Chief Executive wins CIty Leader of the Year
Games Legacy Funding for Edinburgh
Builders raising funds for cancer charity
Terrify yourself at Edinburgh Dungeon this Halloween
Poetry at the Palace
The Chief Executive of the City of Edinburgh Council, Sue Bruce, has been named City Leader of Year in recognition of her role in the Council’s economic development achievements at a ceremony held in London’s Olympia.
In partnership with real estate magazine Estates Gazette, the inaugural MIPIM UK Awards recognise the achievements of partners in the public and private sector in revitalising UK cities and towns.
Mrs Bruce won praise for driving forward plans to develop important gap sites in the city centre and for her role in the St James redevelopment plans, attracting £850 million to regenerate local infrastructure and public space.
Council Leader, Councillor Andrew Burns, said: “This award is testament to Sue’s abilities and her commitment to the City of Edinburgh. It is also much deserved recognition for her successful engagement with the business community, which has led to accelerated regeneration and helped strengthen the city’s reputation as a world leading business hub.”
MIPIM UK holds events which gather together investors, developers and Local Authorities looking to close deals in the UK property market.
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The SKELF Bike Skills Park and Active Playground in Edinburgh are among local projects from across Scotland to be awarded Games legacy funding.
47 projects across Scotland will share £2.4 million from the Legacy 2014 Active Places Fund, the £10 million pot to upgrade or create new sports and physical activity infrastructure.
Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games and Sport Shona Robison said: “The Commonwealth Games was Scotland’s biggest ever sporting event and the Active Places Fund is creating a lasting Games legacy of better facilities tor sport or physical activity.
“The Active Places Fund is about creating new and different ways of getting people walking, running or taking part in sport, often in imaginative ways. This new round benefits 47 projects and takes the total number of initiatives across Scotland to 156.
“From upgrading existing facilities to taking on entirely new challenges, communities are embracing the Games legacy and coming together to deliver fantastic projects that are helping people become more active.”
Vivienne Whyte from Trinity Primary School Parent Staff Association said: “We are delighted to be one of the projects in Edinburgh to benefit from the funding. The Active Playground project strives to make physical activity more accessible to everyone in the local area and the funding will make a real difference to the local community and help provide a lasting legacy from Glasgow 2014.
“Our project will transform the playground from plain Tarmac to an exciting natural play area which will fuel the children’s imagination and involve them in exciting outdoor play in a new and innovative way. We have involved the children in all stages if the planning process.”
Stewart Harris, Chief Executive of sportscotland said: “It is terrific news that a further 47 deserving ventures will benefit from the latest Active Places Fund tranche, which has already invested in over 100 projects. sportscotland is committed to providing more and better opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to participate in sport and physical activity, and this Fund is a key component of delivering that objective.
“We are working closely with the Scottish Government to continue implementing the successful sporting legacy from Glasgow 2014 and, consequently, Scotland’s sporting system is the most sophisticated it has ever been.”
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Employees at Barratt Homes have been busy raising some much needed cash for a well-known cancer charity.
Since July the team has raised £1,500 by doing a variety of activities including holding a raffle at the division’s annual summer barbeque, auctioning off furniture from Showhomes, selling cakes on wear it pink day and senior directors taking part in the ice bucket challenge.
The house builder’s East Division has chosen Maggie’s Centre, a network of drop in centres for cancer patients, as its charity of the year.
Maggie’s Centre at the Western General in Edinburgh provides free practical, emotional and social support to people with cancer and their family and friends.
Alison Condie, managing director for Barratt Homes in the East of Scotland, said: “Maggie’s Centre is a great charity which provides an invaluable service to people in the area affected by cancer. Some of our staff have personal connections to the charity, so we are delighted to help Maggie’s, a charity that is close to our hearts in any way we can.”
Mark Cooper, centre fundraiser at Maggie’s Edinburgh, said: “We want to say a big thanks to Barratt Homes for choosing us as their charity of the year. The money they have raised will help us to provide much needed support to people with cancer and their families throughout Edinburgh and the Lothians.”
The first Maggie’s Centre opened in Edinburgh in 1996 and since then Maggie’s has continued to grow, with 17 centres at major NHS cancer hospitals in the UK and abroad.
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Join Scotland’s top attraction for scary fun late this Halloween for a night full of even more tricks and treats as The Edinburgh Dungeon tells of a terrifying tale after-hours…
As historic hauntings go, the presence of the infamous Burke & Hare doesn’t get more chilling. So be prepared as the murderous pair make their return to The Edinburgh Dungeon this October to mark the anniversary of their final killing – the Halloween Murder.
Warning BURKE IS BACK, The Edinburgh Dungeon will host an exclusive Lates event on Friday 24 October with three special tours starting at 7.30pm, 8pm or 8.30pm, giving visitors the chance to discover their dark side.
With a complimentary beer or wine, visitors will be topped up with a dose of Dutch courage before embarking on a thrill filled journey through 1000 years of Scotland’s murky past. Bringing even more mischief, frights and thrills to the Dungeon, these after-hours shows promise a fortifying dose of wit and humour, with plenty of risqué scenes and scary surprises.
Johnny Campbell, general manager of The Edinburgh Dungeon, said: “We’re inviting the capital’s residents to face their fears with more of the Dungeon’s dark humour this Halloween.
