Edinburgh Refugee Centre pay travel expenses for people taking their beginners and improvers English classes starting in March. This month’s activities also include a visit to the Scottish Parliament to see where Scottish laws are made. Continue reading “Support for English classes”
A positive step forward for Leith museum
Good news about the future Leith Museum. With over 3000 signatures on the petition collected by the Campaign for Leith Museum, the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee agreed to take positive steps forward when they met on 19 February. In plain English, they want to know what support the campaign can expect from the City of Edinburgh Council , Scottish Parliament and Scottish Enterprise. Answers expected by 25 April. Click here for the longer version…
Knock on wood
Another great opportunity for anyone interested in gardens, crafts and the environment. All rolled up in one. Friends of Dalmeny Street Park are looking for volunteers to help make three raised-bed planters to grow plants for the local community. Continue reading “Knock on wood”
Leith: twinned with Havana?
Fay Young from Leith Open Space Group went looking for a new community garden in deepest Leith: this is what she found…
It took me a while to find the right place tucked away between high rise flats. By the time I got there the rest of the team were inside having coffee and my blurry mobile picture shows a community garden without people. Even so, the sun was slanting between high walls and if you squint you can imagine what it might be like once fruit trees are showering the ground with blossom. Continue reading “Leith: twinned with Havana?”
Green shoots for the new year
Here’s an exciting start to 2008 with plans for a community garden in Leith (see Green Fingers for details of the Greener Leith meeting on Monday January 28 ). Plus news of other intercultural activities involving both Polish communities (see Home from Home and Breaking Bread) and Chinese communities (see China Now). Leith Open Space will be reporting progress on all this and more during the coming year so keep in touch with our blog. And don’t hesitate to add your own news and views.
China Now in Edinburgh
Kimho Ip is used to making music in unlikely places (that’s him on the right directing the FEAST in Castle Street last August). Now he’s preparing a different kind of musical feast in the Botanics this summer as one of Edinburgh’s main events for the intercultural programme of China Now in Scotland. Continue reading “China Now in Edinburgh”
Community green fingers
A good place to meet , this is a community orchard in Prague in late summer
How about this? A place where people of all cultures meet to grow fruit, flowers and vegetables and make new friends as they grow plants. Community gardens offer wonderful opportunities for bringing people together and it can happen in Leith. After a lot of hard work behind scenes, Greener Leith hopes to turn words into actions on Monday January 28 when a community garden is one of the main items on the agenda for their first meeting of the year. Please come along and join Leith Open Space in supporting this great project. Continue reading “Community green fingers”
A Polish home from home
“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”
Kneeling in protest against Guantanamo
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”
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”