- Carers Champion update report
- Stair lighting – the answers
- Counting Bees on the Water of Leith
- Speedo Dive In Ainslie Park Pool on Saturday
- Oor Wullie’s in Edinburgh!
The Carers Champion Councillor Norman Work has compiled his annual report on the steps he has taken to ensure that an adult carers’ action plan and a young carers’ action plan were put in place.
The Capital Coalition who run the council made it one of their pledges in 2012 that they would appoint someone to this role. It is a point usually raised by the Conservative Group that simply appointing a champion should not be a pledge in itself. They are of the view that the 53 pledges are not anything to write home about, although the council leader Councillor Andrew Burns is adamant that they provide a good measure and yardstick of what the council is achieving.
This Friday at a meeting of the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board the Carers Champion gets the opportunity to tell the council about all the things he has done in the past twelve months.
According to his report there were 37,859 unpaid carers in the city in 2011, and the council recognises that the demography of the city is changing with a larger older population anticipated. If so many people did not care for their relatives then the cost to the city would be £771 million per annum. And now in light of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 unpaid carers will have more rights including a duty to be supported. This could mean that more people will fall into the definition of ‘carer’ and local authorities will have to provide that support.
The Carers’ Champion provides a link between the local authority and carers in the city, and one of the many things he has done is to abseil down the Forth Bridge on 7 June 2015 to raise funds for the Edinburgh charity, VOCAL.
If you live in a common stair then you should be aware of the changes to repairing and maintaining the lighting there from the beginning of July. Lighting is an important safety feature in common stairs.
You are invited to go on a bee count this Sunday afternoon starting from the Water of Leith Conservation Trust Visitor Centre at 24 Lanark Road EH14 1TQ at 1 o’clock.
Ex Olympian and Scottish Commonwealth Games swimmer, David Carry will be leading the ‘Speedo Dive In’ event being held at Edinburgh Leisure’s Ainslie Park Leisure Centre on Saturday 16 July 2016 from 10am to 4pm.
The event is aimed at swimmers wishing to improve front crawl and swimming for fitness, who can learn from Carry and other expert swim coaches about how to swim like a pro. Carry will be sharing his top tips from over 10 years representing Britain swimming at a senior level showing a range of techniques.
There will be four sessions during the day at 10am, 11.30am, 1pm and 2.30pm, with each session lasting an hour. It is free to take part and there are spaces for 50 people at each session. Swimmers need to be able to swim 25m to take part and be over 18 years. Sign up at www.speedo.co.uk/dive-in
Using pool based activities as part of an overall training programme can help an individual perfect news skills and reach their personal goals. Edinburgh Leisure has a range of memberships available to suit everyone, including individual swim and gym memberships and a combination membership, allowing use of all their facilities across the city.
They also have a range of exciting pool programmes to help the individual stay in shape including their soon to be launched new water fitness activity, Lane Fit. Their other pool classes include Power Swim, Masters, Stroke Development and Skills ‘n Drills. Find out more information at: www.edinburghleisure.co.uk
Edinburgh Leisure offers a swim membership for £33 per month, which gives unlimited swimming across all Edinburgh Leisure pools. Joint, student and 65+ memberships are also available. For more information: http://www.edinburghleisure.co.uk/memberships
Oor Wullie is in Edinburgh in a public art event taking the capital by storm this week as ten Oor Wullie sculptures have been installed at Our Dynamic Earth.
They are on tour from Dundee and will only be here for a week so you will have to be quick.
The Oor Wullie sculptures are inspired by the legendary Scottish cartoon character who is celebrating his 80th birthday, William Wallace aka Wullie Wallace, an army inspired Wullie and a special Tunnocks Tea-Cake sculpture.
All are individually designed and painted by local and international artists and are taking to the streets in Dundee as well as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Perth and Inverness. The idea is to raise money for The ARCHIE Foundation’s Tayside Children’s Hospital Appeal.
Charity organisers The ARCHIE Foundation, along with partners Wild In Art and DC Thomson, will transport this special group of sculptures around the country, with just one week in each location, so organisers are advising people to get along to Dynamic Earth before next weekend, so they don’t miss out on their chance to capture a selfie with the touring Oor Wullies.
Cassie Thompson, Head of Fundraising for The ARCHIE Foundation, commented:
“As organisers, we are very excited to be able to take Oor Wullie’s Bucket Trail on a tour across Scotland and be able to bring the excitement to our next stop – Edinburgh. An incredible amount of work has gone into this project, which is all to help raise money for The ARCHIE Foundation’s Tayside Children’s Hospital Appeal.
Cassie continued: “The response we’ve had from the City of Dundee since the Bucket Trail launched last week has been phenomenal and I’m sure the Oor Wullie’s will be delighted to meet as many locals and tourists as possible during his break to our capital city! They’ll only be there for one week, but if you miss them, then there are 55 to spot all around Dundee for the next 10 weeks.”
At the end of the trail, in September, all the sculptures will be sold at an auction in Dundee, with all proceeds going to The ARCHIE Foundation’s appeal to raise funds to create a brand new twin operating theatre paediatric surgical suite for the Tayside Children’s Hospital at Ninewells.
To find out more about Oor Wullie’s Bucket Trail, visit www.oorwulliebuckettrail.com
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
