Tag: Pilton Community Health Project

Obesity: a growing crisis

One of the very few things that has shown steady and continuous growth since the war has been the Scottish waistline. Countless healthy eating initiatives have been introduced over the years – I’ve attended more initiative launches than I’ve had pie and beans lunches – yet Scotland’s problem with poor diet, obesity and the resultant chronic health issues remain as intractable as ever.

Two thirds of Scotland’s adults are classed as either obese or overweight, and a BBC Scotland special investigation to be screened tonight confirms that Scotland’s love affair with sugary and fatty foods grows unabated. That love affair costs Scotland’s NHS £200 million a year – and unless something is done to tackle this urgently the country faces a health crisis.

Statistics produced for ‘Scotland the Fat’ indicate that heath boards across the country have seen significant increase in obesity-related issues over the last ten years, with a marked increase in weight-loss surgical operations.

Research for the programme found that more and more Scots eat processed ready meals or takeaways at least three times a week, and that barely a quarter of Scots now cook for themselves every night. As ever the most worrying statistics were found in the most disadvantaged communities, where almost one in five (17%) said they did not cook a single evening meal from scratch.

In North Edinburgh, Pilton Community Health Project (PCHP) established the Food For Thought Forum last year to address these very issues:

The Food for Thought Forum exists to bring together community food and growing initiatives, organisations, projects and individuals within the area of Greater Pilton, Edinburgh; and to support, promote, link and increase local community food activity.

Our Vision

The group believes everyone in North Edinburgh should have access to a tasty, enjoyable, nutritious diet.  We want food to be a central part of our thriving community, bringing people together to grow, bake, cook and eat.

We want to see our community skilled and empowered to grow and cook good quality food for their families, friends and neighbours, and to see more local employment opportunities created in the production, distribution and preparation of the food we eat.

Our members are working towards aspects of this shared vision, and we believe that by working together we are stronger and better able to contribute to the flourishing of North Edinburgh.

Our key aims

  • To share and pool our knowledge and resources around community food & health
  • To use our collective resources to further develop a thriving local food culture
  • To move towards an adaptable and resilient community by providing opportunities for local skills development
  • To work together towards improving diet, food access, nutrition and health in Greater Pilton

Who can join?

Anyone involved or interested in community food or growing activity in Greater Pilton.

What does it involve?

  • Attending regular local meetings
  • Sharing ideas, knowledge and resources
  • Contributing to the planning, promotion and coordination of events
  • Signposting queries to appropriate forum members
  • Regularly contributing to ongoing forum discussion

For further information about heathy eating and the Food for Thought Forum, contact Anita Aggarwal at Pilton Community Health Project on 551 1671

‘Scotland the Fat’ will be screened on BBC Scotland tonight at 8pm, and can be seen on BBC iPlayer for a further seven days.

BBC Scotland

Living in Harmony update

harmony1Pilton Community Health Project’s Anita Aggarwal gives an update on a key local initiative:

Since the closure of Community Organisation for Racial Equality (CORE), PCHP, Community Learning and Development (CLD) and Edinburgh Lothian Regional Equalities Council (ELREC) have been working together to try to minimise the impact of the loss of this important organisation.

The City of Edinburgh Council commissioned a report which examined the ongoing needs of BME communities in the area.  This highlighted the difficulties people have integrating with the local population, as well as a host of other issues.

You’ll find that report here:  Living in harmony 13

At this point it was felt important to involve other agencies and more local people in this process, and so we pulled together an action planning session on 31 May.

Over 30 people attended this event, representing a wide range of local people and organisations.  At this event we identified actions to be taken and many committed to take these forward.

These actions are recorded in this document:  action plan 31.5.13 final

If you weren’t able to be at the event and have ideas about how you or your organisations can contribute please add them in to the plan.  This document is an aid to action, not a fixed strategy document to sit on a shelf and get dusty!

We agreed to come back to discuss next steps at another meeting, when we will look at what progress is being made and how we resource some of the ideas on the action plan.

The next meeting will take place at the

Spartans Community Football Academy on Friday 19 July from 10 – 12.

This meeting is open to anyone – please contact me on 0131 551 1671 if you need crèche.

Anita Aggarwal

PCHP

Adult Learning Success for North Edinburgh

Use Your Loaf AwardWe’re really pleased to report the success of two local groups during adult learners’ week, an international event celebrating and promoting the benefits of adult learning (write CLD workers Sarah Low and Lynn McCabe).

The highlight of the week is the Adult Education Awards ceremony. Over thirty groups across the city were nominated in eight award categories. Forth councillors Vicki Redpath and Cammy Day were at the City Chambers last month to help present the awards. Of the eight successful groups, two were from North Edinburgh: the ‘Use Your Loaf’ (pictured above) bread making group and the North Edinburgh Social History Project.

