One remarkable lady!

Here is a Nellie Gembles, 107 yesterday, with the Lord Provost.   Nellie has an excellent memory of events going back to her childhood in Causewayside and is delightful company.

Extradition of Mum to Spain

Last week we reported 33 year old Corinna Reid, formerly of Gilmour Street just off the Pleasance was in danger of extradition in relation to the death of her young child. A sheriff has now recommended extradition to the Scottish Government.

Assaults on KB student on 41 bus

A student has reported two assaults on the No 41 bus between the Kings Buildings and Niddrie. Fuller details here. The woman student was apparently assaulted by the same person on two separate occasions - most recently on Monday 25th. Police would appreciate any witnesses or persons with further information to contact them.

Correction:  This will be the 42 bus rather than the 41 referred to in the article.

Islamic Research Centre has new head

Professor Hugh Goddard, professor of Christian-Muslim Relations from the University of Nottingham is to be the head of the new Islamic research centre at Edinburgh University. The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, has been funded by the aforenamed, and aims to improve public knowledge and awareness of Islamic civilisation and of Muslims in Britain.  The research centre is one of two to be set up in the UK with a $30m donation from the Prince.

Happy 107th birthday, Nellie

Tomorrow is the 107th birthday of Nellie Gembles.  Born on 30th January 1902 in Causewayside, Nellie has been a Southsider all her life.   Aged 12 when the First World War started, she left school at 14.  In 1929 she married Howard at the Pleasance Church and they lived in St Leonard's Street.   Her husband died in 1992 and it was only in 2005 that Nellie moved into the Cameron Park Nursing home in Peffermill Road.  

It will be a privilege to visit Nellie along with the Lord Provost and Nellie's best friend, Ruby Player.  Nellie is a wonderful person.  What a great achievement.   You can find more details of Nellie by following the links here.

Festival Theatre extension proposed

Moves are afoot to build an extension at the rear of the Festival Theatre in Nicolson Street along with a block of student flats nearby - as this article explains.

'Taste' moves from Meadows

Taste of Edinburgh will take place this year in Inverleith Park, not the Meadows, as this article explains.  (The marketing websites have not yet caught up with the change of venue.)

Local think tank has new chairman

The David Hume Institute, based in Buccleuch Place has appointed Sir Ian Byatt as the new chair of the Trustees. Sir Ian is water industry regulator in Scotland.

Harry Potter literary museum

Local people will be interested to note that the proprietor of Buffet King in Nicolson Street, Eddie Ng, is offering the restaurant for sale. He is said to have approached J K Rowling and offered to sell it for £1m - for a literary museum. A true entrepreneur.

More sites for legal flyposters

This article in the local paper rightly highlights the success of the scheme to penalise fly posters by withdrawing from the gigs and organisations they represent the use of nightclub premises. There is already and official site in Potterrow and a number of others are to be created - mainly in the centre of the city.

There remains a considerable problem with campaign groups - usually with a particular extreme left of centre political agenda - who have not been curbed. In addition to the unsightliness there is considerable expense in cleaning street furniture. There are two further things which can be down in relation to this group. First, should now be approaching the premises they use and asking them to join a scheme similar to the one which has been created in relation to nightclubs. The second is to join the small band of those who rip down illegal posters on street furniture and public buildings. For my part, I will continue to make representation, where possible, direct to the organisations sponsoring the posters and to the proprietors of the premises giving lets to the fly posting organisation.

Preston St school report published

Today the inspection report is published on Preston Street Primary School.   The full text can be found here.

Here are the key evaluations of the inspectors.

Improvements in performance: satisfactory

Learners’ experiences:    satisfactory

Meeting learning needs:  good

Specific aspects of the work of the school inspected:

The curriculum:    satisfactory

Improvement through self-evaluation:  weak

Reports of other schools can be found on here.

