Fire in Hailesland – Community cafes plotted on a map – Tonight at the Queen’s Hall – Whisky Tours launched – Edinburgh Festival Fringe Pick of the Day
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) teams worked through the night to extinguish a blaze at a community centre in the west of Edinburgh.
Crews from the capital were joined by others from stations in Midlothian, West Lothian and the Scottish Borders in responding to the Hailesland Place incident, which began around 8:20pm yesterday evening.
Around 60 firefighters were involved in the operation to bring the fire under control, with appliances from the city’s Sighthill and Tollcross stations first to attend after a series of 999 calls to the service.
A spokesperson for SFRS said:- “On arrival the incident commander quickly identified that further resources were required and additional appliances from Dalkieth and Livingston were sent to the scene.
“Due to the condition of the building and the severity of the fire it was unsafe for firefighters to enter the premises, so the fire was fought externally.
“In the early stages of the incident, firefighters battled the fire with two large main jets, which were supplemented by a turntable ladder large volume water monitor.”
With the main seat of fire extinguished crews remained in attendance to conduct dampening down operations and monitor hot-spots.
The SFRS Fire Investigation Unit and Police Scotland will work to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Anyone with information relating to the fire is asked to contact police on the non-emergency telephone number 101.
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This August Edinburgh Community Cafes proudly present a brand new handy map of community cafes across Edinburgh. Now you can quickly and easily find your way to great tasting healthy and affordable food! There are 36 warm and welcoming cafes around the capital where you can meet a friend enjoy a hot cuppa or meal and support the local community. Many have excellent facilities such as free Wi-Fi, speciality coffee machines, children’s play space, pensioner deals and loads of volunteering opportunities.
Lyndsey McLellan from Edinburgh Community Cafes said:- “As a network it’s fantastic to see this map available to the community. We hope people will enjoy exploring the cafes.”
Maxine Cramb, manager at The Cafe on the Corner, said:- “We are a fairly new café and it’s important to get ourselves known. We are so happy to be part of community cafes and the map itself is an enormous boost for the work we do.”
Maps are available from Edinburgh Community Food and any community cafe.
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Scottish singer/songwriter Rachel Sermanni consolidates her growing reputation as one of folk’s bright new things with her debut album Under Mountains.
She appears at The Queen’s Hall tonight at 8:00pm and you can buy tickets here.
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BE CAPTIVATED – BALLET CENTRAL
Date, Time & Price Aug 1-12 20:05 (1hr 15mins) £14.00(£12.00)
Venue New Town Theatre – ballet, modern
A spectacular sell-out tour culminated in an exquisite performance which wowed 20,000 at the 02 in the 2012 Olympics. Now Ballet Central make their festival debut. Brilliant, vibrant, versatile dancers will thrill audiences of all ages. Should be fabulous!
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
