Save City Park – #myhighstreet call to action! – RBS Museum Lates: Behind the Masque – Scottish Storytelling Festival – Ryan’s Bar is 21!

Edinburgh’s City Park is a beautiful green space bounded by Pilton Drive, The Strada, West Winnelstrae and Ferry Road.

It has been a sports ground for decades and the home of Spartans football club since 1951. It is described as campaign organisers Save City Park as a haven for local wildlife, and is bounded by mature trees and meadow plants. It has provided local children a safe place to play for generations, and they say it is a vital part of Edinburgh’s landscape and heritage enhancing the city’s environment. It is one of a number of green “lungs” in the city which Save City Park believe may be used for a residential development.

City Park and meadow land behind West Winnelstrae are  under threat from a significant proposed housing development of affordable dwellings by the Link Group. There is a public meeting on Wednesday 24 October 2012 between 4.30 and 7.30 pm at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre, on Thursday 25 October 2012 at Spartans Community Football Academy between 4.30 and 7.30pm and on Monday 29 October 2012 the Community Council meets at the Royston Wardieburn Community Centre at 7pm.

A campaign group is growing through Twitter and you may also sign the petition to save the football ground here.

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We have been asking all week for people to put Edinburgh on the map by tweeting photos of our city with the hashtag #myhighstreet and either #celebrate or #change and indeed some of our Twitter followers have done just that!  You can read more about the  whole Celebrate the High Street project here and you can see the n0tice board for all four UK cities involved in the project by clicking here. We have copied some of the Tweets for you below so that you can get an idea of what we are asking for.

 

Please take a photo or two while you are out this weekend!

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Tonight at the Museum 19:00 – 22:30 £10, £8 Concessions and Members.

Combination ticket with entry to Catherine the Great (normally £9) is £18 (£16 concession).
At this contemporary take on a Masquerade, a popular form of courtly entertainment amongst European rulers, visitors will be encouraged to wear masks or take inspiration from the museum’s collections to design their own on the night. The event links in with the Museum’s exhibitionCatherine the Great: An Enlightened Empress, which closes on Sunday 21 October. The Museum will be transformed into a sparkling world where nothing is quite what it seems, featuring a packed programme of bands, installations and performers.

Tickets are on sale now http://www.nms.ac.uk/lates or by phoning 0300 123 6789. Ticket holders can book tables at the Brasserie on 0131 247 4040 or 0131 247 4084.

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The Scottish Storytelling Festival 2012 begins today.

“The Scottish International Storytelling Festival is Scotland’s annual celebration of traditional and contemporary storytelling. The Festival brings together artists and audiences from Scotland and beyond in entertaining and inspiring live storytelling performances, thought-provoking talks, workshops and discussions and fun family activities.”

Here is the full programme:-

Sis f 12 Programme

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Last night Ryan’s Bar & The Cellar Restaurant celebrated their 21st birthday. Over the last two decades they have become a bit of an institution in the West End of Edinburgh, as have some of their regulars!

As part of their 21st Birthday Party, Jason Borthwick and his team at Ryan’s surprised their longest visiting regular, Tommy Hermansen, with a very special birthday cake.

Tommy is part of a group of regulars who have been visiting Ryan’s Bar since its first week of opening and is an expert when it comes to the history of the building. From its past as an upmarket confectioners, to when it was the source of Edinburgh’s food and flowers as Rankin’s Fruitmarket, to the friendly social hub it is today – Tommy has many stories to tell.

Although the staff had been planning it for weeks, Tommy had no idea that he was going to be given the honour of blowing out the candles – and when the whole bar started singing and the cake arrived, tech-savvy Tommy (who regularly posts on the Ryan’s Facebook page) decided to finish what he was doing on his phone before blowing out the twenty-first birthday candles!

Georgia Artus, Marketing Manager, said:-“We couldn’t believe it – the whole bar was standing waiting and good old Tommy decided to play on his phone! We waited twenty-one years, another few minutes didn’t hurt and it’s been a wonderful night.”

As part of the evening, Ryan’s invited around 70 of their friends, old staff and locals to sip prosecco and enjoy canapé versions of the seafood and steak menu in their candlelit Cellar Restaurant, including bringing back their famous Strawberry Cream Cupcakes!

The evening then continued upstairs with live music from Scarlet and sharing stories from over the years. Ryan’s are running a number of promotions in both the main bar and their Cellar Restaurant throughout October to celebrate their birthday and welcome everyone to come and pay them a visit.

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.