Fun train application

Locomotive Scotland Ltd have applied for permission to operate a fun train in central Edinburgh providing opposition to the traditional tour buses. The application is based on vehicles built around the conventional chassis of the Suzuki Grand Vitara, Mercedes G and Nissan Patrol - which will tow carriages with passengers. It would be an on road operation and the proposed routes include the usual tourist attractions in the city centre, coming as far south as Melville Drive. Consideration is likely to be given at the Council's Regulatory Committee meeting on 6th March.

That was the text. Now watch the movie. To be fair the locomotives would no doubt be badged rather differently in central Edinburgh and the music you hear with this illustration from Hungary could be adapted!!

Grange care home struggles

St Raphael's Care Home in South Oswald Road is struggling to respond to two very critical reports from the Care Commission.   St Raphael's is run by Viewpoint Housing Association and was issued with an improvement notice in November.   Fuller details here.

Southside parents face extradition

A couple from Gilmour Street off the Pleasance are facing extradition to Spain following the death of their 16 month old child in Tenerife in January 2007. Yesterday, 38 year old Robert Cormack appeared from custody and agreed to return to Spain to face trial. The child's mother Corinna Reid will hear next week whether she is to be extradited as well. Fuller details in today's Herald.

Bus timetable changes

Earlier this week Lothian Buses introduced some (mainly minor) changes in bus routes and timetables. Click here to check if any of them affect the buses you use. Although not on this revision, I note the number 42 from Silverknowes does not now run beyond Bristo Square after 8:30pm on weekdays.

New Grange minister is a triathlete

Dr Robin Sydserff was today inducted as the new minister of St Catherine's Argyle Church in Grange Road.  This article refers to his sporting prowess.  Dick Lucas will preach him in at 11am on Sunday 25th and he will lead his first service at 6:30pm.  

Chalmers Crescent nursing home

The luxury nursing care home in Chalmers Crescent, currently under final preparation,  is to be opened on March 27th by MEP Struan Stevenson.  It is to be named Renaissance at Glencairn. Fuller details here.

Up to 200 for orienteering competition

Pollock is the start and finish for Saturday's competition orienteering event which is expected to attract up to 200 people. The course is through city streets and is in tandem with a junior event within the Pollock Halls Grounds. There will be a further event within Holyrood Park on Sunday 25th. Details here. Note Sunday's forecast currently shows sleet.

Young Scots Awards

Nominations close on 20th February for the Young Scot awards - for young people between 12 and 22. The Heritage award, which is being sponsored by Historic Scotland (based in Salisbury Place) is one of 12 categories. Do have a look at the categories and criteria to see if there is someone in the Southside and Newington area who might be worthy of one of the awards.

Local comment on fire site and pensions

The Cowgate site which was cleared after the much publicised fire five years ago has now received planning permission for a replacement development.  The full planning committee supported the proposals earlier this week and this article gives more details including a brief quote from me.  'Angular and boxish. . . ' may not be a description which slips off the tongue - but it describes the outline of part of the proposal.  I welcome many modern forms of architecture but what seems to be a growing tendency to celebrate square and rectangular shapes just does not look right - especially in an historic context.  Some of the Waterfront buildings which have been built in recent years exibit a penchant for geometric designs which  jar with the senses.   In the case of the Cowgate, the proposals were passed as a whole but certain matters were reserved for further consideration.

Also this week the local paper was kind enough to quote my comments on current pensions issues.

Local resident Margo MacDonald. . .

Here is an interview with Grange resident Margo MacDonald on independence in the student online magazine The Journal.

Local mapmaker archive available

From 1820 to 2002 the family firm John Bartholomew produced charts, maps and atlases.   As map engravers, publishers and printers the company achieved worldwide renown and was based in Duncan Street prior to closing.   Their former premises are now rather attractive flats. Details of the archive can be found online and in the Salisbury Place premises of the National Library of Scotland. In the collection you will find gems about such matters as the naming of Antarctica and Gladstone's Midlothian campaign.

