Community garden rises from the rubble; POD meeting tomorrow; run away to West Kilbride with us; PEDAL ‘Street Level’ needs you  View this email in your browser NOTE FROM BATH STREET COMMUNITY GARDEN Members of the Electric Bungalow Community Garden would like to thank the wider community in Portobello for all their support and encouragement after the garden on Bath Street was bulldozed last Thursday. Please feel free to drop by and add a flower to our memorial just outside. The group is considering our next steps and will post plans on the facebook group and the PEDAL website in due course.   POD MEETING 7.30PM, 21st MAY AT THE WASH HOUSE – ALL WELCOME PEDAL members are invited to come along (and anyone else for that matter),  to get involved in running the village show – in particular to help with the running of the competitions – best veg, home made jam, best dressed vegetable and many more – see attached flyer page 2. If you would like to help , then come along and find out more at the next Village Show meeting on May 21st , 7.30pm at The Wash House, Adelphi Grove. It would also be great to have support in generating more involvement of kids in local schools and youth clubs etc making stuff and taking part. All of this will be discussed at next meeting. WANT TO JOIN PEDAL’s (FREE!) BIG TRIP TO WEST KILBRIDE ON THE 30TH MAY? We’ll be leaving at 9.30am and returning at 5.30pm. Places must be booked – there are ten left: first come, first served, so hurry, hurry.  Email info@pedal-porty.co.uk to book your place. Hope you can join us.  We’re hiring a minibus to go and visit one of Scotland’s real success stories! A small community which has turned its fortunes around and re-vitalised its High Street, buying up empty shops and establishing itself as Scotland’s Craft Town.  We want to hear first hand how they did it.  Our High Street is a very important part of our community and we want to see what kind of things we could do to make it more resilient and responsive to local needs, including buying properties and starting social enterprises. West Kilbride Development Trust has a lot to teach us about all this.  See more of their story below. —- West Kilbride was once a thriving coastal town, with a boast that the needs of residents could be catered for from the cradle to the grave.  A popular holiday destination for Glaswegians holidaying ‘doon the water’, at its peak local bus companies had to lay on additional buses during the Glasgow Fair. By the mid 1990’s the town’s fortunes had taken a serious dip, with 21 out of 40 retail businesses having ceased trading.  A local tragedy galvanised West Kilbride residents  and politicians alike, a public meeting was organised  in 1996 by the area’s MP, local independent Councillor  and other local activists.  The area’s assets were explored and, as tourism was a key industry in the area, it was agreed that the town would add to this by developing a specialised theme to help revitalise itself.  Since the idea was first developed and WKCIL was formed in 1998, the creation of Scotland’s only designated Craft and Design town has underpinned a remarkable renaissance in the retail and community hub of West Kilbride. Despite limited resources and against a national tide of town centre decline, the retail heart of the town has been preserved.  To date, this has been achieved at a relatively low cost to the public purse and a significant amount of community fundraising.  Recognised nationally as an exemplar of enterprise, the pivotal role of the craft and design studios as West Kilbride’s “unique selling point” has been the driver of the town’s economic regeneration. This innovative community led project is an inspiration to North Ayrshire and its people because the creation of Craft Town Scotland has managed to turn local economic problems into positive enterprising action. It may not be a huge commercial project, but the Craft Town has added real artistic and cultural value to the area, bringing long-term and deeply felt changes to the local economy.  Jobs have been created and secured, and the quality of life for the people of West Kilbride is better. PEDAL ‘STREET LEVEL’ NEEDS YOU "DO GOOD STUFF ON YOUR STREET" Would you love to have a street party on your street — but never got round to mak­ing it hap­pen? Or do you think car-sharing with a few people who live close by would make sense, but you’re not sure how to go about it? Maybe you think it’s crazy that 10 people in your street have a lawn mower, when you could all just use the same one? If so, Street Level may be for you. It’s not complicated – just the chance to bring together a bunch of people who’d like to start something good on their street – so they can share a bit of moral and prac­tical sup­port. Let’s get together, share ideas and resources and sup­port one another to make good things hap­pen on our streets. The kinds of things we might do are: Organise street parties Join Streetbank Get on-street bike storage Start community gardens Build on-street planters/trees Make or commission public art Share chickens Start food/solar/insulation co-ops… … stuff like that. If you’re interested, email info@pedalporty.org or call Eva on 0131 208 5208. Copyright © 2014 Portobello Energy Descent and Land Reform Group, All rights reserved. You are receiving this because you are a member or associate member of PEDAL -> Portobello Transition Town or because you have asked to receive news from us Our mailing address is: Portobello Energy Descent and Land Reform Group 23a Bath Street Portobello Edinburgh, Scotland EH15 1HB United Kingdom