by Deidre Brock MP
Here’s a good thing, something to cheer you up. A couple of days ago I had a fabulous time down at the Citadel Youth Centre with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. The Society is reaching out and giving children and their families a chance to engage with the huge arts festival that visits us every year.
With a bit of funding from the Scottish Government and Edinburgh Council the Fringe Society has got a new member of staff in place and a community outreach scheme. It wants to spread the benefits of the Fringe to the people who live in Edinburgh, especially children who don’t usually engage with it. It’s a fabulous thing to do.
The Citadel was alive with all kinds of workshops and activities, street shows, food and excitement. Willy Barr is always the driving force at the Citadel but he was something else entirely when the Fringe visited – and he was obviously enjoying himself as well.
There will be free vouchers and bus tickets for some Citadel participants to get into the Fringe, too, so there might be some young folk getting inspired who might have missed out otherwise. There might even be a new performer or two in years to come – who knows?
This is an excellent thing to do; congratulations to the Fringe Society for getting it going and well done to the Citadel for hosting it so well. I hope it makes you feel as happy as it made me.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
