Porty Podcast

Send us a textPanto is back at Portobello Town Hall! Oh no it isn’t! Oh yes it certainly is! The new production of Cinderella is brought to us by Stage Door Entertainment, the same company that produced the highly successful ‘Oliver’ last month. Rehearsals are now under way in the Town Hall itself and the show opens on the 8th of December.To buy tickets, click here: https://www.stagedoorentertainment.co.uk/

Send us a textOver the past quarter of a century, a group of men, aged between 65 and 100, have been taking on a labour of love to recreate a unique piece of aviation history – building from scratch a replica of the WW1 fighter, the Sopwith Strutter. Today, it’s the only one of its type flying in the world. The project has been described as a "Men's Shed On Steroids" and has given the members of the group a real sense of purpose. It also provided an opportunity for a young woman to fulfil the dreams of women from a century ago. They had been banned from flying such aircraft. Local journalist Jean West has been involved with the project for a long time and is part of a team looking to make a documentary about it. They have set up a crowd funding campaign but time is running out.To find out more or contribute, please click here: https://tinyurl.com/38xc7msm

Send us a textThere are several blue or black plaques to famous men in Portobello – from Hugh Miller to William Russell Flint to Harry Lauder. However, there’s only one to a woman – Helen Hopekirk, a talented musician who was born here, emigrated to America and was celebrated in her day as a composer and concert pianist. But surely she was not alone. Last month during the Book Festival, a tour was organised of the places where famous women of our community once lived. The organisers wanted to tell the Herstory of Portobello. If you want to listen to the lecture and songs click here: https://www.loc.gov/item/2021689569/Presenter: James WintleSinger: Jennifer Wintle Pianist: Joy SchreierPicture of Helen Hopekirk

Send us a textWhen graffiti appears in Porty, a small band of people from Keep Porty Tidy are on hand to remove it. This small group also carry out gardening in public spaces around our community and well as keeping the benches in the public parks looking fresh and new. In today’s episode, we meet two of them – Colin Cornwall and Chris Cowie.

Send us a textIt was quite a shock to discover just how much sand had been stripped from Porty Beach after Storm Babet had passed through. The damage done was the main topic of conversation at this week’s meeting of Portobello Community Council. There are lots of questions that still have to be answered – exactly how much damage has there been, how will it be fixed, how can we bring back the lost sand and how much will all this cost. 

Send us a textIt will soon be Halloween. In the imagination of some, it’s a time of witches, warlocks and things that go bump in the night. For others, it’s a time when children go guising in the streets offering (to use the American expression) tricks or treats. But it’s also the time when a new production starts its tour around Scotland. It’s called Tales from the Witches Sabbath and you can see it at Bellfield next Saturday. You can buy tickets by clicking here: https://tinyurl.com/vkca9zy8

Send us a textLife is definitely returning to Portobello Town Hall. There’s a fund raising ceilidh at the end of the month. There’s a production of the musical ‘Oliver’ coming early in November, And yes, there will be a panto this year –Cinderella – which will run from the end of November right through to the end of the year. Tickets are available for all three. It’s all bringing reassurance to Portobello Central, the organisation which now runs the Town Hall and which held its AGM at the start of the week.To buy tickets for the ceilidh, click here: https://stagestubs.com/For Oliver: https://tinyurl.com/mhvbp4h6And for Cinderella: https://tinyurl.com/yhv95am9

Send us a textIf you go to the Porty Market in Brighton Park today, look out for a stand selling bottles of a drink called Pochle. It’s the name chosen by the man who’s making Scottish Calvados or cider brandy or eau d vie from our excess apples. Rather than see them go to waste, Chris Miles will collect and store them until he can turn them into apple juice which he then sends off to be fermented and then distilled into a clear, and very strong, spirit. And Pochle? It’s an old Scots word meaning to have something without quite having permission.https://pochle.co.uk/

Send us a textFor Edinburgh Assassins Kickboxing Club, this has been a year of celebrations. This is their 30th Anniversary – and, for most of that time, they trained at Portobello Town Hall. They had to find new premises when the Hall closed four years ago. They’ve just enjoyed considerable success at the European Championships a few week ago with an impressive medal haul. They’re also hoping to repeat that at the World Championships in Calgary next month.To support the team going to Canada: https://tinyurl.com/mr4cn7ucMain team sponsors: Gratebuild; Sprs Garden Rooms; Cafe Piccante; Richard Bonnar RB Electrical; Pro-Tech pest control & environmental services; Ronnie Miller Plastering/Smoothly Covering Edinburgh, Plastering Specialist; SAS Blacksmiths and steel fabricators Ltd; Bruce Clark Decoration. Worlds Supporting sponsors: Brown Demolitions ltd

