Fun Run – Drugs arrests – 5K at Cramond – Scottish Bird Fair – At the galleries this weekend
You are probably too late to enter, and you are certainly too late to start training, but you could always go along and cheer on the ladies who are taking part in the Fun Run at Hopetoun House today starting from 11:00am.
Around 1000 women will be taking part in Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life there this morning.
This is the first Race for Life event of the year in Scotland – there are 11 in total – and courageous skin cancer survivor Dawn Hunter, of Dunfermline, will be at the start line with an airhorn as she prepares to start the participants on their way along the 5K course. Ahead of the event, Dawn, a personal assistant, said:- “Taking part in Race for Life is my way of celebrating being cancer free for five years and fighting back against cancer. It’s important to do all we can to help fund research and I want to help others by supporting Cancer Research UK’s work.”
Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life, in partnership with Tesco, is an inspiring women-only series of events which raises millions of pounds every year to help defeat cancer by funding life-saving research.
Hamish Moir, event manager for Race for Life in the Lothians and Fife, said:- “The support we have received in South Queensferry is absolutely tremendous and we are thrilled that so many women have entered Race for Life.”
In 2012, 750 women took part in Race for Life in South Queensferry and helped raise £71,000 for Cancer Research UK’s life-saving work. With even more ladies attending this year’s event, the charity hopes even more money will be raised. By raising money through Race for Life, people in the Lothians and Fife are helping Cancer Research UK’s doctors, nurses and scientists make advances in research which will help more men, women and children survive.
At this year’s event, before they head to the start line, runners will be learning the Cancer Slam, a dance especially choreographed for Cancer Research UK to the classic song Connection by Elastica. The warm up exercise routine in South Queensferry will be lead by Sarah Munro of Fitness Chicks fitness centre in Edinburgh.
Around 20 volunteers from the Queensferry Sea Cadets, under the command of Lt Colin Butcher, will also be helping out by giving out water and medals. Cancer Research UK receives no government funding for its ground-breaking research but with help from the people of the Lothians, the charity intends to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.
Thanks to the generosity of its supporters, Cancer Research UK was able to spend over £4 million last year in Edinburgh on some of the UK’s leading scientific and clinical research. Women of all shapes, sizes, ages and levels of fitness take part in Race for Life. They come from different backgrounds and walks of life but they are united by their absolute determination to take on the disease and beat it.
Hamish continued: “Race for Life is non-competitive. So there’s no need to worry about being fit or fast. It doesn’t matter if you walk, jog or even dance your way around the course. There are over 200 cancers and we won’t give up until we find cures for them all. It’s fighting talk, and we mean every word we say.”
There is still time to enter a Race for Life event near you. In Edinburgh, ladies and families can take part in 5K and 10K events on Sunday 16 June 2013 at Holyrood Park.
Enter Race for Life at raceforlife.org or by calling 0845 600 6050.
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Police in Edinburgh have hailed the success of an operation targeting drug dealers and serious and organised criminals in the Capital. Operation Amend resulted in 25 arrests, along with the seizure of around £300,000 worth of drugs and almost £250,000 in cash.
The drugs seized included quantities of cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin, as well as a cannabis cultivation. Over £200,000 in cash was recovered from one address in Musselburgh alone.
Detective Superintendent Gareth Blair, from Police Scotland, said:- “There is no doubt that Operation Amend has struck a serious blow against drug dealers and serious and organised criminals operating in Edinburgh.
“We have arrested and charged a number of individuals with alleged drugs offences, and removed a significant quantity of drugs from the streets of the Capital. Police Scotland is committed to keeping people safe, and we will relentlessly pursue all those who we suspect of involvement in drug dealing and serious and organised crime.
“At the same time we will continue to work closely with our community partners in order to make our communities safer and secure. We would ask the public to play their part by providing us with information on drug dealers and serious and organised criminals operating in their community.
“Anyone with any information should contact Police Scotland on 101, or make an anonymous report though Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said:- “While honest, hard-working members of the public struggle in these challenging financial times, it is galling and distressing to see drug dealers and those involved in serious organised crime flouting their ill-gotten wealth.
“It is thanks to vital information supplied by the public and the hard work of police that serious and organised criminals across Scotland are being identified and brought to justice. Ultimately, it shows that the combined efforts of communities, police, and enforcement agencies all contributes to making Scotland a safer and stronger place to live.”
Councillor Cammy Day, Community Safety Leader, said:- “I am very pleased that Operation Amend has been such a success and believe this demonstrates how strengthening community links with the police can make our neighbourhoods safer. It sends a clear signal that drug-related crime will not be tolerated and I would like to thank all members of the community for their support of this very worthwhile initiative.”
Professor Alison McCallum, Director of Public Health and Health Policy, NHS Lothian, said:-“We continue to work closely with Police Scotland, health services and other agencies throughout Lothian by providing a broad range of services to help and support individuals to address the causes and consequences of problematic drug use.”
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Our photo today is of Cramond on Thursday evening this week. We happened to be there taking photos and suddenly a 5K happened by… We caught some of it on video…..
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The Scottish Bird Fair takes place at Hopetoun House next weekend, although some of the events take place in Linlithgow and there are other events like the sunset cruise on the River Forth to enjoy. The idea of the cruise is to go and find some seabirds.
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This weekend at the National Galleries of Scotland there are many things to see. Have you seen the lovely Annie Lennox exhibition at the Portrait Gallery yet? And then for the lovers among you there is the romantic Rodin’s Kiss at the Scottish National Gallery at the Mound…
Rodin’s world-famous celebration of erotic love The Kiss, arrived in February for a year-long display. The magnificent, larger-than-life marble sculpture of two naked lovers, entwined in a passionate embrace is on loan from Tate in London.
Having first shown The Kiss to huge popular acclaim in 1898, Rodin was commissioned to make this second version, which was completed in 1904. It depicts the adulterous lovers Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini, who appear as characters in Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Dante relates how the couple’s passion grew as they read together the story of Lancelot and Guinevere (the book can just be seen in Paolo’s hand), but they were discovered and murdered by Francesca’s outraged husband, Paolo’s older brother Giancotto.
The story inspired many playwrights, composers and artists in the nineteenth century, and is the subject of a much-loved painting in the Gallery’s collection, Francesca da Rimini (1837) by Sir William Dyce.
Three full-scale marble versions of The Kiss were made in Rodin’s lifetime, and the sculptor also made smaller versions in plaster, terracotta and bronze. Such was allure of The Kiss that hundreds of bronze copies were produced by the Barbedienne foundry. As a result, this spectacular sculpture has become one of the most instantly recognised and best-loved works of art in the world.
Speaking of the loan, Michael Clarke, Director of the Scottish National Gallery, said: ‘We are delighted that Rodin’s great hymn to love is coming to Scotland. Rodin was a wonderfully gifted sculptor – technically brilliant, with an astonishing ability to model the human form with sensuous realism. The Kiss is rightly acknowledged as one of the greatest artistic evocations of desire ever created.’
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