Analysis of local resident

In five short paragraphs London's daily, the Evening Standard, analyses Southside & Newington local resident Sir Fred Goodwin. 

Community Council move tonight

The January meeting of the Grange Prestonfield Community Council is tonight at 7pm.    The meeting is to be held in Prestonfield Primary School as the move of the local community centre into new premises is underway.   The new Community Centre in Prestonfield Avenue was handed over by the builders (John Dennis) to the Council last Friday and there will be an official opening soon.   The agenda for the community council tonight can be found here.

Princess Anne visits Dalkeith Road charity

Tomorrow, Princess Anne is due to visit the National Schizophrenic Fellowship Scotland which has its offices in the Newington Business Centre in Dalkeith Road. HRH will be opening the new offices and her visit will also mark the 25th anniversary of NSF.

Uni data centre in Causewayside

Edinburgh University's Edina project, an expanding national academic data centre, has taken a seven year lease on the last remaining unlet part of Causewayside House in Causewayside. See here for an article giving details suggesting it is not all doom and gloom in the local commercial property market (scroll to the end of the article for the Edina information).

New minister at St Catherine's

Robin Sydserff is to be ordained and inducted as the new minister at St Catherine's Argyle Church in Grange Road on Friday 23rd at 7:00pm. He will be preached in at the 11am service on Sunday 24th by Dick Lucas. Robin succeeds Victor Laidlaw who retired last year and, a few years earlier, Horatius Bonar, the well known hymn writer and C19th churchman.

Buccleuch Place restrictions

From today part of the north side of Buccleuch Place will have parking suspended for a period of 17 months to facilitate the construction of a pedestrian walkway in conjunction with building works. The area affected is between numbers 14 and 22.

Prestonfield owner interview

Here is an interview with the owner of the Prestonfield Hotel in Priestfield Road.

New convenor for Friends of the Meadows

Peng Lee Yap, Chair of the Friends of the Meadows and Bruntsfield Links has resigned and been replaced by Chris Wigglesworth.

Candidates for Rector

Here are the candidates for the Rectorial election at Edinburgh University.

Meadows Marathon update

Progress on the last post.

Indecision and delay hits Marathon

The Meadows Marathon is a worthy  event of the type to be encouraged.   It is due to take place on 15th March 2009 and the organisers have still not been given a decision on whether they can go ahead.  The indecision of the Council is doubtless putting many other event organisations in a quandary.

The background is that over the last few years there has been increasing concern that the ground surface, especially in the events area to the east of Middle Meadow Walk, was not getting enough time to recuperate from intensive use especially during the summer period.   The situation was compounded by large tents and equipment used for the set up for Taste and Moonwalk in early summer.  A short life working group was formed in 2007 to look at the issues. Local bodies were represented on the group which many of us expected (and hoped) would come up with a few restrictions which would allow the event area to recover and safeguard the use of the Meadows by a wide range of groups and events.  However, after making little progress a councillor of the ruling administration called for a report on the use of parks throughout the city. This had the (perhaps unintended but inevitable) effect of delaying the necessary decision on use of the Meadows.

It is waiting for this long overdue report which is delaying decisions for events organisers - and this week, the Meadows Marathon organisers seem to be in the most acute situation.  It is understood Council staff (Events and Parks) have been in touch with the organisers of various events but the root of the problem is that no opportunity for clear cut decision has been brought forward.

The issue is no longer the need to preserve the condition of small parts of the Meadows;  it is the need to preserve the reputation of the city which has handled the matter so indecisively and with such delay.     Doubtless there will be much more information to emerge of negotiations behind the scenes.  Specific proposals for a strategy to deal with the situation, both in the Meadows and for the use of parks throughout the city, have still to be brought before councillors.  I am disappointed (but not really surprised given the early indications), in the length of time it has taken to get to this stage of indecision.  For my part, I regret not having put more pressure on the administration to be decisive.

