Become a peer educator and give girls a space to talk about what’s important to them!
As a peer educator you will explore important topics like mental wellbeing, safety and gender stereotypes, using your own experiences to become a role model for girls all across Scotland.
If you are 14-25 join us in May at our next peer education training weekend. Find out more through the link below 
If you know someone who would make a great peer educator make sure to share the link with them 
The gardening season has officially begun at St Columba’s. After a winter pause, our Compassionate Gardeners gathered for the first time this year — and they’re ready to get going.
These generous volunteers offer time, care, and plenty of TLC to the gardens of our community patients who need a little extra help. It’s practical support, yes — but it’s also about kindness, dignity, and helping outdoor spaces feel cared for again.
Gloves are on, tools are out, spirits are high… and the weeds have been warned.
Thank you to our Compassionate Gardeners for all you do — quietly making a difference, one garden at a time.
Excited to announce our 11th annual Burns Night Community Ceilidh! Always a highlight of the Winter!
Tickets now on sale from Royston Wardieburn Community Centre reception (weekdays, cash only), and Granton Garden Bakery (Saturdays 10-1, cash or card). All tickets £4. Under 10s free.
If you’d like to volunteer to help at the event, or to offer a short performance (a turn) please contact tom@grantoncommunitygardeners.org
All volunteers and performers get a free ticket.
With Ama-zing Harmonies, musicians from Tinderbox Collective, and the Granton Primary School poets. Pilton Community Health Project, Granton Youth.
Ian Murray, MP for Edinburgh South, has called on the City of Edinburgh Council in a formal open letter today to take urgent steps to secure the future of Edinburgh South Community Football Club (ESCFC), one of Scotland’s biggest and most successful community clubs.
ESCFC, has over 1,000 players across 75 teams and more than 200 volunteers, collectively contributing over 40,000 hours of unpaid time, is facing severe challenges due to a shortage of pitches and lack of long-term security over its facilities. Every week, 5–10 children are being turned away, while six full teams, around 120 young people, risk having nowhere to train from September.
Despite more than seven years of talks with the Council, the club still does not have the land security or access to facilities it needs. Edinburgh Leisure has not responded since March regarding long-term Astro pitch availability, and without action the club has missed out on major investment opportunities, such as the £8.6m Scottish FA Pitching In fund.
The club’s impact stretches far beyond football, with initiatives including:
ESCFC is a Platinum-level accredited club, the highest recognition awarded by the SFA, and has been nominated for National Community Club of the Year.
Ian Murray MP said: ““Edinburgh South CFC is a shining example of everything that is good about grassroots football. The scale of the club’s impact from free school holiday places to counselling, mentoring, and a boot exchange programme is extraordinary.
“But that success is now under threat. It is simply unsustainable for children to be turned away week after week because of a lack of facilities and security, and miss out on repeated funding rounds.
“This has gone on far too long. The Council must now step up, work with the club, and deliver the long-term security and pitches it desperately needs.”
Joe Sneddon, Chair of Edinburgh South CFC, said: “Our ethos has always been simple: if you want to play, you play. Thanks to our incredible volunteers we’ve been able to make that a reality for decades, but the lack of facilities and long-term backing is now putting that at risk. We don’t want to turn children away, yet that’s exactly what is happening.
“The Council cannot allow a club of this standing, delivering this scale of community benefit, to be held back by lack of facilities and short-term agreements. The time for warm words is over, we need action to allow us to continue delivering for our communities.”
Ian Murray has written formally to the Council setting out a series of practical steps, including a new Astroturf pitch at Inch Park, guaranteed access to the new Liberton High School Astro, and long-term leases at key facilities across South Edinburgh.
MONDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER from 4.30pm – 6.30pm FERRY ROAD DRIVE
**Calling All Volunteers young and old!**
We’re hosting a **Community Clean-Up** and we need YOUR help to make a difference! 
**Where?** The Arena Basketball Court, Ferry Road Drive
**When?** Monday 22nd September
**Time?** 4:30PM – 6:30PM (Clean-Up)
6:30PM – 7:30PM (Refreshments at PYCP – come relax and chat!)
Let’s come together to **tidy and improve the basketball court and surrounding green space**.
Whether you can spare 30 minutes or the whole time, every helping hand counts!
**Free refreshments afterwards** at PYCP – everyone welcome!
Let’s make The Arena a space we can all be proud of. 
**Supported by:** Places for People Pilton Youth and Children’s Project (PYCP), Police Scotland Edinburgh
**Tag a friend, share this post, and let’s build a cleaner, greener, more welcoming community together!**
Big shout out and thanks to The Edinburgh Tool Library for bringing staff and volunteers here on Saturday to build stuff for the Neighbourhood Centre.