“Continuing on from a series of successful Lates events, these after-hours tours are the perfect way to make this the most wicked Halloween yet!”
The hallowed halls will once again be adorned with pumpkins as the Lates event ensures those who dare enter the Dungeon depths at night enjoy an adults-only (18+) Halloween fright night experience like no other.
Guaranteed to have visitors on the edge of their seats, The Dungeon will become the Home of Halloween from 10 October until 2 November as tours featuring their exclusive new Halloween show will be running from 10am till 5pm every day, with late night opening hours on the 31 October and 1 November (10am-10pm) and extended hours on 30 October and 2 November (10am-6pm).
For more information and tickets visit www.thedungeons.com/edinburgh or follow @EdinDungeon for updates.
From its base on Market Street, The Edinburgh Dungeon – winner of the Scottish Entertainment Awards Best Visitor Attraction 2014 – delivers 11 live-actor shows, state of the art special effects, 360º theatrical sets, two heart stopping rides and gripping storytelling by hero characters.
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The words of Poets Laureate across three and a half centuries are brought to life in an exhibition at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival. Historic recordings and contemporary readings by Poets Laureate, including Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ted Hughes, Sir John Betjeman and Carol Ann Duffy, as well as actors Timothy West, Sir Daniel Day-Lewis and Dame Judi Dench, bring new resonance to some of Britain’s greatest and best-loved poems.
Marking the halfway point in the tenure of the current Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, Poetry for the Palace: Poets Laureate from Dryden to Duffy brings together original manuscripts and rare editions presented to monarchs by Poets Laureate from the 17th century to the present day, many inscribed, handwritten or illustrated by the poets themselves. Carol Ann Duffy has made new readings of her poems, which are also visually represented in new commissions by the textual artist Stephen Raw in ink, watercolour, ceramic and paper cut-out. Over three-quarters of the 76 items in the exhibition are on public display for the first time.
Actor Timothy West has made new recordings of poems, including Lucy Poem I (Strange fits of passion I have known…) by William Wordsworth, August from the Eros and Psyche series by Robert Bridges, and Threnodia Augustalis by John Dryden, which mourns the death of Charles II in 1685. Daniel Day-Lewis, son of the Poet Laureate C Day-Lewis, has made recordings of a selection of his father’s poems for the first time, including Children Leaving Home, which was published posthumously and dedicated to Daniel and his sister Tamasin. A BBC recording of Judi Dench reading a specially commissioned work by Andrew Motion at The Queen’s Diamond Wedding Service at Westminster Abbey in 2007 is also included on the exhibition’s audio tour. Among the historic recordings are Ted Hughes reading Happy Calf, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson reading The Charge of the Light Brigade.
Some of Britain’s most famous poets have held the position of Poet Laureate – this special honour and appointment to the Royal Household is awarded by the Sovereign to a poet whose work is of national significance. Poetry for the Palace: Poets Laureate from Dryden to Duffy is the first exhibition to explore this royal tradition and the relationship between poet and monarch over 350 years. Poets Laureate have traditionally marked numerous royal events, from births, deaths and marriages to investitures and jubilees. Until 1999 the Laureateship was a lifetime appointment – it is now a ten-year term.
The first official Poet Laureate was John Dryden (1631 – 1700), appointed by Charles II in 1668. He was also the only one to be dismissed, when he refused to swear allegiance to William III and Mary II in 1689. The exhibition includes a copy of the poem written by Dryden to mark the death of Charles II in 1685. The oldest item in the exhibition is a musical score by Henry Purcell for an ode by the third Poet Laureate, Nahum Tate (1652 – 1715), who is best known today for writing While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night. The ode, Celebrate this Festival, marked the 31st birthday of Queen Mary in 1693.
Poets Laureate were required to write regularly for the Sovereign until the time of William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850), who took on the role at the age of 73. Wordsworth accepted the position only on the understanding he would not be required to write anything. The longest serving Laureate was Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), who was in post for over 40 years from 1850 to 1892. The second longest serving Poet Laureate, John Masefield (1878 – 1967), wrote many poems for the royal family during his 37-year tenure. Three previously unpublished poems by Masefield are included in the exhibition.
Carol Ann Duffy said, ‘It has been a unique joy to be the first female Poet Laureate and to be able to share the commissioning of new poems of national significance – from war and sport to ageing and marriage – with my fellow poets’.
‘Nowadays, there is no requirement for the Poet Laureate to turn out ‘official verse’, but it is still important for Laureates – as demonstrated by the National Poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke, and the Scots’ Makar, Liz Lochhead, and by, I hope, myself – to keep a finger on the national pulse and to write what is needed to measure its beat.’
Deborah Clarke, Royal Collection Trust, curator of the exhibition Poetry for the Palace, said, ‘There are many fascinating historic manuscripts and handwritten poems on display, but the human voice adds an extra dimension, bringing the poets’ words to life. It is spine-tingling to hear Tennyson reciting The Charge of the Light Brigade in a crackly recording from 1890, and to experience Daniel Day-Lewis and Timothy West’s beautiful new readings for the very first time.’
Poetry for the Palace: Poets Laureate from Dryden to Duffy is at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, 7 August – 2 November 2014.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
