Play Rangers Farewell sessions Friday 8 September 12:30pm – 2pm at West Pilton Park 3:15pm – 5pm at Muirhouse Park
After a fun-filled summer, our Play Rangers sessions are taking a break. We want to thank everyone who joined us for these outdoor play sessions in the local parks. We had a wonderful time.
To celebrate all the fantastic times we’ve had, we’re hosting special farewell sessions on Friday 8 September (West Pilton Park: 12:30pm- 2:00pm and Muirhouse Park: 3:15pm – 5:00pm). Come & join us!
Rest assured, Play Rangers will make a return in the future, so stay tuned for updates!
GET INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING EXCITING NEW PLANS FOR LOCAL GREEN SPACE
West Pilton Park Development Meeting
Tuesday 13th June, 5.30 – 7pmatWest Pilton Neighbourhood Centre
West Pilton Park has received significant funding for development. We need your help to guide issues such as paths & access, play & leisure, nature & wildlife, and security.
Come along, get involved, and help guide the development of your local greenspace.
North Edinburgh Community Festival held its 2nd festival this year on Saturday 13th May with a record number of people attending this scorching day!
Not only were the numbers high on the thermostat but also for the amount of attendees. Over 8000 people attended the festival at West Pilton Park which is becoming THE community festival to attend in Edinburgh.
The festival provides a fun, free, family day out for new and existing residents to enjoy – promoting opportunities, creativity, enhancing community cohesion, reducing social isolation and celebrating the diversity of the area.
The Festival took place for the first time in May 2022 with an attendance of 6000 people and this year we hit the 8000 attendance mark.
This year, we had over 80 locally based organisations and community groups offering stalls, activities and workshops.
There was interactions available on most stalls like Draw your dream home, hair braiding, face painting and glitter tattoos.
North Edinburgh Arts provided the arts element with creative sessions, dance, park rangers, and HAT HAT HAT Theatre Performances with Imaginate, Edinburgh’s International Childrens Festival and the young people from Forthview Primary School.
Around the park, the festival was bustling with all sorts of family friendly activities such as
Busking Bike Street Science with Edinburgh Science Festival
Granton and Muirhouse Mobile Library
Horses with EdinEqui Centre
Parkour climbing frame with Access Parkour
Rugby with Inverleith Rugby Club and football with Spartans Community Football Academy
Assault Course with the British Army and Obstacle Course with the Royal Navy
One of our core aims is to provide as much free food as possible. This year with thanks to RRT (Rapid Relief Team) we gave away 1500 burgers, Kings Church Street Café handing out over 1000 cups of tea, coffee and hot chocolate, free chocolate bars from Mackies of Scotland and over 1000 packets of Scottish Porridge Oats from Hamlyns of Scotland.
There was also free pizza from The Space at Broomhouse in collaboration with Ooni Pizza ovens, as well as many stalls like Pilton Equalities Project and DCLM Scotland handing out free food, baked goods and juices.
There were a few more food vans who sold food for £5 or less including Scranvan, who sold over 1000 hotdogs, The Chick Kings, Project Esperanza and Lolas selling tea, coffee and waffles.
A large communal stretch marquee took centre place in the park as a gathering space for people to eat, drink, relax and enjoy the festival as well as providing much needed shade!
Lyndon Cane, the Rapid Relief Team’s Local Team Leader in Edinburgh, said:“The Rapid Relief Team was delighted to support the North Edinburgh Community Festival in what was a fantastic event for the local community.
“With the support of our exceptional volunteers from the Davidsons Mains and South Queensferry area, we prepared over 1,500 burgers free of charge during the Festival as part of our shared values for reducing social isolation and enhancing community cohesion.
“Preparing nutritious food forms part of the Rapid Relief Team’s wider charitable mission which puts compassion into action. We work with emergency services, charities, NGOs and many more organisations to help those in need, including through our hot food provision and delivering thousands of bespoke Food Boxes to vulnerable families and children.
“We look forward to seeing the Festival go from strength to strength, with the 2024 event promising the build on the success of this year’s Festival!”