The selection panel were ‘inspired’ by the bread making group, who won the ‘Health and Well Being’ award.  The ‘Use Your Loaf’ group is a Pilton Community Health Project (PCHP) supported group, in partnership with CLD and North Edinburgh Arts.

Every week, the group (and their children!) meet in the Arts Centre with Lisa Arnott from PCHP and Sarah Low from the local CLD team to make loaves of bread (or rolls, naans, pitas, pizzas and deli breads).  Whilst the dough was proving and baking, the group planned their own healthy community event: The Yummy Food Festival. The Festival took place in North Edinburgh Arts Centre in March this year and attracted 500 local people who enjoyed amongst many things, cooking demonstrations, workshops and a community ‘bake off’.

Learners from the group are being supported to develop a second bread making course which will run in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre in October, so watch out for more details!  Two members of the original group have gone on to volunteer in North Edinburgh Arts Centre café and others have taught bread making in the local nursery. The learners will also be sharing their skills with others during the PCHP supported Food for Thought Forum’s Summer Programme at Forthview’s summer gala and with PCHP’s Women Supporting Women project.

Like to get involved?  Call Lisa Arnott at PCHP on 551 1671 for details.

The North Edinburgh Social History Group began two years ago and was set up by community activists who wished to re-engage with the community and re-establish community participation and activism.  They meticulously researched the history of the North Edinburgh community, producing a brilliant booklet and exhibition called “Never Give Up”, a record of the community’s fight for social justice.

The social history group won the ‘Political and Social Education’ award.  Accepting the award, members of the group were keen to mention the longstanding history of protest in north Edinburgh, and dedicated their award to their friend and fellow activist Brian Robertson, a member of the group and committed community activist who sadly died just a few days before the Awards Ceremony.

Some members of the group are now part of a course called ‘Power to the People’, which meets in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre on Tuesday mornings. This ambitious course aims to cover the history of protest in Scotland over the past 300 years! In doing so, the group have been out and about on study visits to the National Gallery, the People’s Palace in Glasgow and the NationalMiningMuseum. If you’d like more information, please call local CLD worker Lynn McCabe, who runs the course, on 552 5700 (see Lynn’s piece on the group below).

Bumpstart

The Outstanding Achievement Award went to the Bumpstart Pregnancy Café in Leith (pictured above). The Pregnancy Cafe is a relaxed group in which pregnant women and their partners meet other parents to be to talk about pregnancy and parenting. One learner described the tutors as always being there for her, and the other group members ‘like second mums’.  Pregnant women in north Edinburgh are welcome to come along to their very own Pregnancy Café, on Tuesdays from 11 till 12.30 at the Haven (in CraigroystonPrimary School, Muirhouse Place West). Just turn up, or call Jo Aitkenhead on 537 4230 for more details.

Congratulations to all the learners involved on their achievements!

Sarah Low

powerpeople1

Award for Power to the People

Having completed their successful project called ‘Never Give Up’,  which documented the history of activism in North Edinburgh over the last 70 years, members of North Edinburgh Social History Group  came up with a proposal for a new project called   ‘Power to the People’.  The group were keen to continue their research into activism but this time widened the scope of their research to cover the history of protest in Scotland during the last 300 years!  To add to the challenge, the group decided that they wanted to use the arts to explore this hidden history.

The course began on 28 August last year and has proved very successful with fifteen people regularly attending each session in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre.  Some of the topics the group have studied so far include: the Jacobite Rebellion, The Scottish Enlightenment, the Friends of the People, the Radical War, Chartism, The Campaign for the Abolition of Slavery, the Campaign for Land Reform, the Suffragette Movement, the Scottish Hunger Marches and Red Clydeside.

powerpeople2

The group’s learning has not been confined to the classroom.  They have been out and about and have been on study visits to the National Gallery of Scotland, the NationalMuseum in Chamber Street, the Portrait Gallery,  the People’s Palace in Glasgow and the NationalMiningMuseum.  During their studies, they also managed to fit in making a short film for the BBC’s learning site called ‘Paintings and Protest’ which is worth a wee look.  The course is due to finish at the end of  June but there are already plans underway for a new course on issues for the Referendum  in the  Autumn, a publication on the History of Protest similar to Never Give Up and a community event celebrating the group’s achievements in North Edinburgh Arts Centre.  Watch this space!

In recognition of their role in developing this very important course, the organisers of the event gave the award for Social and Political Education to North Edinburgh Social History Group.

Members of the group and participants involved in the Power to the People course have dedicated the award to their friend and fellow activist, Brian (Elvis) Robertson who died a few days before the award ceremony.

