Dear All

At the lovely St Mark’s Church Portobello, there is a Jumble Sale and with refreshments on Saturday 22 June, 10am to 12 noon. This is a small of the huge effort to help raise money for St Mark’s ambitious refurbishment project. See here for more details: http://stmarksportobello.org/our-refurbishment-project/

There’s a sequel to last week’s Update on the letting of Portobello Town Hall. The wonderful Lothian Dance School couldn’t get into the building as a janitor hadn’t turned up with keys. 200 people were stuck outside and the show about to be cancelled. When I found out, I called the Council’s head of corporate property and he saved the day by instructing a Council security officer who arrived to a big cheer from the assembled crowd.  The show went on, but 20 mins late. On investigation of all the circumstances, we found there had been a mix up which was entirely understandable and not due to anyone’s incompetence.  However, it was extremely distressing for everyone concerned, including me! It further highlights the pressing need for us to consider what Portobello Town Hall means to all of us and how we can invest time, energy and money in making it fit for our purposes. This week’s Porty Podcast by David Calder is on this issue.  The ‘Save Porty Town Hall’ petition which Bob Jefferson started last week is here: http://chng.it/NdP9Vd6s Please do sign it and encourage others to do so.

A residential development is proposed on land east of Corbieshot and west of Asda The Jewel.  More here: https://citydev-portal.edinburgh.gov.uk/idoxpa-web/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=PSCZK0EWHUD00

The contract to build new 3G pitches at Hunter’s Hall Park was awarded to All Sport Construction and work should start in a couple of weeks.  The bridge over the Niddrie Burn is under construction and there are archaeological investigations still going on in the Park. And this week, I got a copy of the Pentlands to Portobello Walking and Cycle Route feasibility and concept design report, led by Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust.  There is a lot going on in this space!

I have done quite a bit of walking around this whole area.  This week I was looking at water and drainage issues with a highly knowledgable local resident. He is especially concerned about the much reduced flow in the Magdalene Burn which runs to the south of Hunters Hall Park towards the Wisp. The two of us are trying to work out exactly what has happened and what range of people and agencies might help us fix it. We have been up to the Edmonstone Ridge and right around looking at springs, dry and boggy bits and a lot of apparently over-engineered pipes, outlets and suds ponds. We also saw lots of bugs and birds, flowers and insects, and great views around Little France Park from the Bioquarter to Hunters Hall Park.  But this was work for me, honestly!

After that long walk, I made off towards The White House Kitchen for refreshments and had a chance meeting with Andrew Senew of Home Instead Senior Care who are based at Castlebrae Business Centre.  Both tenant and landlord are fantastic Portobello/Craigmillar organisations. Then I had a chat with Kara Whelen of the excellent Craigmillar Books for Babies and Literacy Trust about how the Library and our third sector organisations could work in closer partnership. I look forward to helping with that.

Craigmillar Literacy Trust is looking for a Literacy Programme Co-ordinator for the Creating and Learning Project to cover a period of maternity leave. For further information, have a look at their website: www.craigmillarliteracytrust.org.uk 

There has been quite a bit of chat this week about the biodiversity value of wildflower meadows and verges.  Edinburgh has been doing quite a bit of this over the last five years through a partnership, which I have been chairing for the last year, called Edinburgh Living Landscapes.  More here: http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20064/parks_and_greenspaces/1160/edinburgh_living_landscape. We just launched is Tree Time which was on the news:  https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-48689961  Another is the Edinburgh Shoreline Project.  More here: http://edinburghshoreline.org.uk/edinburgh-shoreline-gis-map/  Different partners lead on each of our Edinburgh Living Landscape projects.

The Seafield Recycling Centre and new depot are in a neighbouring Ward, but some of us in Portobello are most affected, as we have to turn around somewhere to come back East again. There have been what Council officers call “some teething issues with implementation”.  So the situation is being closely monitored. On the first Sunday when people could no longer use the East entrance, the site had to close for 45 minutes due to the high volumes of vehicles, many doing the wrong manoeuvres.  Let me know if you have experience of this. I have people to pass your comments on to and they would be most welcome!

The fabulous Friends of Portobello Prom are spending two mornings next weekend clearing the Prom.  All the lampposts have old stickers, bits of string or cable ties and there is a lot of sand on the Prom to sweep back on to the beach.  On 29 June, they start at Joppa pumping station and 30 June at the foot of Bath Street, meeting at 10am both days.  If you want to help, you would be most welcome, and please do and bring your own tools –  scissors, scrapers, brushes, shovels, hoes etc – to help get the place as clean as possible.  

It’s well worth getting on the the mailing list of Portobello Community Council, who do a great job keeping us all in touch and taking up local issues.  They meet on the last Monday of every month and next Meeting is his coming Monday.  Link to the papers and agenda is here: 

http://www.portobellocc.org/pccpn/2019/06/17/june-2019-meeting-and-agm-agenda-draft-may-minutes/

Have a good weekend!

Maureen