Author: fay.young

Singing out loud at the Mela

zawadi1

Warming up: Zawadi with choir leader Rachel Milne at their first public performance in April

Great to hear the Zawadi Women’s Choir is going from strength to strength. Since their first appearance in April this year they have been collecting a growing list of requests (and some new members).  If you didn’t hear them in the Festival preview on Leith FM you can see and hear them in person at the Mela on Saturday 8 August in the Garden Stage from 5-5.30pm. Continue reading “Singing out loud at the Mela”

Redbraes in bloom and ready for judging

redbraes_in_bloomThe sun shone on the latest Redbraes open day celebrating the work of volunteers. Thanks to Becky Govier for the pictures.

Grass is cut, borders are blooming,  fruit and veg are ripening fast and faces are smiling. In short, the stage is set for Edinburgh in Bloom judges visiting  Redbraes Community Garden any day now. Continue reading “Redbraes in bloom and ready for judging”

On the beat with Simon Daley

Starting a new series on community, Fay Young and Nick Gardner take a walk with PC Simon Daley who challenges some popular misconceptions about young people – and the police too.

simon_children_close_up_12001

On night patrol Simon Daley sometimes turns on the blue light simply to reassure people that a police car is in their neighbourhood.  By day he often thinks he is invisible. Continue reading “On the beat with Simon Daley”

A passion for poetry

hereandthere

here, there and gone: where?

Home is a controversial word for Iyad Hayatleh, a Palestinian poet who was born in a Syrian refugee camp. “The most controversial word of my life,” he told us. He has never been to Palestine but to mark Refugee Week, Iyad read poems about home in Arabic and English as we gathered round a dead tree in Edinburgh’s Poetry Garden.  Continue reading “A passion for poetry”

Thank you, thank you, thank you

wk_teamDamp but undaunted: some of the World Kitchen team.  From the left Jo, Pip, Balvinder, Fay, Mridu and Gordon.

We begged and borrowed and though we certainly didn’t steal we owe thanks to many friends and helpers for all your support – in cash, kind, cakes and cooking of all sorts – which made the World Kitchen in Leith such a great success despite the terrible weather on Gala Day.  It’s a long list so let’s get going, here are our heartfelt thanks to… Continue reading “Thank you, thank you, thank you”

Home thoughts: poetry for Refugee Week

yellowleavesThe ‘poetry tree’ in St Andrew Square Garden

Home is a dead tree in the garden.  Well, not quite so dead now that it is fluttering with poems about home to mark Refugee Week in Edinburgh. Continue reading “Home thoughts: poetry for Refugee Week”

World Kitchen cooks up a storm

worldkitchenIf you can’t stand the heat: a rare chance to draw breath in the World Kitchen

It didn’t just rain, it absolutely poured. Recipes and posters got washed away as the deluge battered our poor gazebos.  But cooks just kept on cooking which was just as well because as soon as the rain stopped people came looking for food.  Crowds of them. We might have hoped for better weather but we couldn’t have asked for a better beginning for the World Kitchen than the Gala Day in Leith Links on Saturday (13 June). Continue reading “World Kitchen cooks up a storm”

World Kitchen in Leith heats up

chillies21Find the world on your plate at the World Kitchen in Leith

Just five days to go to the opening in Leith Links on Saturday 13 June and it’s getting decidedly hotter in the World Kitchen in Leith. [See also World Kitchen Cooks up a Storm] Continue reading “World Kitchen in Leith heats up”

Opening Doors to politics

stairs_ola_malcolm_fay_1200

The first step in the new Opening Doors programme: (from left to right) Ola Kasprzak, Malcolm Chisholm and Fay Young

How can local communities influence political decisions? Ola Kasprzak and Maka Mwamwaja are hoping to find out as they begin this year’s shadowing programme, Opening Doors 2009, by observing the work of  Malcolm Chisholm MSP both in the Scottish Parliament and in his constituency of Edinburgh North and Leith.  Continue reading “Opening Doors to politics”