Botanic Cottage – Scottish Sailing Trust – National Museum of Scotland – Edinburgh Festival Fringe pick of the day – Edinburgh International Book Festival pick of the day
On Wednesday of this week the council’s Development Management Sub-Committee meet to approve some planning applications which have been brought to their attention. In one of these the committee is being recommended to approve an application by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to rebuild Botanic Cottage within the Botanics at Inverleith.
In March this year RGBE announced that they had the funding they needed to put up the building. They were awarded £708,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The building will be reconstructed from materials recovered from the site of the original Botanic Garden in Leith Walk. The cottage was taken down rather carefully in 2008 and the original materials have been stored since then within the Botanic Garden Nursery Garden.
The plan is to reconstruct the cottage on the north of the Botanics on a site behind the big hedge, where it will be used as a learning hub for schools and community gardeners. RGBE hope to entertain a further 90 schools each year to learn about gardening in a hands on way.There is also a project to use 40 young people as apprentices in building the cottage using traditional skills.
The outside walls will be harled and limewashed masonry as the original was, and the roof will be of Scots slate. A new pedestrian access gate with a dropped kerb will allow an additional access way to the cottage.
As this is another development in a conservation area, there have been objections made by local residents on a variety of grounds such as loss of green space, parking made worse by loss of parking space, and a presumed increased noise from the events. All of these matters have been addressed in the papers to be put before the meeting.
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A new trust is being setup to run a Sailing School at Port Edgar following the decision by Edinburgh Leisure to close the Watersports Centre there. The new trust, established by members of the community, plans to become a registered charity and buy the boating assets from Edinburgh Leisure to ensure the activities at Port Edgar can continue.
The trust aims to continue to provide a full range of courses and activities to children, adults, schools, sailing clubs and commercial businesses. It also plans to work closely with local authorities and RYA Scotland in developing its services, particularly for disadvantaged groups.
The trust will be called the Scottish Sailing Trust to demonstrate how convenient and accessible the location is for over 75% of the Scottish population and to demonstrate its aim to cover a wider area than just the local South Queensferry community.
The trustees have applied for a SportScotland grant to part-fund the acquisition of the Edinburgh Leisure assets but it also needs financial support from the public as well as local businesses and clubs to demonstrate the public support it has and to secure its future. The Appeal, formally launched on Tuesday 20th August 2013 aims to raise a minimum of £5,000 and gain grant funding of £5 for every £1 raised.
Colin Keir, MSP for Edinburgh Western, said :-“This is local people taking charge of the situation in a bid to run the school alongside the successful sailing club…. Many hundreds of people including youngsters will benefit from this. I congratulate the Scottish Sailing Trust for their efforts so far and offer them every assistance to get this great idea off the ground”
Further details can be found at http://www.scottishsailingtrust.com or by emailing info@scottishsailingtrust.com
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Ilana Halperin: The Library is one of the exhibitions at the National Museum of Scotland running until 29 September 2013
Grand Gallery, Level 1 Free entry
Artist Ilana Halperin explores notions of time in The Library, a contemporary art exhibition that presents rocks, minerals and geological artefacts in a new and remarkable light. The Library will introduce visitors to the alphabet of geology through agates that share the artist’s birthday, minerals that record the collision of Earth and outer space, artworks slowly formed in caves and geothermal springs and her most ambitious project to date, a 1.3 ton stone library featuring books of the mineral mica.
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Charlotte Square will close its gates this evening and they will not open again to the public till the Book Festival 2014. So take a chance today to get along and enjoy the atmosphere.
The Worldwide Food Fight takes place at 4:00pm this afternoon.
“On the one hand, the media is full of talk of a ‘world food crisis’. On the other, our newspapers are stuffed with Michelin-starred celebrity super-chefs peddling an ever-more exotic ‘gastro-fetishism’. Why do we have such a schizophrenic relationship with food? With two strikingly original perspectives on food and gastro-culture, Paul McMahon (Feeding Frenzy) and Steven Poole (You Aren’t What You Eat) brilliantly debunk some prevailing food myths.”
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At the Fringe you will have to be quick if you want to catch a show.
Those who were shortlisted for the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards were
Shortlisted:
- Carl Donnelly: Now That’s What I Carl Donnelly! Volume V – Avalon Promotions – Pleasance Courtyard
- James Acaster: Lawnmower – Phil McIntyre Entertainments – Pleasance Courtyard
- Max and Ivan: The Reunion – Mick Perrin Worldwide in association with Dawn Sedgwick Management – Pleasance Dome
- Mike Wozniak: Take The Hit – Mike Wozniak / The Stand Comedy Club – The Stand Comedy Club II
- Nick Helm: One Man Mega Myth – Bound & Gagged Comedy by arrangement with Glorious Management – Pleasance Courtyard
- Seann Walsh: The Lie-in King – Off The Kerb Productions – Pleasance Courtyard
Only Nick Helm has a show on today. The rest have gone home…for another year.
So enjoy the atmosphere today while it lasts.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
