The Royal Highland Show – Trams – Cycling – Friends of Meadows and Bruntsfield Links – Potholes
The Royal Highland Show begins today at Ingliston and runs till Sunday. Lothian Buses are running a special service to get you there more easily. Bus Number 98 will take you from Jenners to the Showground with a few stops on the way. More details here.
The Royal Highland Show is one of Scotland’s most iconic, enduring and historic brands – an annual showcase of all that’s best in farming, food and countryside.
A top summer attraction, the show has seen record-breaking attendances in recent years with the three-year average now standing at over 182,000.
In 2011, visitor numbers were 182,984 – the second highest ever attendance and just a few thousand short of the record set in 2010 of 187,644.
A visit to the “Highland” – marketed as “The Greatest Show On Earth” – offers a multitude of features to enjoy with prize-winning livestock, the latest farm machinery, fine food and drink, outdoor living and countryside, traditional rural skills, renewable energy, music, cookery demonstrations, forestry events, handcrafts, children’s discovery centre, heavy horses, show-jumping, motor zone and shopping arcades just a few of the attractions.
All of these are contained within well-signposted designated areas making it easy for visitors to find their way around the showground.
This year’s show will take place from 21-24 June 2012.
Show Opening Times and Ticket Prices:Thursday: 07.00 – 20.00. Friday and Saturday: 08.00 – 20.00. Sunday: 08.00 – 18.30. Admission price on all four days is £25 with concessions at £20 available for senior citizens and students. All children under 16 accompanied by an adult go free. There are “early bird” discounts available at £22 and £18. Car parking is £8 per day. For “early bird” tickets, visit the website www.royalhighlandshow.org
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An SNP MSP is calling for the directors of Edinburgh’s tram company TIE to forego their pay-offs for loss of service totally £406,635, saying “There must be no reward for failure.”
Commenting on figures released by Edinburgh City Council, Jim Eadie, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, said:-
“It is right that the details of the severance payments have been published. Over £400,000 in pay-offs is a slap in the face of the people of this city. They will be aghast that after years of disruption and delay that public officials responsible for the catalogue of mistakes and incompetence will walk away with golden goodbyes.
“That the tram project has made real progress since TIE was scrapped is a sure sign of just how bad these directors were.
“The mismanagement of the development is a matter of public record, which will rightly be investigated once we have made more progress, but at a time when many hard working people in Edinburgh are struggling to pay their bills, it is totally unacceptable that individuals associated with a discredited Trams project should be remunerated in this way. The very least that should happen now is for the individuals concerned to forego these generous payments – there must be no reward for failure.
“Of course that would require a sensitivity to public opinion and a sense of decency which has been in short supply until now.”
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It was good weather for the Bike Breakfast at the City Chambers yesterday. Arranged by Spokes and hosted by The City of Edinburgh Council, the bacon rolls were worth waiting for. Today the group behind the massive Pedal on Parliament demonstration will present their petition of over 3600 signatures to the Minister for Transport and other MSPs at Holyrood. And also the first meeting of the Cross Party Group on Cycling – set up by Alison Johnstone MSP – will take place to look at proposals to strengthen the Cycle Action Plan for Scotland.
It is not all good news for cyclists at the moment.
Figures from Transport Scotland show a nine per cent rise in cycle casualties on both rural and built-up roads in Scotland last year compared to the 2004-08 average, and a six per cent rise on 2010.
Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothian, said:-
“I’m sure SNP ministers will be as appalled as I am at these figures. The Scottish Government is clearly failing to keep pace with the growing appetite for cycling.
“It will take more than one meeting chaired by Keith Brown to turn this around. We need to see a firm commitment from government to deliver meaningful infrastructure improvements.
“We also need to rethink the hierarchy of our highways to give proper protection to our most vulnerable road users.”
Tonight the Friends of Meadows and Bruntsfield Links hold their AGM at The Croquet Club in Leven Terrace.
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And today we have another broken paving stone for you from a New Town pavement. Where is your pothole? Do send us photos!
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