Also thanks to Andy and Matthew who are DNC volunteers for giving up their Saturday to help.
As you can see from the photos we built a massive planter 4.8m x 1.6m and put up some funky shutters on our summerhouse.
Last year the summerhouse came under regular attack by apples being thrown at it. Hopefully our new shutters mean little damage can be done should apples again find themselves on a flight path towards the summerhouse!
DNC
VOLUNTEERS WANTED!
Dear Editor,
NSPCC Scotland is launching a new Community Fundraising Group in Musselburgh, Portobello and East Edinburgh. We are seeking enthusiastic and creative volunteers to play a crucial role in raising vital funds for our services such as Childline and Speak Out, Stay Safe.
We will only need volunteers for one to two hours a month, and we offer a flexible arrangement designed to fit around work, family and social life. Key activities include engaging with neighbours, local organisations and businesses to spread awareness, organise small-scale events or campaigns, and inspire donations that ensure our services remain free for those who need them most.
Participants will receive comprehensive support, including practical fundraising advice, promotional materials and ongoing guidance from our dedicated Community Fundraising Team. Beyond the personal reward of helping to keep children safe, volunteers gain valuable experience in communication, organisation and leadership, all while connecting with like-minded individuals who are passionate about making a difference.
If you would like to play your part in protecting young people and have a couple of spare hours each month, we’d love to hear from you. If interested, contact me via email at arlene.main@nspcc.org.uk or call 07891 598 086. Together, we can fight for every childhood and create safer communities for all.
Yours sincerely,
Arlene Main
Local Campaign Manager, NSPCC Scotland
A group of employees from Amazon’s fulfilment centre have visited seven schools across Dunfermline to host sustainability workshops for pupils.
The workshops were hosted at Commercial Primary School, St Margaret’s RC Primary School, McLean Primary School, Masterton Primary School, Milesmark Primary School and Carnegie Primary School.
These schools provide inclusive, supportive learning environments where pupils are encouraged to thrive academically and emotionally, preparing them for future success.
41 employees from the sustainability team at Amazon in Dunfermline lead recycling workshops, sharing their tips, tricks and skills for creating a sustainable environment with the pupils. The Amazon team also planted seeds in school gardens and created scavenger hunts for the pupils.
Natasha Blyth is an employee at Amazon in Dunfermline who visited the schools. She said: “I really appreciate the opportunities Amazon gives us to volunteer. The more we raise awareness around sustainability, the more chance we have for our children to live in a clean, healthy environment.”
Eleanor English, from Masterton Primary School, added: “Thank you to the team from Amazon in Dunfermline for giving their time to raise awareness on sustainability.
“The staff and pupils absolutely loved sprucing up the garden area with our new plants. The support from Amazon is greatly appreciated by all of us at Masterton Primary School – thanks again!”
Community donations and employee volunteering are just two of the ways Amazon supports the communities where it operates. Amazon co-founded The Big House Multibank in Fife with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to support families in need. The Multibank network has now donated more than 8 million surplus goods to over 600,000 families across Scotland, Wales, Greater Manchester, London, Tees Valley and Birmingham.
Amazon has supported more than one million students across the UK with free STEM education programmes through Amazon Future Engineer and helps community organisations transport meals and other essentials to families in need through its pro bono logistics programme, Amazon Local Good.
Amazon partners with Comic Relief and is the official home of the charity’s iconic Red Nose. Together with its employees, customers, and partners, Amazon has raised over £4.8 million to fund projects that support people across the UK, and around the world.
ASH Scotland is encouraging alcohol and drug support workers and volunteers in Edinburgh to access a new e-learning module providing vital information which can be used to encourage people who smoke and are being supported to reduce use of alcohol and other drugs to seek assistance to live tobacco-free.
Statistics show that level of smoking for people entering treatment for problematic substance use is substantially higher than the rate of the general adult population and the new learning aid can inform how to best support service users who want to quit smoking.
The health charity’s ‘Smoking and Problematic Substance Use’ module covers a range of topics including details about the linked behaviours between smoking and drinking alcohol or using drugs, the impacts of smoking on psychotropic drugs which may be provided during treatment, raising the issue of smoking and signposting to NHS Scotland’s free specialist Quit Your Way service.
Sheila Duffy, Chief Executive for ASH Scotland, said: “Our new e-learning module is designed to increase awareness and provide essential opportunities to learn about the negative impacts that tobacco use can have on the lives of people who are being supported to reduce consumption of alcohol and other drugs.
“For example, nicotine can be as addictive as heroin or cocaine and, when a cigarette burns, it releases a dangerous cocktail of more than 5,000 chemicals – 250 which are toxic and around 70 that are known to cause cancer.
