EH40525

Barnton magazine Promoting local organisations and informing residents

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May 2025

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Letter from the editor A rosier outlook & good cheer...

Barnton magazine May 2025

Editor: Christopher Cowdy Publisher: EHDirect Ltd Advertising Prices: From £60 per month See website or ask for discounts and premium pages. www.ehdirect.co.uk Distribution: 5,000 - 10,000 homes Email: christopher@ehdirect.co.uk Phone: Mob: 07979530447

At last, May is here and, though a bit changeable, the weather for a while in April gave me enough cheer to be now looking forward to summer. With this rosier prospect come more vibrant events and our “Things to do” Feature (P14 & P15) offer some of those with the North Edinburgh Festival, the Edinburgh Children’s International festival, a Cramond Kirk fair and the opportunity to get your (and/ or children's) bike tuned up and ready for better weather.

In my 3 years on the City Council I have seen the tremendous pressure the Council is under to support local community groups, particularly those that provide an effective service to the local area. The public purse is always strained and I am happy to be able to direct funds to relevant and respected groups. As before, The details of all the charities are published throughout the magazine so please do take some time to read up about them and if you are inclined I On another positive note I am am sure they would all love to hear from you or receive a delighted at the response to our charity initiative, we had donation of your own. more responses from readers than expected and the votes have now been counted so Christopher Cowdy (Editor) take a look at Page 6 for the results.

Post: 49 Warrender Park Road, EH9 1EU

EDITORIAL CONTENT

Blackhall and Barnton magazines are published by EHDirect Ltd. The publishers cannot be held liable for any errors, omissions or misprints. Nor can they accept responsibility for the accuracy of claims made by the advertisers or the opinions expressed in advertisements.

Printing: Cowan Print, Kilsyth 01236 821177 Distribution: CBLeaflet Distribution 0330 133 3966 Website: www.ehdirect.co.uk designed by www.hrdigitaldesign.com

CHARITY DONATION

EDITORIAL NEWS

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Overview

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Blackhall Playgroup

14-15 THINGS TO DO

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Blackhall Community Trust

20-21 PROPERTY

Local online finds Local activities

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Clermiston PS Parent Council

Pilton Equalities Project Lewis Leap

For sale & Sold

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SCHOOL INFO Holiday & term dates

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PUZZLES And last month’s answers

34-35 COMMUNITY COUNCIL Cramond & Barnton

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USEFUL NUMBERS Local service contacts

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Charity donation

£5,000 for local charities We had a great response from our promise to donate to local charities. The first part of the initiative was asking readers to get the word out and encourage applications from local charities.

It is with delight we announce a donation to all Charities that received By the closing date we had 10 applications for votes as follows: our Portobello/Duddingston areas and 5 for the Barnton/Blackhall areas. In the March & April issues a page was dedicated to each and readers were asked to vote for which should get donations. On 15th April we counted all votes for each charity, amounting to almost 70 in total for Barnton/Blackhall, and have now decided how the donation should be allocated.

We decided to split the total equally between the 2 areas. It was than a very difficult process as numerous applicants offered great, interesting and worthwhile services around west Edinburgh. We hope our promotion of them all helps inspire readers to consider supporting them and other local charities whenever they can.

• Clermiston Primary school -

£1,633 + Giftaid • Blackhall Playgroup - £150 • Pilton Equalities Project - £150 • Lewis Leap - £150 All charities that received votes get something and Clermiston Primary attracted by far the most with over 80% of the total so get the lion’s share of the funds.

Details for all the charities are published again in this issue and in next months.

Yours

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news

Here is a summary of some of the main articles reported by a range of media outlets online and that relate to our local area for Barnton, Davidsons Mains, Cramond, Cammo and Clermiston I have also added some of my own pieces of interest.

The (not so secret) Barnton Bunker is reported to have been used as a training area by the Ministry of Defence shortly after the outbreak for the Ukraine war according to the Daily Express.

article entitled I’ve lived in Edinburgh all my life and these are the 12 things tourists always miss when visiting my city—and included a visit to Cramond with much to explore 1) on the island, including old gun emplacements and ex-military buildings built during the Second World War; 2) at the beach and village; or even a gentle stroll along the promenade towards Granton.

