Category: Community information, events and news

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Remembering Lost Leithers

It’s always a shock when you hear about the death of a much loved Leither. 

This week has been particularly bad with the deaths of three people who contributed so much to our community.

The Queen of Leith, Mary Moriarty died last week and her funeral is on Tuesday 25th October. A service will be held in South Leith Parish Church at 12pm then on to Seafield Crematorium (limited spaces). You will then have the chance to raise a glass to Mary in The Dockers Club and share your memories with friends.

Mary was well known in Leith, not only as the owner of the famous Port of Leith pub where many a fun night was had, but also for her many years of hard work with Leith Festival helping it survive through good times and bad.

From my window I remember that on the day before the gala Mary would be out on the Links spraying and numbering the pitches for the gala day stalls.

She was always there at the crack of dawn on the Saturday and still there hours after the last stall had left with a litter picker and black bin bag making sure the park was cleaner than how she had found it.

I’m proud to say that I knew Mary for many years, and she will be sorely missed by many of us in the Leith community who will all have our fond memories of her. She could always make you smile even when you were feeling down.

I also lost another friend, Jim Tweedie recently who died over a week ago and his funeral is on Friday, 28 October, Warriston Crematorium at 2pm. 

Jim was a hard working member of the Leith Community and Chair of Leith Local History Society preserving our history and informing new residents about our rich past.

The society continue to meet on the third Tuesday in the month in the community centre and with a series of monthly talks.

Jim and I were also on the steering group to save Custom House for the people of Leith and with the help of local councillors, especially Councillor Gordon Munro the city council was persuaded to purchase the building using Common Good Funding. Work to establish a heritage display in the building is ongoing.

Finally, Davie Jeneil who ran a successful jewellers shop in Great Junction Street for over 30 years providing gifts for the many birthdays, weddings and celebrations of Leithers.

I also knew Davie as a great supporter of Leith Rules Golf Society. His family always put in a team for the Foulis Medal. A fun competition on the Links every year using hickory golf clubs which is open to local Leith businesses and community groups.

When Davie’s son in law turned up to play, I always thought we would be quicker just handing him the medal because he is such an excellent player.

Davie also supported the society by providing the quaichs and engravings for our other team events and again he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

On behalf of Leith Links Community Council, I would like to extend our condolences and best wishes to the family and friends of all these great Leithers who we will all miss.

Jim Scanlon MBE

Chair 

Leith Links Community Council

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Volunteers needed to support Vigil queue following death of HM Queen Elizabeth ll

Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll, Volunteer Edinburgh is recruiting volunteers to be a part of an historic event.  Volunteers are needed to provide light-touch support and most of all, a welcoming, friendly face to members of the public who are queueing as part of the vigil.

Her Majesty’s coffin will travel from Balmoral to Edinburgh, where there will be a period of rest at St Giles Cathedral before removal to London.  During this period of rest there will be an opportunity for members of the public to pass through the cathedral, past the coffin.

Members of the public will be allowed into the cathedral from 1730hrs on Monday 12th September, with viewing permitted until 1600hrs on Tuesday 13th.

It is anticipated that as many as 88,000 people may transit through the cathedral during the period of the vigil.

Queue Support Volunteers will not be responsible for crowd management or safety.  This function will be undertaken by professional marshals from G4S.  The role is to provide information and light-touch support to people in the queue.

Volunteers will operate in groups, on shifts lasting three or four hours, starting at 0800 on Monday 12th and ending at 1700 on Tuesday 13th.  Volunteers should be comfortable being outside and on your feet.  You’ll be able to sign up to shifts online and Volunteer Edinburgh’s team leaders will be on hand to support volunteers on the day.

If you are interested in supporting this event of national and international significance, please follow the link below to register your details.

voled.in/unicornform

For more information on the role please seehttps://www.volunteeredinburgh.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Unicorn-Volunteer-Role-Description.pdf

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Death of Her Majesty the Queen: Disruption in city centre

Good morning,

Buckingham Palace announced the death of Her Majesty The Queen yesterday. A range of ceremonial events are planned to take place in Edinburgh and the Royal Household will confirm plans for events in the coming days.

We’re working with The Scottish Government and Police Scotland on plans to accommodate large crowds of visitors to the city who wish to pay their respects and attend the events.

We expect significant disruption in the city centre, and we want to advise you, and the residents and businesses in the Old Town, about road closures and changes to some services that may impact you, and your stakeholders, and access for deliveries to businesses and homes in the area.

Some of the services that will be affected include changes to parking, public transport, bin collections, some city centre school closures and diversions. Please visit our website to find out which services are impacted and how this will impact you and your stakeholders. We will keep it updated with the latest information as it becomes available. Please check it regularly for updates.

