Porty Podcast

Send us a textIt’s Wednesday the tenth of February. Welcome to today’s bulletin from Porty News. And thanks to several people who’ve drawn attention to the news that we will soon have a cycle path (albeit temporary) from Portobello all the way to Musselburgh. The City of Edinburgh Council had taken soundings from local people who liked the idea – but it would have to stop at the East Lothian border as all of that local authority’s funding had already been committed. But the Council there accepted that a cycle path that stopped at the county boundary just didn’t make sense – so they made an application for additional funds to Sustrans which was successful. There seems to be growing interest in organisations changing their status. We’ve heard about Porty Central changing from a limited company to a body with charitable status - a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Now, it seems, the Jack Kane Centre across in Craigmillar is doing something similar. At the moment, it’s an unincorporated charity but i

Send us a textIt’s Tuesday the 9th of February. Welcome to this edition of Porty News. It seems that the Spaces for People scheme is now causing issues in Duddingston - in particular, the plans for Duddingston Road. The team running the project met up with the 4 local councillors and agreed to organise a residents’ meeting to discuss the concerns some residents have. Some of these include the idea that the scheme doesn’t really make sense here as it’s not part of a bigger network and cyclists don’t use the road much; that local residents can’t park in front of their house anymore, in particular blue badge holders especially as their driveways are too narrow to get in or out of their car from a wheelchair; that there’s more speeding on the road; and a number of other issues. The meeting will be held via Microsoft Teams tomorrow evening at 7pm. Those affected should have received an email which included the relevant meeting link.  Mid and East Lothian Chamber is based right next to the campus of Edinburgh Colle

Send us a textIt’s Monday the 8th of February and welcome to the 7th edition of Porty News from the Porty Podcast. I’m David Calder Art Walk Porty has ambitions to involve more communities than just Portobello, though we’ll remain very much at its heart. One example of this is called ‘Line Walk Mindful Drawing’ which is part of an ongoing residency in Craigmillar and surrounding area. Led by the artist, Jonathan Baxter, and running throughout this year, it involves a monthly walk through Little France Park. The original plan was to hold the walks on the first Saturday of each month but, after lockdown, they have now been adapted to cope with social distancing regulations. Although the aim is to get outside, those who are housebound or restricted by travel can still enjoy the experience by looking at the photographs and reading the reflections posted on its Facebook Page. One example of this was written by Jenny Glover, who wrote about her perspective of the walk held last month. What intrigued me was her comm

Send us a textPortobello Singer-songwriter Rosie Nimmo’s fourth album, “Where Time Suspends”, has just been released. Produced by Marc Pilley (ex-Hobotalk, and now Arksong) , its ten tracks have been a long time in the making – and the lockdown didn’t help though the internet has brought together several different musicians to produce a beautiful, polished sound. They include local artists Mairi Campbell on viola, Debbie Nimmo on backing vocals, Graham Smith on guitar and Tommy Nimmo on bass guitar.  Over the past week, it’s been “Album of the Week” for Scotland-on-Sunday and several BBC radio stations around the country have played individual tracks. And as Rosie explained to Porty Podcast producer David Calder, it’s very much an album for our time.Rosie's Website: https://www.rosienimmo.com/Bandcamp page: https://rosienimmo.bandcamp.com/Album Review: tinyurl.com/6ufwfd9b

Send us a textIt’s Friday the 5th of February. Welcome to the 6th bulletin from Porty News You may have seen the posts from Portobello Community Council (PCC) about the two “expressions of interest” in Portobello Town Hall. As we’ve reported before, one of these comes from a community group (Portobello Central) and another from a ballet school (Peter Schaufuss). Both groups have now submitted outline proposals to be considered by the city council’s Finance & Resources Committee in March. However, before then the Community Council would like feedback on both of these two options. You can find links to both proposals in the transcript of this bulletin, as well as a link to the Community Council’s page where you can make your comments. However, the PCC suggests that you might want to delay responding until after the 14th of February. That’s the date when both organisations should have responded to the collated questions asked by you, The Porty Public. The Community Council says it will update the information

Send us a textIt’s Thursday the 4th of February. Welcome to the fifth bulletin from Porty News We were delighted to read that Handicabs are offering FREE transport for people with mobility issues who’ve an appointment to get their vaccine. This applies to anyone who has difficulty getting out and about due to age, disability or heath issues. Usually to use Handicabs, you need to be registered with the charity but that won’t apply if you’re going to get your jag. Booking is essential and is subject to availability so they recommend calling 447 9949 as soon as you get your appointment. However, when you do make the booking, you’ll be asked about how you’re feeling; whether you’ve any of the symptoms associated with Covid-19 (high temperature, a continuous cough or if you’ve noticed any change in taste and smell) and finally if you’re self-isolating. If you answer yes to any of these questions, I’m afraid you’ll be refused. If you’re involved with a community or third-sector (ie – charity) group, you’ve got two

