It’s now less than fifty days until the general election – it’s seven weeks today – and tonight you have an opportunity to hear the candidates for the North & Leith constituency.
The hustings is being held at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre and the debate kicks off at 6.30pm. The event has been organised by Pilton Community Health Project and will be chaired by Harry Woodward.
Why not go along to hear what the politicians have to say – and get your questions answered?
New gentle exercise class for adults of all ages
qualified instructor
Every Friday 11am – 12noon, £2.00
Royston Wardieburn Community Centre
11 Pilton Drive North
Edinburgh EH5 1NF
0131 552 5700
That Man to Man, the world o’er,
Shall brothers (and sisters!) be for a’ that
A Burns Night is about many things. Good food, shared with friends, family or neighbours – and sometimes all three! Burns is about love, about comradeship and about community but if there’s just one word that captures the spirit of Scotland’s national Bard it’s ‘celebration’ – and all those elements were there in abundance at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre last night.
Yes, last night’s Community Celeidh celebrated the memory of Burns but it was more than that – it was a vibrant, living tribute to all the good things Burns work extolls: a warm, friendly gathering of friends and neighbours of all ages, interests and ethnicities joining together to have fun in each others’ company.
Organised by Royston Wardieburn Community Centre, Granton Community Gardeners and Pilton Community Health Project’s Living in Harmony group the evening built on last year’s event and proved to be a huge success.
Around 150 people – aged from three months up to … well, a good bit older! – enjoyed a traditional Burns Supper and were entertained by the excellent Homecoming String Band and a succession of local performers, all made poosible and supported by a team of enthusiastic volunteers who were always on hand to make sure the evening went smoothly.
Congratulations to the organisers, the band, the excellent team of volunteers and the local performers who entertained us so regally on the night: the poets, the musicians, the singers and the wee dancer – you were all brilliant!
And thanks, too, the the local community who came along to support the event and whose enthusiasm made the evening such a success.
Rabbie would be proud of you all – here’s to next year!
Visit our Facebook page for more ceilidh pictures
We are delighted that the Burns night community ceilidh will happen again tomorrow (Saturday 24th January) from 5 – 9.30pm at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre.
The event is a celebration of diversity and talent in north Edinburgh. It is organised by a wide range of groups – including Pilton Community Health Project (PCHP), Granton Community Gardeners and Royston Wardieburn Community Centre – under the banner of Living in Harmony. Living in Harmony is about bringing local residents together to share their experiences and cultures and get to know each other better.
Pilton Community Health Project’s Rachel Farrier said ‘The joy of this event is what happens afterwards, once people have danced with each other, it’s difficult not to say hello on the street!’
This year’s ceilidh will include a traditional haggis supper served up by Granton Community Gardeners giving us all a chance to sample produce from the gardens. We’ll be reliving the highlights of last year with ‘turns’ from residents from around the world – including wee Sarah reading Burns poetry, some highland dancing from Dakota Hay and Nepalese dancing from Sushma and her friends. The homecoming string band will lead the dancing and we’ll all get the chance to strut our stuff.
Last year’s ceilidh was a massive success – over 200 people attended and over 40 volunteered to make it such a brilliant event. You can see photos from this event on PCHP’s facebook page [photos by Anneleen Lindsay].
Local people really enjoyed the event: ‘nice to see some community spirit’ one said. This year tickets are going fast and it looks to be a great event.
Tickets available NOW from Royston Wardieburn Community Centre and only cost £1.
Get yours before they are gone!
The Burns Night Community Ceilidh takes place this Saturday evening at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre from 5 – 9.30pm – eat, drink and dance those winter blues away!
Admission is strictly by ticket only; they’re going fast, so get yours (only £1) at Royston Wardieburn reception now!
Don’t miss it …
Tickets on sale NOW at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre!
See below for relevant Council reports:
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Four local mums have written and produced a delightful wee book of short stories to read with their children.
Chloe Wilson, Heather Thorburn, Michelle Lawler and Georgie Cassidy, members of Stepping Stones creative writing group, worked with tutor Lucy Ribchester over eight weekly sessions at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre to produce ‘Toy Stories’ – and they’ve produced a mini-masterpiece!
The book is beautifully illustrated by North Edinburgh Time Bank member Evren Dogan, who volunteered her talents for free to support the group project.
The Creative Writing group saw their finished work at Royston Wardieburn yesterday, where they were also presented with achievement certificates by Royston Wardieburn Community Learning & Development worker Karen Riddell.
Karen said: “This has been a really interesting collaborative project and we’ve all been looking forward to seeing the finished result. Toy Tales looks really good and the women should feel very proud of their achievement. I’m sure they will enjoy reading stories they have written themselves with their children. We’d like to thank Lucy and Evren for their efforts, too – the book looks so good!”
Lucy’s own first book ‘The Hourglass Factory’ is published in January – good luck with that, Lucy!
Local campaigners the Womens Internation Group (WIG) are to hold a public meeting to discuss the city council’s budget crisis. The event will take place in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre tomorrow (Tuesday 9 December) at 6.30pm. All welcome.
Council Cancels Christmas flyers 4
Full details of the event will follow when we have them, but here’s some background to where we are and why the local meeting has been called:
Last week public spending watchdog the Accounts Commission expressed concern over Edinburgh’s budget control – the city council must find savings of of £138m by 2017.
The Accounts Commission said Edinburgh needs to develop a comprehensive strategy for managing its staff – and on Friday it was revealed that city councillors are to discuss radical new proposals for service provision at Thursday’s full council meeting.
The council’s last major internal reorganisation in the 2000s saw the creation of ‘super departments’ – Education and Social Work were merged to become Children and Families, while roads and pavements, environmental services, housing, refuse collection and trading standards all became part of the remit of a huge new Services for Communities department.
As well as delivering a ‘joined-up’ approach, those new structures were introduced to devolve more power and decision-making to front-line staff to address new community planning arrangements.
Now, following a comprehensive review and facing severe budget pressure, Chief Executive Sue Bruce has produced a new blueprint to restructure the Council’s operations and it’s thought that hundreds of middle manager posts could be under threat as part of the proposed reorganisation.
Councillors will debate the proposals on Thursday before they go out to consultation with unions – the council currently operates a policy of no compulsory redundancies.
Council Leader Councillor Andrew Burns said: “It’s essential that we transform how we deliver council services to an ever growing number of residents, focusing more on their priorities while addressing the significant financial challenges we face.
“A further report from the Chief Executive makes the case for delivering services through four ‘localities’, or neighbourhoods, giving front-line staff the ability to make decisions more suited to the local community and their particular needs. It also outlines a proposal for creating a ‘Business and Customer Services’ corporate centre which would provide the necessary guidance and support.
“Councillors will be asked to select one from three models outlined in the report, following which consultation with staff, Trades Unions and relevant partners will begin.”
Councillor Burns also urged citizens to have their say on Edinburgh’s budget. He said: “Over the past two months, we’ve been inviting views on how we invest and save money. The consultation has attracted significant attention, with over 1,400 people completing our budget planner online, and a further 300 submitting comments by post and email. This is already more than four times the number of responses we received last year.
“Last week, attention turned to our Question Time event, giving members of the public the opportunity to quiz our panel of senior councillors on the budget proposals that mattered to them. It was a lively debate with the Chair, Evening News editor Frank O’Donnell, taking contributions from the floor and from those watching at home. Archive footage of the event is available to view on our website.
“Please take the time to have your say on the proposals, if you haven’t already. The consultation period runs until 19 December, and we will consider all feedback prior to setting the final 2015/16 Budget in February.”
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