Local Pakistani loss 1 year on

Parts of Pakistan have suffered a number of devastating earthquakes in recent years. In this article, Zab Mustefa draws attention to how the Pakistani community in Edinburgh have been affected and their response. The Imam at Edinburgh Central Mosque, Sajad Asam lost his father and two uncles in his hometown of Mussafrabad. Aid has been raised across the community, including in cooperation with the Edinburgh Sikh and Hindu temples.

Bupa Winter Run results

The results of the various BUPA Winter Run races in Holyrood Park on Saturday can be found here.

Pleasance head-in-bag death link

An unknown address in the Pleasance has been searched in connection with the police enquiry into the death of 44 year old Heather Stacey. A head was found in an IKEA bag on Hogmanay and recent searches in the Granton area have discovered further body parts. This article reveals that police have also been carrying out enquiries in the Pleasance area.

International x country in Park today

Holyrood Park is today again the venue for the BUPA Great International X Country event at 1pm today.  (It will be televised on BBC One).   The men's 8.9k race will see world cross-country champion Zerseney Tadese in action.  The various races include a range of top international stars.  There is a series of fun events as well including the Under 13  and under 15 boys and girls inter-district cross country championships and the 5k great winter run.  

Steve Cram's verdict: "This is the very best the world has to offer. This is one of the top winter events".

Although the course in Holyrood Park in not in Southside & Newington ward, parts of the Park are.  

St Leonards 'Police' cat dies

The death is reported of the cat which has assisted policing at St Leonard's police station for the last ten years. He even had his own kennel. See here for the story.

19 cycle thefts per month in ward

This article identifies the Southside and Newington ward as being top of the league for cycle thefts in Edinburgh in 2008. Operation Autobiography is the police response with plain clothes officers as well as uniformed patrols. Not only does Newington have one of the highest proportions of people who cycle to work but the ward is home to more students than any other. So topping this league table in is not really surprising. The police need to keep up the pressure on cycle thieves.

Meadows Bar licensee speaks out

The new Licensing Act is putting considerable burdens on pubs and the Scottish Beer and Pub Association points out that fees of between £1000 and £2000 represent a trebling of license related payments. Robbie Howie, licensee of the Meadows Bar in Buccleuch Street, Edinburgh said it was another blow to the industry. He said: “I don’t understand why they have to change a system that has been running fine for the past 30 years especially when some places are really struggling.” Further details here.

More on Meadows FringeSunday

Further discussion on whether or not to bail out the Fringe Sunday event on the Meadows.

PC Ben Merrick moves on

The Southsider is an excellent local newspaper produced by George Pitcher and the Southside Association. The winter issue (not online) contains an excellent and informative article from community constable Ben Merrick who, alas, announces he is moving on. However, part of his article is worth replicating word for word here.


I 'm back from holiday in India, and after having a lovely time in temperatures in the high eighties while sitting on horses, camels and one very patient elephant I'm back to having to move myself around. St. Leonard’s ticked on without me, and they still managed to catch a lot of people without any input from me. A house in Nicolson Street was raided by our own Neighbourhood Action Unit along with our Divisional Drugs Unit colleagues, at the beginning of November. Several hundred pounds worth of heroin were seized, and the occupier charged with supplying it. Another local resident who claimed she had been assaulted and robbed three times to hide her own thefts has been charged with wasting Police time, and finally one of our prolific bike thieves has been caught in the act, with some heroin in his pocket. And have I mentioned the very silly student found in a car in South Clerk Street with a local dealer, a car full of cocaine, Ecstasy and cash that no one could account for? Both charged with concerned in the supply of class A drugs. No, wait, there's more! One of our most active female thieves was arrested on nine outstanding warrants this week. Four males have been charged with thefts of bags and laptops from University premises in George Square and Bristo Square and finally we have a fall in bike thefts. I can now get rid of my collection of four leaf clovers, lucky rabbits feet and stop touching wood. It gets even better.