The Edinburgh Reporter did Whitehouse Road in the an article about the recent heart of Barnton is to see a Council Education Committee new Herringbone venue this May following on from the success of its sister venues already operating in Abbeyhill, Goldenacre and North Berwick. Edinburgh News

could be responsible.

Drumbrae residents were delighted when a group of travellers who parked up on Drumbrae Park moved on reported the Edinburgh News.

However they didn’t travel far and now locals at Silverknowes are annoyed as the group set up camp at Gypsy Brae.

Property agents Christie & Co are selling the Peek-A-Boo children’s nursery on Parkgrove that closed in Oct The RNLI Queensferry lifeboat 2024 with the loss of 84 when figures revealed which was launched 6 times spaces. However, don’t schools will have exceeded between March 31 and April 3 expect a replacement anytime their capacity within years. including twice to Cramond soon as the Council have Including St Augustine’s with a Island but without serious frozen funding for new capacity of 1,029 and injury according to Edinburgh Independent nurseries so it projected 1,035 by 2026.

Live will be very difficult for Daily Record ran a story about anyone looking to re-open.

Edinburgh News included an an SUV on Parkgrove Green that burst into flames shortly after a small explosion was heard and youths on e-bikes seen. The story suggests youths setting off fireworks christopher@ehdirect.co.uk

News

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After 2 calls for nominations, Davidsons Mains & Silverknowes Community Council failed to attract the minimum number of applicants for Members and, as a result, will not be constituted according to the Edinburgh Reporter However, the Cramond and Barnton Community Council did receive enough Members and it has now been formally constituted for the next session. More details on Page 34.

A new temporary library is being proposed at Davidson’s Mains Primary School to provide key services while Blackhall Library’s previous building remains closed. The Herald & North Edinburgh News christopher@ehdirect.co.uk

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charity ble so other community members can use the space.

New Purchases for Play Space

Blackhall Playgroup would like to apply for the EHDirect grant to upgrade our current resources, purchase musical toys and expressive arts for our children and a sensory play area to support the engagement and growth of all children but particularly our neurodiverse children.

Background Blackhall Playgroup is a local charity that has been running with staff and a volunteer parent committee since 1980.

We provide a nurturing and playful environment for children between the ages of 2 to 4 years of age. We support local families with their child's important first introduction into a social setting away from the child's parent or carer.

We have welcomed families from all cultures over those years and have even supported a Ukrainian family settling into the country by offering their child a free space so that they could feel welcomed and get to know other families.

We not only support the

One area which we have not been able to invest in was child expression through music. We would use the grant to purchase musical instruments suitable for 2/3-yearchild's first steps away from the parents, but also the par- olds eg. Maracas, egg shakents and grandparents along ers, drums etc that would help the children express the way too as they venture themselves musically and on this important journey. increase our resources for Our Proposal imaginative play opportuniUpgrading Current Resources ties.

The equipment we currently have, in particular our art tables are not fit for purpose.

They are old (bought in 2012) and do not have the versatility required for our children to use as well as benefit the space we have, using our equipment for multiple purposes. Having new equipment would allow us to use the space for art in a way that would benefit the children. They could have the ability to make their own choice as to what they wanted to do if everything was available to them at their height.

We would propose purchasing tables to use for our Art station, we would purchase tables at the right height for our children to use and be wheelable or easily transferachristopher@ehdirect.co.uk

As we have a wide variety of cultures, we recognise the need to celebrate different cultural events, for example Diwali, Chinese New Year, St. Andrew's day. We would like to purchase resources specifically for art and music for 'expressive arts' and to help all the children share their cultural expression.

Due to the increase of neurodiverse children attending our setting, we need to create a sensory space with low lighting and calming toys suitable for their needs. To go alongside that, different toys that could be used in the multifunctional water tray could be purchased to help encourage children to use the water tray in indigent ways and explore different textures.

Charity

Blackhall Community Trust was set up almost ten years ago, with the stated aim of meeting community needs.

After extensive community consultation, these needs were identified as:

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A small multi-purpose community space and new home for Blackhall Nursery Activities and opportunities for residents.

These are cited in our Articles of Association as our Objects: • To advance community development within the Community, including urban regeneration; • To advance education, including early years and community learning, for the benefit of the public; To provide facilities for recreation, sport and other leisure activities for the health and wellbeing of the public.

