- Edinburgh Leisure want you to JOIN IN!
- Blind and partially sighted people to join Edinburgh Riding tomorrow
- Breakfast ice-cream proves popular for Mackies
- New coffee shop for New Waverley
- Ian Murray mentions Contalmaison at Westminster
Today in The Meadows there will be one almighty sports day courtesy of Edinburgh Leisure who are putting everything on for free.
At the free ‘Join In’ event, children can kick off their summer with American Football, or get into the swing of things with tennis. Old favourites like football, gymnastics and cycling will also be available for youngsters to try as well as football speed shot, tug of war, volleyball and much more. Sport experts will also be present to help them get the most out of their day in the beautiful green setting of the Meadows.
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[mc4wp_form id=”169103″]Twenty blind and partially sighted people are to take part in the Riding procession to mark the opening of the Scottish Parliament tomorrow.
They are all members, volunteers or employees of RNIB, the charity which campaigns for those with sight loss. There will be around 2,000 people in the riding including community groups, MSPs, musicians and entertainers.
This modern version of the Riding is based on that which first took place in the 17th century held at the opening of each opening of the Scottish Parliament until 1707.
Sandra Wilson, chair of RNIB Scotland, said: “It’s great to be part of the Riding and look forward to engaging with the Scottish Parliament in this session as constructively as we have in the past.
“It’s apt than one of the campaigns we are pursuing just now is on the need to keep our streets more free of clutter, which can often pose a real hazard to people who have difficulty seeing.”
Last week at the Royal Highland Show the ice cream company Mackie’s sold out of their breakfast flavour ice cream. Flavoured with chunks of bacon the treat sold out in two days.
But the black pudding and apple version proved a little more difficult to get used to, although with a further 30 flavours on offer there was plenty to choose from. Some of the freshly made ice cream included Gin and Tonic, Toffee Fudge, Rocky Road, Banana and Smarties, Blue Bubblegum and Scottish favourite, Cranachan.
Mackies have invested in a state of the art gelato machine in their development kitchen which makes all the different flavours easy to produce.
Cathie Fraser, who has been with the family-owned business for 28 years, said she was amazed by the public appetite for the bacon, maple syrup and pancake ice cream at the event which ran from Thursday to Sunday.
The sales and events manager added: “We know visitors are happy to taste test small samples of just about any interesting flavour, whether they think they will love it or loathe it.
“But what amazed us about the bacon, maple syrup and pancake flavour was that people loved it so much they were then ordering tubs or cones of it. In fact we sold hundreds of scoops and were completely sold out by the Saturday.
“Of course, the maple syrup made it a sweet ice cream while pancakes are very trendy at the moment, so it went down much better than we could have expected.”
Despite the range of unusual flavours treat-loving Scots still stuck to the reliable favourites which Mackie’s is renowned for, with sales of its Traditional flavour outselling everything else. The next most popular flavours were Honeycomb, Scottish Tablet, Salted Caramel and Lemon Meringue.
Another Costa outlet has opened in Edinburgh, this time in the newest development in town at New Waverley. The £150 million reworking of the Old Town includes a Premier Inn, and an Adagio Aparthotel with 400 rooms between them, the Waverley Arches which are converted into shops, cafes and restaurants, comprising mainly independent little businesses and plans for 220 flats.
Now Costa is being added into the mix.
Artisan’s project Direct Clive Wilding added: “Costa Coffee is the biggest coffee shop name in the UK right now. To have a hugely popular brand like that in the heart of our development is yet another endorsement of the potential for New Waverley to build a thriving and sustainable destination right in the heart of the city centre, linking Waverley Station with the iconic Royal Mile.”
For more information, visit costa.co.uk and www.newwaverley.com
Ian Murray Labour MP for Edinburgh South mentioned Contalmaison in Westminster on Wednesday evening in this speech:
I apologise to the House for not being present earlier, but I had other commitments. Will the Minister join me in congratulating McCrae’s Battalion Trust, which built a cairn in the French village of Contalmaison in 2003 to commemorate the deaths of the Edinburgh men and women killed on 1 July 1916, and whose members are going on their annual pilgrimage this week? We owe a great deal of respect to the people who continue to make these pilgrimages to the Somme to remember those who fought and made the ultimate sacrifice.
Councillor Norman Work who is a Bailie in the city has gone to Contalmaison to represent the city at the commemorations there later today. A street just next to the Usher Hall was renamed McCrae’s Place, and a commemorative flagstone was laid there in November 2014.
The Sportsman’s Battalion, as it came to be known, included 800 men from Edinburgh, some of whom were professional footballers with Hearts.
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