01Usher Hall Emerging Artists Series: Sergeant/Watt Duo. Laura Sergeant (cello) and Ian Watt (guitar) met as students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; they perform regularly as a duo and as part of the larger chamber group The Dalriada Ensemble, and have also toured with Scottish Opera. They have a keen interest in period performance practice, and also perform together on the viol and lute. 11am, Usher Hall, Lothian Road. Tickets cost £3 but students are admitted free; tickets may be obtained from the Usher Hall Box Office in person, by calling 0131 228 1155 or online here; a transaction fee applies to all telephone and online bookings.
Inspired by Lee Miller: artists Julie Duffy and Hayley Mathers present their collaborative practice inspired by the life and work of Lee Miller. By using the Penrose Collection at the Gallery of Modern Art and drawing from biographies of Miller and her peers, Duffy and Mathers have built up an image of Miller’s life and the context that inspired her photography. Over the past year they have also hosted a series of dinner parties to celebrate her life and discuss her work and their own research, with recipes inspired by Miller herself. 12.45-1.30pm, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Free and unticketed.
Get Online: free help with computing and tablets. Bring along your laptop or tablet – if you don’t have one, the library can arrange to lend you one for the session. 2-4pm today and every Tuesday until Christmas, Craigmillar Library, 101 Niddrie Mains Road. Free but booking is required: please email your name and phone number to kenneth.sharkey@edinburgh.gov.uk.
Get Organised: JS Bach. John Kitchener plays the celebrated ‘St Anne’ Prelude and Fugue in E Flat, various Bach favourites including the Air and Gavotte from the Suite in D, and Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring, plus the ubiquitous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. 
1.10pm, Main Auditorium, Usher Hall, Lothian Road. Tickets cost £4 and may be obtained from the Usher Hall Box Office in person, by calling 0131 228 1155 or online here; a transaction fee applies to all telephone and online bookings.
College of Naturopathic Medicine Edinburgh: Open Evening. Gain an insight into CNM’s courses and find out about training as a Naturopath with CNM at this free open evening. 6.30-8.30pm, CNM Edinburgh, Room B2, Ground Floor, Napier University Merchiston Campus, 10 Colinton Road. Booking is required and may be made via eventbrite here.
Edinburgh Hacklab: a shared space for people who mess around with technology for fun – an opportunity to collaborate, learn and socialise. Come along, meet new people, hack some code, work on your project, use the tools and get help from others if you need it – or just drop by for a chat! 7pm tonight and most Tuesdays, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall. Edinburgh Hacklab is part of the worldwide Hackerspaces movement. Meetings are free and there is no need to book, but you may wish to join the group’s email list for news and any last minute changes to open nights – see website here.
Meet the Edible Gardening Team: take a look round the productive garden with the Edible Gardening Project volunteers. Find out what jobs need doing in your own garden now, and have your vegetable gardening questions answered. 1-3pm, Demonstration Garden, Royal Botanic Garden, Inverleith Row. Free and unticketed.
Blackwells Presents The Rooftop Busker: New Writing 33. The latest collection of contemporary literature, drawn from a wide cross-section of Scottish culture and society. The Rooftop Busker includes new work from 52 authors – some award-winning and internationally renowned, some just beginning their careers. Contributors include Stewart Coon, Anne Donovan, Lesley Glaister, Andrew Greig, Kate Tough, Julie Kennedy, Linda McCann and Cynthia Rogerson. 6-8pm, Blackwell’s, South Bridge. Free tickets may be obtained from the shop’s front desk, by calling 0131 622 8229, emailing events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk or via eventbrite here.
Beyond Borders Film Festival: featuring documentary-style films about individuals and communities caught in conflict and change, the festival explores some of the most crucial and immediate changes happening in the modern world, with a special focus on women and conflict, the changes brought by modern warfare and the changes experienced by those at the epicentre of conflict. Today’s film, shown as part of the Weapons of War series, is Drone (15), Tonje Hessen Schei’s documentary taking us inside the covert CIA drone war. The film follows those who live under drones in Pakistan, and the drone pilots who struggle with the new warfare. In the face of rapid technological advancements and lagging international legislation, the film shows how drones have already changed war and may affect our future. Please note this film includes images of dead bodies and injury. The screening will be followed by a discussion with experts on drone usage about the challenges of 21st century warfare. 6.05pm, Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets may be obtained from the Box Office in person, by calling 0131 228 6382 or online here: prices vary.
Golden Hare Book Group: Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. ‘Herland (published in 1915) is a strange and brilliant novel and a feminist utopian vision….a satire, a comedy, a searing critique of Western society and a fictional device to answer this question: what would a world without men look like?’ Gilman’s views on women and the importance of their meaningful occupation were radical in her day and her fiction is suffused with politics – ‘an irrepressible revolutionary thinker’. 6.30pm, Golden Hare Books, 68 St Stephen Street, Stockbridge. October’s book will be Their Lips Talk of Mischief by Alan Warner.
Cameo Silver Screen: if you are 60+ join the Silver Screen Club and enjoy weekly screenings for just £5 per person, which includes tea, coffee and biscuits. Membership is free: ask at the Box Office. Today’s films are 45 Years (15) at 1.30pm and 4.20pm, Straight Outta Compton (15) at 12.30pm, Gemma Bovery (15) at 3.45pm and The Wolfpack (15) at 3.35pm, Cameo, Home Street. Tickets may be purchased in person, by calling the Box Office on 0871 902 5723 or online; non-members are welcome to attend these screenings but will be charged the normal ticket prices.
Here Comes Everybody Evening Reception: here comes everybody has been a work in progress throughout August, developed by participants making their own work in kennardphillips’ War on War Room in the St James’ Centre. Come along this evening to view kennardphillips’ exhibition and the new work in the finished installation; celebrate the project together with all the contributors who have made it so successful. 5.30-7.30pm, War on War Room, St James’ Centre, Leith Street.
Buttercup Farm Park Bat Night: listen to the bats living in the park, and find out more about them with an expert. A free community event. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. 7.45pm, Buttercup Farm Park, Ardshiel Avenue, Drumbrae. For more information please contact Esperanza Martin on 0131 445 4025 or email esperanza@elgt.org.uk.
