If you’re ready to embark on a journey towards a healthier, more active lifestyle, there has never been a better time to take the first step with a special promotion at Edinburgh Leisure – just in time to drop a few pounds before the Christmas festivities.
From 25th October to 10th November, you can join any of Edinburgh Leisure’s fitness, climb or golf memberships for a joining fee of just one penny. This limited-time offer is your golden opportunity to experience the benefits of being a part of Edinburgh Leisure.
Their memberships are designed to cater to all fitness levels and interests. Whether you’re a seasoned athlete or just starting out, they have something for everyone. The new Evolve Membership at Meadowbank Sports Centre is also included in this offer.
By taking advantage of this offer, you’ll gain access to 50+ venues, including 17 top-notch gyms, 12 swimming pools, 6 golf courses, 1 world-class climbing arena, and sports facilities across the city. Enjoy the flexibility of choosing from over 750 fitness classes each week, including yoga, pilates, spinning, and more.
Their expert trainers are there to support and motivate you every step of the way, ensuring you achieve your fitness goals in a fun and engaging environment.
And as a member, you can also enjoy additional member benefits like priority bookings, and free gym introduction. There is no contract – and you can freeze or cancel your membership at any time.
So, wherever you’re at on the map or in life, Edinburgh Leisure has something to suit your needs.
Lamb took centre stage at the Scottish Parliament as part of Lamb for St Andrew’s Day, an initiative to encourage people across Scotland to celebrate with Scotch Lamb on the patron saint’s day.
Scotch Lamb was served, and sold out, in the canteen for Members of Parliament and staff at Holyrood, while the two key industry organisations driving the industry-wide campaign #LambForStAndrewsDay met with MSPs.
Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), which promotes the sustainable production, integrity and quality of red meat in Scotland, and the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland (IAAS), the representative body for livestock marts in Scotland are behind the campaign, now in its 13th year, to make lamb synonymous with 30 November, as turkey is for Christmas and haggis for Burns’ Night.
At parliament, they spoke to a number of MSPs, highlighting the growing success of the Lamb for St Andrew’s Day campaign, which was celebrated internationally this year, both ahead of COP28 in Dubai and at the Ambassador’s Residence in Paris, and the need to support such an indigenous industry.
Sarah Millar, Chief Executive of QMS, said it was also an opportunity to discuss the economic, social and environmental influence of the £290m lamb sector in Scotland and areas for market growth.
“The export market is strong and growing due to a global appreciation of the quality of Scotch Lamb and its environmental credentials, but there is great opportunity to bring more UK consumers back to lamb to consolidate the home market,” she said.
“It ticks a number of boxes around nutrition, food miles and sustainability. Lamb production is a natural fit with Scotland’s high rainfall and plenty of available grass, producing a tasty, versatile homegrown red meat packed with nutrients.
“Every year the awareness built from the #LambForStAndrewsDay campaign has a tangible impact, boosting sales in the livestock rings as well as from retail shelves.”
Compared to beef, which in 2022 saw 19.2kg consumption per capita in Scotland, the equivalent in lamb is 2.2kg. Scotland is 186% self-sufficient in sheep meat so QMS is looking to maximise every possible market potential.
The #LambForStAndrewsDay campaign illustrates that lamb can be enjoyed on any budget and works well with different cuisines from across the world, promoted through QMS’s advertising and social media campaigns, as well as recipe inspiration on the Scotch Kitchen website.
In 2020, IAAS introduced The Lamb Bank, gathering financial and ‘lamb’ donations from across the industry to deliver lamb into schools, for free, in the last week of November. To date, 89,000 school children across Scotland have had the chance to cook, eat and learn about lamb in school canteens and Home Economics classes with 114 schools participating this year.
In the last three years, figures show that sales in the livestock marts to butchers and processors have increased every year in the month of November, demonstrating the growing impact of the campaign.
Neil Wilson said: “Our visit to Parliament today was another platform to demonstrate the positive impact of the lamb sector across the supply chain on Scotland’s economy, rural livelihoods and food security and why we need to drive lamb sales to protect and promote the profitable future of our industry.
“We had some really interesting, constructive conversations with Members of the Scottish Parliament, and it was a great that many of those we spoke to knew about the campaign, more than ever before – and that the canteen sold out of lamb!”
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Mairi Gougeon, who met at AgriScot with both the Chair of QMS, Kate Rowell, and the President of IAAS, Alan Hutcheon, as part of Lamb for St Andrew’s Day, said: “I am pleased to be involved in this year’s Lamb for St Andrew’ Day campaign.
“This year, Scotch Lamb will be on the plates of decision-makers from Paris to Dubai. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase the very best that our sheep producers have to offer.
“The high quality of Scottish lamb gives it mass appeal to customers, and I know that this year’s campaign will help to enhance this message across the globe.”
The initiative is also supported by National Farmers Union (NFU) Scotland and the National Sheep Association (NSA). QMS provided Scotch Lamb for The National Sheep Association in Scotland St Andrew’s Dinner in Lauder this week, held for 100 people from across the industry.
Native Places – a leading UK lifestyle aparthotel brand providing stylish, spacious, and original accommodation in exciting neighbourhoods across the UK – has announced details of a year-long room giveaway in addition to 20% off room discounts and 50% off food.
Launching tomorrow (Tuesday, 22nd February) lucky Edinburgh locals can get their hands on a host of prizes as Native is giving away 22 rooms in February with more free rooms up for grabs throughout the year to celebrate momentous occasions like the Queen’s Jubilee in May when 70 free rooms will be on offer to commemorate the 70th anniversary.
