NEXT Wednesday afternoon, a group are running this bake sale, as a fundraiser for a local disabled person.
Donations of baked treats are welcome and can be brought along on the day..
We’ll also have our regular gardening club open drop-in (1-4pm) and free lunch at 2pm. Dress for the weather!
Later at 5pm, we’ll also have our regular monthly community meal with the Scran Van. Free, all welcome! (Weds 27th Nov)
PCHP along with Ama-zing Harmonies, Granton Community Gardeners, and Scran Academy will be hosting a wee #wintersolstice gathering on Wednesday the 21st of December at Granton Community Garden from 12pm.
Why not come along and enjoy some caroling, warming treats and stock up on some essentials from our sharing table at 12.30pm.
Hope to see you there!
Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden
Leading Scottish social enterprise, Scran Academy, has embarked on The Big Scran Care Tour, a six-month tour of more than 100 social care sites across Edinburgh to deliver a token of ‘foodwill’ to as many as 4500 health and social care workers across the city, in celebration of their hard work throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
The youth charity based in North Edinburgh is delighted to be teaming up with Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership and Edinburgh City Council’s Thrive Edinburgh for The Big Scran Care Tour.
The essential funding has enabled Scran’s young people and staff to prepare and deliver either Scran Munchy Boxes, a Scran Lunch Table, or hot meals from the Scran Van to workers at 73 GP surgeries and 30 social care sites across the city, with more sites being scheduled.
Working with Scran Academy’s innovative business model, the Big Scran Care Tour is being co-designed and enabled with a team of inspiring young people at its heart. All the young people engaged have faced poverty-related barriers or life challenges such as care-experienced, risk of homelessness, poor mental health, disengaged from mainstream school or unemployment.
Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership Staff Wellbeing Group decided to use some of the funding allocated by The Scottish Government to engage Scran Academy to provide celebratory treat meals and snack boxes delivered on-site to GP practices, health centres, community hospitals and community care services to say a huge thank you to staff for their commitment, dedication and hard work during the pandemic.
Dr Linda Irvine Fitzpatrick, the staff wellbeing lead for the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “Thrive Edinburgh has a long-standing partnership with Scran Academy. They have an exceptional model that is a win win for all involved, and by partnering with them, all we’ve done is extend it to a win win win!
“It’s fantastic to be able to use our staff wellbeing fund in a way that delivers benefits to all, and we’re already receiving fantastic feedback and thanks from all colleagues who have been visited by the Scran team so far.”
This pioneering programme of events will see young people empowered with the skills and confidence to lead in the hospitality industry, fostering huge social return as well as promoting staff wellbeing.
Will Bain, Scran Academy Catering Manager, said: “The Big Scran Care Tour is such an exciting programme for the young people we work with. They get involved in everything, helping us to plan, cook, deliver and evaluate the whole thing, so each event on the tour is something they really get behind.
“It’s such a big confidence and skills boost – and when they meet the healthcare staff and get great feedback, they know they’ve achieved something meaningful.”
Faye (15), a Scran Academy attendee, said: “I like working on the van and it makes me feel happy that I am doing it to say a big thank you to all the hardworking doctors and nurses”
Kacey (15), a Scran Academy attendee, added: “I think it’s really good that we get to talk to all the healthcare staff when we serve them. I think we do a really good job.”
Some key dates on the Big Scran Care Tour:
Royal Edinburgh Hospital – 8th June
Ferniehill Surgery – 10th June
Links Medical Centre – 13th Jul
Inchview Care Home – 5th Aug
Eyre Medical Practice – 25th Aug
Astley Ainsley Hospital – 16th Sep
Craigmillar Medical Group – 21st Sep
Sighthill Green Medical Practice – 13th Oct
WEDNESDAY 27th APRIL from 5 – 6.30pm
Granton Community Garden on Wardieburn Road
ATTEND our annual programme of Community Meals for families in North Edinburgh. Kicking off next week with a #BurnsNight special with our pals at Granton Community Garden.
We bring communities together, filling bellies & minds of young people & provide 100s of meals! It’s what we do!
Granton Community Gardeners announce a Special Halloween event happening at the Garden on Sunday.
SCRAN VAN in the GARDEN
Wednesday 20th October 4 – 5.30pm
Come and join Granton Community Gardeners for a hot takeaway meal – you can either take it home, or sit and eat at tables in the garden.
FOOD IS ALL FREE and served until it runs out.
The Community Meal is run in partnership with Scran Academy and Pilton Community Health Project.
Scran Academy’s work with young people has been recognised in two separate Industry Awards.
On Thursday 09 September 2021, John Loughton [founder] and the North Edinburgh charity won the Apprenticeships and Skills category at the 2021 Public Sector Catering Awards, that celebrate those working within public sector catering.
