Category Archives: events

Apple Day Celebration, 29th September 2−4.30

Orchard poster Apple Day 2012PEDAL is hold­ing its third apple day cel­eb­ra­tion on Saturday 29 September from 2−4.30 pm at the Donkeyfield Community orch­ard, Brunstane Road South.  We will be press­ing apples to make our own deli­cious juice — please bring a bottle to take some away in.  We also hope to have some of our own tasty apples for you to taste.  There will be a bon­fire, refresh­ments and home bak­ing, plus fun and games (includ­ing apple dook­ing and bat the rat!).

Please bring some home bak­ing if you are able, and any spare apples you may have.  Please con­tact Jane  <jane@gn.apc.org> if you know of any apples that need pick­ing from loc­al trees.

All wel­come — we hope you can join us.

Apple Day Poster

Lothian Buses Open Day, 22nd September

Lothian Buses will be hold­ing a depot open day at Central Depot, 55 Annandale Street, Edinburgh, EH7 4AZ on Saturday 22 September between 11.45 and 16.00.  This is part of the Cockburn Association’s Doors Open Day event across Edinburgh.

The event is a great FREE fun day out for all of the fam­ily – high­lights including:

  • Edinburgh Buses from the 1950’s to date on display
  • Guided open-top bus tours of the depot
  • Tours of the depot in a vin­tage double-decker
  • Trips through our bus wash­er in our state-of-the-art hybrid double-deck­er buses
  • Manufacturer stand includ­ing an artist’s impres­sion of our forth­com­ing single-deck­er hybrid buses
  • Driving sim­u­lat­ors
  • The Heart of Midlothian parade bus AND the Scottish Cup
  • Bus hois­ted on jacks for you to walk under
  • The chance to sit in the driv­ing seat of a double-deck­er and play with the controls
  • Playbus with ball pit and slides
  • Bus toppled onto its side and recov­ery demon­stra­tion (2.30pm)

There will also be refresh­ments and toilets.

There is also a com­pet­i­tion on our web­site to win the chance to see behind the scenes of their brand new Control Room suite.  See http://lothianbuses.com/news/2‑general-news/1215-doors-open-day-2012.html for more details and how to enter.

Edinburgh Blasda 16th September, Leith

2 – 7 pm, Sunday 16 September

Out of the Blue, Dalmeny Street, Leith

Now in its second year, Blasda will be help­ing cel­eb­rate all that is good with loc­al food through a series of events run by com­munit­ies cafes and cooks in loc­a­tions ran­ging from Barra to Edinburgh dur­ing Food and Drink Fortnight.

Blasda, which is co-ordin­ated by the Fife Diet, pro­motes a vibrant new food cul­ture that cel­eb­rates loc­al her­it­age and vari­ation, but is based on eat­ing loc­ally-sourced fresh food which can be a boost to the eco­nomy and eco­logy of Scotland.

With events includ­ing mass lunches, pot luck pic­nics and pub­lic feasts plus ceilidhs, talks and food films across Scotland there really will be some­thing for everyone!

Blasda are also pleased to announce a mobile ele­ment to the fest­iv­it­ies this year with a rov­ing set of work­shops on how to ‘grow your own’ being pro­moted by the chip-fat oil powered Seed Truck and the Culture Kitchen Relay run by Hidden Gardens which will be swap­ping recipes between com­munit­ies as it travels! 

Edinburgh Blasda Workshops, Out of the Blue, Leith

MAPPING LOCAL FOOD EDINBURGH 3.00−4.00 

Ally Tibbitt from Greener Leith will hold a ‘loc­al food audit’ look­ing at what’s avail­able across Edinburgh and map­ping allot­ments, loc­al food pro­jects, cafes, com­munity grow­ing schemes, loc­al food shops. Come along, bring your loc­al know­ledge (and your laptop) and fill in the gaps.

GROWING SPACES EDINBURGH: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE 4.00 – 5.00

Greig Robertson (Edinburgh Communty Backgreens Association, Edible Estates) on who’s grow­ing what and where. Talk fol­lowed by tour of nearby Sunshine on Leith com­munity garden.

SCOTTISH CHEESEBOARD  5.00 — 6.00 pm

Phoebe Weller (Roving Fromagerie) on the pro­lif­er­a­tion  of qual­ity artis­an cheese-mak­ing and tra­di­tions they’re draw­ing on. Come along for a taste of the best cheese in Scotland.

