No love game as tennis row festers

‘You cannot be serious …’

Tennis fans have reacted with fury on hearing that they will not receive a refund despite play at June’s Champions of Tennis event in Stockbridge being a wash out.

Hundreds of spectators were left drookit – and seriously out of pocket – as the heavens opened and torrential rain poured through a temporary £100, 000 ‘roof’ at Edinburgh Accies’ Raeburn Place stadium. Four hours play was lost as staff tried in vain to mop up the court with towels, and instead of seeing three top quality matches, fans – some of whom paid £100 for the day’s ‘entertainment’ – were served up a shambles.

Play, such as it was, started at 6pm, with match durations slashed to just one set as light deteriorated.

Before the tournament tennis lovers had been promised big names, but in the event they were sorely let down. Fans favourite John McEnroe played one just set, Ivanisevic never even started his game and the third match featuring Mark Philippoussis was also scrapped.

However furious fans have now learned that there will be no refund.

NEN reader Sarah Fox was there. She writes …

‘I’m sure you heard about the disaster that was Brodies Champions of Tennis on the Saturday, you may have even been there yourselves. After nearly two months they have finally some back to ticket holders offering no refund.

With all the profits that a firm like Brodies makes and they take it out on the tennis lovers who were unable to see the tennis due to the completely unsuitable ‘roof’. Please see pathetic response below from the tournament director…..

Dear Ticket Holder

Thank you for supporting Brodies Champions of Tennis and for your patience while we have carried out a thorough review of the inaugural tournament.

We share your frustration at the disruption caused by bad weather on Saturday, June 22, and your disappointment that more tennis was not played within the original match timings. We believed that the purpose-built canopy would allow play to continue in the event of rain. Unfortunately, due to the squally conditions on the day, water did get on to the court and we were advised by the umpire to suspend play to ensure the players’ safety.

Under the terms and conditions of our ticket refund policy, refunds would only be issued if less than 40 minutes of play took place. Despite the adverse weather conditions on Saturday we made every effort to minimise disruption so that fans could see as much tennis as possible. As a result, we were able to put on just under two hours of play on Saturday.

Whist it was disappointing only two hours of tennis were played, disruption due to bad weather is a risk at any outdoor event. No matches were cancelled on Saturday 22 or any of the other days so refunds are not eligible .

We assure you that lessons have been learnt.

Viki Mendelssohn, Tournament Director

Sarah goes on: ‘Anything you can do to help us Saturday ticket holders have a voice and ensuring the tournament feel some consequences from this disaster and therefore making sure this incidence doesn’t happen again would be very much appreciated.’

Chris Ross received the same letter, and he too was less than impressed. He has since responded to the organisers, and told NEN:

“I’m very disappointed with the organisers’ response, both in the inconsistencies and the disingenuous statements it contains. Yes, they can say that no matches were cancelled on Saturday but the McEnroe match was reduced to a set, although it was advertised as the best of three. The Enqvist Ivanisevic match – originally scheduled for the Saturday night – did not take place until the Sunday morning, so presumably Saturday ticket holders would therefore not have been able to get in to watch this match so, from our perspective, it might as well have been cancelled.”

He added: “Somebody made a mistake in relation to the roof, and It may be that the thinking behind the ‘no refunds’ approach is that the negative publicity will blow over and that it will all be forgotten by the time of next year’s tournament. However, there are a lot of very unhappy people and I don’t think they will forget in a hurry. If the organisers really have learned lessons I hope that they will reconsider their current stance and try to achieve a middle ground.”

Chris is still awaiting a reply.

Tournament organisers are understood to be considering a ‘goodwill gesture’, although they have not specified what this might be – perhaps reduced price or even free tickets to next year’s event. Dissatisfied fans, however, are now considering legal action.

The way it was supposed to be ... — The way it was supposed to be …

And the way it was …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LHq6W0lzY

Tickets on sale for Cancer Research catwalk event

CRUK_CATWALK_JULY13

This year’s Cancer Research UK Stockbridge event

Charity Catwalk and Pop Up Shop

takes place at the City Art Centre on Thursday 5 September from 6 – 9pm

Tickets cost £5 (standard) or £10 (VIP) and the fabulous, fun evening will include live music, raffles, fashion show, fabulous shopping opportunities and of course the chance to see (free of charge) the two exhibitions on fashion currently taking place at the City Art Centre.