Scran are also a finalist in the Charity of the Year category of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations’ (SCVO) Scottish Charity Awards 2021, celebrating the best of Scotland’s voluntary sector and voted for by industry professionals and the public. The winner will be announced at an online ceremony, hosted by Sally Magnusson tomorrow (Friday 1 October).
The Apprenticeships and Skills Award, sponsored by Brakes, recognised that Scran Academy’s catering operations are an integral part of Scran Academy and are essential to delivering confidence-building experiences for young people.
These include the Scran Café which is located in the NHS Comely Bank Centre and currently creates a welcoming haven for frontline NHS workers and clinical trainees.
The charity also runs its Scran Van, which delivers free community meals, feeds youth groups and supports families across the city. These provide our young people with opportunities to learn, gain new skills, work as a team and solve problems in real-life situations.
Scran Academy was up against stiff competition from across the whole of the UK, including Hospitals, Universities, large catering companies and industry bodies. However, thanks to its team of volunteers, staff and young people, Scran’s unique model of bespoke educational support and training won the day.
Scran pipped, amongst others, University College Birmingham, Compass Group UK and Ireland and The National Association of Care Catering to take the award.
For the Charity of the Year Award, SCVO has recognised Scran for ‘coordinating a coalition of charities that produced, packaged and delivered nearly 150,000 meals during the first Covid-19 lockdown, supporting over 1,000 people per week at its height’.
None of this would have be possible without the 220 local people who gave tens-of-thousands of hours back to their communities. In 2020 SCRAN also delivered its most successful Christmas Hamper campaign, selling 222 in total.
The organisation also merged with Prep Table Scotland, opened the Scran Café in partnership with NHS Lothian and launched the Scran Van food truck to tackle holiday hunger across Edinburgh.
Scran Academy founder John Loughton, and Catering Manager, Will Bain, attended the Public Sector Catering Awards ceremony in London.
Scran Academy Catering Manager, Will Bain, said: “It blew me away to be up against catering managers with hundreds, sometimes thousands of employees, and for them to give us recognition for the work we do at Scran.”
Founder of Scran Academy, John Loughton BEM, said: “This nomination is a real vote of confidence in our community work and a recognition in the power of food to change lives.
“Will Bain and his team-work magic at Scran, to ensure food is positive for all people, not just those that can afford it. At Scran we do hand-ups, not just hand-outs and young people go on to change their own lives once they realise people believe in them.”
Scran Academy’s focus is to help young people from across North Edinburgh to overcome learning and life barriers and lead more meaningful lives.
The community-based school Scran runs – the Scran Academy – uses food to support learners disengaged from mainstream school to access qualifications and work.
Despite being less than four years old, the charity has grown and last year scaled its impact to provide meals for thousands of people throughout the pandemic across the city.
North Edinburgh Active Travel Network are hosting a number of events this weekend to promote active travel.
See poster for more information – we hope you find an activity to take part in.
North Edinburgh Arts are hosting a Dr Bike Session on Saturday either in MacMillan Square or in the Shed if the weather is poor.
We hope to see you at one of these events!
Scran Academy is celebrating after being shortlisted for a leading UK industry Award. This week, Scran was announced as a Finalist in the Apprenticeship and Skills category of the Public Sector Catering Awards and the recognition will see the youth-led organisation appear at the Ceremony in London later this year.
Scran Academy’s initial focus was to use the innovative food social enterprise to help young people from North Edinburgh to overcome their learning and life barriers and lead more meaningful lives.
Scran’s community-based school uses food to support learners disengaged from mainstream school to access qualifications and work. Despite being less than four years old, they have grown and scaled their impact to support thousands of people throughout the pandemic and city wide.
This includes the creation of the youth-led Scran Café based at the Comely Bank NHS Centre, which creates a welcoming, relaxing and safe haven for as many as 100 frontline NHS workers and clinical trainees on a daily basis.
Last year Scran also launched the Scran Van, a food truck that provides free healthy food to children and families across the city to combat hunger and increase positive youth activities.
All of these food initiatives puts employability skills, job opportunities and personal development for youth at the heart of what they do.
This award nomination comes as this ground-breaking social venture seeks to empower hundreds more young people with the skills and confidence to lead in the hospitality industry.
At the same time the programme will take a significant bite out of the poverty-related barriers, life challenges and injustices the young people face on a daily basis – being care-experienced, disengaged from mainstream school, at risk of homelessness, unemployed or suffering from poor mental health.
Nominee and Founder of Scran Academy and social entrepreneur, John Loughton BEM, said: “This nomination is a real vote of confidence in our community work and a recognition in the power of food to change lives.
“Will Bain and his team work magic at Scran to ensure food is positive for all people, not just those that can afford it. At Scran we do hand-ups, not just hand-outs and young people go on to change their own lives once they realise people believe in them.
“Scran’s story shows is that if we support local community organisations that are run with passion and authenticity, we can develop creative solutions to social inequality. It also shows that unlike the stereotypes so often in the media, young people make a real and positive contribution to society and your postcode does not have to be your destiny.”