Send us a textIt’s Wednesday the 3rd of February and this is the fourth bulletin from Porty News First, a couple of pieces of information from the City of Edinburgh Council! The first has to do with the brown bins we use for garden waste. As you know, households have to buy a permit costing £25 to benefit from this service and registration to join is open from now until 2pm on 16 February – and that’s the last opportunity to get the permit for this current year which, it seems, runs until the 7th of November. Apparently, garden waste collected last year was turned into over 20,000 tonnes of compost, which is used on farms, greenspaces and gardens – assuming you can get your hands on it during lockdown! tinyurl.com/105znx88 There’s also a reminder that we go to the polls in May for the Scottish Parliamentary elections. The Council is keen to stress that, if you want to vote in person, polling places will be safe – but they also wanted to remind us all that there are other ways to vote. So you can apply to vote

Send us a textYou may have come a cross the Council’s proposals for Seafield, which it describes as an “urban area housing-led mixed-use site” – whatever that means. In practice, it means turning the ‘metal mile’ into a new shoreline community. If done well, it could be real asset, transforming the western end of Portobello beach. However, the document contains the following warning: The potential development, if done badly and with a lack of community input, threatens to leave us with an ugly and uncoordinated development, with a lack of supporting infrastructure”. It all adds to the need for the kind of Development Trust that Justin Kenrick of Action Porty was suggesting in the Podcast at the weekend. We have also heard from Portobello Community Council about the closure of Brunstane Road for an 18 month trial starting in the autumn. It follows a meeting of the Council’s Transport and Environment Committee. The Community Council was rather frustrated that its own views were buried within the 1000 responses

Send us a textEarly last year, we spoke to Harem Murdochy, owner of the Boat House, St Andrews chippie and other establishments around Portobello. At that time, he had just signed a lease to turn part of the Pumping Station at the Joppa end of the Prom into a seafood restaurant – and we don’t just mean a fish-and-chip shop there. He was thinking of much more up-market fare – mussels, perhaps lobster – and the idea would be to put tables outside on the big viewing platform. Well, now the signs for Joppa Rocks, as the new venue will officially be called, are up on the fencing outside. And as usual there are mixed view about the project. We’re happy just to wait and see. 18 months ago, the podcast carried a feature about an online campaign to persuade the people of Portobello to use the golf course. The problem was that demand had fallen so much that Edinburgh Leisure was threatening to close it. However, the latest figures suggest that news of its demise was premature. The point is that people have been using n

Send us a textLast week, we heard from Geoff Pearson from Porty Central about their ambitions for the Town Hall. On Monday evening, those were discussed at length by Portobello Community Council. There is another proposal from by the Peter Schaufuss company who already run the St Stephen’s Centre in Stockbridge but no-one from that organisation turned up to put their case. In last week’s episode, Geoff Pearson talked about the need for coordination between the various venues in Portobello, including Bellfield and the Wash House for instance. The logical place for that could be Action Porty which led the campaign to save Bellfield for the community. Porty Podcast Producer David Calder’s been speaking to Action Porty’s Justin Kenrick about this.

Send us a text Hello and welcome to Porty News, which at the moment is an experiment as part of the Porty Podcast. Our aim – and perhaps that of anyone who wants to help out occasionally – is to bring you brief snippets of news from Portobello, Joppa and the surrounding areas as well as useful information from organisations like City of Edinburgh Council, the police and other such bodies. Let’s start with news of a scam – and quite a nasty one at that. Several local people have received very credible looking emails claiming to be from the NHS and giving them details of their supposed appointment for a Co-Vid 19 jag. As I say, it looks pretty legit – until you’re asked for your credit card details right at the end. That should immediately ring alarm bells! Indeed, the very fact you got this invite as an email and not a letter should have been the give-away. According to the NHS, they will only contact you by post. Now, you remember, there were far too many people out on the Prom and Beach last weekend. I don’t