Please get back to me (or pop in to the shop) if you’d like to reserve any tickets and please help us make this year’s event another sell out.

You can find out more about, and ‘like’ the shop on facebook

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cancer-Research-UK-Stockbridge/108300565924148

Please help us publicise the event by sharing this with your friends, family and facebook friends.

Hope you will join us and help raise funds to beat cancer sooner!

Elaine Lennon

‘A sporting legacy?’ Council backs Stockbridge development

City councillors have voted to approve plans by Edinburgh Academicals for a major redevelopment of their Raeburn Place ground. The plans have split Stockbridge – campaigners say councillors have made a ‘huge mistake’ and that the development could destroy the existing community.

Despite impassioned pleas by objectors, councillors chose to go with officials’ recommendations to grant planning permission for the controversial redevelopment at today’s meeting of the Development Management Sub-Committee of the Planing Committee.

Speaking before the meeting, Accies’ executive chairman Frank Spratt said: “From the outset the only aims we have had have been to keep sport at Raeburn Place, protect the historic home of international rugby and provide high quality facilities in which young people can learn and enjoy rugby.

“All of the council’s and the Scottish Government’s policies support and encourage the improvement of town centres and the provision of high quality sporting facilities.

“Our proposals more than meet the requirements of council’s planning policies, so that north Edinburgh can have a sports hub of which it can be proud. The young people of north Edinburgh, and indeed the city, deserve no less.”

Objectors put forward a compelling case that the character of Stockbridge will be irrevocably changed by the sheer scale of the Accies development. In a statement issued before this morning’s crucial meeting, the Save Stockbridge group argued:

‘The proposed development is totally out of keeping in a mainly residential area, far and away exceeding the actual needs of this amateur sports club, which regularly attracts no more than 200 spectators to its matches. So why does it need such an excessively large stadium for 5,000 spectators?

And why does it need the proposed function rooms, bar, lounge and corporate boxes, all available for hire, which together have a greater capacity than the Ballroom, Music Hall and Drawing Rooms of the Assembly Rooms in George Street, plus new shops equivalent on average to about 25 present Stockbridge shops?

And why does the main building have to be almost as high as three double-decker buses?

Stockbridge is the third coolest place to live in Britain – if it aint’ broke, why fix it?’

Save Stockbridge said the proposed development flouts the city’s own Local Plan, would increase traffic in an already congested area and added that the retail element of the Accies plan will ‘hammer’ existing local shops.

Club representatives, however, argued that improved facilities at Raeburn Place would bring increased ticket sales and encourage wider participation in sport. Accies’ said that there is no plan to bring a major supermarket onto the site, and said that nine small shop units proposed in the development would not have a negative impact on local existing businesses. They also claimed the redevelopment will bring one hundred jobs to the area.

Following the marathon (over three hours) session, councillors finally voted to grant the application – despite one thousand formal objections and a 3200 signature petition opposing the plans

Construction on the £8 million redevelopment could now start as early as next Spring, but after a long and sometimes bitter planning dispute the community’s wounds may take somewhat longer to heal.

You cannot be serious! SuperBrat’s in Stockbridge!

Stockbridge will resound to cries of ‘the ball was in!’ and ‘you cannot be serious!’ when the Brodies Champions of Tennis tour comes to Scotland for the first time later this week. Part of the ATP Champions Tour, former champions and other favourites will turn back the clock in the round-robin tournament.

‘Superbrat’ John McEnroe will be joined by tennis legends including Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and Goran Isanisevich in the event at Edinburgh Accies’ Portgower Place ground from Thursday 20 – Sunday 23 June.

For ticket information call 0845 859 1006 or visit www.championsoftennis.com

Parlez-vous Francais en Stockbridge?

Would you like to learn French quickly? New ‘Speak Out!’ courses are starting at Kiss the Fish in Stockbridge next Monday.

The courses are different from traditional language courses in that they focus on communication rather than grammar and exams; courses are designed to get learners speaking with confidence within ten weeks!