STALLS / EXHIBITORS 2.00 – 7.00 pm 

Breadshare with the Seed Truck ped­al-powered mill bike (Fergus), Community Gardens (Sunshine on Leith, Redbraes Strawberry Field, Lochend Secret Garden and vari­ous),  Changeworks, Zapatista Coffee, Mcleods Organics, Foragable teas and infu­sions (Anna Canning), Leith Open Space ‘World Kitchen’ (Fay Young), Fife Diet’s Smoothie Bike with fruit from Edinburgh com­munity garden pro­jects with Diane Burn.Reception (sponsored by William Bros) 6.00 — 7.00

The acclaimed Centotre and the Scottish Cafe http://www.centotre.com/thescottishcafe/ will be fea­tur­ing a full Scottish menu as part of the Blasda celebrations.

 For a full list­ing of Blasda events check out the inter­act­ive map at www.blasda.org.uk

Nourish Conference: Scotland’s food 2020 — healthier, wealthier, greener, smarter, fairer?

28th and 29th September

Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh

In the worst grow­ing sea­son for years, with dairy industry protests, the pig sec­tor under pres­sure and US drought push­ing grain prices to a record high, we face some big choices about the future of Scotland’s food. The Nourish con­fer­ence will explore Food 2.0 — a food sys­tem which feeds every­one well and afford­ably while deliv­er­ing vibrant, diverse and cli­mate-smart loc­al food economies.

Friday’s ses­sion will include a key­note address from Anya Hultberg from Copenhagen’s House of Food, which has con­ver­ted 75% of the city’s pub­lic food to organ­ic. On the Saturday the con­fer­ence will look­ing at how com­munity groups, NGOs, small pro­du­cers and con­cerned cit­izens can work togeth­er for a bet­ter food system.

 N.B Nourish are look­ing for loc­al organ­ic pro­du­cers to sup­ply sea­son­al food for the event, which the cater­ing team at QMU will cook. Please get in touch (see below) if you can offer some pro­duce in return for a free place at the event.

More inform­a­tion at www.nourishscotland.org.uk soon. Meanwhile for more inform­a­tion or to offer to be a sup­pli­er, con­tact Pete Ritchie on pete@nourishscotland.org.uk phone 0131 243 2732 or 07794 610148

Portobello Market Day 2nd June

Saturday 2nd June is Portobello Market day!

 It’s the Royal Jubilee week­end this time round, so come along to the mar­ket for the first class traders and some great enter­tain­ment for the hol­i­day weekend.

This month:

Annie D will be there with her renowned face paint­ing skills, plus Phil is back­with his Woodland Crafts work­shops, Fin Loening & friends will provide some great music and this month a spe­cial out­door Zumba class with a dif­fer­ence! Come along and find out.

And of course, all our usu­al traders and a few more will be there for your shop­ping needs, from award win­ning oils, fresh fish, loc­ally pro­duced fresh meats, con­tin­ent­al deli products, great fresh bread, artis­an cheeses, hand-made soaps, cards & gifts, sea­son­al veg­gies, sushi & noodles, organ­ic herb­al teas, knit­ted crafts, Fair Trade products and a first class BBQ for all you hungry mouths.

So come along on the 2nd and sup­port your loc­al sus­tain­able mar­ket and enjoy some great entertainment.

Where?  Brighton Park, Brighton Place, Portobello, Edinburgh, EH15 1LJ.

Time?  9.30am – 1.30pm

A full list of stall­hold­ers is avail­able on the web­site: HERE

See you there.

Support the Community Turbine DEMO TOMORROW (Saturday 28th April) at TEN!

PEDAL and Greener Leith have hit a stum­bling block in nego­ti­ations over the deal to enable the Portobello & Leith Community Wind Turbine to be built on Scottish Water’s land.
 
We really need loc­al people to come along to show their sup­port for the pro­ject on this tomor­row, Saturday 28th April. Please please meet on the Prom at the slip road behind the Dog & Cat Home at 10AM and we will walk/cycle/scoot to the tur­bine site. Also can any­one make a ban­ner? If so con­tact justinkenrick@yahoo.co.uk.
 
Press pho­to­graph­ers will be present.
 
Please pass this mes­sage on — we only have until tomorrow!

Portobello Market — 5th May

Saturday 5th May is Portobello Market day!

This month: Following on from the fant­ast­ic suc­cess of the Easter mar­ket, we are once again offer­ing enter­tain­ment: AnnieD will be appear­ing with her amaz­ing face paint­ing and a young stu­dent duo will be provid­ing great music in two 1‑hour sets.

Our traders this month include:

Award win­ning oils, fresh fish and meats, artis­an cheeses, unique snacks, hand made soaps, cards and gifts, sea­sonal veget­able, sushi and noodles, organ­ic herb­al teas, knit­ted gifts, Fair Trade products and a first class BBQ for those hungry mouths.