Send us a textLate at night on the 8th of September, a devastating earthquake stuck part of Morocco. Its effects were felt across a large part of the country. While it made the headlines for a few days, it was eclipsed when a flood swept through communities in Libya, killing thousands of people. However, two women from Portobello – Lynn Houmdi and Joanna Weintritt - are determined that those who lost so much in Morocco are not forgotten and are hosting a “fitnessthon” to raise money for them. David Calder caught up with them on Zoom to find out more.For more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/281792198041481?active_tab=aboutTo book a session: https://shorturl.at/lUX45To donate: https://www.justgiving.com/page/fitness-soul-fitnessthon-moroccoPicture credit: alyaoum24 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=137245648

Send us a textIf you remember the Porty BikeFest from last year, well it’s back. This afternoon, parts of Bath Street and Mentone Avenue will be closed off to cars so that all kinds of interesting two and three wheeled vehicles can be shown off and tried. And it’s also been an exciting week for the Bike Library further along the Prom as its home in a storage container now has a new livery.

Send us a textThe Portobello Book Festival may be next month – but tickets are already going fast. It runs from the 5th to the 8th of October and in total there are 26 talks and discussions to attract your interest… everything from paddleboards to playwriting. Founded in 2008, the festival has established itself as one of the cornerstone events in Portobello’s community life.https://portobellobookfestival.com/

Send us a textThe Art Walk Porty started yesterday. Under the title of ‘Vessel’, it feels like it has  a larger, more ambitious programme than in the past – to get the most from it you need four leaflets. And, as David Calder found out from curator Rosy Naylor, the bounds of this year’s event extend well beyond just Portobello.

Send us a textOn the first Saturday of the month, you may have seen a poster outside St John’s Church in Brighton Place. It reads ‘Pamoja Fashion’ and points you towards the church hall where a market selling clothes, jewellery and other accessories is being held. It’s raising money for a charity which for many years has linked schools in Edinburgh with those in a district of Tanzania. And, as you’ll hear, it all began here in Portobello.https://twendepamoja.org.uk/

Send us a textLast week, we heard about the news that the keys to the Town Hall has been passed to the community. But that’s not the only Council asset that’s been handed over recently to a different, smaller, less-well known part of the Portobello community. It’s a fairly small plot of land off Mount Lodge Place which has remained locked and unused...until now. This is the story of how Mount Lodge Green came to be restored to community use.To follow what's happening there, click here: https://tinyurl.com/46rzd3ec

Send us a textPortobello Town Hall has been lying empty for almost exactly four years. We’ve reported on the work done by the local community and Portobello Central in particular to bring it back into use. Now, the dream is reality.https://www.portobellocentral.org/

Send us a textOn Monday morning, a group of cyclists will leave the Cake Stand in Straiton Place Park on what, for one of them, will be an epic journey. Leading them will be Xani Byrne, brother of Alice Byrne, who disappeared on New Year’s Day in 2022. Neither she nor her body were found and the police concluded that she had taken her own life. This trip is all about raising awareness around the country about mental health and suicide and raising funds for related charities.To donate, click here: https://www.justgiving.com/team/TandemAgainstSuicideUKFor more information on the charities, click here: https://uksobs.org/And here: https://www.papyrus-uk.org/For Xani’s Facebook Page, click here: https://tinyurl.com/5ee28zf7

Send us a textFor much of the past three years, activity on the waters off Porty Beach have been relatively quiet. The pandemic and lockdown meant that, for a long time, people couldn't take part in rowing or sailing, for instance. And any regattas, where clubs came together to race, were completely out of the question. But this year, the races are back and today sees the first Portobello Regatta since 2019.

Send us a textLife for musicians has been tough over the last three years. The Pandemic locked them out of all of the venues they’d played to entertain their audiences. Some of them however saw it as an opportunity, perhaps not at first, to think about their music and to change direction. That’s what happened with the locally based singing partnership, Overton and McCann.For more info, click this link: https://www.overtonmccann.com/ 

Send us a textThere seem to be a huge number of videos showing people doing astonishing feats – climbing buildings, running precariously along railings, leaping across streams. It’s all part of a relatively new sport called Parkour. Part of its popularity seems to come from the fact that it’s not a traditional competitive sport. You challenge yourself, not each other. And  now it’s coming to a beach near you.To find out more, click here: https://www.accessparkour.com/Their email address is: info@accessparkour.com