Five things you need to know today

• Reflecting Telescopes
• Road Works on the City By-pass
• Knitting & Stitching Show
• World Heritage Day
• Provident’s Good Neighbour Community Programme

From 25 March  – 28 August 2016 there are three display cases in the Grand Gallery, Level 1 at the National Museum of Scotland showing Reflecting Telescopes.

This small display reveals the work of pioneering Scots in the development of the reflective telescope. The display highlights the work of James Gregory (1638‑75), a contemporary of Isaac Newton and Professor of Mathematics at St Andrews then Edinburgh University. Gregory published an innovative design for a ‘reflecting’ telescope in 1663. A predecessor of the modern telescope, Gregory’s device used mirrors, rather than glass lenses, to create a more compact instrument and sharper images. The display will also touch upon astronomy in Edinburgh, a city that has remained at the forefront of astronomical research and discovery for more than four centuries.

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A five week overnight maintenance programme will begin on the Edinburgh City by-pass (A720), from tonight to Friday 5^th May 2016.

The work will take place on the dates listed below, from 9pm until 6.30am. A number of signed diversions, shown below, will be in operation during some of these schemes.

The work, which includes litter picking, sign cleaning, gully emptying, catchpit cleaning and road sweeping, will lead to an overall improvement in the appearance of the trunk road.

Routine maintenance, such as repairs to fences or signs will also be undertaken and detailed inspections of the carriageway and structures will be carried-out during the closures detailed below.

Location	Duration	TM	Diversion route (if applicable)	Dates
Sheriffhall to Gilmerton WB	1 Night	Total Closure	Sheriffhall – A7 – A772 – Gilmerton Onslip	15/04/2016
Gilmerton to Straiton WB	2 nights	Total Closure	Sheriffhall – A7 – A772 – Gilmerton Station Rd – Lasswade Rd – Lang Loan – Straiton Jct	18/04/2016 19/04/2016
Straiton On Slip to Lothianburn on slip WB	1 night	Total Closure	Straiton – A701 – B701 – A702 – Lothianburn	20/04/2016
Lothianburn to Baberton WB	2 nights	Alternative Lane Closure	N/A	21/04/2016 22/04/2016
Baberton to Calder WB	1 night	Total Closure	Baberton Jct / B701 Wester Hailes Rd / A71 to Calder Jct	25/04/2016
Hermiston to Baberton EB	1 nights	Total Closure	A720/M80 traffic diverted via Calder Jct / A71 / B701 Wester Hailes Rd to Baberton Jct	26/04/2016
Baberton to Lothianburn EB	2 nights	Alternative Lane Closure	N/A	27/04/2016 28/04/2016
Lothianburn to Straiton on slip EB	1 night	Total Closure	Lothianburn – A702 – B701 – A701 Straiton	29/04/2016
Straiton to Sheriffhall EB	3 nights	Total Closure	Straiton Jct – Lang Loan – Lasswade Rd – Gilmerton Station Road  – A772 – A7 – Sheriffhall	02/05/2016 03/05/2016 04/05/2016
Calder to Gogar Link Roads EB and WB	1 night	Total Closure	A720 EB Link – Diversion via Hermiston Gait Rbt A720 WB Link – Diversion via Dreghorn Jct / A720 to Hermiston Gait Rbt	05/05/2016

Details of the works and related diversion are also available via the Scottish South East Trunk Roads website:www.amey.co.uk/scottishtrunkroadsse

Real-time journey information can be obtained by visiting www.trafficscotland.org  or on Twitter: @TrafficScotland

To report a problem on the network please visit: http://scottishtrunkroadsse.amey.co.uk/report-a-problem/

A unique opportunity to view intricate, painstakingly crafted work by leading contemporary textile artists comes to Edinburgh next month.

Award-winning textile fine artist and painter Michala Gyetvai will be showingwork in Scotland for the first time at the inaugural Knitting & Stitching Show.  With an exhibition called Enchanted Landscapes, the acclaimed artist’s worksbegin as studies in pastel before their transformation into vibrant fibre paintings using old dyed blankets.

The Knitting and Stitching Show Edinburgh takes place at the Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh from 28 April – 1 May.  Tickets cost £13.00 in advance (concessions £12), with a wide selection of options available from http://www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com/edinburgh/ or by calling 01473 321872.

You can win tickets in our competition being launched today!

On Monday 18 April, the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh is hosting a fun, free, interactive event to celebrate World Heritage Day.

Run by new heritage body, Historic Environment Scotland,  the family-friendly event will give visitors the opportunity to be transported back to the Antonine Wall 1800 years ago, to see what it was like when the Romans first built it; or take a virtual tour of Maeshowe Neolithic chambered cairn in Orkney – using the latest in cutting edge virtual reality headset technology.

For a taste of what life was like in one of Britain’s most revolutionary working mills, visitors can dress up as an authentic 19^th century mill worker from New Lanark, and hear from the experts what life would have been like in one of the country’s most progressive factory sites.

For those who wish to try out their creative skills, there is a wide range of craft activities to take part in, from trying your hand at making a Roman laurel wreath or helmet, to building a replica of a “St Kilda mail boat”, which the inhabitants of the remote island of St Kilda would launch into the sea with letters sealed inside, hoping they would be found and the letters delivered– before the island was eventually abandoned in 1930.

Alice Lyall, World Heritage Site Coordinator for Historic Environment Scotland, said: “Scotland has an incredible range of World Heritage Sites, from industrial age wonders like the Forth Bridge and New Lanark mill village, to the much older Antonine Wall and Heart of Neolithic Orkney, and from the architectural wonders of Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns, to the rugged natural beauty, rich wildlife and abandoned settlement of the island of St Kilda – we really have got a bit of everything here.

“World Heritage Day is a great opportunity to highlight these fascinating and diverse sites, and help to raise awareness and educate people on the importance of them, to ensure they are protected and celebrated for many years to come!”

World Heritage Day is on Monday 18 April 2016, the event will run from 11am – 4pm and entrance is free and non-ticketed.

Residents from across Edinburgh and the Lothians are invited to nominate the projects or organisations that make a real difference to their local communities to receive funding of up to £2,000 each.

The funding will be delivered by Provident’s Good Neighbour Community Programme, which invested more than £1m into the community during 2015.

Until 9^th May, the public can nominate good causes across Scotland and the North with an online submission. A shortlist of the top four nominations across this region will be announced next month.

One of the projects in the city which benefitted from the fund last year was the Venchie in Craigmillar.

Provident funding supports the breakfast club which runs Monday to Friday during the school year. Venchie provides a pick-up service, a healthy meal to start the day, plus last minute help with homework.

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