Tag: North Edinburgh News

Let’s hear it for the girls! Muirhouse Womens Group celebrates success

Let’s hear it for our local ladies who lunch!

Muirhouse Women’s Group haven’t exactly been lacking in causes since they set up almost three years ago. The enthusiastic band first came to the NEN’s attention when they composed and fired off a letter about poverty to the Prime Minister last year, and it seems they’re never stopped since! The group’s come a long way, and their dedication was rewarded recently when they received The Edinburgh Adult Education Award for Outstanding Achievement during Adult Learners Week.

Members of the group picked up their trophy at a celebration event at the City Chambers – and the icing on the cake was to follow  when new Lord Provost Donald Wilson, who had been so impressed by the group’s achievements, invited our local ladies to lunch!

Muirhouse Women’s Group – now North Edinburgh Women’s Group, as women from other parts of the area have joined – have been involved in so many campaigns and activities, both as a group and as individuals, that it’s hard to keep track of them all.

I met up with the women in North Edinburgh Arts Centre last month, and the women enthusiastically (and noisily!) catalogued their achievements:

  • Writing to the Prime Minister to highlight the plight of poorer people being exacerbated by welfare reforms
  • Researching, compiling and presenting a report on Poverty for last autumn’s Craigroyston Conference
  • Actively supporting the North Edinburgh Fights Back campaign, including addressing councillors as part of a delegation
  • Working with Muirhouse Library to help resolve local antisocial behaviour issues, then choosing new children’s books (pictured above) and helping to organise a successful Open Day.

There’s probably much, much more – but in my defence it was hard to hear everything that was being thrown at me and I can’t write that fast! The women are justifiably proud of all they’ve achieved, but are keen to continue what they’ve started. Cathy Ahmed said: “This is a really brilliant group to be part of. I can’t really describe how it’s changed things for me – I’ve got an awful lot more confidence and I’ve done things I would never have attempted before, and that’s the same for a lot of the other women as well. We all support each other and have a great laugh when we’re together – we’re different characters and different ages but there are a lot of things we agree on and we have a lot in common too. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like without the group – I think we’ve got lots more to do”.

Community Learning Development workers Sarah Low and Lynn McCabe have supported the group on their remarkable journey – although sometimes it been more like trying to rein them in!

Sarah said: “Members of the group have come so far over the past year, attracting new members, experiencing drama, gaining in confidence and most of all learning new skills – and during all this they’ve also managed to have fun: decorating banners, going on family trips and volunteering at the Muirhouse Play Out Event!  This is an amazing – and well deserved – achievement for the group.”

Willie Black, a member of the North Edinburgh Fights Back campaign, said: ‘Our community has a history of having bred strong women who fight for what they believe in. These women are made in that same mould – they won’t be brushed aside and they smell bullshit at a hundred yards! They’re a credit to North Edinburgh and we need more like them”.

Marco Biagi MSP presented the Adult Achievement Awards at the City Chambers. He said: “This is a great example of non-formal learning in the community and shows the benefits that come from life long learning. Congratulations to all of the groups who are celebrating their success this evening”.

The women received further recognition when a motion by Forth councillor Cammy Day congratulating the group was supported by the full council meeting on 28 June. The motion read: “Council congratulates the work of the North Edinburgh Women’s Group in their award for local community activity – outstanding achievement for adult learning (adult education awards).

Furthermore Council commends the highly successful community conference organised by North Edinburgh Fights Back and the Muirhouse Women’s Group specifically in regards to highlighting poverty, inequality and fuel poverty.

Council welcomes the anti-poverty charter, and agrees to work with these groups in addressing poverty and inequalities.”

For further information about North Edinburgh Womens Group activities call Sarah Low on 552 5700, or email her at sarah.low@edinburgh.gov.uk

Additional pictures by Lynn McCabe

Stage classic set for local arts centre

North Edinburgh Arts Centre is the place to be next Saturday (21 April) when it stages the only Edinburgh performances of the classic ‘Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’.

This hilarious, fast-paced adaptation of Robert Tressell’s classic book shares with its audience a year in the life of a group of painters and decorators as they renovate ‘The Cave’, a three-storey town house, for Mayor Sweater. It traces their hardships and struggles for survival in a complacent and stagnating Edwardian England. These workers are the ‘philanthropists’ who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters.

This enduring and absorbing classic story is brought to life by Neil Gore and Rodney Matthew, two hugely talented and experienced performers, using comedy routines and entertaining songs of the Music Hall, with a few surprises along the way!

Robert Tressell’s book has become a classic of working-class literature since its first publication in 1914.  The themes and style of the piece are eternally relevant and provoking as it puts life and politics into sharp focus in an entertaining and accessible way.

Stephen Lowe’s version of the story was first seen in 1978, when Joint Stock Theatre Company toured the country playing to packed houses. The play was revived at the Half Moon Theatre, London in 1983 and again for a touring production by the Birmingham Rep in 1991.