Lynn McCabe

powerpeople4

 

 

 

Sing out with The Piltones!

Listen to this!!   ‘take a look‘

This song was written by a group of local women who sing at the PCHP project.  It is performed by them and a group of P7 girls from Granton Primary School.

They have formed a group ‘The Piltones’ that anyone can join.  They meet on a Tuesday morning from 9.30 – 11 to sing their favourite songs and have a chat.  Anyone can jon – get in touch on 0131 551 1671

http://www.pchp.org.uk/the-piltones/

Info:  Ann Confrey

Theft puts spokes into volunteer’s work

A volunteer who has been carrying out unpaid work in North Edinburgh has had her bike stolen. 

The volunteer was conducting an interview a community activist as background research for a Pilton Community Health Project initiative when the bike was stolen from outside North Edinburgh Arts and Muirhouse Library in Pennywell Court.

The victim, who asked not to be named, said: “It was stolen between 12.30 and 2pm.  I’m totally gutted – I have been volunteering my free time in the community, I only work part-time and the bike gets me around for my job. Any help to retrieve my mode of transport would be greatly appreciated.”

The bike is a black and white (mans size) specialised road bike, with P2 type overendz bar ends on the handlebars.  If you have any information about the stolen bike or can help in any way please contact local police or you can contact Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.
 

Living in Harmony: making it happen

National, citywide and local agencies, organisations and individuals joined together to find ways to fill the gaps when CORE (formerly the Black Community Development Project) was forced to close last year. That work continues, as Pilton Community Health Project’s Anita Aggarwal reports …

You may be aware that since the closure of CORE last year a small group of local people and organisations have been looking at the ongoing  issues for the BME (black and minority ethnic) community.

There was a short consultation and the findings have been written  up in the   ‘Living in Harmony’ report (see below). We have offered to facilitate an action planning  session to look at how local organisations and people can come together to  tackle some of the issues raised in the report.

There has been a significant rise in the incidence of hate crime in the area, as well as many issues that affect  the wider community.  We hope that a broad spectrum of people and  organisations will want to be part of this planning event. We also hope that by the end of the event local organisations and individuals will have committed to take forward actions that encourage interaction and integration between ethnic groups in the area and  remove or reduce some of the barriers for the BME population to accessing services.

This workshop is open for  all and we will provide creche (IF BOOKED IN ADVANCE) and refreshments.  We  particularly welcome members of the local Scottish community to take  part.

It will take place on Friday  31 May from 9.30 – 12  followed by lunch, at The Spartans Academy at Ainslie Park. Please let me know if you will  attend, or give me a call if you would like more information. Please feel free to forward this  invitation to other interested parties.

Living in harmony

 Anita  Aggarwal
Senior Development  Worker (Health Inequalities)
Pilton Community  Health Project, 73 Boswall  Parkway
Edinburgh, EH5  2PW
0131 551  1671
anitaaggarwal@pchp.org.uk
www.pchp.org.uk

harmony

Digging deep to resolve Pilton’s problems

Final workshop pitch

Pilton Community Health Project has been speaking to people in North Edinburgh about issues affecting their lives and what they think is important in the local area.

Many of the same themes come up again and again – safety, dog mess, no motivation, no sense of community.

Lets look at things in a different way; get underneath the issues and work together to come up with inspiring solutions that really change things!

We invite you to join us in some inspiring and thought provoking sessions thinking in a different way to resolve problems and issues and make Pilton a more active community!

What it will be:

Fun, interesting, thought provoking, possibly it may even transform your life.

We will provide:

Food, drink, prizes, childcare and fun for 2 x 5hr sessions on:

Wednesday 29 May

 &

Wednesday 5 June

from 10am-3pm

at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre

For more info call Lianne or Clare on 551 1671, email: moveit@pchp.org.uk

dig

Countdown to Yummy Food Festival

FOOD_FESTIVAL_A5FLYER

Just six days now until the big event …

Please find attached the flyer for this year’s food festival. Organised by a group of local women from West Pilton and Muirhouse this food festival aims to inspire and encourage healthy eating. The afternoon will be full of food demonstration and workshops by local people and organisation as well as food-related arts workshops, face painting, singing from North Edinburgh Sings Together, balloons, baking competition, and our local celebrity chef Neil Forbes (pictred below) , Mrs Mash the foodie story teller, The Edible Garden, Kitchen Canny, the Seed Truck, goody bags, tastes of the food, recipe cards and a whole lot more!

So if you can, share this with your local networks, groups and organisations. Hope to see you on the day!

Best Wishes From

The Yummy Food Festival Steering Group 2013

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