“Everyone is welcome to attend and many local people do come along.”
In translation it means a ‘meeting place’, but Swietlica means much more than that for members of Edinburgh’s Polish community. And weekly social activities are not restricted to Polish people. Monday gatherings at Fort Community Wing are welcoming events for all local people, as volunteer organisers explain in a short article Kasia Raszewska has sent to Leith Open Space blog. Continue reading “A Polish home from home”
Edinburgh protesters kneel in silent ‘submission’ at the Mound(thanks to Leith and North website for use of the picture)
There was a Guantanamo dog dressed in an orange coat, and a choir singing as we walked along Princes Street. But the most striking moment was when over 150 people wearing orange boiler suits knelt in silent protest while a young ‘guard’ in combat gear shouted at us: “I don’t want to see your eyes, look down, look down.” Continue reading “Kneeling in protest against Guantanamo”
‘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”
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.
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.
Continue reading “Christmas lights, action and music”
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?”
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
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.
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”
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!
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.
Continue reading “Does your community group need money?”