Operations Aura, Arctic and Allegro are ongoing. We have uniformed, and plain clothes officers out, in South Clerk Street, Nicolson Street, Cameron Toll and Bruntsfield/Morningside, so we have more cover where we need it at the busiest time of the year, and our Search and Recovery Team who deal with second hand dealers and brokers have managed to recover two customised guitars stolen from a band at a local public house, with the male responsible charged and the show able to go on. I'm very happy .
But there's a but.....
Some common stairs are being used to inject and smoke heroin, and I'm afraid that some occupiers appear unwilling to take the simple crime prevention advice that will help prevent undesirables abusing drugs in their closes. Likewise, some people will forget the "goodwill towards their fellows" message and drive drunk, and the dark nights, slippery roads and people insisting on cycling without lights, all of which can lead to more road casualties than any of us would like.

On a personal basis, after four and a half very enjoyable years pretending to be a cross between the Sheriff of Dumbiedykes and the Southside Avenger (second class) I'm afraid I'm moving on. I'm off to Fettes, to join the Mounted Section. I'll be 9"2 when on the horse, and intend to visit all of my colleagues to personally point out to them that" I am now considerably taller than all of you " (joke copyright Harry Enfield, 1997). I've thoroughly enjoyed myself working here, and promise to trot through the Meadows occasionally, although I've been told the stetson and pointed badge are a no no.

Festival Theatre contemplates film

After the closure of the Odeon in South Clerk Street this article suggests the Festival Theatre may take over some gala performances.

Christmas Tree collections

Here is the information from the Council about disposing of your Christmas tree for recycling:

Residents are being asked to place their Christmas tree beside their on-street bins for collection on one of the following days: January South - 9, 16 or 23 January. Other options for Christmas tree recycling • Residents are also being advised that they can recycle Christmas trees at any one of Edinburgh’s four Community Recycling Centres: Braehead – Craigs Road Craigmillar – Old Dalkeith Road Seafield – Fillyside Road Sighthill – Bankhead Avenue • Residents with brown garden waste bins are advised to recycle their Christmas tree using their bin, as this service is now provided all year round.

Father comments on Southside death

Following the death of Stephan Bisky in his flat in Windmill Place just off Buccleuch Street here are comments from his father Lothar Bisky, a German politician. Stephan was suffering from hepatitis.

£3.5m house in Grange Loan

Here is a survey of house prices in Edinburgh highlighting that you still need a lot of money for a house in the Grange.  The one featured is Langham House in Grange Loan.

Meadows Fringe Sunday may stop

Financial pressures are cited as the reason for the current threat to Fringe Sunday in the Meadows.   See here for more details.

Calling all budding Alf Tuppers

If one of your resolutions for the new year was to get fitter and/or more active, you still have until tomorrow lunchtime to sign up for the Bupa Great Winter Run (5K), which takes place this Saturday in Holyrood Park. As part of a great day of athetics the park will also play host to the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country, with a stellar field set to line up. For more information see here.

Waste collections

Fri 2 Jan (door to door normal waste collections):  No collection, substitute collection will be on Sun 4th Jan.    Recycled waste will be collected as normal from Friday 2nd January

See here for Christmas tree collection details.

If you have extra materials for recycling and cannot wait for your next collection date, there are recycling points across the city, at supermarkets and in tenement areas, or see below for details of the Community Recycling Centres. Additional collections from Packaging banks have been arranged to ensure maximum capacity is available.

Edinburgh’s four Community Recycling Centres will be open every day between 10am and 4pm, EXCEPT 25 and 26 December 2008 and 1 and 2 January 2009.

There will be no Rapid Response service from 1 January until 4 January (inclusive).  Task Force Street Cleaning will operate in the city centre from 1-3 January.  There will be no service in other areas.

2009 2009 2009 2009 2009

Happy New Year

Here is a webcam of Edinburgh Castle.