Friday in Edinburgh – What’s On Today

Freeze Frame Film Club: an informal evening of flickering images drawn from classic old favourites. This week: Back to the Future (PG). Go early and have a 3 course movie-themed meal at the Drill Hall Arts Cafe before the show, or just go along for the film itself – free popcorn provided! ‘An evening of nostalgic drama, laughter and tears’. 6.30pm (film 8pm), Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 36 Dalmeny Street. Meals cost £15 and must be booked in advance – call the cafe on 0131 555 7100. Film costs £2.50 (children £2), which can be paid on the door (subject to availability), or in advance by calling 0131 555 7100 or emailing stephanie.haigh@outoftheblue.org.uk, or asking at the cafe. For more information see the club’s Facebook page.

Fort Community Centre Bake Sale! Kids from some of the Centre’s clubs are holding a bake sale today – so come along, bring your money, and eat cake! 1pm, Fort Community Centre, 25 North Fort Street.

Bookbug: rhymes and songs for young children and their parents/carers. 10.30-11am, Oxgangs Library, Oxgangs Road North.

Storytime: find out where the magic story rug will take you this week! 10.30am today and every Friday, Piershill Library, 30 Piersfield Terrace.

Rally and Broad: The Apology Shop. A tongue-in-cheek celebration of the apology in its many varieties: come hear the confessional, the reverential, the spittingly caustic and the wittily marvellous, featuring Francesca Beard, Bizerk, Emily Dodd, Chris Willats, and UK University Slam Champ Jess Smith. 7-10pm,The Bongo Club, 66 Cowgate. £5 on the door. The Bongo Club is owned by local arts charity Out of the Blue. ‘Putting the sounds of the underground and imaginative aspirations before the mighty dollar’.

Works On Paper 2015: a selection of prints, drawings and watercolours from the storerooms of The Fine Art Society Edinburgh and London. Artists include Gerald Brockhurst, Sir David Wilkie, Robert Austin, Walter Geikie, James McBey, Mabel Royds and Charles Tunnicliffe. 10am-7pm today, 11am-4pm Saturday, Dundas Street Gallery, 6a Dundas Street.

Eco Kidz: if you love creating and would like to learn some new skills too, try Eco Kidz. The group uses recycled materials to design and create new products before selling them at markets around Edinburgh: the Christmas pop-up stalls almost sold out! All profits go back into the project. For ages 8-12. 1.45-3.15pm today and every Friday, North Edinburgh Arts, 15a Pennywell Court. Free.

Scottish Society of Architect Artists: Art4X. An exhibition and sale of art works organised jointly by the SSAA and the University of Edinburgh, in support of the University’s Patrick Wild Centre. The Centre’s mission is to understand the neuronal basis of, and test new therapies for, autism, fragile X syndrome and intellectual disabilities by fostering collaborations between world class basic science and clinical research at the University of Edinburgh. A selection of guest artists and Ligne et Couleur (Ligne et Couleur is the name of the SSAA’s counterpoint associations in other European countries) colleagues from France, Germany, Italy and Poland who have exhibited with SSAA over the last three decades have been invited to contribute works for the exhibition and auction as part of Art4X. 10am-4pm today, 10am-12 noon tomorrow (Saturday 24th January), Sculpture Hall, Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place.

St Bride’s Toddlers Group: a relaxed and friendly atmosphere for parents/carers and their children to get together, play and chat. Led by Solma Rahman. 9.30-11.30am today and every Friday until 20th March, St Bride’s Cafe, St Bride’s Centre, Orwell Terrace.

St Bride’s Children’s Club: have lots of fun and make new friends while playing games, learning arts and crafts and going on trips. For ages 5-9. Today and every Thursday until 26th March (no club 19th February) 4-5.30pm, St Bride’s Centre, Orwell Terrace. 50p per session.

Lunchtime Concert: de la guitarra. Gordon Ferries and Stephen Morrison specialise in 19th century guitar music on original instruments. Today they will perform works by Beethoven, Mozart, Carullli and Sor. 1.10pm, Reid Concert Hall, University of Edinburgh, Bristo Square. Free.

