Forth Ward Residents £2, all other tickets £6.

Box office: 0131 315 2151

www.northedinburgharts.co.uk

Quangle Wangle was first produced by Virginia Radcliffe for the Wee Stories Early Years Project in 2003 and again for Licketyspit for Christmas at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre in 2004 directed by Matthew Zajac. It was also produced for Derby Live for Christmas 2009 with a new design by Ali Maclaurin. It was first created in collaboration with Johnny Austin and designed by Catherine Lindow with original Music by Tim Brinkhurst.

Who cares? North Edinburgh Arts to host carers event

The Edinburgh Carers Team is hosting a series of events for carers across the city to review the service – and one of the ‘Carers Supporting Carers’ events will be held at North Edinburgh Arts next week.

The City of Edinburgh Council and Edinburgh Community Health Partnership is reviewing the joint strategic action plan on support for carers, and they want to know what carers think:

‘Towards 2012′ was the joint strategic action plan for Edinburgh from 2007 – 2012. Has it made a difference to the lives of carers?

What should the priorities for carer support be for the next five years?

These events are one way to feed in your views, and are also part of a project to develop ways for carers to get more involved in planning the types of carer support that will be provided in the future. Come along to find out more.

The events offer the opportunity to:

Meet others who are carers for a relative or friend
Come for tea, cake and complementary therapies
Share your ideas and thoughts about services for carers
Hear ways for carers to shape services
Find out what support there is for carers in Edinburgh.

The local event takes place at North Edinburgh Arts Centre

on Friday 23 November from 2 – 4pm.

To book your place or to find out more contact:

Nina Anker Petersen, Outside the Box, Unit 23, 150 Brand St, Glasgow G51 1DH

Tel: 0141 419 0451 Email: nina@otbds.org

flyer for carers events november 2012

They came, they saw, they planted!

They came from schools, from projects, from churches and from nice warm houses – they came from all over Muirhouse on a mission: to plant thousands of bulbs on Muirhouse Avenue.

The gardeners braved chilly winds and showers over Friday and Saturday to plant their bulbs. The fruits of their labours won’t be seen until springtime – but it’s sure to be worth the wait!

Reminder – Muirhouse planting tomorrow!

The Muirhouse Centipede has been in touch asking us to remind readers that there’s a touch of ‘guerilla gardening’ taking place in Muirhouse Avenue tomorrow.

Working with the city council and North Edinburgh Arts, Muirhouse Centipede project has organised a community bulb planting weekend tomorrow and Saturday and they could do with a hand – the green-fingered group has no less than 9000 spring bulbs to plant on Muirhouse Avenue!

Working with local artist Natalie Taylor, Friday’s session is from 1 – 3pm and on Saturday it’s 10am – 2pm. Many hands make light work, and your labours will help produce a beautiful ‘painting’ come the Spring

Hot drinks and biscuits will be available for everyone who joins in, and groups from Craigroyston Primary School, Oaklands School and Muirhouse Millennium Centre have signed up to kick off the project tomorrow – come and join them!

For further information call North Edinburgh Arts on 315 2151 or visit www.northedinburgharts.co.uk

Cutting edge drama at North Edinburgh Arts

North Edinburgh Theatre Group is offering performance without barriers in an innovative piece of Theatre Uncut later this month. And what exactly is Theatre Uncut, I hear you cry? North Edinburgh Theatre Project’s Stephanie Knight explains all:

“Theatre Uncut was established last year in response to cuts in UK public spending outlined by the coalition government. For one week in March over 800 people performed Theatre Uncut plays simultaneously in more than 80 venues across the UK, USA, Germany and Ireland: the plays were performed in theatres, universities, community centres, schools, on the streets, in living rooms – anywhere and everywhere!

This year playwrights from Greece, Syria, Spain, the US, Iceland and the UK have penned short dramatic responses tackling a range of issues including the Eurozone crisis, the state of global capitalism and the Occupy movement – so uncut also takes on the meaning of uncensored in this exciting 2012 season of brand new work.”

North Edinburgh Theatre project will be presenting a rehearsed reading of

Spine by Clara Brennan (UK)

A tender musing on the real cost of closing our libraries

and some improvised scenes based on

The Breakout by Anders Lustgarten (UK)

Abrickfallsoutofacellwall,offeringitsinmatesaviewof thepotentialoftheworldbeyondthebars

The performance takes place on Friday 16 November at 7pm

in North Edinburgh Arts Centre.

Stephanie adds: “The participants are really excited to be part of this international initiative and it would be great to see a lot of people here. The World Café is also selling some wonderful food until 7pm on Friday 16, so if you come earlier you can have something yummy to eat before watching Theatre Uncut!”