See below for relevant Council reports:
Item_7.3___BOLD_business_cases___delivering_a_lean_and_agile_Council
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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Granton & District Community Council are holding a Drop In event:
Royston Wardieburn Community Centre
on Tuesday 9 December
between 10 am – 7 pm
We will be there so that people can drop in and comment on the budget proposals that the council are discussing. To support this we are in the process of undertaking a partial leaflet drop of the area that not only advertises the event but provides details of our web site, twitter and telephone contact number. This forms part of our engagement strategy going forward.
Dave Macnab
Secretary, Granton and District Community Council
http://grantonanddistrictcommunitycouncil.com/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrantonDistCC
Make learning new computer skills at
Royston Wardieburn Community Centre your New Year resolution!
FREE Computer Classes (Beginner Level)
Learn a new skill in the New Year
Tuesdays 10 – 12 (from 13 January)
Thursdays 12.30 – 2.30 (from 15 January)
Our classes are friendly and relaxed.
You can work at your own pace.
Free tea/coffee
We also offer SQA qualifications.
Royston Wardieburn Community Centre, Pilton Drive North
Telephone 0131 552 5700 – ask for for Karen or Donna
No Boundaries is a support group for people who have a disability or long-term condition and want to get out and about in their community to meet people, socialise and give & receive peer support.
The group members previously attended Craighall Day Centre but had to move on when criteria for places at day centres were changed – founder member and former Chairperson of the Craighall Day Centre’s Welfare Committee Rudy Bleau received the letter informing him of the changes on Christmas Eve last year.
Fellow member Brian also recalls hearing the news: “It was a shock, really. It meant a big change for us and there was nothing else at the time. There was a real danger that some vulnerable people would become even more isolated”.
Undaunted, the group established a new base at Royston Wardieburn and over recent months they have been working to become a ‘formal’ organisation with a constitution, mission statement, office bearers and the like. While the group is becoming ‘formalised’, however, members are keen to assure potential new recruits that the group is anything but formal!
Chairman Rudy Bleau explained: “Becoming a properly-constituted group opens more doors for us so we decided to go down that route. The paperwork takes a lot of time though and we’d like to thank EVOC, Susan Dalgliesh from the City of Edinburgh Council’s Local Area Co-ordination Team and Kirsty at Grapevine for supporting us through the process. We have charitable status now and that’s thanks to their help.”
He continued: “We’ve had to spend an awful lot of time over the last few months talking about our plans for the organisation but now we’re in the exciting position of being able to actually DO more things. The prime purpose of the No Boundaries Group is to reduce the sense of isolation that people experience and improve their mental health & wellbeing. This essentially is about building a healthier community in North Edinburgh, a place where people feel actively part of society – and have a life.”
He added: “We are an inclusive group, welcoming people aged 16 years and over – if people need any additional support they can bring a carer or personal assistant along to help them participate as fully as possible.”
The group meets twice a week at Royston Wardieburn Communiyt Centre – on Monday and Tuesday from 10am – 12noon. What happens at ‘No Boundaries’ sessions depends on what the members want.
“We meet up together to socialise and discuss topics of interest and take part in a range of activities. On Thursdays we go on outings”, said Brian. Among the places visited by the No Boundaries group are Maxi’s Stockbridge, the Botanic Gardens, North Edinburgh Arts Centre, Morrison’s Ferry Road, Eric Liddell Centre, Craighall Centre, Out Of The Blue, Café Camino, Newkirkgate Community Centre, No.1 Nicholson Square, National Art Gallery, Costa St James Centre, Drumbrae Library, Punjabi Junction and Lauriston Farm – that’s a lot of coffee!
“We hope to put reviews on Euan’s guide to help others get out and about too to accessible places. We are planning to have speakers in from a range of a projects like the Living It Up Project. The group is a place to get information and guidance too.
“There is a diverse programme and everything we do is agreed by the group collectively. We’d really welcome more members and it would be great to see more people getting involved in our activities”, Brian went on. “We’re open to new ideas and we can structure our programme to fit. We’ve got a lot to look forward to”.
For more information about the No Boundaries group contact rudy.bleau@gmail.com
BREAKING THE MOULD
Breaking the Mould is a new project which aims to record and celebrate inspirational women from North Edinburgh who have made a difference to the lives of others locally, nationally, internationally. The North Edinburgh project is looking to find women from the community who have ‘broken the mould’, and who will be featured in an Edinburgh wide publication.
We are trying to find out and learn more about local women of North Edinburgh, who did/ are doing amazing and remarkable things for their community and who we feel can inspire women and girls today and in the future. To do this we are discussing women from the North Edinburgh area who are or were engaged in a range of social and political campaigns, including women’s involvement in the recent Scottish Independence Referendum. Other areas of women’s activism that will be looked at are throughout the 20th century looking at the 1960s and 70s, the war years and the women’s suffrage movement.
At the moment we are chatting about what we mean by a women having ‘broken the mould’.
The group of women meet every Wednesday from 11 – 1pm in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre. A free crèche is provided for participants’ children. Free Tea, coffee and biscuits are provided.
If you would like more information or to join the group please call Lynn McCabe at Royston/Wardieburn Community Centre on 552 5700 or Janette Bond, from the Workers’ Education Association on 225 2580.
DROP IN to Royston Wardieburn for fun on Saturday morning!
The Drop In is a new citywide fun-packed activity for families with a child or young person (0 – 18 y o) with a disability and their siblings. It’s taking place in four community centres across the city every Saturday for two hours – and the local venue is Royston Wardieburn on Pilton Drive North.
Parents and carers will have the opportunity to meet other parents/carers and sit and chat over a cup of coffee while their children take part in activities run by experienced youth workers from FABB Scotland and the city council.
Activities will include sports, art, computer games, soft play, bouncy castles and much more.
Royston Wardieburn’s Drop In starts this Saturday from 10am – midday. There’s no need to book, just come along with the family and DROP IN!
Call the Centre on 552 5700 for more information.
Breaking the Mould is a new project which aims to record and celebrate inspirational women from North Edinburgh who have made a difference to the lives of others locally, nationally, internationally. The project is particularly interested in identifying and publicising those women from our community who have ‘broken the mould’.
The achievements of many Edinburgh women are well known to us. Names such as Elsie Inglis and Helen Crummy have been celebrated with honours and memorials. There are many other women out there, however, who may have been forgotten about who really deserve to be remembered.
The group who are undertaking this research live locally and will be supported by a local Community Learning and Development worker and a tutor from the Workers Education Association. The group will be meeting every Wednesday from 10 – 12 in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre – first session is next Wednesday (1 October). A free crèche is provided for participants’ children.
Our short list of women who ‘Broke the Mould’ will be included in a new Edinburgh-wide booklet which will be launched at a special event at the Scottish Parliament next year. We also hope to create an exhibition displaying the images of all our inspirational local women. The exhibition will be launched at a community event in North Edinburgh Arts Centre next summer.
If you are interested in joining the group or would like more information about how you can get involved call Lynn McCabe at Royston/Wardieburn Community Centre on 552 5700 or Isobel Hart, from the Workers Education Association on 225 2580.
Alternatively, check out the North Edinburgh Breaking the Mould Facebook page. For more information about the project in other areas of the country contact: https://www.facebook.comWEABreakingthemould
Lynn McCabe
