- Armed Forces Day
- Principal of University of Edinburgh to step down
- Official opening of Parliament – Miles chooses his Local Hero
- Students get rid of your books here!
- #MoreInCommon event in Portobello
The Lord Provost the Rt Hon Donald Wilson raised the Armed Forces Day flag above the City Chambers yesterday to mark the beginning of the week leading up to Edinburgh Armed Forces Day.
This year the event will again be held in the Grassmarket and there will be a parade from Johnston Terrace by way of Candlemakers Row to the Grassmarket. The parade will begin at 11.30am and the Lord Provost will make a speech to the parade. There will then be military and charity displays throughout the afternoon.
This is one of hundreds of events taking place across the country. More details here.
Sir Timothy O’Shea who has been Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh since 2002, has announced that he will step down next year.
As principal of what is now Scotland’s largest university, O’Shea has guided the expansion programme.
Edinburgh is ranked in the top 25 universities in the world and has attained one of the top five places for quality and breadth of its research.
Miles Briggs is one of the new MSPs elected at the beginning of May. He has told us that he has now chosen his Local Hero who will accompany him to Holyrood on 2 July when Her Majesty the Queen will address The Scottish Parliament.
He has invited Karen Greechan who is Secretary of the Jamie Skinner Foundation to attend the Opening Ceremony with him. All Local Heroes are invited by MSPs and will hear the Queen in person address the chamber. They will also take part in the procession down the Royal Mile with around 2,000 participants and then have the opportunity to take part in Holyrood’s Big Day Out when the gardens and doors of the Parliament will be open to all. There will be a mini Highland Games, music and dance with activities for children too.
Miles Briggs MSP said: “ I am delighted that Karen Greechan has agreed to be my local hero on the 2nd of July, representing the Jamie Skinner Foundation.
“The Jamie Skinner Foundation was established following the tragic death from sudden cardiac arrest of 13 year old Tynecastle Football Club player Jamie Skinner in 2013. His death shocked the Edinburgh community.
“ Although the Foundation is a small team made up of Karen and Chief Executive Sonia McCraw, it has achieved a great deal to increase awareness of the risk of cardiac arrest in young sportspeople. It has also raised a very significant amount of money, with £40,000 being spent on community defibrillators which have the potential to make such a difference and save lives. It is to be commended that Jamie’s family members set up this charity to try to ensure no other family has to go through what they did.
“ I hope Karen’s presence as a local hero on July 2nd will help further increase the profile of this important local charity which is doing so much good work in our area.”
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[mc4wp_form id=”169103″]All Edinburgh students are being asked to donate the books they no longer need at the end of term to their local Barnardo’s Scotland’s bookshop.
With the academic year coming to an end, many students will have textbooks they no longer need. So what better way to offload those heavy books than to raise money for a great cause.
Area Business Retail Manager, William Farrell says, “At the end of term time, students often wonder what to do with all their textbooks. We will very happily take them in our shops – some of which are dedicated book stores – where we know they will find new homes whilst raising funds for the many services we provide for vulnerable children and young people in the area.”
All money raised from the sales of textbooks will go towards community-based services for children, young people and families in the local area. Find your local Barnardo’s Scotland shop online www.barnardos.org.uk/shops.
An Edinburgh event in memory of the Labour MP Jo Cox who was murdered last week is being held on Wednesday. Councillor Maureen Child tells us about it:
“Just to let you know that there will be a Portobello Event at 4pm this Wednesday (day after tomorrow) at the foot of Marlborough Street, Portobello to celebrate Jo Cox’s life. This is being organised by a friend of the family who lives in Portobello – Kim Wallace. Kim asked me at the weekend if I might help with this and said:
“I am a friend of Jo and Brendan Cox. I live locally and would like some help to organise a #MoreInCommon event on Portobello Beach at 4pm on Wednesday the 22nd to celebrate the life and values of Jo Cox MP. Events are taking place in Batley and Spen – Jo’s constituency, London, Nairobi, New York, Washington DC and Brussels. It would have been Jo Cox’s 42nd birthday this Wednesday, and this is a chance to show the world there’s more that unites us than divides us.”
“If you would like to help with the event, do please email kimjah@gmail.com with a copy to me. Kim is a mother of two and will have to look after both children while running the event, so would dearly appreciate some extra hands to make it happen! Knowing this wonderful community, I think she might already be overwhelmed by offers – actually. So do just come along, if you can!”
The event is now up on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/maureen.child.18/posts/1050183675031274and Twitter and is one part of a global series of events being organised by Jo Cox’s many friends, across the World community. She touched so many people’s lives.
I do hope some of you will be able to come on Wednesday afternoon, if you are free, able and willing to do so. You can also help by donating to the charitable fund set up in Jo’s name here: https://www.gofundme.com/jocox
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