“Smoking also reduces the effectiveness of medicated psychotropic drugs, such as benzodiazepines, clozapine and most antidepressants, by up to 50 per cent which means people receiving treatment may need higher doses that could put them at higher risk of experiencing side effects.
“Our e-learning module is a vital resource for alcohol and drug support workers and volunteers to build their knowledge and confidence in starting conversations to empower clients across Edinburgh to make informed choices about giving up smoking to live healthier lives.”
ASH Scotland’s ‘Smoking and problematic substance use’ e-learning module is available for free at www.ashscotlandmoodle.org.uk here.
For quit smoking support, visit QuitYourWay.Scot or call the Quit Your Way Scotland free helpline on 0800 84 84 84.
Charities of all sizes in Scotland are being encouraged to sign up to a new volunteering platform, to help recruit more volunteers to support their invaluable work.
Leading volunteering charity, Royal Voluntary Service, has created a digital volunteering platform, thanks to support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery, to help charities across the country to connect with would-be volunteers in their communities.
Local and regional charities are vital to the fabric of the country, and many rely on the time and support of volunteers, yet charities across the board are seeing fewer people step forward in recent years.
However, research by Royal Voluntary Service found that people in Scotland are interested in volunteering their time, if they could fit it around their lives. 48%1 of people in Scotland agreed that an app or platform offering the ability to volunteer on an ad-hoc-basis and fit in and around their life would make them more likely to volunteer, suggesting there’s an untapped pool of potential volunteers.
When combined with the finding that making a valuable contribution to society or local community was a leading motivator for people to volunteer, a positive picture is painted for local causes looking to recruit.
The platform will launch to the public in the autumn, when potential volunteers will be able to browse, search, filter, click and connect with causes and charities they care about.
Charities across the region are able to sign up to the platform now completely free of charge and will be invited to upload roles to test the platform from June onwards, ahead of the full launch to local people in the autumn.
It is hoped that the platform will be a hub of flexible, accessible digitally-enabled volunteering, and a resource that local charities can tap in to, to supercharge their volunteer recruitment.
Charities of all shapes and sizes, from sporting or arts charities, to those supporting people living with health conditions, and environmental causes to animal charities, are urged to sign up and consider uploading as diverse a range of volunteer roles as possible in the coming weeks and months.
Ensuring volunteering opportunities are varied and inclusive, from one-off, remote and flexible roles, to team-based, skilled, and traditional volunteering roles will help to broaden access to volunteering and inspire a new generation of volunteers for the benefit of causes and communities across the country.
Charities will also be able to benefit from welcoming new volunteers, whilst reducing the costs and admin associated with recruitment.
The goal of the platform’s simple ‘on-board once’ process for volunteers will mean that once a person has registered and completed an identity check, they will be able to move seamlessly between volunteering opportunities, charities and causes through the platform, without the need to re-register and repeat basic assurances.
Eventually, charities will also be able to utilise free criminal record checking, which will be introduced to the platform at a later date.
Catherine Johnstone CBE, Chief Executive of Royal Voluntary Service said: “We have shaped this exciting new platform in partnership with charities big and small across the country, to make sure it’s valuable for causes of all sizes.
“Together we can make volunteering more accessible and empower more people to give their time to support the host of invaluable charities and causes they care about, across Scotland.
“The platform addresses what we know to be barriers for would-be volunteers and makes fitting volunteering in to modern life easier than ever. Thanks to support from Postcode Lottery players we are on the cusp of a volunteer revolution, and I am passionate that as many charities and causes be a part of it as possible.”
Clara Govier, Managing Director at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “We work with a range of amazing charities and we understand the fundamental part that volunteers play in their operations and in civil society.
“Thanks to our players’ support, Royal Voluntary Service is creating a platform which makes it simpler for volunteers to find the opportunities that suit them, either where they live or online.
“Just think what could be possible for our communities if new generations of people start to volunteer their time. I’d like to thank everyone who plays People’s Postcode Lottery for their support in making this possible.”
Partnerships for Wellbeing is a Highland charity best known for its community transport, health walks and friendship groups. It also organises the annual festival of walking and wheeling.
Jeff Zycinski, Manager at Partnerships for Wellbeing, said: “Small community-based charities like ours are always looking for new ways to recruit volunteers.
“It’s been so great to be involved in the early development of this project which has the potential to be a game-changing tool for people looking for ways to include an element of voluntary work in their lives and so make a difference to the lives of others.”
The platform is entirely free for charities to use, including identity checking of volunteers.
Charities interested in participating in workshops and webinars, or registering to upload their volunteering opportunities to the platform can find out more and sign up at royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk.