We had two stages this year – the main park stage as well as the Green Room stage located inside the West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre.
Performances included Ama-zing Harmonies, Rai Williams, The Mockingjays and Laurent, all performers and young people are from local groups and schools. Pulse of Place led the parade to the park, then it was time for Fischy Music and a sing-along.
Organised by local charity Low Income Families Together (LIFT), the Festival parade brought together around 250 local families and young people to parade from the Muirhouse Millennium Centre to the Park to launch the Festival. The theme this year was Disney – and what a splendid array of costumes on show as well as hundreds of Mickey Mouse ears!
This festival is a much needed community gathering in North Edinburgh and we could not have put on such a fantastic day without all the organisations, charities, volunteers, young people and individuals who helped pull this all together, and of course a massive thank you to everyone who attended!
Also our sponsors are most important because without them we really couldn’t have supplied anything to put the festival on.
Thank you to CEC Local Cultural Festivals and Events Fund, Police Scotland, National Lottery Awards for All, West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre, Muirhouse Housing Association, Edinburgh College, Scotmid, Nancy Massie Trust, Forth Neighbourhood Network, Mcleod Trust and Manor Housing.
Next years festival will take place on Saturday 11th May 2024, 12 .-530pm, West Pilton Park.
2023 Feedback:
“I just want to pass on my kindest regards and a big “thank you” too, you and your team for everything you all did for us at your Community Festival. Your team were there for us, throughout the day. I have received nothing but very encouraging comments from all of my team. A most enjoyable, very busy fantastic day for all. (Amazing community spirit).”
“It was a beautiful day and we truly enjoyed performing, watching other performances, and visiting stalls.”
“Thank you so much for having us at the festival today. Was a fab day and really enjoyed meeting so many people”
“I just wanted to say thanks so much for having the Book Festival as part of your festival on Saturday. We had such a great time and our writers group really enjoyed performing their stories to families. The book bags I brought down were gone in a matter of minutes – I’ll know for next time to bring 1000 rather than 100! “
LAUNCH PROMISES MORE STALLS, MORE MUSIC, MORE FOOD and.. SUNSHINE!
Next month’s North Edinburgh’s Community Festival will be even bigger than last years event, organisers announced at Tuesdays launch at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre.
Around 6000 people attended last year’s gala event, and with at least SEVENTY marquees (up from 50 last year) and and not one but TWO music stages there promises to be even more for the local community to do, see and enjoy on 13 May.
Highlights include:
Disney-themed LIFT Parade from Muirhouse Millennium Centre to West Pilton Park to launch the Festival.
More than 70 local organisations and charities with Community Stalls
Two music stages: the open air Park Stage and the Green Room stage in West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre
The music line-up features a wealth of local talent. Performers include local youth orchestra Tinderbox, Granton Youth’s Mixtape Music Club and a session from ever-popular Fischy Music.
There’s a musical medley from the Edinburgh College Musical Theatre Group, performances from local choirs including Ama-zing Harmonies, AUGB Ukranian choir, Craigroyston High School Choir and a high-energy performance is guaranteed from local punk rockers Yer Local Bams. Low Tide, Rai Williams, Laurent and Abigail Kerner will also be performing live on the day in a musical feast.
Family events and activities will include Bookbug with Muirhouse Library and a Storytelling session with Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Citizen writers.
Fancy some sport? You’ll be spoilt for choice as Access Parkour, Spartans Community Football Academy and Inverleith Rugby Club will all be there. And there will be children’s Zumba classes.
North Edinburgh Arts will be organising arts and craft activities and Screen Education Edinburgh will offer film workshops. There’s an Army obstacle course, too.
There will also be learning and upskilling opportunities provided by local organisations including Edinburgh College will be offering course taster sessions.
All in all, there really should be something for everyone. And with sunshine (almost) guaranteed, it promises to be a great day.
Local activist Willie Black, a member of the Festival planning committee, introduced Tuesday’s launch. “We are very excited about this year’s Festival and it promises to be a really great event, a community celebration for everyone to enjoy.