As part of each course, there’s also the option of a trip to Paris…

For further information visit www.speakoutwithconfidence.com

Apologies for failed ‘O’ level French in headline!

New complaints procedure for Bield residents

Bield. a leading provider of housing, care and community services for older people, has introduced a new complaints procedure. Designed to be more easily understandable and more accessible to the public, Bield reformed its complaints procedure as it strives to continue improving customer satisfaction.

Reflecting the model Complaints Handling Procedure (CHP) developed by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman the procedure also gives the option for customers to make a complaint to other bodies such as the Care Inspectorate.

Under the changes the complaints handling procedure has been reduced to two stages instead of the previous three, but will continue to follow specific time-scales for responding to complaints.

Bield currently has 16 housing developments in Edinburgh – including properties in Stockbridge and Craighall Road. This range encompasses sheltered housing, very sheltered housing, amenity housing, and private retirement whilst day care services are also provided.

Brian Logan, Chief Executive at Bield, (pictured above) said: “While we have introduced a new procedure, our commitment to providing a first class service still remains firmly in place. The procedure reflects our commitment to valuing complaints. We know that on occasion we get things wrong and when this happens we want to put it right. We want to learn from our mistakes so we can do things better.

“Issues that arise can be about something we’ve done, or not done, or it could be about the standard of service provided by us, or on our behalf. Complaints give us valuable information that we can use to improve customer satisfaction. They provide a first-hand account of our customer’s views and experience, and can highlight problems we may otherwise miss.

“The new procedure will help us do our job better, improve relationships with our customers. It will help us keep the customer at the heart of the process, while enabling us to better understand how to improve our services by learning from complaints.”

As well as the new procedures, Bield has introduced a new recording system for staff which promotes a more efficient method of monitoring complaints and will provide better reports that will help identify the cause of any raised incidents.

Brian added: “For staff, complaints provide a first-hand account of our customer’s views and experience, and can highlight problems we may otherwise miss. All of these changes have been designed solely with our customers in mind and implemented to improve the services they receive. We are continuously evolving and exploring ways we can meet and go beyond their expectations. We hope that this procedure will enable us to address a customer’s dissatisfaction and try ‘get it right first time’ and even help to prevent the same problems that led to the complaint from happening again.”

All Registered Social Landlords will use the same procedure making it clearer and easier for everyone to understand.

With more than 40 years experience, Bield, a registered charity, offers quality housing and services for older people. From humble beginnings in Bo’ness it now provides a wide range of housing and services for around 15,000 people across 22 local authority areas.

Scran & Scallie opens on Sunday

Tom Kitchin’s new gastropub The Scran & Scallie on Comely Bank Road will open for the first time this Sunday (31 March) and will then be open seven days a week.

Good luck to all involved with with the new venture.

Stockbridge steps into Fairtrade Fortnight

Stockbridge Primary School pupils ‘took a step in 2013’ with Lord Provost Donald Wilson and Scotmid’s Malcolm Brown to mark the start of Fairtrade Fortnight yesterday.

Running from Monday 25 February until Sunday 10 March, the campaign will see a series of themed events taking place across the city, including food and drink tastings, talks, presentations, fairs, fetes and the presentation of the Lord Provost’s Fair Trade Awards 2013.

Fairtrade Fortnight brings together consumers, retailers, licensees, businesses, producers and campaigners nationwide to promote awareness and sales of Fairtrade products and to campaign on issues of trade justice.

The theme this year is ‘Take a Step in 2013’, encouraging shoppers to go further by supporting Fairtrade farmers and workers by purchasing products with the FAIRTRADE Mark or encourage their local shop, school, church or even MP to do the same.

Lord Provost Donald Wilson said: “The packed programme of events planned for the next two weeks is testament to how far Fairtrade Fortnight in Edinburgh has come since we were awarded Fairtrade status in 2004. Through this campaign and the Lord Provost’s Fairtrade Awards we are aiming to encourage more and more people to become ethical shoppers while also recognising the fantastic contribution that individuals and businesses are making to fair trade throughout Edinburgh.”

Scotmid Co-operative hosted the launch in their Raeburn Place store and will be promoting Fairtrade with local schools and supporting a range of community events over the coming fortnight.