City of Edinburgh Council

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LEITH CONSULTATIONS

Just like when you’re waiting on a 16 bus stuck in a traffic jam three arrive at the same time.

The City Council have added three really important consultations for the future of Leith to the consultation hub on the city council webpage.

LEITH CONNECTIONS PHASE 3

Leith Connections: Phase 3 west – east proposals – City of Edinbu

Leith Connection Phase 3 has some lovely graphics including one of Salamander Street with a new cycle lane and narrowed road space for cars and trucks that I’m sorry to say do have to use our roads every day on one of the main arterial routes East to West through the city.

I also find it strange that the graphic doesn’t show the CPZ plan for the same route which had permit holder and pay and display parking on Salamander Street at the same view in the graphic so I do wonder IF these teams actually communicate with each other.

The Leith Connection Phase 3 consultation is open until 17 July so please, please make your thoughts known.

 

ETRO Go Home?

The next consultation is on ETRO which we may remember in a previous life was known as Spaces for People. Love it or loathe it,  the road coning and closures project introduced to make streets safer for cycling, walking and wheeling during the pandemic is now finally up for public consultation. This is your opportunity to comment on the future plans. Do you want them kept or ditched? Have your say now or you could be stuck with them permanently.

 

LEITH LINKS MASTERPLAN 

Finally, the Leith Links Master Plan is also open on the consultation hub for your positive or negative comments. Please use this opportunity to add your views on how you would like to see Leith Links developed for all residents in the future.

The Leith Links Masterplan Team had a stall at Leith Gala and many members of the public visited the tent to find out more and to share their views, so now it’s your turn to do the same.

You can see more about the plans here.

Leith Links Masterplan – City of Edinburgh Council – Citizen Space

You can also comment here, on the Hub, but you’ll only find a very limited set of leading questions. If you have more to say on any specific point, you should email directly to Miles.Wilkinson@edinburgh.gov.uk

The deadline for this consultation is 31 July. Please also be sure to copy your email also to our elected Councillors:

Chas.Booth@edinburgh.gov.uk

Cllr.Katrina.Faccenda@edinburgh.gov.uk

Adam.McVey@edinburgh.gov.uk

 

 

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Leith Links Boules Court under refurbishment in preparation for re-launch

Refurbishment work is currently underway to prepare to the Leith Links Boules Court for an upcoming re-launch.

The boules court which is located next to the Leith Links Tennis Courts will shortly be suitable for use. The court is fenced in and we hope to be able to add proper signage, playing guidance, and seating shortly.

Work is currently underway to clear & level the court, before the dressed top surface layer is added. However, the court has been getting used over recent years as a place for people to take their dogs which is damaging the court whilst refurbishment is taking place. We do think this is partly due to there being no signage on the gates or railings to let people know what the court is for. So until we get some new signage we have added some temporary signage to the court to let people know what is going on. Whilst the refurbishment works are taking place we would kindly ask that people do not use the boules court.

To help re-launch the Leith Links Boules Court we will shortly be arranging some mini events including taster sessions for those who want to get involved. Boules is a great game that is accessible for people of all ages and experience.

We’ll keep you updated as works progress.

 

 

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Coming soon – Leith Ward virtual election hustings

Despite the ongoing Covid-19 global pandemic it is expected that that planned Scottish local government elections due to be held in May 2022 will proceed, based on the current Covid-19 situation.

We are therefore pleased to let you all know that we will (once again) be holding an election hustings in the lead up to polling day on Thursday 5 May 2022.

The hustings will be held online, and you will be able to submit questions. We’ll publish more information nearer the time.

 

 

 

 

 

Leith Links Community Council next meeting Monday 28th February 6:30 online

The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 28th, February at 6:30pm, online (Microsoft Teams)

The Agenda for the next meeting and minutes of January’s meeting will be issued shortly

As always, our meetings are open to interested members of the public. If you wish to attend, please email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk and you will be sent an invitation / link for the meeting.

Thank you for your support

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£eith Chooses needs your vote, now!

Have you voted yet? £eith Chooses is the way that money gets allocated to community projects in Leith. There is £56,102 available but 20 charities/ groups have applied for up to £5,000 each, so sadly they can not all be successful. Who decides where the money goes?

Not the Councillors or Council officials (- though that’s how it was done in ‘the old days’)

Now, YOU do!

WE do!

If you live, work, study or volunteer in Leith, and are 8 years old or over, you vote for your favourite projects, and the groups / projects with the most votes get the funding.

It’s local democracy in action. It’s trusting local people community to know best what’s right for their own local community.

Voting is open until midnight on Monday 31st January and is pretty quick and easy to do. Please do participate!

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