Townsend Productions’ ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ excellent cast features Rodney Matthew who joins the production straight off the back of ‘Jerusalem’ in the West End.  He has worked at many of the leading repertory theatres, including West Yorkshire Playhouse  where he worked for a year and at Dundee Rep where he spent a memorable five years performing in classical, musical and new work around Scotland. Matthew is joined on stage in the two-hander by the talented Neil Gore (Song of Singapore, Chichester Festival Theatre and the West End). The production is directed by Louise Townsend, with the creative team including designs by Fine Time Fontayne and lighting by Jo Dawson.

The play has had the Backing of the unions RMT, Unite, Unite, Scotland, TUC, SETUC, GMB, PCS, Wales TUC, NUT, Accord, UCATT NASWT and the FBU.

Tickets for The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (performances at 2pm and 7pm) are priced at £10.00 Conc. £5.00 and can be purchased at North Edinburgh Arts Box Office: 0131 315 2151.

STOP PRESS

Tickets for the evening performance are already sold out and tickets for the matinée are going fast. However you can win tickets for the play – North Edinburgh Arts has two tickets to give away for the matinée and NEN has to more for the evening performance. Check out April’s NEN to find out how to win tickets to a must-see show!

Councillor’s words show ignorance of community

We are incensed at the comments by Councillor Elaine Morris, “Councillor brands anticuts protesters ‘rabid'” (News, September 1).
Greater Pilton is a fantastic place to work and live, and in fact top council workers, councillors, MPs and MSPs all came through and gained a wealth of knowledge from the so called “rabid anti-establishment” folk of Greater Pilton.

Over 65 years ago, brave men and women fought for independence, democracy and free speech, but apparently this does not count if you are living in Councillor Morris’s ward.

The people of Greater Pilton have been in the forefront of any campaign that fights for the rights of the common man/woman. In fact Greater Pilton is proud to have, within their boundaries, an organisation which has been running for over 50 years. From this organisation many other community organisations have emerged and been encouraged to “cut the apron strings” and go it alone. When the people of Greater Pilton make up their minds to do something, they do it, and don’t change their minds halfway through because they think the grass is greener on the other side – can you say the same, Councillor Morris?

One of the definitions of “rabid” is extremely enthusiastic and zealous, well in that case, thank you Councillor Morris, at least we have the community at heart, unlike you, we fight for the whole of Greater Pilton and not just for our own little corner.

For you to threaten (in your political speak) an arts centre with withdrawing their funding if they allow this meeting to go ahead is disgusting.

The Greater Pilton area was built on the blood, sweat and tears of local activists and it will continue to go from strength to strength. Councillor Morris should also remember it was local people who voted her in. They can also vote her out.

This letter appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News from West Pilton West Granton Community Council.

Local Counillor Elaine Morris's comments have upset many local people.

Plans For New Youth Centre In Inverleith Ward

Fet Lor Youth Club is set to be demolished rebuilt as a purpose build state-of-the-art facility which has been designed with the help of local young people.

The club works with youngsters between the ages of eight and 18 in the local area, offering them a wide range of activities, opportunities and experiences they may not otherwise come across such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, Outdoor Education programmes and various other worthwhile initiatives. The existing much-loved and well-used centre inNorth Edinburghis a wooden building which was built in the early 1960s. It has been looked after well over the years but it won’t last forever and it has been a dream of the club for some years to replace the building.

Architects began work on the plans four years ago after which Fet Lor launched their ‘Big Project’ to raise the projected £1.5 million cost for the rebuild. A figure that the club cites as a “significant challenge” on their website. Centre manager, Mark Foster is enthusiastic about the proposed new building. He said: “It is potentially a huge step up from the facilities we have at the moment and will offer new variety for the members. The current centre has been struggling on for 40 to 50 years and it has reached the end of its useful life, now we have the opportunity to get a brand new facility. Having it purpose-built will be a significant advantage. We don’t have a whole lot of space here that is not for sport. There is not much room for small group work and the new building will hopefully tackle that.

“The area tends to be dominated by the boys playing football, but there will now be a dance area which the girls were keen on having in the new facility. It will also give us designated areas for the more messy activities like bike maintenance and it means we do not have to constantly tidy up areas so these can be used for different activities. Within the plans for the new centre there will also be a low-level climbing wall in the corner of the sports hall. This again will allow us offer new experiences to the young people who attend the provision”

Architect, James Robertson worked collaboratively with Pippa Swan to design the new building. He said: “We spent time talking with the members of the club asking them what they liked about the current building, what they didn’t like and what they would like to see in the new place. We had thought that they would want to have lots of light flooding in and for it to look really futuristic in style. But they didn’t want people to be able to see in, they wanted it to be their space so we worked on the concept of a fort to protect. The whole design was driven by this and once we had that, the rest of it just fell into place.

“The new design will offer various different spaces, at the moment there is really only one main hall and if the boys are playing football then it is hard for Mark and the other leaders to be heard. The exterior will be made up of jigsaw cladding which will allow light in from different angles throughout the day this will mean that the space will always be changing with different shadows inside the building. The lighting on the outside of the building can also vary meaning that it is always changing. They wanted to have their jewel and that’s what we have tried to do.”

The proposed plans which have been submitted to the City ofEdinburgh Councilinclude the demolition of the existing youth club structure and the removal of the existing nursery structure. The new youth club would be built on the same site along with the relocation of the nursery building. The plans are currently pending consideration by the City ofEdinburgh Councilplanning department.[slideshow]