Malcolm Brown, Head of Corporate Communications for Scotmid Co-operative said: “Fairtrade Fortnight is all about raising awareness of the difference we can make to millions of people in developing countries by simply supporting Fairtrade. Scotmid is proud to have been a champion of Fairtrade for many years. This fortnight we’ll be giving talks at local schools, holding Fairtrade events in our stores and supporting many other initiatives to educate people of all ages about why Fairtrade is so important.”

New Kitchin for San Marco’s!

Michelin star chef Tom Kitchin and his Telford College-trained business partner Dominic Jack are to open a new gastro pub in Stockbridge. Kitchin and Jack worked together as young chefs at Gleneagles, and the team behind the Kitchin in Leith and Castle Terrace Restaurant will open their third site – the former San Marco Restaurant on Comely Bank Road – in the Spring.

The Stockbridge pub restaurant will open seven days a week and will follow the team’s “From Nature to Plate” philosophy in a more informal setting.

Alan Goldie, director from The Restaurant Agency, said; “Stockbridge is an area that’s thriving and though many local residents will miss San Marco, I know Nino and Franco are pleased to retire and spend more time with their families. The family were involved in the decision to find new tenants and we’re all confident the planned offering will bring an exciting new flavour to the area. Run by an award winning, expert team, it will bring a range of outstanding menus, combined with the hospitality expected from a warm and welcoming family pub.”

Brothers Franco and Nino Alonzi from San Marco Restaurant said; “While the decision to close the restaurant after 30 years was not an easy one, we’re pleased to be handing over the property to another family-run business. With two successful restaurants in the city we’re confident they can continue to provide locals and visitors with a new destination to relax with friends and family, and enjoy great fresh food and drink. We would like to thank all of our loyal customers for their continued support over the years – we take with us many fond memories.”

The new venue – which is yet to be named – is currently under refurbishment and is expected to open in Spring.

Water result! Care home residents wheely happy

Residents at a Stockbridge care home are enjoying the perks of getting use out of a car which was originally intended to be used in the case of flooding emergencies.

Bield’s Stockbridge Care Home was provided with a contingency car when work began on the Water of Leith flood prevention scheme, with the intention it could be used to help evacuate residents quickly should flooding occur. Fortunately for the residents the car has not had to be used for any flooding problems but instead the staff have used it to take residents for special day trips and for medical appointments.

Kim Drysdale, manager at Stockbridge Care Home, said: “Originally the car was given to us so we could evacuate our service users quickly in case of any flooding from the Water of Leith which in the past has severely broken its banks after heavy rainfall.

“The Water of Leith Flood Prevention Scheme has fortunately prevented any cases of emergency and instead of just having the car sitting there without being used; we tried to think of different ways in which our service users could benefit from the transport.

“The car has been used for days out like canal trips and other activities. For example, earlier this year we had a service user who was unable to make a weekend trip with her social club, Pilton Elderly Project, due to them being unable to accommodate her wheelchair.

“But thanks to us having the contingency car we were able to take her on a two day holiday break to Oban which was a fantastic opportunity for her to feel independent by getting out and about to see the sites in Oban as she had never been before.”

In addition to offering assistance for recreational purposes, the car has been used for medical support for the service users who ages range from 60-90 years and have a diverse range of needs.

Kim added: “The car has been a massive help so far financially for our residents with them saving on travel costs for medical appointments to the hospital and doctor’s clinic as this can be expensive for them.

“Not only this but the nearest GP surgery is situated on a steep hill which would be physically impossible for the residents to reach so having this car has been a great advantage for them financially and mobility wise.”

Chief Executive Brian Logan said the innovative approach to available resources at Stockbridge Care Home typifies the approach Bield has made to improve the lives of people who use its services under its new inspirational statement: Free to Be.

He said: “This Free to Be commitment goes very much at the heart of what Bield is all about – letting people make their own choices about how they live their lives but being there to support them when they need it.

“Many older people still have ambition and drive and where we can we offer additional support to give them the freedom to do the things they love but which might otherwise be taken away without the right help and support.”

Bield – a registered charity – has grown from humble beginnings, starting out with one housing development in Bo’ness to become a major provider of a wide range of housing and services for around 15,000 people across 22 local authority areas.