“We have a wealth of diverse talent in this community and we want to share that talent far and wide. We’re looking forward to offering a warm North Edinburgh welcome to thousands of visitors next month, and the hope is that the Festival will be a great success and that it can become an annual event.”
North Edinburgh Community Festival is on Saturday 13 May from 12 – 5.30pm. Free event. All welcome.
Over the last few months, the Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust (ELGT) have been engaging with the local Pilton community and stakeholders about a West Pilton Park masterplan.
Through workshops, meetings, and walk-abouts we have been finding out how the park is currently used, what’s good and what’s not, and how people would like to see it develop over the next decade.
It has been great to hear so much from so many of you and the amount of ideas and interest has been integral for this part of the design process. We are now at the end of this first round of engagement and would like to share with you the initial masterplan ideas that have been developed between yourselves and us (please find attached, below).
However, it doesn’t end there!
This is just the initial draft and ELGT would really like to hear your thoughts on this masterplan, where you think it is working, what you think could be improved, or what is still missing.
As such, we would like to invite you to an online meeting where we can present the initial masterplan ideas for West Pilton Park. You will have the opportunity to discuss, ask questions and shape how we move forward with the masterplan.
The meeting will take place on Wednesday 23rd Feb at 6pm
Please send on the below link to anyone you feel would be interested in attending:
We also have a feedback sheet (attached) for anyone who cannot make the meeting.
If you could share this as far and wide as possible within your networks, through social media or through hard copies (ELGT can provide), as well as doing one yourself, that would be great.
It will also be available soon in West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre alongside the masterplan display there.
If you have any questions, comments or queries please don’t hesitate to get in contact.
Communities and schools are set to benefit from a new network of “Wee Forests” in towns and cities across Scotland, backed by £500,000 Scottish Government funding.
Led by NatureScot, the programme aims to give people the opportunity to help tackle the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss by creating and caring for their own forest in their own neighbourhood.
To create each forest, around 600 native trees will be planted by “Wee Foresters” in an area the size of a tennis court. Volunteer keeper teams will look after the forests over the long term and schools will use the forests for outdoor learning.
Supported by Earthwatch Europe, people will also take part in citizen science activities to raise awareness of climate change and the value of urban trees. This will include monitoring the butterflies that use the forests and measuring how much carbon is captured by the trees as they grow.
Planting has already begun – the first demonstration Wee Forest was planted at West Pilton Park last October, and further wee forests followed in the capital’s East Pilton Park and Mount Vernon.
NatureScot is working with local authorities and a number of Scottish environmental organisations to help roll-out the programme this year.
Wee Forests will be planted in Glasgow, East Ayrshire, Edinburgh (above), Aberdeen, Dundee and West Lothian.
Environment Minister Mairi McAllan said: “The horrors of the Covid pandemic have changed how many of us view and value nature, and we know people want to spend more time outdoors for the benefits it brings to their mental and physical health.
“We want to improve access to green spaces and provide equal opportunities for everyone to connect with nature. Wee Forests are an ideal way of achieving this, whether as a place for children to play or a quiet spot to escape the hustle and bustle of the city.
“This new network of Wee Forests is a great example of partnership working between the public, private and voluntary sector and is an important legacy of COP26 when the eyes of world were on Glasgow and the future of our planet.
“As we now look forward to COP15 on biodiversity, innovative projects like this will showcase to the rest of the world how Scotland is leading the way in our action to tackle the twin crises of climate change and nature loss.”
Earthwatch Europe CEO Steve Andrews said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with NatureScot to expand the Wee Forest movement across Scotland.
“Getting communities involved in planting and ongoing citizen science at their local Wee Forest is an exciting opportunity to connect people with nature, whilst providing vital data on forest growth and environmental benefits.”
NatureScot Chief Executive Francesca Osowska said: “Wee Forests are a fantastic way for people to connect with nature close to home.
“We’re delighted to see our demonstration project being extended to create many more pockets of nature-positive green space across our towns and cities, as a living legacy of COP26.
“And as we look towards COP15 and the huge challenge of halting and reversing nature loss, it’s projects like this that are giving communities the chance to help restore nature and tackle climate change by contributing to Scotland’s tree planting targets.”