Pre-COVID, we ran a monthly walking group, a monthly coffee morning and a book

club. The coffee morning has recently started up again on the first Thursday of each month, with residents invited to join us at Craigcrook Deli and Coffee Shop, to enjoy a warm welcome and to feel more connected to the community.

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group, as well as set up additional events and activities. We know there is interest in the walking group and we would consult residents on other possible interests and activities. There would be fundraising potential for us too, as well as We would like to start up the social opportunities for all ages, in setting up occasional walking group again too, as events. well as set up some new events and activities. We We very much hope Blackhall used to ask for a £1 donation Community Trust can be to the Trust for each considered for this grant. It participant in the walking would be a real boost and group so the walks were very enable us to continue to fulfil low cost. They created a our Objects on behalf of local social opportunity, boosting residents. health and wellbeing. At the time, I organised them as a volunteer, with walks all around Edinburgh.

However, I am now working fulltime and it is quite a responsibility to set up and lead the walks!

We are seeking funding to pay for someone to manage the admin and to lead the walking christopher@ehdirect.co.uk

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things to do

Every month we publish a selection of things to do in the local area. This is usually found as a result of an online search and we may not have had time to verify all details are correct but we try to set out a good spread of interesting activities and local organisations. So if you see

North Edinburgh Arts Centre Edinburgh International Children’s Festival 27th - 31st May, various times Tongue Twister is one man’s attempt to say tongue twisters in as many different languages as possible.

Whilst also trying to dance. And make music. And do all the costume changes without leaving the stage. A delight for the eyes and ears, created and performed by award-winning performance artist and musician Greg Sinclair, and featuring dazzling costumes and innovative visual design. Humorous, colourful, rhythmical and odd, Tongue Twister is a celebration of the musical beauty of language.

For more info visit www.imaginate.org.uk

Lauriston Agroecology farm Dr Bike at the farm

27th May, 2 - 4pm

The brilliant Dr Bike mechanics will be back in the farmyard to check and fix your bike for free. They can do maintenance and many types of repair on the spot with their mobile workshop. And if your bike needs something more than they can do there and then, they’ll tell you how to get it sorted. If you’d like to get rolling for spring and summer, bring your bike along and put it in their capable hands. Drop in (no need to book) in the farmyard, through the South Gate entrance behind Toby Carvery car park. christopher@ehdirect.co.uk

Things to do something of interest and want to join in, please do some of your own research and contact the organisation in plenty of time to make sure the event is still on and the details are accurate.

West Pilton Park Sat 17th May, noon - 17:30

An annual, free to attend, family friendly, community led event . Last year was a huge success with over 9000 people attending the day. Over 150 charities and organisations, 250 children and families and over 600 young people took part in the festival. Hot meals, teas, coffees and other free food was given to over 3000 people!

Hopefully this will be matched, if not bettered, this year.

Cramnd Kirk Christian Aid Fair Sunday 12th May, 11:30am

Various stalls, teas, coffee and shortbread will be held in Cramond Kirk Hall following the morning service.

Browse a selection of plants and baking, while relaxing with a nice refreshment.

There will also be a stall with information on the kind of work Christian Aid undertakes in different parts of the world as well as details of some of the gifts you can buy. Copies of the Christian Aid recipe book produced for the Fair in previous years will also be on sale. Donations of baking and plants are welcome. christopher@ehdirect.co.uk

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charity outdoor play for many years to come.

Any support you are able to offer will be greatly appreciated and make the outdoor play area an exciting environment for the children to learn and grow.

About our charity: The overall purpose of our charity is the advancement of education. We strive to achieve this by engagement in activities which support and advance the education of pupils attending Clermiston Primary school and nursery.

Our school currently has approximately 500 pupils and the nursery has capacity for 40 pre-school children each year. The children who attend are from Clermiston which has a very diverse and mixed demographic.

Amount requested: £1,800 Project requiring funding: Clermiston Primary Nursery

School requires replacement playground equipment.

Details: Recently, Clermiston Primary Nursery has had to dispose of their external wooden play equipment due to reaching the end of its life. Most of the play equipment was made out of natural, sustainable materials such as wood which has rotted in the Scottish weather and become unsafe after several years of continuous use. The nursery are looking to purchase wooden play equipment to enhance the learning experiences of the children and encourage imaginative

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Charity

19 which we would love to run for the month of July.