Malawi Coffee Morning: with Fairtrade tea and coffee and Fairtrade goods for sale. Profits go to the church’s Malawi project. All very welcome! 10.30am-12 noon today and every Friday, Stockbridge Parish Church, Saxe Coburg Street.

Girl Fridays: a club for girls in P7 to S4. 3-4.30pm, Pilmeny Youth Centre, 44 Buchanan Street. For more information contact Mo Airnes on 0131 553 2559 or email moairnes@btconnect.com.

Edinburgh College of Art Friday Lecture Series: Mika Hannula. Based at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, Mika is the former Director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, and Chair of KUNO, the Nordic network of art academies. 11.30am, Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place. Free and open to all.

Heriot Watt University: Lunchtime Music Hour. This week: The Rotary Club Young Musician Competition. 12.30-1.30pm, Zero Degrees, Students Union, Heriot Watt University Edinburgh Campus, EH14 4AS.

Human Blues: Anna Glantz and Tam Hare. An exhibition exploring the connections between the self, collective identity and modern culture, and the ‘weird, and not so wonderful’ feelings that arise when these disconnect. Anna is a Swedish-born painter and printmaker, Tom is a visual artist and writer whose work is principally photographic and camera-centric. Open preview tonight 6-9pm, then 10am-6pm Monday to Friday, 11am-5pm Saturdays and Sundays, until 3rd February 2015, Gallery 2, St Margaret’s House, 151 London Road.

LGBT Women’s Wellbeing Group: Colour My Life. An inclusive group offering a chance to meet other LGBT women in a relaxed environment. Chat, information and activities promoting health and wellbeing. The group is open to all LGBT women, and welcomes transgender people who primarily identify as women. This month banish the winter blues by contributing to a women’s wellbeing creative space, where women can come together to share music, get in touch with their artistic side and have the opportunity to contribute words of solidarity to Amnesty International’s Write for Rights letter writing campaign.  2-4.30pm, LGBT Health & Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street. To stay up to date with the group contact alison@lgbthealth.org.uk to be added to the email reminder list.

Gallery Social – Beauty By Design: Fashioning the Renaissance. A relaxed and informal guided tour with refreshments for anyone affected by dementia and their friends, relatives and supporters. 10.30am-12 noon, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street. Free: to book a place please call 0131 624 6560.

LGBT Film Nights: see LGBT themed and mainstream films in a friendly, sociable setting. Vote by email, and at the events, for film choices each month. You are welcome just to turn up on the night, but please be aware that the film will already have been chosen. 6.30-9.30pm, LGBT Health & Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street. For more information, contact the centre on 0131 523 1100 or email admin@lgbthealth.org.uk.

Son et Lumiere: two hours of sound and silence, of light and darkness. Space and time to sit, to think, to wander, to be. 6-8pm, St Giles Cathedral, High Street. Tickets £3 at the door.

Blackwell’s Edinburgh Presents Stuart MacBride The Missing and The Dead: Acting Detective Inspector Logan McRae returns in this new novel by the bestselling crime writer.’One mistake can cost you everything. When you catch a twisted killer there should be a reward, right?’ What McRae gets is a ‘development opportunity’ in the depths of rural Aberdeenshire…then a little girl’s body washes up outside the sleepy town of Banff, kicking of a massive manhunt….there are dangerous predators lurking in the wilds of Aberdeenshire, and not everyone’s going to get out of this alive. 6.30-8pm, Blackwell’s, South Bridge. This event is ticketed, but tickets are free and can be collected from Blackwell’s front desk or reserved by calling 0131 622 8218 or emailing events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk. Read The Edinburgh Reporter’s article about Stuart MacBride’s 2014 Edinburgh Book Festival appearance here.

An Evening with Burns and Gow: Robert Burns and Niel Gow are responsible for some of the greatest words and music that Scotland has ever produced. This performance sees Euan Drysdale (vocals/guitar/piano) and Alistair Savage (fiddle) celebrate the works of Burns and Gow in a joyous evening of traditional fiddle music, alongside some new folk/blues interpretations of Burns’ poetry in song. 7.30-9.30pm, Netherbow Theatre, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street. Tickets cost £10/£8 and can be purchased online here or by calling 0131 556 9579.