The 22/2/2022 promotion will reward those ‘becoming a Native’ by signing up for the special offer on its website. Quirky games will unlock the prizes and discounts, valid on stays at all the Native aparthotels in the UK and on dining at Native Manchester.
There are six Native aparthotels throughout the UK, in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Breathing new life into the restoration and refurbishment of historic city centre buildings, aparthotels are housed within converted tea warehouses, historical estate buildings and the former home of the Anchor Line shipping company, complete with original 1906 features.
For more information on Native Places and the 22/2/2022 promotion visit:
The National Lottery is inspiring the nation to have fun days out this autumn, by offering money off hundreds of attractions and experiences across the UK
£8 million worth of ‘Days Out’ vouchers will be available from 8th October granting National Lottery players up to £25 off tickets to participating venues on the VisitBritain Shop
To inspire the nation to have more fun this autumn, The National Lottery is helping to fund great days out at hundreds of attractions and experiences across the UK by offering vouchers that can be used to claim up to £25 off entry.
From 8th October, anyone with a valid Lotto ticket can claim a £25 voucher* for use at participating venues. Whether it’s an adrenaline-filled day or one full of mindful moments, there’s something for everyone, including country parks, medieval castles, aquariums, walking tours and much more.
Venues and attractions from all corners of the UK are participating in The National Lottery Days Out promotion, acollaboration with VisitBritain to help support domestic tourism this autumn, including highlights in Scotland:
Animal lovers can visit the Highland Wildlife Park located in the heart of the Cairngorm National Park, learn about the 1,000 endangered and threatened species that live at Edinburgh Zoo or catch a glimpse of the only Cow Nose Rays in Scotland at SEA LIFE Loch Lomond.
For a historical experience, discover the childhood residence of Mary, Queen of Scots, Stirling Castle.
For an insight into the gruesome history of Edinburgh, venture inside the Edinburgh Dungeons to learn more about Agnes Finney, the city’s witch.
Every week National Lottery players raise more than £30 million for Good Causes and this funding has supported 94 of the top 100 most visited tourist attractions in the UK** including Stonehenge, Eden Project, Kew Gardens, Tower of London, ZSL London Zoo, Giants Causeway and Bletchley Park.
Tourism Minister Nigel Huddleston said: “The fantastic National Lottery Days Out Scheme is part of our plan to help our brilliant tourism sector to build back better from the challenges of the pandemic.
“There is so much to see and do throughout the year across the whole of the UK. I encourage all National Lottery players to see what’s on offer and get out there and have some great days out at top attractions.”
VisitBritain CEO Sally Balcombe said: “VisitBritain is very pleased to be supporting The National Lottery Days Out campaign to encourage more of us to get out and discover the fantastic visitor attractions and experiences here on our doorstep and enjoy a great day out with family and friends.”
Redemption: To get £25 off fun days out with The National Lottery this Autumn, National Lottery players should visit www.NationalLotteryDaysOut.com to get one of hundreds of thousands of vouchers available.
The promotion is open to players with Lotto tickets bought on or after 1st October 2021*.
The money for this initiative comes from a National Lottery promotional fund. It is not being funded by money allocated for National Lottery Good Causes or by Camelot.
A new study by Queen’s University Belfast and Washington University in St. Louis shows that promoting physical activity is key to achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).
The research provides new evidence to show that integrating strategies to promote increased physical activity is a key part of the action plan for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The study found strong links between physical activity promotion strategies and eight out of the 17 SDGs: good health and well-being (SDG 3); gender equity (SDG 5); industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9); reduced inequalities (SDG 10); sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11); climate action (SDG 13); and peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16).
Deborah Salvo, Assistant Professor of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis and lead author on the study, said: “Physical inactivity has been characterized as a pandemic, accounting for 7% of all premature deaths per year globally and resulting in billions of dollars spent on health-related expenditures.”
The international research team applied a modelling method to simulate the effects of large-scale physical activities strategies to gain insights on the potential impacts of widespread scale-up of active transport systems and active urban design strategies on three different city types of high-, middle- and low-income countries.
The simulation results indicated that expected physical activity gains are greater for low- and middle-income countries. In high-income countries with high car dependency, physical activity promotion strategies may help to reduce air pollution and traffic-related deaths, but shifts toward more active forms of travel and recreation and climate change mitigation may require complementary policies that disincentivize driving.
Dr Leandro Garcia, from the Centre for Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast and co-author, said: “The simulation results reveal context-specific relations. In terms of physical activity increases, low- and middle-income country cities stand more to gain from urban transformations that prioritize equitable access to walking, cycling, public transport, and recreational infrastructure.
“As for high-income country cities, findings suggest that to observe meaningful improvements in physical activity levels and climate change mitigation, these types of strategies may need to be further complemented by policies that increase the cost of driving.
“Our research provides strong evidence to illustrate the multiple benefits of promoting physical activity on a large scale, not just for specific areas or populations. The benefits are huge for individuals, communities and to the planet and goes a long way in contributing to the U.N. sustainable development agenda.
“As well as helping to prevent chronic disease, promoting physical activity at scale can reduce traffic deaths and pollution. It helps to create more equitable societies and reduce climate change.
“Physical activity promotion strategies can bring benefits beyond health and bring us closer to a more equitable, sustainable and environmentally friendly future.”