Send us a textHappy New Year - and let's all hope for better things as this year progresses!Some of you may have seen an email or post from the community group Porty Central in which they explain why they're concerned about the future of the Town Hall. In particular, they are worried that: "We appear to be on track towards yielding the building to a commercial user, with no information about that proposal." However, on Monday evening, Portobello Community Council hope to hear both about this proposal and that presented by Porty Central itself, one which has been in the public domain for some weeks. The meeting is open to the public through MS Teams using this link: http://bit.ly/PCC379The Hall has been closed for about 18 months now; and when we last heard about it, we learned that the Council believed it would take anything up to £1m to bring back into use, money the Council simply didn’t have. As we'll hear, the Town Hall was built for the people of Portobello as a public, community

Send us a text Looking back over 2020, the Porty Podcast has made the effort to keep going. But David Calder and his wife Penny both went down with a mild version of CoVid in the Spring which came back to affect them both – hard – during the summer. So in this, the final episode of the Porty Podcast for this year, David looks back, with thanks to everyone who has contributed, at what has been a difficult year for all of us.

Send us a text When you think of Portobello Beach, you tend to think of an area from (say)  the Figgate Burn along to the Swim Centre. But it actually stretches almost two and a half miles from Seafield to Joppa. People tend to be put off using the Western end by a number of factors, not least the caravans at the foot of Kings Place and the air of neglect along the part behind the car showrooms. Although there have been ideas developed over what to do about the area, little has actually been done. And so, in a sense of frustration over the lack of action, a private survey has just been launched by the owners of the Boathouse to test public opinion.You can find the survey here: https://tinyurl.com/y3t6h2al

Send us a textIn the past month, the RNLI lifeboat from Kinghorn has been called out to Portobello-Joppa Bay a number of times; but the crews have found themselves sent across here more this year than usual. In part, it’s the result of more people taking to the water – such as open-water swimming, paddle boarding and kayaking amongst other individual activities. In the past, there have been fund raising events for the lifeboats run for instance by the Portobello Sailing and Kayaking Club and Row Porty, but clearly none of that could take place this year; and as we’ll hear, the RNLI is suffering a shortfall of funds from the public. Porty Podcast Producer David Calder spoke to members of the Kinghorn crew via Zoom.For the Christmas Appeal, click here: rnli.org/Christmas For the local Scottish campaign click here:https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/RNLIScotland2020  Funds donated here will be restricted to going towards Scottish Lifeboat station running costs. Anyone from Portobello interested in getting involv

Send us a text The past few months have been very difficult for so many people. For long weeks and months, it was particularly hard for those who had to “shield” from possible infection. The “Stay Home” advice was everywhere which, in effect, meant isolation from the rest of the community. It was fine for those of us who had a garden and perhaps a view out over the sea or a park. It was much more difficult if you were stuck in a flat. Members of Portobello Timebank recognised there was a problem and decided to help.https://www.portobellotimebank.co.uk/https://www.facebook.com/Portobello-Timebank-453472731528750

Send us a textYou may have noticed on assorted Porty pages online a proposal to bring some light and colour into this rather dark and dismal time of year. That’s especially true when so many of the events which would have taken place in December have all had to be cancelled. The idea is to turn night-time Portobello into one, large art gallery with people filling their windows with all kinds of art works illuminated simply by leaving the room lights on. It’s already attracting a lot of interest.https://www.windowwanderland.com/https://www.facebook.com/ActionPortyRoyalty Free Music from SmartSoundAlbum: Holiday Magic - Deck the Halls, Joy to the World, Rest ye merry gents, Wishing You a Merry Christmas

Send us a text Porty playwright and producer, Claire Wood, of Production Lines Theatre Co has a new play called ‘Shrapnel’ which opens for a short run online tomorrow night. The play is set in Scotland during the pandemic and is unlike most other online shows where theatre companies have simply taken an already established production and turned it into an online format. A dark comedy, it looks, amongst other things, at loneliness and the way a lockdown affects our mental and financial health. She’s been speaking about it, online of course, to David Calderhttps://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shrapnel-tickets-123382344915https://www.ageuk.org.uk/https://tinychanges.com/https://www.actingforothers.co.uk/

Send us a text It’s almost 5 months since the Velvet Easel Gallery came under new management. And this month, the new owner, Jane Grant, opened her first winter exhibition. She’s the first to admit that it wasn’t easy taking over in the middle of a pandemic. But she’s been delighted by the support she’s received from the buying public and the artists as well.

Send us a textRoad safety - the safety of cyclists in particular - was once again headline news this past week. The tragic death of a cyclist, killed by a lorry, brought into focus yet again just how vulnerable you are on two wheels. That complex junction at the end of Portobello High Street has seen more than its fair share of such tragedies over the years. And as David Calder reports for this week's episode, it's in danger of throwing the Scottish Government and Edinburgh Council's active travel policies into disarray.