fay.young

Breaking bread and making new friends

‘This is the best ice-breaker I have ever seen.’

On a fairly bleak January morning it’s cheering to take a quick look back to a heartwarming December night when for a few hours Craighall Community Centre in Leith gave a glimpse of a Polish family Christmas with the traditional Wigilia (night before Christmas) celebration. Including a 12 course meal and a visit from St Nicholas!

Breaking bread: oplatek, the traditional highlight of the Polish Christmas celebration, has friends and strangers exchanging good wishes for the coming year. Continue reading “Breaking bread and making new friends”

Winter warmers

Warm seasons greetings to everyone

With days racing to the end of the year, Leith Open Space winter newsletter takes a quick look back to summer (see Rhythm of the Street), catches up with the present (Christmas lights, action, music). Then goes fast forward to a photography competition (What’s your View?) and exciting plans for community gardens (Growing Greener) in 2008. Hope you can enjoy a little time travel with us.

Christmas lights, action and music

Once again members of Leith Open Space group are warming up for an energetic night at the Edinburgh Refugee Centre. The annual Winter party is always a great event: good food, vibrant music and a really welcoming atmosphere among people from many different countries. Come and join us if you can on Thursday December 13 from 7.00-10pm.

What’s your view of Leith?

Picture by Nick Gardner

Are you a budding photographer? If so, Jackie Mearns of Leith Community Involvement Project invites you to take part in a photography competition open to anyone with a Leith link. CLOSING DATE 31ST JANUARY. Continue reading “What’s your view of Leith?”

The rhythm of the street

Talking of photography, the film of the FEAST event is now up on the FEAST website. Alan Stockdale, Leith photographer and film-maker, fused images of Shanghai and Edinburgh with music inspired by the making of Dim Sum (made at Out of the Blue as we reported back in August).
You can enjoy film and music and read some intriguing stories from Chinese and Scottish communities by visiting the FEAST blog. The event was created by Kimho Ip a musician and composer (he runs intercultural workshops in Leith) who believes food is the vital link between all people no matter what language we speak.

Kimho and the rest of the FEAST team are now working on a multi-media, multicultural event, Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo, which will take place in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh next summer as part of the China Now in Scotland programme for 2008.

Growing greener

Community gardens can be a great way of bringing people together. Just take a look at the Hidden Gardens in Glasgow for inspiration. But there are lots of creative ideas bubbling up much closer to home. Plans for community gardens are quickly spreading across the Leith area. Continue reading “Growing greener”

What’s on?

Welcome to our Autumn newsletter with details of seasonal happenings and important events for all community groups in Leith. There is information about how to continue supporting the struggle for democracy in Burma with details of inspiring work at Forthview Primary School in Pilton. And if you are looking for ways of raising money you will be particularly interested in the Community Grant Information Day on November 6. Please scroll down through the autumn leaves to find out more!

Does your community group need money?

If the answer is ‘yes’?, then Mark Lazarowicz, MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, invites you to a community event to find out how to gain access to grants ‘big and small’. And, he says, please tell your friends and colleagues about it too.

Butterflies and pumpkins

A trip to Butterfly and Insect World and a Hallowe’en party are highlights in this month’s programme for Edinburgh Refugee Centre.

The programme, published in Chinese, Turkish and Arabic as well as English, also offers free English classes as well as advice on housing, employment and health. For people who work or go to college, the centre is now open on Tuesdays from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Continue reading “Butterflies and pumpkins”

Campaign for Leith Museum

The campaign for Leith Museum is making good progress. The petition, signed by many Leith Open Space supporters, goes before the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee at 2 pm on Tuesday November 6. If you are free, this is always an interesting meeting to attend as a member of the public – and perhaps you can persuade your MSP to support the cause too. Continue reading “Campaign for Leith Museum”