What the charity does 2025 celebrates PEP’s 36th of working in and with the local EH4 community around Pilton, Muirhouse, Granton, law and SIlverknowes

have a hot cooked meal as part of their day with us

We want to be able to take them into the local countryside, visiting local historic attractions, have picnics by the beach and enjoy an afternoon cream tea on the forth

We also operate a small fleet of wheelchair accessible minibuses – these we use to provide transport to and from So that we can make some homes to We support with people 55 lasting memories and new years and over and younger clubs for our own members companions for our members vulnerable adults with mental but also for several other local We plan to have 2 outings health issues and learning charity organisations each week and any financial difficulties What the money would be contributions would support We provide opportunities for social inclusion and companionship. We arrange outings and visits for our groups.

used for We are asking for £500 towards our planned summer programme of activities and trips for all our members

We can be the link between our clients’ needs and the right social provision and professional support We provide day care clubs making sure all our members

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the transport costs, entrance fees and lunches

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Property

On the market

2 of the Largest Cramoond Glebe Road 5 beds, 4 baths - 2,966 Sq.ft.

• Includes potential studio flat • Kitchen views of river Almond & Forth • Spa style bathroom • KNX smart system for light, heat & audio • Sunken garden hot tub • Off street parking

UMEGA Offers Over £1,700,000 Braehead Road 10 beds, 9 baths - 5,615 Sq.ft.

· Detached Eco house · Detached 1-bed garden lodge · Double beds, all en-suite · Private multi-car drive with remote gates · Rear garden with lawn, patios, & planting · Solar panels, Tripled-glazing, & Insulation

Cullerton’s Edinburgh Offers Over £1,595,000 2 of the smallest Clermiston Loan 2 bed, 2 floor flat - 766 sq.ft.

Offers Over £225,000 Lindsays Corbiehill Road 1 bed, upper flat - 883 sq.ft.

Offers Over £155,000 mov8 christopher@ehdirect.co.uk

Property

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£160,000 - 29th June 2024 £70,000 - 15th May 2024

£1,756,000 - 9th Oct 2023

£1,650,000 - 23rd Jan 2024 Righmove.com produce maps showing some house prices and I count 7 in our distribution area that sold for over £1Mil in the last year (darkest brown circles) along with 8 that sold for less than £200,000 (lightest yellow circles) The remainder were all “mid level”.

Some of the properties on the market at the time of sending to print (according to Rightmove.com)

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Lewis Leap was created to honour the life and spirit of our son Lewis Johnson. Lewis was one of the kindest, most generous, and happy kids we knew, but of course, we are biased.

charity

Lewis Leap is to offer early support to local families who have suddenly and traumatically lost a parent, child or sibling. This will come to life as a partnership with Cruse Scotland to expand their existing service to include support for family members, collectively and individually, in the early stages of grief.

Tragically, Lewis was only 13 years old when he died suddenly on a family holiday. The impact of this on our family and friends was overwhelming and we Our main sources of struggled to process what had fundraising are two annual happened and why it had events, the Lewis Leap Dog happened to us. We reached Show, which is held in out for help, but got the same Cammo each August, a response time after time fabulous community day out "you must process the grief with lots of chat and first before we can help laughter. And Lewis Leap you". Unbelievably, this Christmas Wreath Making meant that most/all Kits, which has grown into a bereavement services would staple in many locals' diaries, not help us for 12 months (6 with groups getting together months to process the grief to create their Christmas plus at least 6 months waiting masterpieces. list). At this point we couldn't Around these two events, we imagine getting through a few also do walks, cycles, runs, hours. etc. We are lucky enough to Which is why our vision for

have great family and friends

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who volunteer to help at our events.

If you'd like to know more, visit www.lewisleap.com We are also on Facebook and Instagram.

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School info Holidays

Term Dates

2025/26

Autumn Term 1 (86 days): Wed 13th Aug Fri 19th Dec Spring Term 2 (58 days): Mon 5th Jan - Thur 2nd April Summer Term 3 (46 days): Tue 21st April Fri 26th June Total: 190

5th & 6th May (2 days) 19th May (1 day) 27th June - 12th Aug (33 days) 15th Sep (1 day) 13th - 17th Oct (5 days) 22nd Dec - 2nd Jan (10 days) 16th - 20th Feb (5 days) 3rd Apr - 21st Apr (12 days) Total: 69 days

2025/26 May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr christopher@ehdirect.co.uk

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If your business or organisation want to get a message to 10,000 homes; Barnton magazine & Blackhall magazine are for you.

