Five things you need to know today Edinburgh!

Arboretum Pavilion

Drugs Arrests

Forth Bridges Festival

Riding of the Marches

Your cafe recommendations

The new pavilion at Arboretum Road will be officially opened today. Erskine Stewart Melville College (ESMC) took over the building on a 60 year lease and have spent £500,000 on doing it up to provide new changing facilities. The schools which use the playing fields include St Thomas of Aquins RC High School, Trinity High School, Inverleith Rugby Club and Holy Cross Cricket Club who alerted us to this landmark event on Twitter.

With 4 changing rooms, a tea room & staff accommodation, the new Arbo Pavilion has it’s formal opening next Saturday. pic.twitter.com/XBcDjXYRq0

— Holy Cross Cricket (@HXCricket) August 31, 2014

In October 2012 the Education Children and Families committee heard that the condition of the premises was very poor and the portacabins used as changing facilities were costing around £10,000 per annum to hire. The pavilion had previously been damaged by fire. The excess on the insurance policy amounted to £250,000 which is the initial amount the council would have had to pay to renovate the changing facilities.

The Council entered into an arrangement with ESMC whereby the independent school invested their money to refurbish the pavilion while at the same time allowing schools run by the council and other sports clubs to use the pitches. The building was actually leased by the Old Augustinians, but since St Augustines and Forrester have a new campus with shared sports facilities which are said to be some of the best in Scotland, they had no further need of the pitches in Inverleith. ESMC have already run the Cricket Academy at Ravelston for some years and so had experience of running sports facilities which was one of the factors which persuaded the council to enter the deal with them.

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Five men have been arrested and charged following two days of Police Scotland action in the Wester Hailes area of Edinburgh.

Officers from the Edinburgh Criminal Investigation Department along with colleagues from the Divisional Violence Reduction Unit executed drugs warrants at six properties on Wednesday and Thursday of this week as part of Operation Wolf.

The activity resulted in the recovery of around £1,350 worth of controlled drugs and a three-figure sum of cash.
Two males, aged 48 and 50, were charged in relation to offences under the Misue of Drugs Act and will appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at a later date, while a 48-year-old was also charged under the Misuse of Drugs Act and was held in custody overnight on Wednesday to appear in court on Thursday.

Two other males, aged 35 and 45, were also arrested in relation to outstanding arrest warrants. 
Detective Inspector Stuart Harkness said: “Over the past 48 hours our officers from the Proactive CID have targeted specific addresses in the Wester Hailes area of Edinburgh and subsequently recovered around £1,350 worth of drugs along with money and other items.

“The arrests and items seized represent another success for Operation Wolf and demonstrates that we will not tolerate criminal activity in Wester Hailes or any other community.

“Police Scotland is committed to removing drugs and criminality from our communities, and we are determined to identify and use all available opportunities to target those responsible for serious and organised crime.”

At the same time as Wednesday and Thursday’s Operation Wolf activity, officers from the Major Investigation Team looking into the recent death of Robbie Morrison also continued to gather information surrounding the 31-year-old’s murder.

Robbie Morrison was killed after being stabbed in Dumbryden Gardens at around 4.30pm on Friday 22^nd August. Enquiries into the attack are ongoing and officers have been distributing appeal posters throughout Wester Hailes to encourage local residents to come forward with information.

Detective Inspector Harkness added: “The intelligence-led activity in Wester Hailes this week demonstrates that Police Scotland does listen to members of the public and acts on their concerns. It is as a result of available information that we have been able to mount this kind of operation and I would like to thank the community and encourage the provision of further information regarding crime in their area.

“Anyone who has any information on drugs crimes, any other criminal activity in Wester Hailes or, indeed, knows anything which may help the officers investigating Robbie Morrison’s murder is urged to contact Police Scotland on 101 or, alternatively, phone the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”

Detective Chief Inspector Gary Cunningham has been leading the investigation into the death of Robbie Morrison and, two weeks on from the incident, is again encouraging local residents to come forward.

“It is clear from our ongoing enquiries that the community holds vital information that would assist us,” explained DCI Cunningham. “And following the emotional appeal last week from the mother of Robbie Morrison, several people have come forward with details that are helping drive forward our enquiry.

“But we believe there are still people who hold vital key pieces of information and I would urge them to get in touch. We have a hotline number (01506 445 620) and text message service (07769 239 691) that people can use in total confidence.”

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This is Edinburgh has more information about the Forth Bridges Festival on their page here.