So come along on the 5th and sup­port your loc­al sus­tain­able mar­ket and find out about the excit­ing devel­op­ments for the next mar­ket in June when we will have a first in the UK piece of entertainment!!!

Where: Brighton Park, Brighton Place, Portobello, Edinburgh, EH15 1LJ

When: 9.30am – 1.30pm

A full list of stall­hold­ers for 5th May is avail­able here.

See you there.

Portobello Market — Saturday 7th April, Easter weekend

Saturday 7th April is Portobello Market day!

This monthWe are relaunch­ing the mar­ket with a new look and feel. Come along this Easter week­end and enjoy face paint­ing for the kids, a sci­ence fest­iv­al, Easter egg hunt and live music.

Our traders this month include:

Award win­ning oils, fresh fish and meats, artis­an cheeses, unique snacks, hand made soaps, cards and gifts, sea­son­al veget­able, sushi and noodles, organ­ic herb­al teas, knit­ted gifts, Fair Trade products and a first class BBQ for those hungry mouths.

So come along on the 7th and sup­port your loc­al sus­tain­able mar­ket and find out about the excit­ing devel­op­ments for the next mar­ket in May.

Where: Brighton Park, Brighton Place, Portobello, Edinburgh, EH15 1LJ

When: 9.30am – 1.30pm

A full list of stall­hold­ers for 7th April is avail­able on the web­site by click­ing here.

See you there.

Next Portobello Market: 7th April

Brighton Park

Quickly fol­low­ing on the suc­cess of the March mar­ket with increase in foot­fall and stall hold­ers, we are going to relaunch the mar­ket on Saturday 7 April. It is Easter week­end and as such there will be numer­ous enter­tain­ment events all day, includ­ing an Easter egg hunt. There will be live music, a cir­cus act, hair braid­ing, face paint­ing and a sci­ence fest­iv­al cour­tesy of Scottish Parliament funding.

We now have a centre piece in the form of a large teepee tent, sup­plied for free by Nordic Outdoor, and all new ban­ners, posters and flags pro­mot­ing the new name, Portobello Market. Each month a new A‑board will advert­ise the next mar­ket’s entertainment.

COME ALONG: A large pres­ence is needed to swell the num­bers and encour­age com­munity par­ti­cip­a­tion in all the events, so please do make time to come down and vis­it. It is hoped, but not yet con­firmed, that the Evening News will run an art­icle pri­or to the market.

Orchard is waking up

applesGreetings from the Orchard. This is an update on the orch­ard going  to all those who have been along to help since the first shovel of earth was dug in 2009. We had our first work­day of 2012 on the last Saturday in February 2012. It was warm, the cro­cuses were out and the bees were ven­tur­ing out from the hive.

We were able to start put­ting up the wires for the fruit trees against the large stone wall. Nearly fin­ished the wooden fur­niture. We build anoth­er sec­tion of the dry stone wall and checked all the labels on the fruit trees. Sadly we also cut down the old apple tree which died last sea­son. We also drank tea and cof­fee and ate bis­cuits and looked at what we all achieved last year.

Here are some of the things that happened at the orch­ard in 2011.

  • We planted 50 trees and bushes
  • We star­ted build­ing a low dry stone­wall along the path
  • We put in a table and two benches
  • The bee keep­ers got to work. The hive was put in place and the bees made honey
  • We had a won­der­ful Apple Day atten­ded by 50 people and made a huge amount of apple juice
  • We con­tin­ued the work of keep­ing the trees free from weeds and strimmed the area
  • Sadly the shed was broken into and some of the apples disappeared
  • It rained too much but luck­ily not on workdays.
  • We had our Wassailing cel­eb­ra­tion on a crisp Saturday morn­ing in January

We were able to to as much as we did because of money from the Climate Challenge Fund to pay for trees etc. We also had paid work­ers but sadly they fin­ished in early spring. We have used up the grant money for trees & tools but a great deal has been achieved.  Most import­ant has been the volun­teers and vis­it­ors. It is the com­munity who make hap­pen with the help from moth­er nature. So thanks to all who helped in 2011.  We are look­ing for­ward to the year ahead and please come and join in whatever way you can.

Our first job on our next Workday  Saturday 31st March will be to put up the sup­ports for the apple tun­nel and plant the trees. Further workdays:

  • Saturday 28th April
  • Saturday 26th May
  • Saturday 30th June
  • Saturday 28th July
  • Saturday 25th August
  • Saturday 29th Sept
  • Saturday 27th October
  • Saturday 24th November

If you want to know more ring: Mary Jane Elton 669 5129  or  Diana Cairns 669 4981