Basic rates to 5,000 homes are: Quarter Page = £70 Half Page = £120 Full Page = £200

Call Christopher on 07979530447 Or email: christopher@ehdirect.co.uk Or Visit our website for more info:

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Community council

Below is a summary of the most recent Minutes from 20th February (edited by EHDirect) Attendance 11

Barnton (Herringbone and Starbucks). Parking is already a problem so Police’s view should be ascertained.

The Community Council has Police Report: submitted its response on the Speed checks – Police attended at Airport Draft Noise Action Plan a number of schools when pupils (2024-2028). arrive and leave. Off-Road Bikes/ Quads - Anti-Social Behaviour/ Presentation on Community Youth Disorder - 10 incidents - 8 Council in Advance of Elections around Almond Court East, 1 @ Outline of functions of the CC: Barnton Court & 1 @ Cramond Licencing consultations, Crescent. Several youths have Edinburgh Airport Consultative been identified. Vandalism/ Committee and Noise Action Damage - 1 incident Bogus Callers Board, Friends of the River - No reports Almond Walkway, Friends of Cammo Etate, Planning Chairman’s Report: applications and Traffic 2 new cafes/restaurants at Regulation Orders, Consultative

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Community council Group for the former Cramond Campus site, and seeking improvements to services and road safety, Safeguarding the Green Belt, Amenity improvements at Cramond Harbour, Cammo Road closure trials.

9 meetings each year with a mixture of online and physical meetings and plans for ‘hybrid’. Volunteers needed with general and specific experience in relevant topics.

Next Meeting: Meetings of the Community Council are held EVERY third Thursday of the month (except July, August and December) at 7:00pm in Cramond Kirk Hall, 16 Cramond Glebe Rd, EH4 6NS.

Following promotion of elections by the City Council, sufficient Members were appointed and the Community Council has been formally constituted for the next session.

The next will therefore be Thursday 15th May

We are dependent on volunteers and need new members. If you would like to help then attend a meeting or email Secretary Ian Williamson on cramton17@gmail.com For more information visit www.craamond-barnton.org

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puzzle

For years I presented puzzles from the MENSA but thought it was time for a bit of a change, so here is a selection of slightly different puzzles to tease your brain.

At midnight at the start of January 1st, Prof. Stone set 2 clocks to the correct time. One gains 1 minute every hour, and the other loses 2 minutes every hour.

1. When will the clocks next show the same time?

2. When will the clocks both show the correct time?

Starting in the bottom left corner and moving either up or right, adding up the numbers along the way, what is the largest sum which can be made?

What letter comes next in this sequence: E O E R E {?}

Last month’s answers: Q1: A sundial has the fewest moving parts of any timepiece. Which has the most? - An hourglass has thousands of grains.

Q2: In 1990, a person is 15yrs. In 1995 they are 10yrs. How? - 1990-95 BC Q3: What makes this number unique: 8,549,176,320? - Numbers arranged alphabetically christopher@ehdirect.co.uk

Useful numbers

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Useful Numbers UTILITIES Electricity

0800 092 9290

Gas leak

0800 111 999

Scottish Water

0800 0778 778

COUNCIL Cleansing & Uplifts

608 1100

Stair lighting

529 5757

Trading Standards

529 3030

Pest Control

529 3030

Blcakhall Library

529 5595

HEALTH

Western General

537 1000

Minor injuries

537 1330

Royal Infirmir

536 1000

Sick Kids

536 0000

Childline

0800 1111

Parentline

08000 28 22 33

Cramond Surgery

336 3449

Parkgrove Surgery

312 6600

Barnton Pharmacy

339 3449

Omnicare chemist

336 2861

NHS 24

111

TRAVEL Lothian Buses

Traveline

0871 200 2233

Airport

0844 448 8833

SCHOOLS Clermiston Primary

336 3361

Cramond Primary

312 6450

Royal High School

336 2261

Stew Mel

311 1000

St Andrew’s Fox Covert

339 2383

St Augustine’s

334 6801

Mary Erskine

347 5700

555 6363

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